Clamming trip and more

Hello again!  We have not blogged in a while but we didn't have too much to report on.   We have a couple of things to blog about now.

I had the opportunity to go "clamming" for the first time.  We met at 5:00 in the morning, with temperature in low 50s.   I went with Ray, the volunteer coordinator, and seasoned commercial fisherman from Alaska, age 76.  Another volunteer, Bill, joined us, at the last minute.  Bill and I had to purchase a temporary license, that is for clamming and crabbing.  Unfortunately, none of us took any pictures, so bear with me while I tell you the story, including the entertaining details.   I will attempt to paint a picture.

We put in our boat (See Ray's boat below), at the Charleston Harbor dock, SE of us. 

"Insert picture here" (use your imagination): Ray is wearing full overall waders, I'm wearing hip boots, and Bill, the late unprepared arrival is wearing sneakers. 

We went across the Bar (the mouth of the river emptying into Pacific Ocean), and went up river.  This trip was during low tide.  After 15-20 minute ride, and temps in low 50s, we arrived at a sandbar, previously visited by Ray.  Since I was wearing hip boots, I am tasked with anchoring the boat to the sandbar.    Approximately 75 feet of rope is stretched and placed in the highest point of the sandbar.  It quickly became evident that Bill and his sneakers, had no way to get onto this sandbar.  By the time I returned to the boat, Ray was already waste high in water and walking toward sandbar, with Bill remaining on the boat! 

 After my suggestion that since I had hip waders, I could carry Bill to the sandbar. 

Insert picture here:  This is me giving a piggy back ride to Bill.  Keep in mind, that the footing is on soft mud.  The boots were also too big for my feet.  With each step, the suction from the soft sand made the trek even more challenging and comical!  But we made it, even though we could not stop laughing.  Try to imagine, with each step, the sound of the suction release with each step.  Slurp slurp. 

Ray then proceeded to give us instructions and demonstrate how to identify the proper location to dig for clams and how to unearth them.  We all began digging.  Approximately over an hour went by.   Suddenly, Bill yells, "Hey Fellas, the boat!"  We all look and see; the winds were blowing easily at 20+ mph, the tide is coming in, and due to the winds, the tide is coming in even faster than usual.  "Insert picture here": The anchor and rope that was place at a high point on sandbar is no longer visible.

"Insert picture here": Both Ray and I begin making a mad dash to the boat with Bill staying behind.  Ray dives into the boat head first (am I painting a picture?), and gets behind the wheel of the boat.  I followed the rope from the boat to the anchor, because both are submerged at this point, and I lifted anchor to bring it back to the boat. Ray yells, "Push the boat into the wind, Goddammit!"  So, here I am water up to the maximum height of my boots, trying to push this boat against the wind and rushing tide.  Are you seeing the whitecaps?!   All along, I kept hearing "push me into the wind !"  I pushed as much as I could, and then dove into the boat.  What about Bill, you ask?  We yelled to Bill, to run to a nearby pylon that is deep enough and close enough to the sandbar.  The boat and Bill proceed in same direction and we wave Bill to come on board. 

"Insert picture here": This is Bill walking into the water (laughing), waist deep, to reach us.  Hopefully you are remembering the exceedingly cold temperature of the water and the air, with the wind chill.  And of course, just like the rest of us, he dove in headfirst, the best and fastest way to get in, when a boat is already in the water.

We began the trip back to the docks.  Conditions have worsened.  We are fighting a 25-30 mph wind, with 3-4 ft waves, against a rushing tide.  Our Captain is very much concerned about these conditions.  He has ordered us to put on our life vests.  All of this while Bill is shivering.  Ray continues to avoid the higher waves, while also trying to keep in the deepest part of the channel.  Bill and I are joking and laughing about our conditions,  while our pilot mumbles, "be quiet goddammit while I'm piloting, this ain't funny".  Bill doesn't hear him and asks, "what did he say?!"

"Insert picture here": This is me doing the universal signal of zipping your mouth closed to be quiet!

As we approach the Bar, this is the most dangerous trek to this point.  We had open ocean to our right, the tide is coming in from the ocean, waves are coming faster driven by tide and wind.  We go high on a wave and as the boat comes down, it gets hit by another 4 ft. wave that goes over the bow of the boat. 

"Insert picture here": And now, Bill is not the only one who is wet!

As we crossed the Bar, the Coast Guard ship is speeding out to sea and makes a left turn right in front of us, to escort the rest of the fishing vessels from the ocean into the harbor, since the Bar has just been closed to boat traffic.  We finally made it to the dock, pulled the boat out of the water and added sea water to the buckets of clams that we had collected.  Almost 4 dozen among the 3 of us. Two days later all of the volunteers had the most delicious clam fritters.

This was a highlight for me and one of the greatest experiences of this trip. 

After 3 days on duty, training a new couple, today we are tired and sore.  We decided to go birding with another couple to just relax.  We saw a few interesting species of birds, and really enjoyed the cool temperatures.  We had a high of 63. 

Not really looking forward to next week because we are about to be invaded.  We are adjacent to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation area and an annual event will begin on Wednesday.  It is called Dune Fest.  A merry and raucous 5 day event, where more than 30,000 people pack it in on a 50 mile stretch of the Oregon Coast  (right below us too), and ride their ATVs, motorbikes, dune buggies and anything else sand-worthy.  We are expecting 24 hours a day noise on the dunes, including live music and vendors with flood lights in abundance.  Pray for us!