Buck Bay Shellfish Farm

Wow! This place was truely awesome. I read about this place on Yelp before going to Orcas, so when I saw the sign on the road saying that Buck Bay was open---I knew that I had to stop by. They have lots of different sized oysters, clams, etc. If you want to eat raw oysters there---all you do is pick which oysters you want (you get to select each one individually) and then shuck them yourself at the tables and they'll give you limes & tabasco. It was my first time shucking oysters, but Toni did a great job explaining the process and it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. And the oysters were delicious.

This place was so good we went two days in a row (May 30-31, 2013) and it was made even better by Toni's great sense of humor,  warmness, and friendly welcoming ways.  The oysters were meaty, briny, and delicious.  The little neck clams on the grill were one of the most simple, yet tasty things i have eaten.  We also had whole cooked dungeness crab and some type of shrimp that also were very good.

If you don't know how to shuck oysters, don't worry, Toni will quickly school you on how to shuck without stabbing yourself in the spleen or other important body parts.

If you like delicious oysters and clams straight from the source at reasonable prices, give this place a try; if you are one of those people who doesn't like to get messy (you know who you are..haha) you can go to one of the many restaurants on Orcas Island serving Buck Bay shellfish.  They also have dungeness crabs (live, cooked whole, in pieces), fish (salmon when we were there), shrimp, and other goodies.

Being a local, I heard great things about this place.  I made the trek out to the other end of Orcas, and bought two dozen oysters and a whole cooked crab.  Oysters were great.  However.  The crab, a two-pounder, yielded one CUP of crabmeat.  At $8.50/lb, that makes my yield (less. than 6 ounces) more than $40/lb cleaned... and I had to clean it!  I have bought live crab before, but this cooked one was just wimpy.  Whether the crab had been cooked wrong, had just molted or something else, it was a huge ripoff.