How did the biggest lobster I’ve ever seen end up in my cockpit?
Fisherman- You want lobster?
Me- How much per pound?
Fisherman- 20ec
Me- Nope
Fisherman- How much you pay?
Me- 12ec
Fisherman- 15?
Me- Ok
Fisherman- Holds up a gigantic 5-pound lobster
Me- Gulps. What have I gotten myself into?
That’s how, for 70ec (about $26) I ended up with a very large and very grumpy creature in my cockpit, and an unplanned afternoon of lobster butchering ahead of me.
I wasn’t planning on lobster for dinnerSize comparison to Mike’s snorkel gear
I’m usually in charge of lobster killing. When we have small lobsters it’s easy to simply put on a pair of gloves, hold the lobster over the side of the boat, and pull off the tail. The rest of the critter just goes back in the water. Then I use one antenna to pull out the poop chute. But this guy was so big (and wiggly) I didn’t think I could twist the tail off without killing it first. So I pulled Capt. Mike into the effort. He used our largest kitchen knife to make a quick stab behind the eyes to kill it as humanely as possible. Then we used a thin, long knife to cut around the tail in order to remove as much of the head meat with the tail as we could.
Putting him out of his misery
Looking back on it, I should have stopped right there. But… Such a big lobster also has some significant meat in the body and in the legs. And I was DETERMINED to retrieve as much of that meat as possible. So, while Capt. Mike took a nap, I proceeded to turn Sanitas’ cockpit into a disgusting crime scene. With a combination of knives and kitchen shears, a mixing bowl for the good bits and a plastic tub for the gross bits, I eventually ended up with a big pile of legs and “knuckles” to accompany the tail meat. I wish I had taken a photo of the aftermath. Did you know that lobster blood is originally clear, but it turns black when exposed to air? Or that it dries into a sort of jelly that sticks to everything it touches? Me neither! A couple of buckets of saltwater and a bit of deck brushing later, my butchering effort was finally complete.
After a nap and a swim I resumed the effort with cooking lobster for dinner. We don’t have a grill on Sanitas, or a super large pot. So my go-to lobster cooking method is to treat the tail with butter, garlic, and Old Bay and to roast it in a very hot oven. We try to conserve propane by always baking more than one thing at a time in the oven. So Capt. Mike sliced up some strange looking local sweet potatoes and threw them in to roast at the same time. I’m strict about us always eating our veggies, so I sauteed a bag of chopped callalou with more garlic and some curry spices. Layering the potatoes, callalou, and lobster with a drizzle of sweet chili sauce over the top, I think my little galley turned out a restaurant-quality meal!
Tail filling up my 9×13 cookie sheetTail meat filling up a Corelle dinner plateThe finished product!
Lesson learned… Next time I find myself with a monster like this, I’m gonna take it to shore to clean it on the beach, probably involving a machete. Preferably, the beach will have a fire pit for grilling so neither my cockpit nor my galley will end up the the huge mess they were yesterday 😁
I love island shopping day! It’s always hot and sweaty, but also, always an adventure – you can’t say the same about a trip to Safeway 😉
It starts with a wet dinghy ride to the tiny town of Ashton. Before jumping into the dinghy, don’t forget to grab a small bag of trash to throw out at the dock, and don’t forget shoes (been there, done that). We usually stand up in the dinghy to attempt to get soaked with salt water only from the knees down. Then a two mile walk to the slightly larger town of Clifton – luckily there’s only one big hill to conquer on the way. I keep a running contest going to find the cutest baby goat family on our “urban hikes”. Extra points for little black sheep. Clifton is bustling with many small grocery stores, veggie stalls, and even a few clothing shops. Streets are busy right before lunch time – I guess you could call it Union Island rush hour.
