I grew up catching blue crabs with my family in the marshes and along the beaches on Virginia’s coast.
We spent lots of time crabbing while vacationing at Sandbridge and Virginia Beach, often enjoying a mess of steamed blue crabs for supper on newspaper-covered tables.
If we failed to catch enough for dinner, we’d head for the Blue Channel Crab takeout place, where we could purchase steamed or fried crabs by the dozen.
My daddy especially loved steamed crabs. One summer while he was helping build the Surry Nuclear Plant, he and some of his coworkers picked me up from my cousins’ house in Newport News, where I’d spent the week. On the way home, we stopped at Blue Channel Crab and bought a big paper sack full of spicy steamed crabs and feasted on them as we rode along.
When I got married and moved to Wilmington Island near Savannah, Ga., we went crabbing often at Tybee Island, catching bushel baskets full of the tasty crustaceans along the jetty.
Last Sunday, a friend and I headed for Edisto Beach to do some crabbing. Anticipating a huge haul, we decided to take along the camp stove, a big pot, cooking utensils and all the necessary crab boil spices and condiments to prepare our catch at Edisto Beach and enjoy the feast there on the island. Unfortunately, the crabs had other ideas.
The weather was perfect, and we were prepared to get as muddy as it took to accomplish our goal. We purchased chicken necks at a local store and some additional weights for the crab lines and nets, then found a promising spot on the marsh and waded in. It was nearing high tide by the time we got there, and the crabs weren’t rushing to grab hold of our chicken necks. When, in two hours’ time, we had only managed to snag two crabs who were so small they slipped through the holes in the net, we moved to a new spot. Finally, with only two decent sized crabs in the cooler, we gave up on our fantasy of a steamed crab dinner and gave our captives their freedom.
But the day hadn’t been wasted. We headed for the beach, where we waded in the surf and searched for shark’s teeth in the sand. Only a few sunbathers remained since it was late Sunday afternoon, and it was so peaceful and relaxing. I was windblown and a little sunburned but so glad to be alive.
Before heading home, we dined on peel-and-eat steamed shrimp outside the Pavilion as laughing gulls wheeled and dipped above us, hoping for a handout.
Sunday beach afternoons are the best. Come to think of it, any day at the beach is a blessing.
T&D Region Editor Carol Barker can be reached by e-mail at cbarker@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5525.