LOBSTER-FEST .....

About a week ago, when we had finished all the woodwork in the new aft cabin on "SOUTHERN COMFORT", we felt it was appropriate to celebrate with a nice bottle of wine and two freshly caught and bought lobsters ....... Took out the large pot ..... Added an inch or so of water and brought it to the boil and steamed the lobsters for fifteen minutes .... Talk about 'awesome' ....... Just look at the size of them ......... Now every Friday, our amigo PEDRO, goes out to retrieve his fish traps and brings in the lobsters, which at $7.00/lb has to be the bargain of the day ..... Well anyway, with the method of cooking now proven, this week was to be an even greater event, because Laurie's girlfriend with her husband and the sister-in-law were to make a flying visit ....... Laurie and her girlfriend LISA, have been 'hanging out' since pre-school ... One of the things we planned, was to visit one of CULEBRA's snorkel sites ...... And look at the view, when we landed in the two dinghies ...... There was even a 'Leaping Dog' driftwood sculpture to greet us ........



Gone is the chaos and the sawdust ....... Hard to recognize how this new cabin was once two cabins with a dividing wall ..... And our guests were now the first to use the new aft cabin .......



And what used to be identical bathrooms on port and starboard, has changed somewhat on the port side ....... The walls have been removed, the vanity is gone and has been replaced with a sliding counter-top, so as to become Laurie's writing/computer desktop ...... And the former head with the shower compartment has had a door added, and is now a huge hanging locker .......



The dining table in the lounge (saloon) has had a four-sided trim ....... We took off three inches all around, and put the edging back without the fiddles .... They tended to cut the circulation at your wrists ..... Non-stick under your plates works so much better than useless fiddles ..... And all the left-over plywood sheets were converted into the new sewing table, which Laurie put to immediate use by first making the new 'stack-pack' to hold the mizzen sail ........



You can bet that there would be a bunch of sailors out there who would love a sewing table like this one, with a heavy duty 'Sailrite' sewing machine ...... Then again, we still have a huge amount of canvas work to do ...... Shade cloths in white double-sided vinyl were added to the newly made mizzen stack-pack that will roll up and disappear into a velcro pocket alongside the mizzen boom ....... And of course, the "Queen of Sewing" made new mattresses covers for the aft cabin ....... And people ask you "What do you do all day on your sailboat? ........



We still go to the small town of DEWEY on CULEBRA each day in the dinghy, to get the basics and to check the mail and then of course, as you walk past a bit of nature's perfect gift, out comes the camera for a quick shot ......



The owner of Friday's vegetable truck has rented a permanent shopfront with a refrigerated cool-room to sell his veggies ....... And on our way there, we spotted this magnificent 'Norfolk Pine', supposedly indigenous to Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean ........ They normally grow to about 200 feet, so we are guessing someone needs to do something real soon .......



Which of course, brings us to 'Mamacitas' for a large 'Zoni' burger at lunchtime that Laurie and I normally split ...... And we watch the antics of the iguanas having their mango lunch .......Messy eaters .....



Add a little bit of sliced carrot for good measure and then a quick dip in the water to cool off ......



On the one hand you are looking at something that is just plain 'pre-historic' and on the other hand, there in town is this modern 'pink bus', fully-equiped to do instant mammograms ........ In fact, one of the power-boat owners was trying to pick up a mooring near to us that was already occupied, and we suggested to him to raft up alongside us for the night, which he did ....... And he produced his business card and said that he owned that pink bus and that Laurie could have a free mammogram ...... I call it 'Karma' myself ......



Anyway, 48 hours ago our guests arrived on the CULEBRA ferry and we took them straight to Paradise for some snorkeling in blue water, after a fast dinghy ride and a good night's sleep of course ...... "Shock treatment" we call it ......



Good shock, not the bad shock kind ............ Then back to town and 'Mamacitas' for lunch and wait for 'Pedro the fisherman' to come in with his catch .... Sounds biblical doesn't it ....... Spanish bible probably .....



These lobsters are huge ....... We buy five of them because two other cruiser couples are coming over to join us for the ' lobster-fest' this evening ...... The total weight is 20 lbs ........



What can we say ........ "Cruising is such a hard life" ............ And while our guests were on the aft deck talking with the other cruising couples, Laurie and I had three large pots steaming on two stoves, on both "ARITA" and "SOUTHERN COMFORT" ...... But man, what a tray full of lobsters ...... It would not be fair to show you how we 'demolished' them ..... Just wouldn't be fair ....... All that garlic butter dripping down our fingers and our chins ..... No, it wouldn't be fair at all ....



Five gallon buckets were needed to clean each one ......... Laurie and Lisa 'rejoicing in this life' ........ This is one of those magic moments that highlights the cruising lifestyle ..... Not just the lobsters, but that you can share them with friends and make those unforgettable memories ......



The party gravitated to below-decks for desert later in the evening ...... Paul and Lyn from the yacht "KIANA" brought wine cake with blue berries, raspberries and some exotic rum concoction and Harry and Linda from the catamaran "KUHELA" filled us with a wonderful salad ....... There was a beans and rice in there somewhere that nobody got to, and though satiated to the extreme, almost one whole lobster was put away for a future 'lobster bisque' ...... BY 5 o'clock rooster crow this morning, we were all up and at it, to catch the morning ferry back to the mainland ..... You can see 'lobster-itis' written all over their faces ......



As well as the normal ferry there was an ultra modern cargo ferry tied to the municipal dock ..... Made entirely out of aluminum (That's aluminium for you 'down-under' people) ....... We think it belongs to one of 'SUPERMAN's' subsidiaries ...... It had that 'stealth' look about it ..... Speaking of stealth ....... Check out TIMO's latest, back in CURACAO ......





And every job requires an 'Inspector' ........ Someone who can 'sniff out' a potential problem ........ Amazing how it is all coming together .......



Speaking of 'Inspectors' ...... We noticed that having the live power lines held up with a piece of rope did not induce a sense of well-being ..... Then again, who are we to talk, seeing the way we cart stuff from the mainland onto the ferry ......



And so to end the day, Harry and I gave Paul (the other Aussie) a hand with removing his perfectly good fibreglass bimini top and taking it to town ...... He intends to replace it with a more 'aerodynamic' fibreglass model ......



We sure know how to have fun ............. And all of it still on a full stomach of lobster ...... We've just been invited over to "KUHELA" for lobster bisque ....... How can we possibly refuse ......



Paul has put a "SE VENDE" sign on it (For Sale) ....... Now wouldn't it be funny if PEDRO the fisherman bought it for his fishing boat ....... Paul's asking price is twice what we paid for the five lobsters yesterday ....... Then, if Pedro offered to pay him in lobsters ....... Well ...... You just never know ...... We would all have to help Paul and Lyn out with 'demolishing' ten more lobsters ..... I mean, that would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it .......