Independence Day: High Hopes - Empty Pots

 I enjoy a standing invitation to join by brother-in-law Bob and his wife Ann for a weekly dinner at their La Conner table. One long summer evening Bob says to me, "Mark, you got to get yourself a Washington fishing licenses so we can go out and catch some crabs."

Bob speaks the truth. I want to live the Washington-way and catch crabs and salmon and ling cod and other good and fresh delicacies from the briny depths of Puget Sound. As the first act of an official resident of the State of Washington, I obtain my fishing license using my local Washington address. 

Bob readies his craft to launch from Coronet Bay

 

 

Into the crab waters we sail

My licensed (empty) crab pot

Bob calls me and says that I should come on out for the Fourth of July and we'll go launch his boat from Coronet Bay and pick up the crab pots. The hope is we'll be feasting on Dungeness crab this Independence Day.

Bob navigates using GPS locations marked on his phone toward a 'hole' off the beach of Fidalgo Island where our crab pots have been set. I hold the gaff hook, snagging the buoy. I haul the 100 feet of weighted rope up from the depths, only to be disappointed that we have trapped undersized red rock crab. Not one of the three crab pots has a keeper inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob gives me a boat tour as we sail out under the Deception Pass bridge and then circle back to Coronet Bay. Spending the 4th of July trying to haul in crabs was a new and wonderful activity for the holiday for me.

Deception Pass Bridge from below - I've never seen it from this perspective

 

Bob pilots his boat through the narrow Canoe Passage under Deception Pass Bridge

 

To make things up, Bob grilled and served me a big steak and corn on the cob  and then it was time to take me and the family and his grand kids into La Conner. Between the municipality and the Swinomish Indians on the adjoining reservation, the most spectacular, long-lasting display of roaring, flashing, booming and bursting pyrotechnics filled the night sky in the most impressive show I have ever witnessed.

I love America. 

It was a grand Independence Day.