After a hard day of boat work enjoying a "Bilge Burner" the house specialty rum punch.
We've been trying to maintain a daily fitness regime of some kind that we do in the morning and then do any errands we have. Fresh food arrives on the island and is available Thursday so we ride over to Maxwell's the Marsh Harbor grocery store to stock up on the fresh things. Fresh food here is available although it is often outdated or close to expiration by the time it's available. It's disappointing to pay the premium price for fresh food only to have much of it be unusable. We try to keep a diet of fresh fruit and vegetables which is hard but we usually find things to keep up our diet. Once we leave here that will become more difficult so we are enjoying it for now. Maxwell's is about a 15-20 min bike ride from our boat.
One of my projects was to assemble this motion sensor light by attaching a 12 volt DC charger plug on the end so we can plug it into the cockpit 12V DC outlet as another security measure.
We've also found that here in the Abacos unlike most other parts of the Bahamas there is some agriculture. Maxwell's sells Abaco Chicken which is raised locally and not badly priced. Surprisingly it is organic and good. Interestingly the way they cut chicken and turkey here is unusual. We got a package of chicken thighs to try and the thigh included a portion of the back. The fresh turkey leg packages in the store cut the bone in cross-sections rather than as a single piece. There are also some locally grown fruits and vegetables which advertise themselves as organic which is surprising but certainly there are fewer pests here to worry about although I would think the thin soil would require fertilizing. Many homes have fruit trees growing in their yards and we've seen lots of gardens around homes near the marina.
A papaya tree in a local garden loaded with fruit at the top and under the lower limbs.
Last week on Wednesday we went to one of the signature events here at the Jib Room and that was "Rib Night" where they offer a prix fixe rib dinner. It was good but not something we will do often. Again, the cut of the ribs was different than what we've known in the past although they were big and meaty.
One of the places in the neighborhood that we walk by.
One day last week a local fisherman came around on the dock selling fresh-caught stone crab claws. We've had them before here in the Bahamas and they are so much better than the ones in Florida. We had a couple for lunch that day and they were huge and really good. Today a guy came by selling lobsters and we passed but asked him to come back next week. Some folks in a boat across the dock bought some and they looked really good. We brought a bottle of champagne along for New Years and plan to have lobster and stone crab. Should be a nice way to celebrate a great 2016 and usher in a new exciting 2017. But, again can't eat that stuff all the time.
The stone crab claws to be devoured.
Over the past several days we had 2 cold fronts come through beginning Thursday night. While the temps weren't too cold they brought in lots of unstable air with lots of moisture and wind. As a result we weren't able to keep up with our outside cleaning and polishing so we focused on inside work. In this miserable weather it was nice being tied to a dock where we could at least get off in a lull and walk to the bar. We watched the boats on anchor get thrown around knowing the folks were trapped there or face a wet ride into shore. Saturday and Sunday had a few breaks but rained monsoonal rains without letup much of the day. At night we sat in and watched movies. Internet access and even the TV cable was intermittent mostly because of the weather. Just life in the third world.
In the upcoming week as the rains stop we plan to get back at exterior work and maybe do a dive midweek and then go out sailing again for the weekend. We'll see as the weather materializes and winter in the Bahamas develops.
The Jib Room street view.
No comments:
Post a Comment