Off to market in Apalachicola
New federal regulations deem it mandatory for the oysters to be delivered to the processor by 11:00am in the summer months and chilled to 55degrees within two hours of delivery. Sounds simple, but let me tell you what this entails. a. Prepare the oysters for a speedy pick up on the day of delivery by sorting out marketable size oysters and counting out 100 per basket. b. Depart my house at 5:45am to pick up Michael at 6:00am c. Drive to Rock Landing Marina where the staff have launched and fueled Ginny d. Motor to the lease - a 17 minute ride under the best conditions - 45 minutes in the worst conditions. e. Pull the oyster baskets and dump into mesh bags f. Pile them in the boat - carefully counting to insure the market order is met g. Reverse ride back to the Marina h. Load oysters into carts to get them to the parking lot. i. Load oysters into the truck. j. Drive 1 hour 15 minutes to Buddy Ward's seafood processing plant at 13 mile k. Unload