Always a wet ride!Ashton, Union IslandBaby goat rush hour
I wouldn’t call it one stop shopping… We stop at the cheapest, most rustic veggie stand next to Determination Bar first, where the super nice ladies help me pick out the best grapefruit and the local spring onions. But no chance of finding imported delicacies such as green peppers, green beans, or the kind of big ripe bananas us Americans are used to. So I finish my fruit and veggie shopping at Jenny’s brightly painted veg stand down by the town dock. She has chopped callalou and much nicer tomatoes, but I still have to keep searching for green peppers. About 130ec later ($48) our backpacks are full of about 10 days worth of fresh fruit and veg. Just one more stop at the grocery store for cheese, butter, and eggs and we’re good to go. No, scratch that. It’ll be better to return to the market for unrefrigerated eggs – they’ll last longer.
Now this is not at all the way the islanders shop. They seem to buy a day or two of food at a time and shop more often. Island friends say it’s because they rarely have enough cash to buy much at one time. Grocery stores usually have staples such as rice, flour, and sugar repacked into small plastic bags of a pound or 2 cups in addition to the 5- and 10-pound bags I’m used to finding. I really appreciate how lucky I am to be able to afford fresh, healthy food – we can stretch our cruising budget by cooking fresh food on the boat instead of eating in pricy tourist restaurants regularly. And when I stock up like this, we can take Sanitas off grid and get away from civilization for a week or more at a time. I know that the islanders are really suffering due to the lack of tourist income in Covid times, so I don’t negotiate on the price of produce. Sometimes I’ll exclaim, “Really?!? That much?” and the shop keeper will throw in a piece of citrus or a few extra bananas 🍌🥭🍈🍋
Jenny’s veggie standVine-ripened tomatoes in winter
Another 2-mile walk back to the dock (we never seem to time the mini buses right here in Union Island), another dinghy ride (it’s not quite as wet in this direction) and then I have to clean and repackage all the veg. Take everything out of the plastic bags, check for bugs, pack in green produce bags to make things last longer, rotate the contents of my top-loading fridge to store the newest and most durable items on the bottom and the fragile things I need to eat first on top. While I’m at it, check the contents of the fruit hammock – make sure nothing’s going bad. And… Since I’m really on a roll…I found tiny bugs in the cornmeal last night. Good thing I package all my dry goods in sealed containers! But just in case, let’s take everything out of the galley cupboard, wipe everything down, and make sure the bugs didn’t escape their plastic prison. Phew!
A pretty good haulThese grapefruits are HUGE!
When people ask, “What do you actually DO all day when you live in a sailboat?” I answer, “all the things you do – everything just takes a heck of a lot longer”. I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into island shopping… I’m going to get started making falafel, a tomato cucumber salad, and maybe some butternut squash for dinner. What are you having?
Shopping for food can be expensive in Grenada. There’s only one big American style grocery store, and the tax and duty on imported goods sends the prices on American brands sky high. But… if you eat what the locals eat …. you can eat healthy, delicious fresh food for much lower cost! My favorite way to eat local starts with the adventure of a trip to the fish market in downtown St George’s.
It’s a short walk from our slip in the Port Louis Marina to the main road around the St George’s harbor. Before I even reach the road, a #1 bus slows down, honks, and the conductor waves to me. Why yes! I do want a ride! How’d you know? I hurry to the curb, don my mask, and allow the conductor to spray my hands with sanitizer. Then I clamber gracelessly aboard the van and squeeze into a seat. It costs $2.50 ecd per ride, no matter how far you go, so I get my 93 cents worth by staying on until the end of the route at the St George’s bus terminal.
(The bus system here is an adventure in and of itself. A fellow cruiser wrote this wonderful blog post that captures exactly the island bus experience. Feel free to check it out. Don’t worry! I’ll wait!) Grenada Explorer bus blog
After I unfold myself from the crowded bus and wipe the sweat from my brow, I join the flow of humanity on the sidewalks and in the streets – shopping, eating, buying, selling. The fish market is just past the bus station, and it’s best to get there early for the best selection. This is truly “Catch of the Day” because whatever the fishermen caught this morning is on sale until it’s gone! Luckily, that’s pretty much always yellowfin tuna, so I’m not complaining! When we first arrived in Grenada back at the beginning of July, a cruiser told me “don’t buy the $20ecd bags of tuna.” So what do you think I did on my first over-stimulating fish market visit? I panicked! There was so much noise and smell and fish guts, I just stopped at the first vendor inside the door, pointed to a bag of fish, and said “I’ll take it” It was fine, I guess. And you really can’t argue with the $7.40 usd price. But it has bones, and some bits of skin, and who knows if it’s today’s catch or yesterday’s?
