A Tour of Island Creek Oyster Farm in Duxbury, MA

Because it's National Oyster Day, I wanted to share with you my recent visit to Island Creek Oyster farm in Duxbury, MA. Island Creek has some of the best oysters in the North American east coast!

One thing I did not know is that the waters in this area (Duxbury, Cape Cod, etc) is actually too cold for oysters to spawn. They can grow and live here, but not spawn because the water never gets warm enough. Still, there are 3 acres with 24 osyter farmers out in Duxbury bay now.

Island Creek used to buy seeds when the owner, Skip, started growing oysters in 1994. But recently, they've started their own hatchery. These colorful tubes contain various types of algae that they use to feed the spawning and growing oysters in the hatchery.

Baby oysters, they are tiny!

Did I mention how tiny they are?

These are a few weeks old, they look like quinoa.

Oyster farms lose 80% of what is spawned in the hatchery, and then they lose another 40% of what gets put out in the bay. It takes 18-24 months to grow oysters from hatching to get it big enough to harvest. The next time you think how expensive oysters are for something so small, think again.

Island Creek Oyster holds farm tours in the summers and they tend to sell out really quickly, so check this page come spring or follow them on social media to know when tour tickets go on sale.

The tour ends with a boat ride out to the bay. Apparently, if you go during low tide, you might get to walk around to where the oysters are kept! I didn't know that before and went during high tide, oh, well. The bay has these floating buildings where the farmers process their harvest.

The final part of the tour (the best part!): unlimited fresh Island Creek oysters. On the boat!
They'll teach you how to shuck, too, if you are interested. Me, I let their intern do it all.

All mine!

You're also welcome to BYO beer/wine/whatever. Some freshly shucked oysters (I couldn't even keep track how many I had), some sparkling wine, sitting on a boat with a view of the bay. The perfect summer day.