OP
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Yes, things are more expensive here than anywhere. Gas is still $5 a gallon, an average house in my town is 700k to 800k, in some cities over a million average for a house is common.I have never been to California, it's my understanding that everything is more expensive then here?
Pretty awesome that they cleaned up your bay. Ours is so large, I'm not sure if they can ever bring it back to what I have been told it once was. There's a book by a man that has been taking pictures of the bay for the last ~ 60 years. He said you used to be able to go down and see ~ 15' in all directions. With all the farming and run off I just can't see it ever getting back to that, but I never thought it would get as good as it is right now, so who knows. They are making a difference, so we'll see.
I do not know if there's any rules on harvesting after the rain, as far as I know it's just Sat 8-12 (for recreational, commercial is obviously different), since I work I'm not sure if there are other recreational days or not.
From visiting the museums in the city (years ago before it got scary like now) they talked about the oysters being so plentiful that you could see piles of them sticking out of the water at low tide. Oysters were a staple for the Chesapeake bay (here's a good link with a few pictures; Oyster History - Oyster Recovery Partnership)
We'll actually take sacks out given to us by the state of MD that have "spat" (baby oysters) all over the shells and we'll dump those out onto the beds. We also save all the shells so on the next trip we can dump those back onto the beds. I am told it takes about 5 years for spat to get to the point it can be harvested.
I’m sure the workers at the oyster farm are making over $15 hr. they have to be because minimum wage is at least that. The oyster farm is also in Marin County which is one of the most expensive zip codes in the country.
If you ever did come out this way I would avoid San Francisco at all costs. It’s not what it used to be and is nothing more than one big crime pit with homeless, drugs, car break ins, a majority of the stores downtown are shuttering, etc. and everything is caving in.
Up North where I am in wine country it is still very nice. The coast is very beautiful and scenic.