Our transit from Dubrovnik to Korcula was planned to take an entire day. Our driver picked us up at our hotel late morning to take us to the city of Orebic, where we would board a ferry to Korcula. However, there were three planned stops along the way that would make this day the highlight of our stay in Croatia. Our first stop was on the Pelješac peninsula, on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast, in the fishing village of Mali Ston. The bay of Mali Ston has been famous for seashell cultivation since Roman times. The bay hosts the largest oyster cultivation facilities in the Adriatic, with mussels also part of the mariculture. Oysters thrive in Mali Ston Bay due to its unique nutrient blend. The salt water in the bay combines with fresh, mineral-heavy water from the Neretva River and a sea floor packed with phytoplankton to provide a substrate for the planet’s best oysters. We were escorted on to a small fishing boat, which took us to a wooden platform in the middle of the bay. Here we watched in awe as a local oyster farmer pulled fresh oysters and mussels out of the bay.
The farmer, who was our host, pulled a rope out of the water with oysters clinging to its surface. He explained the process starts by putting a net into the water. A year later, the net is full of oysters. The more mature oysters are cemented to a rope, which is then put back into the sea. Two years later, the oysters have grown and are ready to eat.
The farmer plucked oysters from the rope and wedged them open with his knife. He then used his knife to separate the meaty oysters from their bottom shells. He did the same with mussels, which covered the oyster shells like weeds.
We enjoyed platefuls of the fresh mollusks, along with fresh bread and white wine. We let raw oyster after raw oyster slide into our mouths, each one a tasty combination of brine and mineral. They were by far the best oysters we'd ever enjoyed.
Condé Nast Traveller magazine named eating oysters in Mali Ston Bay as one of the fifty things to do in Europe before you die; it was number seven on their list. As we sat with our friends at our table in the middle of the bay, we were already in heaven.
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