It is toxic when touched and somehow has gotten into the fish population in the Caribbean (all kind of theories - mostly involving large aquariums). We first saw them in the Turks and Caicos, then throughout the San Blas and now in the Bay Islands of Roatan. Because it has no natural predators in the Caribbean (though some folks are saying some groupers are eating them), they are multiplying like rabbits. In a small bowl at a local dive shop here - they have a baby lionfish - and it is really a frilly, pretty tiny thing.
Well there may now be a natural predator. The predator of all predators. Man. Many places have allowed the killing of lionfish to help eliminate them or at least try to control them.
Last night, we went to a charity event - a fun barbeque at a local dive shop that was put on to support local schools. The event had a spear fishing competition (spear fishing is illegal in the park) - so this was shooting foam fish with Hawaiian slings. They made these fish and released them and then sent the competitors in the water to shoot at will. The event also featured some unique menu items - Lionfish ceviche and Lionfish "burgers," We decided we had to try one - so opted for the cooked version. The Lionfish burger was actually a fish sandwich. The Lionfish was lightly beer battered and then sautéed. It was a wonderfully light and delicate white fish. Very nice. So the Lionfish may not be a burden to the reefs long - once discovered as edible - they will be under control.
We did another dive yesterday with Dave and his son Michael, from "Jammin'" It was a good dive and it was good to have another under our belts after such a long absence of breathing bottled air. We're already spoiled with great visibility here - so when it's less than 75 feet we get disappointed. We had a nice wall dive.
Got some boat projects done - Michael rearranged our backup anchor for easier deployment which included moving it from starboard to port, tying the rode bag down and creating a net on the lifeline to keep the bag from accidentally rolling over. We took all our curtains down and washed them and re-installed.
We'll be here at West End, probably for the week, as there is some big weather coming from the southeast as the week progresses and this seems to be the best location for south easterlies. Unfortunately though, they are starting to charge for the mooring balls here starting today. So we'll have to cough up some of our favorite dollars for staying here.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment