Sunday 27 January 2013

Bahamas Day 4

Along with listening to "cruisers net" each morning Andy also ran the engine to charge the batteries of the boat. Lights, pumps and most importantly the frig and freezer all pull from the batteries. Sometimes he topped them up using a small generator as well. Andy, Debra and George went off for a day of snorkelling and exploring while I stayed on Between the Sheets to babysit the generator and turn it off when the batteries were sufficiently charged. This also gave me the opportunity for some "alone time", reading, writing in my journal and generally just enjoying the location (lounging, in the sun, on the fore-deck)

It's not all beaches, jagged coral coastline too.
Andy found some beautiful shells while snorkelling. Note the totally Port Dover
snorkelling ensemble.
They stopped of at the boat again at lunch time and asked it I wanted to go into Chat n Chill (beach bar/restaurant on Stocking Island) but I was loving relaxing in the sun too much, so off they motored again. At Chat n Chill they had a drink and ordered a Conch Salad to bring back to the boat for dinner.

Preparing the Conch Salad
While they were gone, Jamie, from Nomada, motored over with a gift. 3 lobsters. They do not have front claws like cold water lobsters but look like huge crayfish. Jamie had spear fished them with a long barbed spear shot from a slingshot at close range. What a generous and delicious gift!
This was the largest one.
When the others returned Jamie came back over to show us how to clean them and what parts to eat.

Jamie slipping the knife around the base of the tail.

As with most of the sea life the colouring is beautiful.
Debra and I steamed the tails of all 3 and legs and base of the antennae of the largest one, in a cup of water and a cup of white wine. We then peeled off their shells. We got about 4 cups of meat. Andy took all of the shells and other discarded parts out into deep water, away from the anchored boats, as we didn't want to attract any sharks to the area. Jamie had described a boat full of young people who had been deliberately tossing stuff over the side to attract sharks and that this was generally frowned upon by the cruising community as so many people and their dogs, swim off their boats.
Meat from one of the tails.
We then used about a third of it to make Lobster Alfredo over pasta with veggies and conch salad on the side. Add a couple of glasses of wine and it doesn't get much better. End of another beautiful day.

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