Picnic Day at the Sand Spit!

The village of Monacake (main village) arranged for us all to get together at the Sand Spit next to the SE anchorage for a cleanup day, plus a BBQ. It was a wonderful day!

About 30 of the villagers joined in, plus 14 of us Yachties. We spent the morning moving dead branches and leaves into piles for burning later and watching the villagers forage for food. It was interesting.

-- The villagers caught a barracuda on the trip over.

-- Clams/shells were dug and the meat used for fishing (no catching tho).

-- The rocks were searched for some sort of snail/slug thing (none found - yeah).

-- The net was set to snare anything that might swim by (lots of mullets plus other small lagoon fish were caught).

-- Crabbers went into the bushes and came out with tons of land crabs and some of the big mud crabs with a huge claw (they were yummy).

Meanwhile, there was lots of activity on the beach. Pits were dug, plates and baskets were woven out of palms, lots of coconut cracking and shredding, palms arranged for seating and for our serving table (on the little thatched hut).

Coconut/flour/bread dough (they call it Flour) was wrapped nicely in coconut leaves and placed into the pit and covered with sand and palm leaves.

The barracuda was wrapped in palm leaves and placed in the pit.

Once the crabs were stunned (spiked under one of the legs) and rinsed, the crabs were thrown into the pit on top of the Flour and fish and covered.

The fish from the net were scaled and cleaned and BBQ'd on a open pit, plus a bunch of them boiled in coconut water.

The Yachties all pitched in by bringing meatballs, rice, pasta, beans, and lots of desserts. It was a feast and completely devoured!

Then, some relaxing, some volleyball, some tree cutting, and lots of burning of the brush that we had cleaned up. The villagers want to make this a picnic/camping area for the Yachties. Of course, we like it just the way it is.

PS: The Sand Spit is beautiful - especially at low tide. Pictures to come soon!

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