Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Crustacean Catchin'.. and more!


We’ll start off today with a garment which presaged our day's activity when the ship remained in port in Brunswick





To begin the day, we woke up early enough to see the local farmers supplying our ship



With local delicacies carefully examined by the sous chef.


After the usual breakfast ritual, we boarded a little coach to go to the place documented on the shirt above, and after a short ride, we arrived at the little shack that served as the departure point for the Lady Jane 




There were about ten of us who signed up and we all fit nicely in the stern of Lady Jane.  As we got underway, the “captain” who drove the ship told us about the trip



Basically we would cruise the little backwater canals, drop the nets and drag them for a while, reel them in and see what turned up.   He introduced our “naturalist”



who turned out to be just an interested person who had a terrific knowledge of what lived in and around the local waters.  So over the stern goes the drag net and pretty soon was hauled back aboard



And the contents sort of dumped on a sorting board/table


Quite the array of creatures, and readers here on the right coast can most likely recognize our friend Callinectes sapidus, sometimes known by "Beautiful Swimmers", or more commonly, the blue crab upon which we like to dine.   Anyway, the “naturalist” selected various examples, including that Diamondbacked Terrapin



And a charming ray


Most of the finds he passed around for people to hold, and it was interesting to see the joy some had actually handling and touching creatures they have never seen


Dad looks a little concerned!

I didn’t take notes so can’t identify the little guys but they were kind of cute




Including a little squid (think calamari)



And of course the white shrimp



On one of the “hauls” we came up with one of the ugliest creatures (I shouldn’t judge) there is around, the infamous horseshoe crab



Who wasn't very happy, and is even uglier below



But, they’re all part of the ecosystem which we just visit..

It was a really fun experience.  Although the wind was pretty brisk, the boat didn’t rock at all.  Would recommend if asked

Back to the boat in time for the daily complimentary cocktail hour and the dinner choices (Feeder*) were:

Creole Bean Soup with cornmeal dumplings*
Southern Crab Salad with Cornbread pudding, sherry cream and chives
***********
Creole Daube Style Braised Short Ribs of Beef
Southern Pecan Crusted Local Flounder*
Butternut Squash Penne
************
Chocolate Cherry Cake
Maple – Bourbon Banana Pudding cake*
Assorted Ice Cream Flavors

The evening’s entertainment in the main lounge was:
“Annie Akins—Move to the music with Annie in the Lounge as she performs classic Rock-n-‘Roll tributes and chart toppers!”
Probably not a surprise to any of the readers that we didn’t attend.

And although I will bring this travelogue to an end in maybe a couple more posts (one reserved for an overall food observation), at the end of the chain will be a real food adventure with this hint from another garment (nice symmetry eh? beginning and ending with garments...I'm so clever)



DFD

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