Sitting peacefully at anchor in Carriacou waiting to leave early next week and I’m thinking about fish. The best meals I’ve had out here have been the fresh fish dishes cooked on board…..partly because they were free of course!
Dick will fish from the boat if we are in suitable water. I learned from a local in Bequia that if a boat stays in one place for some time, a colony of sea creatures will thrive beneath….feeding on the “stuff” that goes overboard…..all organic naturally and I suppose an effective way of recycling!
He has managed to hook some interesting specimens, most of which had to go back. There were a few stingrays….much too big to handle on board, some moray eels, an odd orange fish with wings that the locals call a bat fish…not good eating… and the best catches which have been the red snapper….lovely just filleted, seasoned and fried in butter. These were all caught in Bequia and we haven’t really been anchored anywhere suitable since until here in Carriacou. So, the other evening, I was doing something on the computer when I heard the most incredible noises coming from on deck….sounds as though someone had seriously overdosed on those foods with antisocial “aftereffects”…you know….Jerusalem artichokes, butterbeans etc!! I came out to investigate and found he’d managed to hook a pufferfish which was obviously reacting badly to the experience having puffed itself up like a football and then letting the air escape like a deflating balloon. It was really loud and so funny…… Dick managed to shake it from the landing net, back, unharmed into the water and it floated off upside down unable to help itself until it had belched out enough air!! I took photos as seen here but just wish I’d been able to capture the sounds on video!! Priceless!!!