Gary the lobster/conch man

April 3^rd 2011

Today was wash day for Celebration’s crew.  It seemed like it took all day to do the wash.  I had to walk at least a 1/4 of a mile to go to the laundry. Greg and Charlotte walked on the beach, and sailed a Hobie Cat.  Jack and Linda rode bikes and also walked on the beach, Jimmy and his Charlotte did as well.  George and I just rested and washed. 

Yesterday, soon after we got into our slip, another Tayana Vancouver 42 pulled into the slip directly across from us. Why this is so remarkable is that there are only 176 of these boats built.  Of course George had to go over and meet the owners.  The owner and his friend had been sailing together for many years.  The owner had bought the boat new in 1991.  He and his wife flew to Taiwan and designed the lay out of  their boat . You could see the women’s touch.  We like our boat more and more, but after talking to him, we are convinced this is the right boat for us.  Greg cooked lobster on Celebration once again.  Then we all went for a walk on the beach. Great meal!  Great memories!

April 4, 2011

We were out of bread so we took a bike ride to the grocery.  It was about a mile or two by bike. Most of the ride was a road by the water and the view was gorgeous.  On the way to the store, we saw Gary.  Gary is the guy that George, Greg, Jack and Scott bought lobster from last year.  He remembered George and the group from last year. When we saw him he was diving for Conch.  He free dives for conch.  After we talked to Gary, we stopped at the Bakery for a Guava pastry.

Gary

After lunch I thought I would try snorkeling.  I was a little too adventurous, got too far out and George sent in a Navy Seal for the rescue.  I will admit I might have been out too far but I swam back. The Navy seal was not that good looking or I might have let him help me.  We saw some one pulling a big box with styrofoam pieced around it.  It was Gary again.  He was still diving for conch.  I wanted to try to cook some, but it is very tough if it is not cooked right.  Jack and Greg also wanted to try some.  So we bought 6 conchs.  I asked Gary how to cook it.  He said you had to tenderize the meat by pounding it.  As I walked off I looked back and the lady from the shell hut was looking over Gary’s conch.  I went back and asked how she cooked conch she told me to sauté it with onions and peppers and add tomato paste after I had tenderized it with a pressure cooker.  I used her recipe and severed it over rice.  It was great.  By the way the pressure cooker is great on the boat, baked potatoes in 15 minutes.