Too much Shrimp!

TOO MUCH SHRIMP!!!!  (the Great Shrimp Massacre of ’99)

Just being on a trip can alter your mind.  Being a trip leader can put your brain in an altered state, incapable of performing simple math. For Example; Dave Seslar & I have been running a flatwater paddling trip to the southeastern US for years, and these trips last 9 days(objective).  One of our favorite places to visit is Cumberland Island National Seashore, and to get to Cumberland Island, you have to go thru St Marys GA.  St Marys is one of my favorite places to visit, for one reason – shrimp.  St Marys is an active shrimp port, so you get FRESH shrimp.  You even get you choice of shrimp -–the classic Gulf Shrimp, or the local favorite Rock Shrimp.   There I was in March of 99, day 7 of 9, a bit addled, and charged with finding enough shrimp for 10 people.  It had been a good trip so far, we had paddled the Okefenokee for 3 days, snorkeled & paddled the freshwater springs of N Florida for 3 days, and now we had a real treat – an overnight on Cumberland Island.  A big shrimp boil sounded like just the thing to finish off the trip.  We had by consensus figured ½ pound of shrimp per person would be adequate (the fools!), so I was dispatched to find the shrimp.  I went to the dock for FRESH SHRIMP, and found a boat just pulling in.

After talking to the shrimp broker, I found out they had 2 pound bags of shrimp for 8.00 per bag.  (when the shrimp are caught, they are immediately beheaded and flash frozen in brine).  Now my either my brain or my desires betrayed me.  I purchased 5 bags of shrimp (10 pounds!!!!) for the paltry price of 40.00.  I packed my tasty arthropods in an icy cooler, and hurried to catch the ferry to the island.  When questioned by others, I said I had 5 one pound bags of shrimp.  My brain had betrayed me – it (the brain) fooled me into buying TOO MUCH SHRIMP!!!  (And lying about it). 

That evening, Greg Karoly and I were rinsing the shrimp before the boilage.  Greg seemed to think there was an awful lot of shrimp – it was then I realized I had actually bought TOO MUCH SHRIMP!!!

Despite Heroic efforts, we could not eat all that shrimp (even I was perhaps feeling that just maybe I had erred and gotten TOO MUCH SHRIMP!!!).  There is a happy ending.  We had saved the cold boiled shrimp, and while waiting for the ferry the next day – we found 2 backpackers who had missed the previous nights ferry and only had an apple left for the both of them.  They were more than happy to kill off the last of the shrimp.