So I did my research and asked around, and on my second fish market outing, I arrived better prepared. I returned to the first vendor (you gotta have “a guy”, right?) and this time, I said “I’ll take three pounds of tuna, and could you remove the skin for me?” My fishmonger eyed the fish carcass in front of him, raised his machete, and let it fall – thunk! Then he picked up a worn piece of wood shaped like a club, and pounded on the machete until it successfully cut through the bone and a hefty chunk of dark red meat landed on the ice shavings. He placed it on the old school analog scale and presto! Three pounds exactly. A couple more passes of the sharp machete, and I’ve got a massive amount of amazing fresh sushi-grade tuna for $24ecd (about $9 usd)
Jeff, on SV Yagermeister, shopped for tuna for five boats, and shared this gorgeous photo- fish blood and all!
On my most recent fish market foray, I upped my game even more! Perhaps there were fewer shoppers on a Monday morning than on my usual Saturday shop, but “my guy” had tuna, sailfish, and shark. I did pass on the shark, but took about 4 pounds of tuna and 2 pounds of the sailfish. And THIS TIME I asked the fish monger to remove the backbone and bloodline as well as the skin. Look how far I’ve come since panicking and just pointing to the pre-packaged bag! I’ve also learned to ask for a scoop of ice to keep the fish cool on the hot bus ride home. And, since I’ve already made the trip, I walk a couple of blocks to the veg market and pick up a bag of eggs from a guy selling them out of a shopping cart. (Have you ever bought eggs in a plastic bag, lol? And then traveled home on a crowded mini bus? It reminds me of that school project where you pretend an egg is a baby and you fail if it breaks before the end of the semester 🤣) Other market options are totally appropriate to buy in bags, so I also grab some limes, and tomatoes and cucumbers. Everything super fresh and organic!
So what do I do with all of this wonderful fresh tuna? Pretty much everything I can think of! For the first couple of days, we eat it raw: sushi rolls, sashimi, or my new favorite – poke bowls. With all this sushi, I’m running low on siracha, wasabi, and gluten free soy. Darn! I’m going to have to hit up that overpriced grocery store after all! After those freshest sushi days, I mix up a rub of dried spices, and quickly sear the tuna – definitely keeping it pink or even red on the inside – and serve it over a bed of sautéed vegetables. Last night, I used the last of our white-fleshed sail fish in a coconut curry. Oh my goodness, so good!
Sanitas and her crew will be farther away from “town” and the fish market for the next couple of months, but I’m pretty sure I’ll pay my round trip bus fare every couple of weeks to restock the fridge with the bounty of Grenada’s seas 🐠.
Thanks to our friend Jeff, on SV Yagermeister, for this photo of HIS fish guy (actually a fish girl) who smiles way more than my guy and actually seems happy to have customers!
So we’ve been under a 24-hour curfew to limit the spread of Covid-19 here in Antigua since April 2. And as of yesterday, it had been 10 days since I’d set foot on land and gone shopping for groceries and other supplies. Talk about self-isolation! On the plus side, Capt Mike and I are pretty confident that we’re cornavirus-free after such a long period of social distancing. But on the down side, our fresh food stores were down to a cabbage, a few carrots, and a lime. So, a few days ago, I had a brilliant idea…..In a Facebook group for cruisers in Antigua, I found an advertisement for a business that is willing to deliver fresh vegetables to various parts of the island. So I sent a What’sApp message out into the void letting Farmer George know I wanted a delivery to North Sound Marina which is located about 2.5 miles by dinghy from our remote anchorage. I let three of four friends on nearby boats know that I planned to place an order. Then…BOOM! Everything got a little bit crazy. The word spread quickly, and I was suddenly receiving veggie orders via FB messenger and What’sApp and SMS text from 13 boats, most of which I hadn’t even met in person yet, and several who don’t speak english as a first language. Some submitted orders in pounds of each type of veg, some in quantities of each kind of veg, some added “wish list” items that weren’t even on the price list! I buckled down and created a spreadsheet to track the orders and estimate the cost for each boat. I created a What’sApp discussion group to keep everybody informed. And I walked a thin line between harassing the veggie delivery rep, Petra, and trying to be polite and understanding because she said she was sooooo busy managing individual deliveries during lockdown and leading up to Easter weekend, that she was only getting a few hours of sleep each night.
