Tuesday 3 January Mussels

Low water was conveniently happened just after breakfast. Perfect for collecting a bucket of fresh mussels for dinner tonight. The mussels live on sharp, dinghy ripping rocks with nowhere to safely tie or anchor the dinghy so I drove and the two Dave's stepped off onto the seaweed covered rocks. While they picked and collected with the other mussels gatherers Chrissie and I hovered offshore awaiting the signal for pick up. There it was! The distinctive 'come here and pick us up' wave. The Dave's had picked a safe spot for me to nose the dinghy up to and I came in gently. First the buckets of booty were handed in and then the boys were in and we were away.

Ready for cooking

Beautiful gleaming shells of mussels which have grown and lived in clear, fresh Pacific water. No grit in these shells and all organic, hand picked for freshness. The minor drawback is they take an age to pull off the beards (what they attach to the rocks with) and scrub the shells pre cooking. Dinner tonight was three pans of moules marinieres with lots of garlic, butter and white wine for dinner. Delicious and not a single dodgy mussel.

Sunset over Otaio bay

After lunch we'd had a walk around the island then moved on to Otaio Bay, Urupukapuka where we were for Christmas. A beautiful sheltered anchorage with scallops out in the channel and good walking on the island. Dave and Chris are divers too and we were keen to show then the joy of diving for scallops in NZ. It was a great discovery when John and Lynn of Windflower showed us how in Kawau last year.