From Bodega Headlands, the sea has a dangerous swell. Under a dark gray sky, massive waves crash into the windswept peninsula that protects Bodega Bay and the boats moored at Spud Point Marina.

Captain Frank Terlouw prepares the Barbara J, a classic wooden fishing trawler, for a 4 a.m. departure to check and unload his 260 crab pots, no matter the weather. He and one crew member will head north toward Anchor Bay and return 38 hours later with Dungeness crabs destined for holiday meals, a Northern California tradition.

It was a “challenge getting in and out of the harbor due to the big swell. It hit 22 feet while we were out. Not bad on the outside, but a rough trip none the less,” Terlouw says in an email after returning.

His haul was 3,000 pounds of mature male Dungeness crabs. “It’s been a good start to the season, and this trip we got $4 a pound. Due to Christmas market. Yeah!” he wrote.

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