Bahamian Seafood

The highlight of the day was our trip to Stuart's Conch shack for lunch with several friends. Some of us rode bikes and three talked a local in a truck to drive them the 1.5 miles to the restaurant. The picture of the shack says a thousand words. Our friends had told them we were coming for conch salad and macaroni and cheese. Well, the only offering of the day today was the salad as there was no cheese on Bimini! Our group filled the place. As we drank our Kalik beer(Bahamian beer), we watched Tarzan dice up the conch, tomatoes, green peppers, and onions, add the seasoning and squeeze the lime. the fellow outside the shack can be seen skinning the conch which had just been shelled. The salad was delicious and plenty filling and we ended lunch with ice cream from the ice cream truck which goes up and down the street everyday. Poor Joe had to make a ham sandwich to take to the Conch Shack due to shellfish allergies.

I was able to buy some fresh produce at one of the little roadside markets as the fruit and vegetable boat came in from Nassau with fresh produce. In fact when we stopped earlier in the afternoon, the lady told us to come back in an hour as the produce had just arrived by boat and would be much fresher. This happens weekly.

I have included some pictures of the beaches and Queen's Highway, one of 2 main thoroughfares through town to give you an idea of the size of this town. Most people are making a subsistence living and everyone is very friendly. All of us felt very safe in this area.

At 5 pm we convened at Big John's , a local bar, with all the boaters leaving tomorrow to plan our next two days. Weather permitting we will leave in the morning and sail across the Banks, about 50 miles and put out the anchor tomorrow night. The next day we will have about 30 miles to Frazer Hog Cay, one of the Berry Islands. We may stay there for 2-3 days due to weather, mostly increased wind not conducive for getting to Nassau which is the next leg of our journey and the gateway to the Exumas. We don't expect to have internet service until Nassau, maybe Tuesday.

I am having difficulty uploading images today, so will have to add later.