A big adventure planned for today - Mike scheduled a SCUBA trip and Mende and I would be travelling down to Lighthouse Beach on the southern tip of Eleuthera. Of course we packed enough food for 6 people even though we would be back before dinner tonight! Mike's trip was with Ocean Fox out of Davis Harbor so we went there first to drop him off. It was such a quiet little marina with only a few boats and businesses. I took a few picks of the view from the marina (sorry about the vignette frame). Mike was lucky to get a space with a group who planned a trip out, since he was a single. Mike got settled in and Mende and I headed off to the Southern tip of Eleuthera! There was no way it was a good idea for me to drive - I do not have the capacity to be able to drive on the other side of the car and the other side of the road, so good thing Mende was there! This was where we were headed...the very point where I had read so much about the amazing beach! The road getting there was as advertised - long, winding, pitted, rocky, narrow, etc. It took about 20 minutes from when we left the "real" road. We stopped when it became too sandy to drive and carried our gear the last few hundred yards. All I can say is WOW! We climbed up on the rock formations at the end of the beach and saw some absolutely gorgeous views! There was an abandoned old lighthouse there and around the corner from the beach we parked our stuff on, there was a little tiny sandy beach nestled in the rocks that we claimed for our own! From the top of the the rocks I finally could see the view Ive been waiting months to capture! I've seen this view all over the internet when looking at travel info about Eleuthera - and I finally was able to get the image for myself! It's too bad the sky was overcast, but it didnt really matter!! (again sorry for the vignette filter that I forgot to shut off!) I took a lot of pics and then took a dip in the water. I snorkeled around a little but the coral was flat and dead and not too many fish were hanging out. After a few hours we headed toward the car and took a few more pics of that side of the coast. Then back to get Mike. Mike had a great time on his two dives - I'll have him explain them himself later. We drove in the direction of home, stopped in Rock Sound for some libations. Back in GH the fishermen were out so we stopped to get something for dinner - parrotfish and conch. Seemingly everyone from Mike's dive was also getting fish an hour+ away from Davis Marina at the same time - one of the guys told Mike the dive company owner had his shirt he had left there, so we planned a little trip over to his house to pick that up later. After dropping off Mende and cleaning up, Mike and I headed over to Al's house, about one mile away from Caribbean Blue. His house was lovely, on the top of a cliff overlooking the water and part of Levi Island, which was our view from Caribbean Blue - safe from hurricanes but still able to benefit from the lovely breezes! He invited us to sit down on his porch and we chatted for about an hour about his business and the island. He and his wife are from Texas and vacationed down here. After a number of years visiting Eleuthera 2 and 3 times a year his wife finally asked can we just move there already and they bought this house and fixed it up. He told us he was considering getting cable for the TV because everyone said he should, but TV wasnt a big priority there. I told him I had been snorkeling at Lighthouse Beach and wondered why the reefs were so desolate and why hadnt we seen any sharks thus far? He talked for quite awhile about the Bahamian government and how difficult it was to change anything at all. He proposed to protect a reef area so he could bring SCUBA divers in to see an area not affected by local fishermen but it wasnt getting approved. He told us about the restrictions put on fishermen about not being able to fish with tanks, that they were allowed to use a SNUBA-like system with 30' of hose per boat, but then each boat combined their hoses to create 60' and 90' long lines to reach more fish. So basically, the waters are being overfished and it was obvious along the shores. We didnt see any large hogfish and all the grouper I saw were juvenile. Maybe we saw one spiny lobster - and it wasnt even lobster hunting season. We left Al's kind of scratching our heads about the community not concerned with potentially overfishing. I felt bad we had eated a triggerfish and an angelfish from the fishermen and I wondered how those two fish were caught. On one hand, I was glad we were providing financial support to the locals who really need the money, but I felt guilty about participating in the entire overfishing problem. Back at home Mende offered to make us dinner so Mike and I went to do some snorkeling around the bay at the house. I was determined, jellyfish or not, to see what we could find in there! We went in a different direction this time and after about 3 minutes of swimming, the water became much deeper and we could see coral heads with some larger fish! Mike dove down and pointed something out to me - a LIONFISH!!! It had been our goal since we planned this trip, to do our best to catch as many lionfish as possible. Unfortunately we hadnt really gone in areas with a lot of reefs so far. BUT - this guy was right here at our house!!! Mike quickly took a breath, went back down and speared that guy! It was not a short swim back to the house, but he held the fish out of the water the entire way and we swam back. We were so excited! Our deal was that Mike would spear and de-spine any fish he caught and I would clean and cook it. We had both watched a lot of videos about how to cut off the venomous spines and we had brought the gear with us, so