By: Julie Blakley | August 03 2010
Posted in Seattle - Grow It - Seattle

Domed green islands that seem to float in the clear, deep blue waters of Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands are a beautiful archipelago where bald eagles soar overhead, orcas play in the waters and the air is spiced with evergreen and the briny tang of the ocean.

Here on the west side of San Juan Island is Westcott Bay Sea Farm, where some of the world’s plumpest and most renowned oysters are harvested.

Photo: Julie Blakley

Westcott Bay is located close to the deep waters of the Puget Sound, where an upwelling of nutrients from 1,000 feet below the surface near the Olympic peninsula shoots straight into the bay—making it an ideal location for harvesting oysters, mussels and clams.

Bill and Doree Webb first came to San Juan Island in the 1960s, where they ran a summer camp on the property on Westcott Bay. During the summer, Bill, a biology teacher, observed the productive algae blooms in the nutrient-rich waters in the bay, and uncovered many different species of clams inhabiting the intertidal area.

Photo: Julie Blakley

Webb pursued the idea of creating a sea farm at the location in the late 1970s, when he began buying oyster and clam seed and suspending it in the bay in some homemade trays. In 1980, the first harvest was well received by a local restaurant.

With a vision of farming gourmet oysters (that were never destined for a jar), the perfect conditions at Westcott Bay quickly made the Webbs’ shellfish sought after in the best restaurants both locally and around the world, from New York to Hong Kong to Seattle.

Westcott Bay oysters are incredibly plump; fat from a diet of nutrient rich plankton in an area some biologists believe is the finest body of water in North America for shellfish.

Their high glycogen content makes them sweeter than your average oyster. Eating a plump, sweet Westcott Bay oyster (which I HIGHLY recommend doing raw on the half shell with a squeeze of lemon,) unleashes the taste of vital elements of the local air, earth, and sea on your palette.

Westcott Bay oysters on the half shell were so irresistible, I went back two days in a row for raw Westcott Bay oysters served at The Place in Friday Harbor. They have a buttery, rich texture with hints of melon, cucumber, tangy minerals and the salty sea.

To get them the freshest and absolutely closest to the source, visit the Westcott Bay Sea Farm, where you can buy fresh oysters on site.

Westcott Bay Sea Farms offers the following fresh oysters in the half shell for retail sales:

Westcott Bay Petite (for the half shell): $9.00 per dozen

Westcott Bay #1 (for cooking): $9.00 per dozen

European Flat "Belon" (for the half shell): $13 per dozen

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