Random thoughts: Retirement, conch hunting

Ahh, retirement...Just talked to some of my former coworkers. They were wondering what it is like to be out of the business of talking to airplanes. I really don't miss it very much, but I sure do miss spending time with all of them. Karen feels the same way about nursing...there's a lot to like about the jobs, but this is so much better. We've had our ups and downs since we've left... missing family and friends, dealing with the high cost of everything, mechanical breakdowns with the boat, discovering new and unique adventures, learning to sail, diving and snorkling, all the wonderful friends we've made so far. Just like everything in life, it's been a mixed bag of treats! Would we trade it for our former life? NO WAY!!! We are so blessed with the lifestyle given to us and can't think of very much we would change.

This is a photo of our boat from the bow, looking up at the genoa sail (on the left) and mainsail. The red flag is on the starboard (right side) lower spreader and represents the host country where we are sailing...the British Virgin Islands. We will need to put up a different flag for every other place we go.

Karen is enjoying this day very much. She is the main helmsperson whenever we dock the boat, deploy or recover the anchor and whenever I'm busy taking pictures on the bow.  On the other hand, I get to handle most of the dock lines and fenders, do the anchor stuff and get to spend time with my lovely lady.

This is a fishing "rig" we found floating in the shallows while we were taking the dinghy out exploring the coastline. I guess the fishing poles need to be a little bigger!

While out snorkling, about 15' below us, we saw a large area of sea grass...and guess what loves to live in these areas....yes, folks, that is a live queen conch (pronounced "conk"). It's over 10" long. Just like with elk, there are a number of recipes for it. We decided our 1st was going to be turned into a local dish...fresh conch salad.

After boiling on our stove for 40 minutes...voila!

This is the all of it; some edible, some not so much. We had to do some internet searching to figure what parts were best. If I understand my conch anatomy, the part on the upper left is good and all of the green/brown/black/grey stuff wasn't. Doesn't sound too hard.

This is what was left after removing the stuff. Now I went out to the cockpit of our boat and pounded (tenderized) the above choice morsel for about 10 minutes with our winch handle. No, I didn't have a hammer. After marinating the, now subdued, piece of conch meat for 24 hours in lime juice, we chopped it up into very small pieces.

Then we added it to bell peppers, onion, celery, cilantro, tomato and more lime juice for a somewhat tasty salad. Not too bad, but I feel it would have been tastier without the lime juice and boiled with potatoes to make a conch chowder.

Here's Karen blowing all of you a kiss...well, actually, it was for me but I can share it with all of you too!