ᐊᒻᒨᒪᔪᖅ - ammuumajuq - clam

The first three days of August were the lowest tides of the month. Every one was excited to go clam digging. And most people did go stock their freezers with this free souce of food. But thanks to shift work, we were only able to get out on the tail end of that low tide.

August 3 saw Claire, Charolette and I digging through cutlery drawers trying to find any utensil that we could use as a shovel. I chose a large serving spoon - I wanted big clams. Charolette chose a cake spreader - she wanted to dig deep. Claire kept her fingers warm and wondered what foolishness us Canadians were dragging her into.

After consulting Emma's Clam Digging 101 - A guide for qallunaat, we were inspired and figured we would come home with buckets of large juicy clams. Not that we were overly inspired to eat them, it was the thrill of the hunt that intrigued us.

Our location of choice was Tar Inlet, near Apex. We were a tiny bit late, as the tide was just starting to come back in. Although sunny, the wind was almost icy as it blew off the open water. 

Our trek along the seashore allowed us to see a few tiny sea creatures; barnacles, snails and tiny sea anenomes. We didn't see any crabs nor starfish in the bay. I guess it's too cold for the 'stereotypical' sea animal life I was expecting.

Aha! An usuk! This is a long muscle that peaks out of the sand. The red usuk's are female clams (and apparently they taste better than males). When the clam feels threatened, it squirts water out of its usuk and quickly burrows deep into the sand. Pretty impressive for a mollusc without hands (or a shovel).

To catch the usuk, you grab it with your fingers (scream when a suprising amount of water squirts in your face) and then use your serving spoon to dig the rest out. Please note my qallunaat form of squatting while clamming. The Inuit ladies next to us just bent over at the waist and walked from usuk to usuk. I blame my poor form on my height. 

The very first clam I ever caught in my life was smaller than a nickel. The nine other clams I caught weren't much bigger! I took a couple home to show Josh, but left the rest in the bay so they could grow for next summer. 

We had so much fun exploring the low tide waters and digging up all sorts of innocent creatures that we decided to bring Darlene, Katie and Ryan and their boys out with us the next day. We knew that the "prime" clamming days were done, but how much different could the tide be one day from the next. Boy, were we wrong.

August 4 (the day after lowest tide) was cool and blustery. We all came underdressed and determined to tough it out. We were amazed at how much water there was in the bay. Our attempts to walk were hindered by huge deep puddles. We walked and waited a long time for low tide to get lower! But to no avail, August 4 was not a good clamming day!
 

In the mean time, we did find a couple of cool sea creatures, more sea anemones, huge pieces of kelp and this little shrimp like creature. 

 

Just when we were beginning to think this trip would be a complete bust, we saw an Inuit family gathering fish from their nets. We learned how they lay their nets and wait until low tide to collect their catch. With an ulu (a woman's cutting tool), they gut the fish, rinse it in a nearby puddle and then gather up the char to take home. This particular catch was going in the freezer to be used for dog food.

Charolette introduced Davin and Justus to the smooth slippery feel of the fish, while Katie and Ryan took a fish home for supper. It doesn't get much more fresh than this folks!

So, although our clam digging efforts didn't go quite as planned, we still had a blast exploring and learning a little about ocean life.