clam digging in Alaska

We drove 3 hours from Anchorage (2 1/2 for Greg, ahem) to Kasilof near the Kenai River. On the first day, most of us went digging for clams due to an exceptionally low tide. The next day, the guys all went fishing for salmon on the Kenai River.

Here is the gang heading out to dig for clams in the rain - yee haw!!! From left: my dad, my oldest brother (Shane), my nephew (Ben), my youngest brother (John), John's wife (Daniela), Murilo, my nephew (Matt), and my brother-in-law (Greg).

Shane, his wife (Laurie), and my newest nephew (Tel). I taught Tel how to throw a ball during our stay in Alaska. He was so enamored with Zizou and wanted to play with him. When Tel saw me throwing the ball for Zizou, he wanted a piece of that action! By the end, Tel could even say "Zizou" or something to that effect ;).

Greg and Murilo searching the mud for the elusive "dimple" in the sand indicating a clam is lurking somewhere below! You can get a good view of the "clam guns" used to dig out the clams.

Interesting word to use when you don't actually shoot the clams with this gun but ram it into the sand over a potential spot, cover a little hole with your thumb, and then wrestle the thing back out of the mud (requiring much more muscle and grunting than you would imagine). I guess the whole "clam gun" label makes it more appealing to the sporting type :).

Ah ha!!! The women have success! The clams can run (or in this case "dig") but they can't get away from us!! This is me and my sister (Cindy) sporting the attractive and highly practical clam digging hip waders!

Bethany (my niece) is just too cute to actually dig for clams. But she had fun anyway!

Ben had more fun driving the ATV than digging in the mud and hauling buckets of water and clams around.

My dad even got into the action - he had that "hunter's instinct". He was seeing those clam "dimples" everywhere and when he spotted a potential spot, he was usually right (95%). Of course, he was using a clam shovel at first and the poor clams ended up chopped in two. But we managed to salvage most of them!