February 28, 2010

• Boiling conch shells...avoiding Portuguese man of war jelly fish

  Although back in Canada will try and post my daily journal and photos of our week holiday.....
  

  
  

  
  

  24/02/10

   

  Wednesday morning woke up to rain again thus any of my snorkeling trips cancelled but still the 7:30 AM knock at the door…”Yes we are going diving.” Number 3 and 4 of a series of package of six we purchased from local dive shop.

  On her second morning of dives, I came along as a passenger. Brought some borrowed snorkel and mask and swam the surface while the others were down 30 – 40 feet. 8 am heading out on diving boat Amelia before her 4th dive  In to the water holding mask. ready for first dive. The captain Presley cationed me to stay near to the boat and at one point motioned madly for me to return,,,, hurriedly got out of water when snorkeling after warning of nearby Portuguese man of war jelly fish. …they had drifted in from the Gulf and tentacles leave red welts and burning stings!

   

  All in all a great morning!

  Wed afternoon, Amelia and I, umbrella in tow, headed to the harbour front at Lucaya about 15 minutes away from our resort. A combination of small colorful shops and booths, where the vendors offered you deals on hats to shells to jewelry, a walk along the harbour front with large private boats and fishing and diving tours. High tourist industry in the area.

   

  Wed afternoon as weather still windy went driving to north of island thinking about possibly stopping at Paradise Cove. Arrived about 4 pm but with a fee for beach usage and cold conditions decided to turn around. This when we made an odd discovery….what appeared to be an abandoned site with a few rusty fishing barges and no longer used tourist or snack both we found mounds of conch shells amid the other detritus. It appears that this had been a dumping place for the fishing boats for the shells after their catch. Well Amelia is not kissing any sharks but we took a few shells of different sizes and s I spent next few days boiling conch shells in pots in the kitchen, scrubbing, bleaching and drying in the sun, maybe not as perfect as the ones in the shops, but good souvenirs.

   

  • 11:26 am
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