Widespread throughout Virginia, oyster farming is a relatively new fishery in North Carolina. It’s a wonderful way to get excellent seafood while keeping our local waters pristine as the oysters filter the water as they grow. Most of the local farms are concentrated in the back bays behind Masonboro’s barrier island. Since Captain Tyler’s crew needed a low tide to gather oysters from natural oyster beds, it made for a difficult trip in skinny water for Marty and the Mahoney's. A good part of the journey required Marty and Joe Mahoney to push the boats in hip waders! We headed up to Figure 8 Island to a pre picked spot I’ve used before and there were already 2 boats oystering there! Luckily, we were able to find this spit that just grew for us as the tide finished ebbing. The five of us searched, broke off select size oysters off clusters, cleaned and stored for about an hour. Well worth it, we were able put many dozens of beautiful oysters on ice. The key to harvesting oysters this way is to have a good pair of rubber boots or waders and durable gloves. From there it was time to pick up our crab pots. It was a good thing we were so successful as we had over 30 people show up to the docks! All the guests were very gracious and brought delicious side items and drinks. We got our money’s worth out of the steamer as we ended up having 5 pot full of crabs and 4 of oysters. And how about this sunset?!