Lobsters, Lobsters...Who wants some lobsters?!

When Justin and I were discussing places to go on vacation, he really locked onto Maine because he had his heart set on lobster - "straight from the ocean". The first thing we did yesterday was scout through brochures to see if there we any fisherman still operating as this is the off-season. We found one company, Beal's Lobster Pier, that is still open and offers fresh off the boat seafood - lobster, mussels, crabs - for sale right from their dock. Our mission today...get lobster!

When you go to Beal's Lobster Pier, you get to go into the back to the "lobster holding area". They have a sort of tub set up that has an aerator running. They have the lobsters in plastic tubs by weight. You tell them what weight you want and then he pulls the tub up and out for you to pick your lobster. The lobsters Justin picked were from the 1 1/2 pound tub. Those are the most common weight of lobster that the lobster cages yield. The lobsters from this tub are $7.50 per pound. Awesome prices compared to Pennsylvania prices! (a whole lot fresher too!)

Here's a look at what he had to choose from:

Then, the man opened up the tub for the "jumbo" lobsters, or 3 pounders. These lobsters were seriously huge! Look at the claw of the one Justin pulled out to hold!

Can you tell that none of them were interested in playing along with camera-happy mom?

They were more interested in the lobsters!

Here are some of the lobster boats that were anchored right off of Beal's pier. They use little motor boats to get out there and then anchor the motor boat in it's place while they take the lobster boat out to set or pick up pots. You can't see very well in these pictures, but each boat has a buoy on top. This is the color buoy that is then attached to each lobster/crab pot. There were a lot of different colors and even patterns floating in the harbor! It is even against the law for one fisherman to even touch another fisherman's buoy in the water. The guy who was telling us this commented that he wasn't sure which was worse - the law or the angry fisherman whose lobster/crab pot you disturbed.

In the distance is a whale watching cruise ship. They offer tours in the summer.

In the front right corner is one of the mussel submersible decks. You could actually see the mussels lining the bottom of the thing.

A man and his lobster - don't think he could have been any happier today!

Tanner was pretty excited too! Lucas was not excited at all. He was "sceared" of them.

Doing the lobster flop...

Before.....................................................................and after

Hayden had no idea what to do with it...

so he stabbed it, he played with the claw, he shook it, he looked at it blankly...

I don't think he ended up eating any.

Tanner tried to act like he knew exactly what he needed to do.

Justin helped to crack the shell a bit, but T did a pretty good job of pulling out the meat!

He ate quite a bit.

JJ held this bite up mostly for looks. He looked at it, licked the butter, nibbled a bite, and then declared himself done.

Daddy the lobster cracker. He's in heaven at this point!

Justin still has one whole lobster left cooked, but uncracked. He also has some meat left over from the snack time with the kids. There's a lobster stew recipe hanging in our kitchen, so he's thinking he might give that a try tomorrow.

Me and Lucas...I had some mashed potatoes and peas; he had some mini raviolis, as did Hayden.

I'm glad Justin got his lobsters and the kids enjoyed the experience.

But, I'll be even more excited when the house stops smelling like Old Bay! (ha-ha!)