BJ The Crab Guru

In June our family knocked off a few more states in our motorhome that had eluded us for years even though they are close to our home.

Racing from SLC, UT through the scorching Nevada heat, we made our way up the California coast, enjoying the Redwoods and chillier weather, before hitting the famous Hwy 101 and celebrating finally making it to the beautiful Oregon coast.

We had to crank the coast out in quick time due to keeping a schedule with destination points of Seattle, WA, and eventually Vancouver, B.C., Canada, where we would stow the RV and hop on a cruise to Alaska for a week with extended family.

Our friends had mentioned that we needed to stop near Cannon Beach, OR, at Kelly’s Marina, rent a small fishing boat, and go crabbing for Dungeness Crab.

It’s a tall enough order for me to even drive an RV, let alone now become a boat captain and teach my family how to crab…

But we made our reservation anyway and found an empty parking lot, full of mud, rain, and one single truck next to ours.

That’s when BJ came strolling over, rain rolling off his hoodie, and struck up a conversation with me.

BJ is burly, bearded, smiley and disarmingly friendly.

I mentioned our plan to rent the boat the next morning and go crabbing, something I had never done but was wondering how I would pull off.

BJ said, “Well, you guys picked a tough week to do it, usually it’s sunny here, we come to this spot every year, it’s never been this cold here. And to be honest, there’s a little learning curve to the crabbing part…I mean, why don’t you just throw your family in my boat, as I already have some crab traps set and need to go pull them up anyway before it gets too dark!  If you’ve never been crabbing, it’s pretty cool!” 

I wondered if this was also a trap for us.

Who just gleefully, in the rain and fog, invites a family of 6 to join him out on the water? Was this our own version of Cape Fear? Should I be worried?

Due to his kindness and sweet nature, we felt like BJ was genuine, as his wife also came over to greet us and was just as endearing.

The next thing we know, we are climbing into a small fishing boat, as BJ drove us out of the harbor, in the rain, as crab traps were pulled up, filled with incredible crawly, pinching, determined to escape crabs!

We had never seen anything like it, and he showed us how to grab them by their back legs to determine if male or female, measure the size we could keep, and showed us how to carefully not get pinched by the rascals.

Laughing with glee, we took photos, videos, and watched BJ snap frozen fish bait in half with his bare hands to set tomorrow’s traps, since he’d accidentally left his knife on the shore.

He was like Ernest Hemingway meets Paul Bunyan, or more like Bluto’s size with Popeye’s strength and friendliness.

Joyfully, he told us tales of his crabbing adventures since he was a kid, how simple it is to boil them up, and that we’d eat them together.

At the end of the ride he graciously grabbed 6 crabs and said, “These are for your dinner, so everyone gets one, and you can take as many as you want for the road when you leave in the morning.” 

He had become our private Crab Guru Guide and our new best friend.

The next thing we knew, BJ and family were setting up a fire, in the rain mind you, getting out the new tent they’d purchased, pulling out all the stops – large pot, boiling the water, showing us how to cook, clean, and prepare the crab we had just watch him catch.

We cracked and ate fresh crab, on the Oregon Coast, and did I mention it was raining?  It was like something out of a movie! Our new friends told us about their lives, goals, businesses, and we even played with their cutest dog of all-time.

We went to bed with bellies full and memories to last a lifetime, as BJ and family had given us the experience we had set out to try in the morning, all before the sun had fully set.

Not only did this allow us to get on the road sooner to make our next destination in time, but it ensured our success of something I knew I would very likely fail at!

The next morning we thanked them for their kindness, I offered to pay him for his time and the crabs, to which he insisted it was just fun getting to hang out.

I found out a way to send him something, as one of the crab traps had been lost that evening, so I asked if I could help replace it, which he reluctantly accepted.

We will always talk about BJ The Crab Guru and his amazing family.

How incredible it was to us, that an absolute stranger would befriend us, share his unique Signature Moves of crabbing and friendliness, and keep a Promise we didn’t know we were about to receive – being BJ’s neighbor meant we were now his automatic friends.

I know I’ve tried to be a good neighbor, but I’ve never seen anyone quite like BJ.

It is wonderful to travel, have new experiences, and create memories when you meet people throughout this awesome country like BJ The Crab Guru.

~ Jason Hewlett

Husband, Father, Writer, Mentor, Hiker

• Speaker Hall of Fame * Award-Winning Entertainer * Mentor
• World’s Only Keynote Speaker utilizing entertainment, musical impressions, and comedy to teach The Promise
• Author of “The Promise To The One”
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