Ok not quite kissing but devouring green lip mussels, that was me. Lisa tried half of one and passed the rest on to me. Second time for her to be so brave. So how did we get to green lip mussels.

The day started very wet and drizzly. It wasn't really forecast but that is what happens when you are cruising with no worries. We did things inside and under cover for most of the morning and then about noon or one it started to lighten up. Our plan was to head into Port Fitzroy about two miles and on our way back stop and try to catch a couple of snapper for dinner. We headed out about 2pm and was taking it easy when about 3/4th of a mile from the boat the dinghy engine just quit. Try and try and try but with no luck we finally start to paddle at about 45 degrees into the wind so we could still try to catch a snapper or two and drift with the wind towards the boat. We weren't making all that good a progress when we spotted another dinghy heading our way. Sure enough his quip was "I figured you weren't out here getting your exercise paddling your dinghy back to your boat and so the engine quit", he was spot on and offered a tow. Of course we accepted it. Then about half way back to the boat he informs us he is a outboard motor mechanic.

Boy was luck with us. He towed us back to Orcinius and we made small talk until we arrived. He then proceeds to look over several things on the engine and pronounces he doesn't really like 4 stroke engines and works mostly on 2 stroke. He asks for a couple of tools to which we chase down and he proceeds to tear a few thing apart.


John and Murray working on the dorky dingy motor

He also says that he thinks the gas is bad or at least smells that way. I told him that I supposed that could be the case and gave him a very sort rendition of our year and one half boat rebuild. Yep the gas had been in the tanks since before then. Probably really bad gas. We did a few more things and dumped the bad gas from one of the tanks into a bucket and I loaded the tank with some new and we bled the lines to the carburetor and the float body. He rinsed the sparkplugs off with gasoline and put them back in the head and then told me to crank it over. Shit happens, it started. He had me give it a run but it would not get up to full speed so we both assume it is the carburetor or the fuel pump. Another project for Auckland.

So back to the green lippers. Murray, our new acquaintance offered us some green lip mussels he harvested from the fish pens about a half mile away and where I was fishing yesterday. We didn't really take him up on the mussels for two reasons, Lisa doesn't like them and I don't particularly like to clean them. I offer to pay him for his efforts on the outboard but he refuses. So we are now fishing from Orcinius off the back swim platforms when I see Murray motoring over towards the boat. He arrives with a sack of about two dozen green lip mussels and asks if we might have some cooking oil we could spare. So it was hard to refuse the mussels in exchange for oil. Unfortunately, he didn't clean them. He was nice enough in showing me how to clean them and then suggested we try some for bait to catch some fish about the size of herring to use for bait for the snapper. He also told Lisa to use the small feather hooks we had to catch the same bait. We tried it while he was there and sure enough caught enough bait to harvest all the snapper. We said our goodbyes to Murray and thanked him for all his help. Lisa proceeded to catch the bait with her ugly stick which is a very light weight spinning rod. She got a chuckle out of it and her last attempt harvested three at one time.

The rest of the late afternoon was spent fishing for bait, fishing for snapper and cleaning green lipped mussels. Lots of luck on the bait thanks to Lisa, no luck on the snapper and two dozen green lippers ready for dinner. Lisa made a very nice salad and reheated the mince stroganoff for dinner while I breaded and fried all the mussels up and proceeded to devour all but the last one and the half that Lisa tried. Thanks to Murray, I'll be harvesting, cleaning and preparing green lippers whenever I find them.

John