it was a piece of cake, right?? Umm, well it was a little stressful. I recorded some of the process - take a look at how big his mouth is when Mike shifts him around! I have to say, for as impressive lionfish look in the water, they sure do look like a wet cat out of water! After Mike took the spines off, I took over and cut that guy up! it was easy to filet, although it was just enough for a snack to share - we'd need a few more to make a meal. One side I dredged in flour and seasoning and quickly pan seared. The other I simply sliced up and served sashimi. And yes, we did bring chopsticks, wasabi, ponzu and soy sauce - don't you bring those things on vacation?? The sashimi was absolutely delicious. The meat is tender and sweet, a cross between scallops and lobster with the texture of a smooth fleshy fish. Really amazing! Want to learn more about lionfish? Watch this great video about lionfish in Eleuthera! After our appetizer it was time for dinner and Mende had made an amazing spread! As much as I had felt guilty about eating the beautiful blue parrotfish, it was a unique flavor and texture Im glad I didnt miss. Mende prepared it with herbs, garlic, green onions and tomatoes with white wine, along with a salad, cassava and red onions and a very unique dish of bananas wrapped in bacon! There might have been some adult beverages mixed in there through the night so by the time it came to dessert, there was an interesting sweet potato 'pudding' with rum, raisins, nuts, all kinds of craziness. We sat on the patio digesting dinner and watching the thunderstorm far off on the horizon. When darkness came, the whole sky would light up with the cloud to cloud lightning. As we sat there I looked down on the bay and realized the water was blinking! The bioluminescent creatures in the bay were out and it was an amazing show! We all went and sat down by the water watching the lightning and the flashing in the water. Mike might have fallen asleep, so after not too long we turned in for the night.
0 Comments
Day 6 began with a perfect pink sunrise (and ended with a perfect sunset too!) I cooked a yummy breakfast of leftover conch, mangoes, eggs, bacon and corn tortillas. Mike and I packed up to do some exploring of the beaches around Governor's Harbor that we havent seen yet - first stop was Twin Cove Beach. It wasnt the easiest road (but none of them really are). We had to park a little ways from the beach but it was so worth it! There were two people lounging on the island when we got there, but I suppose there was enough beach to share! So cool how the two beaches come together! We stayed here for about an hour, snorkeled around a little. The north cove was much calmer but there werent many living things to see, The south cove had a few reefs but the wind and waves were crashing so we decided to pack up and drive south and see what beach was next - the North side of French Leave Beach! Mike was determined to get some practice in with the pole spear - we swam way out and he started poking around for something sizeable to spear. I lost interest after awhile and was getting in his way so I went a ways away from him. I suppose I was on shark lookout, but the area was turbulent so I doubted a shark would hang out around here. After a few minutes, I looked up to see Mike about 50 yard in front of me, swimming pretty fast with something flapping around on the end of his spear, which he was hoisting out of the water. I took a look around underwater and then swam as fast as I could to the shore. I'm not sure why I even thought a predator would want to fight with him for his catch, but this was the first time he caught something so I wasnt taking any chances! He had speared a very pretty peacock flounder, one of the largest I'd seen, and was so excited to finally used his spear successfully! Because we were so close to home, we went back with the catch and did some research on how to clean it. It was around lunchtime too so this first catch would be lunch. So it turns out flounder this little have hundreds (maybe thousands) of tiny hairlike bones in the flesh and I really just couldnt stomach it. Mike, felt obligated, as he took the life of this creature, to eat every last bite. After "lunch" the four of us took off for Island Farm and some beach time at South Palmetto Beach. The water was calm and seemed great for a dip and a little snorkeling, but after 30 seconds in the water, I realized this would be a little more challenging - the water was full of broken beer bottles, which you didnt see unless you had a mask on. In addition, after being there for 10 minutes a backhoe pulled up and started dragging the beach! And I dont mean it was far away from us - I actually thought it bulldozed over all out stuff we left on the beach. Some locals had gathered to watch the bulldozing and we realized this was probably not the best time to try to relax on this beach! It turns out they had hosted the Palmetto Point Homecoming the week before so the beach was a mess. So I guess not every single beach on Eleuthera is perfect all the time. From there were went to French Leave again to do a little more snorkeling. Mike caught two more fish and we ran into the German couple again. After that, we went home, cleaned up and headed out to the Buccaneer Club in GH. We had a drink each and Mike and I split a dish of cracked conch, rice & peas and Bahamian mac & cheese, which came with about 1, 582 flies that completely surrounded us as we quickly ate. Back at home Mike cleaned the fish down by the shore and I walked around the bend to watch the sun sink into the sea, one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen. |
Archives
August 2015
Mike & SarahWe love to travel, cook, eat, own a home and make stuff. |