Definitely on my top ten favorite meals. Steamed whelks on top a heaping pile of seasoned rice doused with homemade hot vinegar sauce and a squeeze of lime.
A whelk manages to find some of the most challenging crevices for one to reach with your hand. Sea urchins, stinging coral, sea centipedes, eels, lion fish are just a few of things your hand will likely have to pass to get to the whelk.
Sometimes you have to be ready to roll with a surge of water or wave. Either you brace yourself to resist against the push from the body of water or you roll with it. Personally I prefer to resist because rolling increases your chances of being pricked by an urchin or rubbing on some fire coral.
I’ve taken quite a few first timers diving for whelks and was always amazed they had a hard time actually seeing the whelks. Repetitively I had to point them out one. It was a learning curve for their eyes and brain to find the shape. Whelks often have patches of seaweed or grass growing on their black and white shells providing an extra layer camouflage and can appear one with the reef.
Like an abalone they grip onto the surface of the reef or rock and can be a challenge to pry free even with a wedging tool.
There are only a few days during the season when the seas are calm enough to brave the shoreline diving to gather them.
When spear fishing, seining or diving for lobster fisherman pay attention to where they see whelks so when the season opens they know exactly where to go to secure their catch.
