7 days ago
Wild video of Washington woman digging for seafood delicacy goes viral
A Washington woman has gone viral after being filmed almost completely submerged underwater while digging for a seafood delicacy.
Amber Fauci, an Arizona native, dove head first into the sand during her first ever time hunting for geoduck clams.
In a video demonstrating the process, Fauci is seen struggling to pull herself out of the hole in her attempt to catch the saltwater clam.
Geoduck clams are the world's largest burrowing clam, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. On average, they reach just over two to two-and-a-half pounds - including the shell, and can live up to 150 years.
The woman recording the video, Michelle Weaver, told Fox 13 that it's important to remain still and stay vigilant for water shooting out of the sand.
'So we dug out quite a bit of sand first, and you get to that point where you gotta reach deeper - and I'm short. I am five-foot-one, so I don't have really long arms, so I'm in there, and I saw that opportunity,' Fauci told the outlet.
'Anybody who's gotten their feet stuck [in the sand] knows how far it suctions you down.
'So I'm sitting there trying to pull myself up from the sand, and that's the struggle everybody thought was, "Oh my gosh, she's stuck." I wasn't stuck,' Fauci continued.
'But I knew the tide was coming up, and that's when I decided to come up. It was when the tide hit my nose. I didn't feel like holding my breath, so that was when I started struggling to come up.'
Fauci emerged up, sand and water over her hand, before fellow diver, Tyler Weaver, grabbed the geoduck and pulled it from the sand near the end of the video.
He said that after digging three to four feet deep, a geoduck diver has to move quickly before it gets away.
They used a 'geoduck gun' that has been in Tyler's family for three generations of his family, the outlet reported.
Michelle described the device as a 'glorified soup pot that has no bottom, that clearly can fit an entire human in it.'
'That helps from the water - from the tide coming in, or the sand falling in while you're trying to dig, because there's nothing like digging and then a whole pile of sand lands right where you just dug,' she said.
Comments on the viral video were stunned by Fauci's dedicated hunting attempt.
'I'm sorry WHAT ma'am did you almost drown for a [geoduck]?' one said.
'Her moving around was scaring me like I was thinking she needed help and I'm like WHY ARE STANDING AROUND LAUGHING AT HER GET HER OUTTT but she good,' another said.
One wrote: 'I didn't see the tube at first and thought she was just stuck in the sand and water. Didn't understand why everyone was so chill.'
After their hunting efforts proved successful, the group took the geoducks and celebrated with clam and geoduck chowder.
Michelle described Fauci as a 'legit badass' for her 'geoduck digging dedication.'
