Well, someone forgot to tell Ida that. This late (after) season storm formed off of the east coast of Costa Rica, hit Nicaragua as a category one, skimmed between the Yucatan and Cuba as a category two, and is now taking aim at Pensacola, FL. From there, it is supposed to move off of the east coast as a tropical depression. There has been a large high pressure entrenched to the north of us, and the pressure differential between that and the remains of Ida are going to create some interesting marine conditions for us, and very possibly gale force winds from the North East. If you’re looking to buy some local oysters for the weekend, get your order in now! Good luck to the folks on the Florida panhandle!
F/V Cape Romain at sunrise.
I was down at the dock yesterday watching Chip unload the F/V Cape Romain and waiting on Jeff and Richie to get back to the dock. Both boats had about 400 lbs. of beautiful 16/20 count white shrimp. That’s not quite as plentiful as we’d like to see, but the shrimp are definitely out there. Boats have been dragging all over the area and reporting about the same catch. Everyone is hoping for a great month in October.
I have been getting a bunch of calls in the past few days asking when oyster season starts, and the answer is: tomorrow! We’re going to be out on the lease on Bull’s Bay tomorrow, and there’s some beautiful oysters there. If you want some of the first oysters of the season, give us a ring (843-568-6380).
SCDNR has decided to postpone the opening of the oyster and clam season until October 1. This is mainly due to water temperatures, which have stayed relatively high for this time of year. The temperature in the harbor is still at 81 degrees right now. I’ll keep you posted on the opening day. From what we’ve seen so far, the oysters we planted this summer on Bull’s Bay are looking great. We’ll be out there on opening day, so if you need some oysters, let us know!
The past couple of weeks have been plagued by east winds. The white shrimp have shown up a bit, but with the wind, it hasn’t been worth it, and most of the boats have been tied up at the dock waiting for the wind to switch. The forecast for today is East at 10kt, so some of the boats may go out and see if there’s anything there. The switch to the South West is happening on Sunday, and the shrimping should really turn on then. I’ll keep you posted, because when it does, we’ll have plentiful huge white shrimp available.
Well, the Atlantic hurricane season finally decided to put it in gear this week, and it did it quick. Right now, we have three named storms in the Atlantic: Ana, Bill, and Claudette. This is the first time since 1984 that the season has kicked off like this. Even though TS Claudette is making landfall right now, Hurricane Bill is stealing the show for the east coast. Right now, Bill is a category 2 hurricane, but is to quickly jump to a three and hold there. According to the current computer models, Bill isn’t a threat to our coast, but I, for one, will feel better once its passed. This being the 20 year mark since Hugo and all. read more…
Big white shrimp are on the way!
Jeff sent this photos in yesterday of some huge white shrimp they’re starting to catch. The shrimp are counting 10-15 in the rough (head on) right now, and that equates to 21-25 tails. By the way, other than the size, you can differentiate the white shrimp from the brown by the green at the tip of the tail. Only white shrimp have the green there. The numbers that are being caught aren’t up yet (that will change in a month or so), but let us know if you want to order some. Call Jeff on the back deck and see what he’s catching today (843-568-6380).
The race is on.
Jeff sent this photo to me yesterday afternoon of Capt. Gardner McClellan on the F/V Miss Georgia racing Jeff and Richie back to the dock to set the market price for the day. Both boats caught between 450 and 500 pounds of brown shrimp. The brown shrimp are running 26-30 (head on), and there are some white shrimp showing up in the 10-15 range. Jeff and Richie won the race to the dock, by the way.
They are doing dock work today and changing out the brown shrimp nets for the white shrimp nets in anticipation of the fall run. They want to drag them for a few weeks to get any kinks worked out before the shrimp show up.
As anyone who has seen the marsh around high tide lately can tell you, Charleston has been experiencing some extremely high tides. Tides are running between six inches and two feet above their normal levels. At first it was the entire east coast, but now it seems to be centered more on the mid-Atlantic states, especially Virginia.
Scientists are perplexed with the variation they’ve been seeing. They say that it has come on too fast to be anything involving melting ice sheets. The popular opinion right now is that it is mainly caused by a combination of Northeast winds over the ocean and a reduction in the ocean current running from Florida up the coast (not the Gulf Stream, but a prevailing near-shore current mainly caused by Southwest trade-winds). The winds haven’t been particularly strong, just persistent. read more…
Storm racing off of Cape Romain
Jeff sent this image from his mobile of a storm that was racing the F/V Miss Henrietta back to the dock yesterday. I’m not sure who won, but they had a good time racing it in.
Carrie Spahr has posted some great recipes on her Charleston Real Estate site. The shrimp spring rolls are one of my favorites to score when I go over to Carrie and Jeff’s for dinner. Check them out here.