Finally, I got a hold of Petra and submitted an order for approximately $900 Eastern Caribbean dollars of produce to feed thirteen families. At 2:00 am Thursday morning, I received a message from Petra: “We should be there by 11:30. Given the volume of orders, we need a tight turnaround. Add 70.00EC for delivery. And the eggs are”…..Yep. That’s where it ended. I hoped we were both talking about 11:30 on Thursday. I hoped we agreed on meeting at the marina. I had no idea the total cost of the order and how many hundreds of dollars I had to bring in cash. And the Antiguan government had just announced that 24-hour curfew was extended for another week, with absolutely everything on the island closed down on Friday through Sunday for Easter. So this Thursday morning was go time!
I sent an email to the Marina, letting them know we’d be coming in for “essential business” to buy food for our families, so they wouldn’t get us in trouble for breaking curfew. Chuck on SV Virtual Reality and Jason on SV Mimzy have the biggest, fastest dinghies in the anchorage, so the three of us donned mandatory face masks, grabbed shopping lists and cash, and headed ashore. We got there about a half hour early so we could speak to the boatyard manager and find our way through the huge yard to the front gate. And then we sat in the shade by the side of the road and waited. And waited. Now remember, I hadn’t heard from Petra since 2am. Chuck made a little side trip to talk to some local fisherman, and ended up buying us 10 pounds of mahi mahi fillets!
By noon (when we were all supposed to be back in our homes for the strictest form of curfew) I still hadn’t heard from Petra, and the number of cars and trucks passing by had slowed to almost none. Then I got a What’sApp message! Hooray! She said the eggs we’d ordered showed up really late, and she was headed back to pick the up. So we settled in and waited some more.
At 1:00 I sent another nessage, “Hi Petra, are you still coming?” and I got a terse response back – “yes”.
At 1:15, she messaged me “No tomatoes today. Someone stole my box. Sigh.” Now, we had ordered a total of 33 pounds of tomatoes, so I knew I was going to have some grouchy sailors! So I responded, “Please feel free to substitute something else. Spinach? Cucumbers?” At 1:30 Petra said “Heading to you now. 12 to 15 minutes” We had to move to a new spot in the dirt, because the sun had moved so far across the sky, the shade had moved!
An hour later, at 2:30…. “I am on the wrong side….coming.” A few minutes later….”I went to the wrong place…coming.” I walked over the the security gate for the marina and asked the security guard to call her and give directions. FINALLY, at almost 3:00, after sitting by the side of the road for four hours, Petra arrived! Hooray! Her little 4-door sedan was absolutely stuffed with cardboard boxes FILLED with fresh picked fruits and vegetables!
We had her drive as close to the dock as she could get and my big burly guys took turns hauling heavy boxes to the dinghies. It barely fit! We unloaded it all onto the stern of Mimzy, a big spacious catamaran, and set up a human assembly line to call out the orders from my spreadsheet, weigh pound after pound of vegetables, and load everything into shopping bags. Finally, I sent out the long awaited message – “The veggies are here! Come and get them!” Dinghies zipped in from all corners of the anchorage and we had the pleasure of handing heavy bags of pumpkin, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, zucchini, onions, lettuce, and thyme to quarantined sailors who were getting close to risking scurvy. 😜
I left Sanitas at 10:30 in the morning, and got back to the boat around 6:00 pm. It’s sure not as easy as going to the local Whole Foods. Or ordering quarantine groceries to be delivered from Walmart or Instacart. But all of our veggies were grown right here on Antigua – picked that morning or the day before. And we’re supporting a local business that’s trying their best to survive the closure of restaurants and resorts by figuring out how to switch to an individual delivery model. And we’ll be eating like kings and queens for the next week of curfew. After that, who knows? Maybe things will go back to normal and we’ll be able to visit grocery stores again. Or …. maybe I’ll be planning another epic trip to meet with Petra. There are about another half dozen boats in the anchorage now. I’ll bet some of them want fresh vegetables!
