Sunday 3/12/2017: Kimbob rented us a 6 passenger van. Pretty sweet that it was delivered to the marina for us. It was an island vehicle; the entire headliner was sagging and laying on our heads! We loaded up our beach chairs, cooler, snorkel gear, and headed out. Ellen had a high level map so we could sort of figure out where we were. Kimbob did a good job driving on the left side of the road. The van was normal left hand drive. Kenny was in shotgun, and therefore in the sacrificial sideswipe seat closest to on-coming traffic. We drove down to Freeport/Lucaya, and went to the Lucayan market where all the cruise ship passengers go. There was hardly anyone there.
‘
I validated that their tissue products are expensive in the islands. $1.99 for one roll of toilet paper.
The little geckos here all have curly tails.
On the way back to Old Bahama Bay Marina, we stopped at Paradise Beach, Deadman’s Reef. April, Ellen, and Kimbob snorkeled all the way out and around the big rock reef. They were gone over an hour, and it was a long swim. But they said there were so many fish that it was definitely worth it. The tide was out, so there was a lot of bare bottom here. The tides swing about 3 feet.
This was one of those places that cruise ship passengers come on a tour to snorkel. There was an entrance fee, sign in, safety briefing, etc. along with restrooms, showers, bar, etc. And sure enough – mid afternoon a whole gaggle of cruise ship peeps showed up and mobbed out into the water for a snorkel trip. These support boats went out with them.
We loaded up from the beach and headed back. We stopped on the way in the little town of West End where we walked yesterday. This is Sunday, and apparently THE day when the locals eat out. The little conch shacks were swarmed with people! And they really are shacks that you would never consider buying something from in the U.S.
The shack on the water side served various conch salads.
The shack on the other side of the road served the cooked items, such as fried fish, lobster, conch fritters, and banana pohncakes (pancakes pronounced in Bahamian island style). And you could buy various jungle juice drinks under the tent on the right.
This shows a pile of conch shells, where they pull the boats in and unload, clean and prepare the conch.
This man had a boat full of conch. Apparently the cage out in the water is a conch jail where they hold their catch. He would break the shell and extract the conch meat, and throw the shell onto the pile.
The conch meat went to this fella, who pounded the b’jebbers out of it to help tenderize the meat. A very necessary step in the process.
He is in the background of this picture pounding away. On the left is another fella cleaning barracuda. He started by cutting off the tail, then made slices up the body through the skin about every inch. Then he would go back and place the machete in the slice and whack it with the board in his hand, to cut fully through the fish. Island style fish cleaver.
It all was quite the production, and VERY busy with families ordering and having Sunday dinner, and just chillin.
We got fried lobster, conch fritters, and pohncakes. Of course the fried stuff was too spicy for me, so I ate all the banana pohncakes. Yum!
