Foto Friday: Get Hooked on Water Fun!

The view of a resting pontoon boat from aboard another resting pontoon boat in Vero Beach, FL.

The Stone Crab Grab

 In the cooler months in Florida, stone crabs seek the warmth of the brackish inter-coastal waters. For me, I’ll always think of these months as the ones my friends drop their Maryland-style crab traps (also called “crab pots”) to the floor of the Indian River Lagoon and check them every few evenings for any crustaceans.

Stone crabs range from the North Atlantic all the way down to Mexico and, although their bodies don’t have much meat, their claws are considered a delicacy served up with butter.  A Floridian from birth, I particularly enjoy eating all shellfish from crawdads to crabs.

This past Thursday night, I was lucky enough to be invited along to check my friend Eric’s crab trap.  Being an early March evening in Florida, the temperatures that were fairly warm in the day plummeted down to a fairly cold (especially for Florida) 53 degrees.