October 23, 1980 - Harvesting the Fall Sea)SECOND SECTION Tfir *Uffolh TIMO OCTOBER 23, 1980
Harvesting the Fall Sea
If there's one thing we've learned from
living where we do it's to take advantage
of the good days when they come along.
Last Friday was one of those days -- warm,
calm, beautiful fall weather. Sure makes
you want to get out and do things.
Barbara and I always have a "want to
do" list in the back of our minds and when
that particular day jibes with our list we'll
drop everything and go. If we'd held off
because of other seemingly important
things to do, the opportunity would have
slipped by.
Our list of things included scalloping,
clamming and sailing, plus getting ready
for a scheduled evening program.
Everything seemed to line up perfectly for
the day's agenda. The tide would be just
about right and if this day was like the
warm summer days past we'd be getting a
breeze just about 1 o'clock from the south-
west which would make it ideal for sailing.
We live at-the end of Mud Creek and I
can tell you that the creek is well named.
We can only get out before half tide,
otherwise it's too shallow. So we rushed to
get all the gear, motor, gas, etc., down to
the boat as soon as possible. Needless to
say we're not always as fast as we think we
are and when we arrived at the dock the
tide was too low already. This meant we
had to tilt the motor up and row down to
the mouth of the creek where it was
deeper.
All along the way the tall marsh grass
towered above us, some as tall as five and
six feet. This astonishing height told me
that this area had to be super rich with
nutrients, as most marsh grass hardly
ever attains that height. Like all living
plants the more nutrients or fertilizer you
give them up to a point the better they'll
grow.
Superabundant Nutrient Area
Another factor that told me that this was
a superabundant nutrient area was the
thick sea lettuce or cabbage that I con-
tinually picked up on my oar as we rowed
along. This phenomenon of cluttered
waterways is not uncommon in our creeks
as most can vouch for. We've always had
this cabbage but I don't think quite to the
extent we're getting it lately. The reason is
simple. We have more people living
around our creek edges and more road
runoff than ever before.
Everyone's house, including my own,
has a cesspool, and all underground
waters eventually find their way to our
bays and creeks. This super nutrient -laden
water, plus runoff from the roads laden
with farm and lawn fertilizers, speeds up
the growth of this greenery in our creeks.
Now in deeper water, our small outboard
headed us out into the bay. We went
directly to our favorite clam ground, for
we were after the large chowder clams:
Our plan was to later open and grind up
these big clams to freeze in separate
containers for use during the winter.
Nothing smells better than a pot of clam
chowder over the stove on a cold winter's
day. Some of the clams were huge and
according to studies, must have been 20 to
25 years old.
Perfect Day for Sailing
Scallops were next, and these were in
another part of the bay, so off we went.
They took a little longer to get because
they were entangled in all sorts of seaweed
debris and it took time to sort them. The
baymen deserves every cent he can get for
his scallops. It's no easy task.
By now it was past noon and the wind
BAY SCALLOPS -- Whether you go out and get your own scallops from
our creeks and bays or buy them locally, they are one of our great treats
at this time of the year. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
had started to ripple the bay from the
southwest. Besides, my stomach was
growling, which told me we should think
about eating. A pull on the engine and we
were soon over to our moored sailboat,
where Barbara went below to work on
lunch. It seemed in no time she was up
with a steaming bowl of hot soup and
crackers. What more could you ask for?
By now the breeze was much stronger
and it was time to sail. We covered the
clams and scallops with a wet bag,
fastened our small boat to the buoy, put up
the sails and headed out. The perfect
weather had spurred others to come out
and sail. One boat out of New Suffolk
headed our way and we saw it was our old
friends, the Wirsings, who too were taking
advantage of this October day. After a
short chat, they came about and headed
west as we continued on toward the red
buoy off Nassau Point. The wind stayed
steady and made sailing a perfect joy.
There was no sound but the wind in the
rigging and the lapping of the water on our
smooth, white hull.
The terns had left the bay by this time
and in their place were occasional sea
ducks here and there ... white-winged
scoters I could tell as they flew by. High
above to the north was a long string of
Canada geese pumping their way west-
ward. We'd seen others like them all
morning long ... some numbering in the
hundreds. Fall was truly upon us and we
had taken one of its choice days to enjoy.
Opportunity had knocked and we had
opened its door.
PAULSTOUTENBURGH