November 28, 2011

Amazing what a new day will bring! We went to shore today and got to walk around a bit, which was refreshing to see happy faces. We stopped by the small grocery store. When I say small I mean that they only had one freezer the same size that one American household would have in their basement, and a standing shelf that you would find in a 7-11 with one side partially stocked with dried goods. They had a small fridge with grapes and a few sodas...that's it! We decided to wait until the afternoon, when everyone had received their goods from the supply ship that had come in the middle of the night. We actually got to watch the supply ship (who had run aground when he came in last night) unload and leave this morning.
We walked the whole island, the roads were all cement and big enough for one golf cart to drive on. All the golf carts and the one truck that we saw were loaded down with goods from the supply ship. We decided to head back to the boat for lunch, after which Dahlia napped and Deason and Chris went off to snorkel. They came back with what we had hoped would have been part of our dinner. We had read in our cook book that to get conch out from their shell easily that you boil them for 5 mins and they will come out with a fork. Well, Joy of Cooking failed us! That sucker would not come out of the shell.
We decided to go to shore and have dinner there, which was the original plan anyway, but a conch appetizer would have been nice. When we got to shore we did our grocery shopping, and they had a few more items than this morning, but not much, mostly bags of chips. We bought two whole chickens, grapes, and a few dried goods. We didn't need much else. I also found a local guy named Danny who sold us 10 lobster tails for $10, and he agreed to give me conch opening and cleaning lessons tomorrow when we get some more conch! I was psyched for both.
Dinner was excellent, and amusing. We were apparently too early and they had to unlock the door for us. When I asked what they had on the menu the woman said "I don't know, I will have to check and see what she has". She came back and said "chicken, conch, fish, and lobster", I actually felt rude asking what those dishes might come with, so I didn't bother asking. Deason had the lobster, Chris had the fish, and I had the conch. Dahlia shared with all of us, and it was excellent...including the sides. I now have my Bahamas ideal restored, and we are all going to bed with a happy heart and full bellies.