Margaret's Adventures in Clamming

...and my mother's adventures in clam digging continue...

"Today was the day several of us from the Service Center were meeting at Waquoit Bay to have a last quahog dig before the season closes. It dawned an overcast day but was mild and sprinkled only a little this morning. At 1:00 I got into my bathing suit and shoes and went to the garage to get the equipment. I put the bucket and rake on the driveway while I put on my shoes and said goodbye to RCF. I got in the car and promptly backed over the rake and the bucket, smashing the styrofoam ring into four pieces, squashing the bucket, and snapping the basket off the rake. It was now beginning to drizzle. I couldn't believe it, but RCF came to the rescue and straightened out the basket and attached the pieces of foam to it with wire. I went to neighbor Bill's and got his rake, and went on my way - very upset with my stupidity. I got there and my friends were all out in the bay, digging away in the drizzle. As I neared them I realized I didn't have my cap with the license on it. Oh well, I would plan to ask one of the men to marry me for an hour or so and squeak through on his license if the fish warden appeared, which is not unusual.


My friends had their buckets half full and I was getting going, thinking about the lovely end-of-season chowder I would make. My first quahog was the size of an orange and the pickings were pretty good. The ocean is still warm so it was very pleasant. The sun even peeked through for a few minutes and the drizzle stopped.

My friend Kathy filled her bucket and said she had to go home, so we said goodbye as she left the water. A ways down the beach she stopped and read a yellow sign that said the shellfish area was closed because of fecal contamination, and she came running back to share the news. How the rest of us missed the sign is beyond me! Maybe the lure of a pleasant afternoon at the beach clouded our vision. Some folks actually considered ignoring the sign, but the final decision was that we had to dump our catch. So we all left the water and sat on the beach throwing the quahogs back into the sea one at a time. :( Bob knows what a painful few moments that would have been. Retirement isn't all fun and games."