Sakhalin: Lake Busse & Eating Giant Oysters
This probably goes down in history as one of the top 10 gastronomic adventures in my life! Lake Busse is not technically a lake, but a salt seawater lagoon in the southern Sakhalin. It’s almost perfectly round in shape with a small channel opening into the ocean, through which sea water flows in and out. In the middle of the lake, there are several shallow banks that get exposed at low tide and are completely covered at high tide. The banks are made entirely of…… oyster beds! Yes, massive and unlimited pacific oyster beds! A boat takes you out there at low tide and you walk around on oysters (like god on water) shacking them at will, knife in one hand and lemon in the other. And these are huge oysters, having been growing for years, each like a complete meal! What’s more – there are plenty of sea urchins hiding between oysters that you can also pick up, cut open and eat. It’s a total shellfish insanity of unimaginable proportions that probably doesn’t exist anywhere else on earth! After 34 oysters and 18 sea urchins, I felt in heaven!
