PAELLA, PAELLA! I JUST HAD A DISH CALLED PAELLA! (CARIBBEAN)

GOURMET CHARTER MEALBeing a ‘Gourmet Chef’ was an evolution for me. An evolution that took a while. When Whitey and I first started working on charter boats I was very much a novice in the galley, kitchen, whatever you want to call it.   Luckily our first jobs as crew were in the British Virgin Islands, which is charter boat center in the Caribbean, which meant there were many chef’s to network with, swap recipes and get lots of ideas. All the networking provided all of the newby chef’s valuable assistance as we planned meals and cooked for our charter guests.

(more…)

TALES FROM THE DEEP! (PORT O’CONNOR, TEXAS)

45 MILES TO OIL RIGS

45 MILES TO THE OIL RIGS

I have a passion for spearfishing.  As I have traveled on boats from Australia through the South Pacific to the Caribbean waters, it is my favorite sport. When the anchor goes down then it’s in the water to see what’s for dinner. The only line fishing I do is trolling while underway on our sailboat and casting from the dock or from the boat. I’d rather see what I am catching and it’s good exercise.

For extreme spearfishing, I join my mate Kurt and his friends in Texas for fun off of the oil rigs. We go out 45 miles from Port O’Conner and drop down on the rigs. The water is so clear and the coral growth on the structures are better than some of the reef systems in the Caribbean.

So many oil rigs

Oil Rig

Our last time out I dropped down to 130’ and just hung onto a pylon waiting to see what comes up from the murky bottom at 200’. There are plenty of snapper, grouper, ling and amberjacks. This day, the other guys were finding and leading their fish through the rig legs when a huge amberjack passed from my left to right just below me. POW! After a great head shot it didn’t move. This is a good thing. If you don’t get a good shot this fish will drag you all over the Gulf. Our spears are attached to the guns with braided leader wire, not strings. If a big fish wants to take you sightseeing then you have to wrap the gun or line around the rig. Without getting tied up yourself.

Another rig

And more oil rigs

Snapper Catch

Snapper Catch

Looking at my dive computer I knew I had to do a decompression stop. I nailed the AJ at 180’. I tried to remove the spear from his head but it wouldn’t move. I wrapped him up in the wire and with my arm around him I started for the surface. After a couple decompression stops, I then did a 15 ft. safety stop with a regulator from the boat and breathing 80% oxygen to wash out all of the excess nitrogen in my system.   The AJ hadn’t twitched the whole time I was surfacing. When I broke the surface I said to my mate Gary that the AJ is dead but I can’t get the spear out of his head. He pulled the big fish and my gun on board. All the sudden I heard Gary yelling Aussie adjectives…the AJ had come back to life!! He was thrashing all over the boat with a spear sticking out of his head.   Gary was hopping all over the boat trying to get away from this thrashing 62 lb Amberjack. I’m glad he didn’t do this trick on me while I was surfacing.

Happy Whitey

Happy Whitey with his 62 lb Amber Jack

He finally settled down and it was another great day out with Kurt and the boys. We got our limit on Snapper, Grouper Ling and AJ’s. And on the way back, as always, we traded a case of beer for a garbage bag of shrimp on a Mexican shrimp boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WATER SPOUT PIZZA (OFF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN COAST)

With full fuel tanks and jerry jugs, we departed Mexico from the southern port of Zihuateneo. Those first few days heading south to Costa Rica and Panama were uneventful with not much wind or excitement. Even the dreaded Bay of Tihuanapec in Southern Mexico, which can have gales of 80 knot winds come up with no warning, was tame. The seas were flat and there was very little wind as we moved down the Central American coast. We had both sails up but at times, we were moving at only 2-3 knots. We would start the engine to charge the batteries but needed to conserve fuel as much as possible. It had been a slow boat to China, or Panama to be precise. Whenever conditions are so calm, it is a perfect time to cook up a meal that you wouldn’t normally attempt while under way. A pizza sounded just perfect to us. (more…)

AWARD WINNER! (ST. THOMAS CHARTER BOAT SHOW)

I am not a trained chef. Really it was only a slight interest to me as a young adult. I knew enough to get by when I was single and had a couple of signature dishes to show off to a new boyfriend. That was until my husband and I landed our job as Captain and Chef on a charter boat. Chef – that’s me. Old land based friends would say ‘I didn’t know you could cook Max’. It’s amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it. After working for a charter boat company for three years in the BVI’s we moved into working on our own private charter boat. It’s a natural evolution that most crews do. (more…)

CLAM BAY (BAHIA SANTA MARIA, MEXICO)

“I hear there are clams up that river”, said Steve who was cruising on his boat from Gig Harbor, Washington. “That’s right’ piped in his wife. “I read in the cruising guide, there is a small creek heading north from that beach that has lots of clams. We just need some buckets and something to shovel with.” The idea sounded great to us. A little land excursion is always good when you are living on a boat. (more…)