{"id":39847,"date":"2025-02-14T13:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T20:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sylviacrain.com\/hoy\/?p=39847"},"modified":"2025-02-14T13:42:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T20:42:16","slug":"fish-for-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sylviacrain.com\/hoy\/?p=39847","title":{"rendered":"Fish for Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Feb 14, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days back, one of the local tour guides was telling Jim none of the fishing boats were out because it was too rough, but they were coming for fuel so they were getting ready to go. I think he was trying to make us feel better, that the weather was getting better and we’d soon be able to move on. Turns out the fisherman HAD been out and were just returning and fueling up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Reel Love, the fishing boat just returned from fishing. This boat is about the same length as ours but does not have as much free-board. he was fishing in the area we have been wanting to go for a month but have not due to 10 foot waves day and night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Knowing they had been out fishing, we were determined to get some fresh fish. Jim walked over to the fuel dock which is only steps from our dock and they said they would sell us fish after they docked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They docked right behind us and it was clearly party time for them; out came the beer and the pot. They had been out for 11 days, fishing on the Nicaraguan bank and the waters had been rough. But, they had 4500 pounds of snapper which made them happy as they would be paid $9.00 per pound. That is $45,000 dollars to be split among the crew of 4 for 11 says work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their boss, the boat owner Jason Ebanks (Ebanks is a very common Cayman name and likely a varient of Eubanks) came by to begin collecting fish. It turns out it is a two day process to get all the fish out of the hold, into big coolers and delivered to the restaurants in the West End where he sells the fish. The boat guys party and work at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Some of their buddies comes by and raft up to party with them. The boat crew is Honduran, from Roatan where we had been a month ago. “Our boat crew” live in Honduras but have Honduran friends in Cayman. The Honduran crew fishes for two weeks, gets a week off and then fishes again. This happens year around.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We Have a Fish!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jim goes by to check on getting a filet and comes back saying, \u201cwe bought a fish\u201d. I ask \u201cHow much.\u201d \u201cI don’t know\u201d. I ask, \u201cDo we have to go get it?\u201d \u201cI don’t know\u201d. Oooooook. Awhile later, we walk over to the boat and Eric, the Captain, sticks his head out the window of the boat and says he’ll be over shortly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Eric the Captain shows up with our snapper. What are we going to DO with this whole fish. We still have no idea what we are going to have to pay for it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We ask him if he will filet it for us as we don’t really want the whole fish, and our evening begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
We head into our galley and Eric asks if we have a sharp knife. He gets to work.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
He makes quick work of the filet and Jim gets him a glass of rum. We are now all drinking.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Eric speaks good English, seemingly better English than Spanish, but has a good lilt to his speaking and some sort of speech issue which makes it rather hard to understand. But, we are having a good time and we now are using a cutting board! We discuss whether we want filets or steaks, skin on or off and what size.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How to Cook a Snapper<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eric then asks if I have onion. Yes. Garlic? Yes. Sweet Peppers? Yes. Scotch Bonnet and Mutton Peppers? No. Jim is instructed to go to his boat and ask for them, our jalapeno will not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Eric has taken 4 of the 10 filets and scored them with an X. He has thinly sliced the onion and chopped all the other veggies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Oh, and seasonings. No pepper as we have peppers, but salt, not too much and some new Orleans seasoning and Old Bay. Carefully scooped out with the knife! Lay two filets on the “paper” (aluminum foil) and on goes the veggie mix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Now doesn’t that look good? Wrap it tightly in the foil and then wrap it again tightly in a second piece. Boil in a bit of water for 15 minutes. Open it, squeeze on some lemon and enjoy it with rice. We still have no idea how much our fish costs much less the cooking session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While it cooks, we drink more rum and chat about being a fisherman and electronics on the boat; they have a chart plotter, radio, AIS, auto pilot but no radar. They have 1,100 feet of anchor line which is unheard of! We have 400 ft and that is quite a bit. They anchor on the bank (continental shelf) as with 4 people on the boat for 11 days, they anchor when they need to sleep. They are on the bank so the water averages around 100 ft deep. Typically on a 5 – 7 to one scope, you’d need 500 to 700 feet of anchor line. Thus 1,100 feet of anchor line. And, they do not have a wench to pull the anchor, so they do it by hand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric has fished for 30 years. He told us of one time when the boat he was captaining sank. Remember the little dinghy on the top of his current boat? The crew of 4 ended up in the dinghy, floating with no food, water or radio for 11 days before being rescued. This is a HARD life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out, the fish was the cost of a half bottle of rum (which we shared) plus we got the fish, cooking instruction and a 6 pack of Corona that Eric insisted on that he went and bought at the store for us! A very good deal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What To Do with the Fish Spine and Head?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I had asked Eric what to do with the bones and head. He said that the next day I was to put it in a big pot with some onion and a little water and steam it. Then eat the head, the best part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could not bring myself to do that. So, I added a few veggies and some water to the bones and head and made fish stock. I then used some of the stock to make a nice fish chowder. More stock is still in the freezer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is Next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We have been in Cayman for a month on the 17th. We either have to get a new visitors permit (the last was free, this one is $50\/person) or leave. We THINK we have a good weather window on the 17th to go to Jamaica. We have a check in with our weather router on that tomorrow, but it is looking good to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, we would be in Jamaica for about a week and then there looks like there could be a good window for us to get to Providencia. Or, we could hang longer in Cayman, but we are ready to move on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
We had dinner the other night with a couple we met on a sailing boat, Fair Isle<\/a>. Interesting couple from the UK with impressive video and journalism backgrounds. On our way back to the boat we ran into these two fisherman. These are they guys we’d bought the piece of tuna from when Harvey and Nadine were here. They had a nice haul this day as well! The fish are jumping and the fishing is good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feb 14, 2025 A few days back, one of the local tour guides was telling Jim none of the fishing boats were out because it was too rough, but they were coming for fuel so they were getting ready to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,529,488,530,154,18,193,524,200,66,34],"tags":[534,508,117,203,396],"class_list":["post-39847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boats","category-cayman-islands","category-friends","category-grand-cayman","category-honduras","category-living-things","category-rincon-feliz","category-roatan","category-sea-creatures","category-travel","category-wildlife","tag-cooking","tag-fish","tag-friends","tag-rincon-feliz","tag-sea-creatures"],"yoast_head":"\nFish for Dinner - Sylvia Crain - Hoy!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sylviacrain.com\/hoy\/?p=39847\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fish for Dinner - 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