This morning JoAnne and Bill (Ultra) delivered fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls for our breakfast.  What a way to start the day!

We decided to wait one more day before leaving for our next stop, Blackpoint.  Instead we got some work done and then went snorkeling.  We had to search for a place to go snorkeling.  We looked around and found a grassy area, which meant we might find conch.  And, conch we found!  Lots of conch!  Mark and I stayed in our dinghy and followed Mark and JoAnne while they searched for conch and Joanne stayed in her dinghy and followed Bill.  We all have fishing licenses as they come with our cruising permit for six months.  However, each boat is limited to six conch on board at a time.  Therefore we were allowed 18 conch.  We found many more than that and then returned the smallest back to their grassy underwater home to get our catch down to 18. 

If you look carefully at the photo above you can see the live conch inside their shells.  They are snail-like.  To remove the conch meat, you take a claw hammer and make a hole in the back of the conch shell.  Then you use a knife or screwdriver to loosen the conch and remove it.  To tenderize it, once it is out, you can use a special hammer, or score it.  Then, you can “cook” it in lime juice if you are using it in a salad, or to make conch fritters or cracked conch in a frying pan you use a batter.  We’ve had those meals as well as conch bisque and conch chowder.  The conch shells are so strong that they do not break even if you drop them. 

In fact, in the Bahamas you see conch shells piled high on the shores.  We were told by a Bahamian that if you throw the shells back in the water, conch will not return to that area.  Whether that is true or not, you rarely see conch with a hole and the meat removed back in the water.  Cruisers probably throw them back in the water after they are cleaned but the Bahamians don’t.  They are used as decorations, many paths are lined with them, people have them around their yards, or you’ll see them stacked high near the water.   After we got our 18 conch, we continued to look for a coral bed to snorkel in, and we found a large coral island which looked promising.  We anchored the dinghies, put on our snorkels, masks and swim fins and slid into the warm, clear water.  Then, we swam around the coral head.  There were several areas with lots of fish and plants so we had chosen a good spot.  After we did that, we just floated and swam in the water.  We were in a protected area with no wind and the water was bathwater warm.

After we got back to our three boats, we each prepared our part of the dinner.  Joanne (Avalon) made a fantastic salad.  That is a real treat as until recently we didn’t have lettuce or tomatoes, and while they are expensive here, they are worth it.  JoAnne (Ultra) had made a shrimp gumbo earlier in the day and continued to heat it.  I made biscuits and rice.  We then met back on Ultra and had another delicious meal together.  For dessert, I brought over ice cream, milk and chocolate sauce.  We have our milkshake maker on board and made chocolate shakes for dessert.  The ice cream was purchased here and I didn’t even bother to ask the price.  Again, it was worth it. (Photos to come)

Tomorrow we’ll start out early to travel about 10 miles to Blackpoint which is on Big Guana Cay.  We have to take a longer route than the five mile way boats with less draft can go.  There are shallow areas which we have to avoid and some we will go through but will leave near high tide.