Boulder, Colorado has a reputation of being a crunchy, granola sort of place. But even when I lived there, I never made my own yogurt or kimchi or kombucha. Why would I? There was a Whole Foods supermarket within walking distance, with shelves stocked with organic goodies, and still I had a paycheck to buy them. The weekend Farmers’ Market was amazing. And I could buy kombucha by the case at Costco.
Things are different now in cruising life. Grocery stores are few and far between, and unless you’re content with the basics, like rice and flour and dried beans and sugar, you’ll pay through the nose for imported goodies. So when my friend Cheryl on SV Leef Nu offered me a kombucha scoby, or mother, I said yes. And worried about the details later.
And there certainly were some details to work through. I knew the basics about kombucha: that it is naturally fermented tea, that it contains healthful probiotics, and that is makes for a flavorful, low calorie beverage. But I had no idea how to make it or store it! Cheryl sent me some info from a class she took. And I found a very detailed recipe and process captured on TheKitchn. But my biggest barrier to entry was the fact that I don’t own a container at least a gallon or larger in which to ferment the tea. So after several days of growing increasingly guilty that my kombucha mother was just sitting in a grocery bag under the nav table, I went on the hunt. Luckily, we were in Rock Sound, Eleuthera at the time, and there were several stores available within walking distance. Over a 48-hour period, I pretty much visited every one of them: both grocery stores, the school supply store, the hardware store, and one sort of everything store that contained a few home goods. There, I handed over $30 for a bright orange, insulated, 2-gallon jug. It’s the kind that you see used for drinking water at construction sites. I walked the mile and a half back to the dinghy dock with a backpack full of groceries, a bottle of rum, and a massive orange jug. I got pretty good at the wave to all the passing cars on my way back. I guess I didn’t look pathetic enough for any of them to offer me a ride.
Once back on Sanitas, I pulled out the biggest cooking pot we own (previously only used for making popcorn) and brought 3.5 liters of water to a boil. Once boiling, I added 8 black tea bags, and 1 cup of sugar and turned off the burner, leaving the whole thing on the stove the rest of the day to steep and cool. (The recipe says you can speed up the cooling process by sitting the pan in an ice bath. Yeah right. The author sure doesn’t live on a sailboat) When the mixture was more or less cool, I filled up the big orange jug. Then took the brown, gelatinous scoby out of its ziplock bag for the first time, complete with its vinegar smell and several brown stringy things and slid it in on top of the strong sweet tea. I screwed the lid on tight, then unscrewed it about a half-turn to let some air in, so the poor little scoby could breathe. Then I shoved it under the salon table for about a week or so, and hoped for the best.
Ten days later, the scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) had fermented away the sugar, leaving a tart and tangy brew. I filled three plastic soda bottles and added mint to one, basil to the second, and left the third plain. Time to get that big old pot out again and make a new batch. Gotta keep the kombucha mother happy by giving her more sugar! After a few days of secondary fermentation in the bottles, I moved them into the refrigerator and started drinking the kombucha as a welcome change from plain water or chemical tasting drink mixes. Success!
I’m now on my third batch, tweaking the proportions a bit this time to try to make four liters at a time instead of three. And my kombucha scoby has grown so much that I had the opportunity to split it, and to share the scope and recipe with another cruiser. I’ve gotta say I’m pretty impressed with myself! Now Capt. Mike and I just need to keep on top of it, drinking enough of the finished kombucha that I can have empty soda bottles ready to fill each time a new batch is done.
(PS: in the past two weeks, I have also made homemade hummus, and almond flour blueberry scones. Who is this person?)
What Floats Our Boat 