The rope dug into our palms and we braced our knees, playing tug of war with the ocean as we pulled the crab pots up from the Salish Sea’s depths. Saltwater splashed off the rope, soaking our sleeves and splattering across our pants. With a final pull, the metal cage finally broke the surface, alive with orangish-brown crabs clicking and scrambling over one another.

It was late Monday morning and I was out with Bill Smith and his girlfriend, Carla Holderman, two Coupeville residents who spend their weekends chasing Dungeness crab across the Saratoga Passage.

Smith’s sailboat, the Culmination, was built in 1983 in Taiwan; he bought it at a Seattle boat show in 1986. At 85 and 77, respectively, Smith and Holderman haven’t slowed down. They still set sail for two- to seven-week crabbing and

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