Coupeville Sports

The “special seasoning” in Penn Cove’s world-famous mussels since 2011.

Three days.

I was gone from Penn Cove’s frigid, salty embrace for three days, visiting the nephews in Maple Valley. And when I returned to that most fickle of watery mistresses, yowza, she was still cold.

So there’s that.

Late Sunday afternoon, around 4:15 PM, as I chattered through an empty, quiet stretch of water — a place where even the seals chose not to venture, I carved out Day 162 in the water.

Which means, for what it’s worth, that this Friday (Day 167) I will tie my record set in 2011, and the next day, I will officially set a new mark for my on-again, off-again three-year odyssey of being the “secret seasoning” in Penn Cove’s world-famous mussels.

Yes, that’s right. I bathe in your mussels. Drink me in!

With decent weather, I should hit 200 days before Halloween. Than the only question is how far can I go this year?

Traveling down the Hill O’ Death in front of my house is the trickiest part of the whole endeavor. The rest is just being mentally stronger than the water.

Once the rain comes and the hill gets dangerous, that’s what has stopped me in the first two years (167 and 133 days).

But this year, I have a new target. Something that may make me more creative, and seek out new entrances to the water if need be.

We have an unofficial agreement at my job that the entire kitchen and wait staff (or most of them, at least) are going to do a polar bear plunge Jan. 1.

That’s 100 days from now, and, if I can keep going, I will be prepared — physically and mentally — to deliver a beat-down to my fellow employees.

I may not be a beast yet — though I have dropped 40 pounds this summer — but 100 days from now, I will be the freakin’ Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Lay your bets now.