Shopping for Food?

[dmaziuk]

Boat SJU - nope, not joking. Partly a holdover from the days when the only grocery store was Culitmara, open till noon on Saturday, not at all on Sunday and the selections could be questionable at best.

We usually pack enough stuff for a light dinner and a breakfast when there's a chance everything could be closed by the time we get there. Not quite up to bringing frozen steaks and seafood yet, though.

 

[Doz2064]

Heading to Bonaire in May and we're planning on taking some food in our luggage as well. Never seriously considered frozen meat. Just vac sealed works? No other wrapping to help it keep cold?

 

[Lorenzoid]

Heading to Bonaire in May and we're planning on taking some food in our luggage as well. Never seriously considered frozen meat. Just vac sealed works? No other wrapping to help it keep cold?

Wrap it in your wetsuit.

 

[Doctorfish]

Smart

 

[Kksmama]

The wetsuit idea is brilliant. And it made me think about how useful our padded Costco large cooler bags could be both for transporting food and dive gear.

 

[edwants2dive]

OMG! I am going down the last week of July with a group from my LDS. I had never thought of packing cold foods but now I will have to figure out what to take. I hope the gang doesn't laugh at me for doing it. Does Buddy Dive have outdoor grills for guest use?

 

[Jersey]

OMG! I am going down the last week of July with a group from my LDS. I had never thought of packing cold foods but now I will have to figure out what to take. I hope the gang doesn't laugh at me for doing it. Does Buddy Dive have outdoor grills for guest use?

Hi Ed - works great! We brought 10 racks of Montgomery Inn pre-cooked ribs, steaks and chicken breast. Wrapped in wetsuits, then suits are tucked down into BC and the BC straps are tightened. When our bags arrived all the meat was still frozen solid. Remember the cargo hold of the plane is freezing @ 37,000 feet! Buddy Dive does not have outdoor grills (with the exception of 1 apartment that was previously the front desk for Lions Dive) Yeah - my friends and family laugh at me as well...until they get invited over for dinner. If you do plan to cook in, know the kitchen has a 4 burner cookertop, no oven, limited pots/pans/cookware/serving dishes and a microwave. Meal planning is essential. Throw in a box or 2 of ziplock baggies for leftovers, salad, rolls, etc.

Just back from 2 weeks at Buddy, trip report when I get some free time.

 

[duncdiver]

Are there good places to buy local seafood, and/or eat prepared lionfish?

 

[Jersey]

Are there good places to buy local seafood, and/or eat prepared lionfish?

To my knowledge there are no commercial seafood stores. I've seen the local guys hauling coolers of fresh catch and a dolphin (fish) or wahoo over their shoulder walk into a restaurant. You can find lionfish on many menus but that depends on the availability. Shame you weren't there the last week of March - I was giving lionfish away. Buddy ELF'ed them but we had dinner plans.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Are there good places to buy local seafood, and/or eat prepared lionfish?

There IS a tiny seafood store called Zarpin (Google it) that offers mostly a meager selection of small fish that were caught locally. Every now and then they have some nicer fish that a fisherman brought in from farther offshore and maybe some "imported" fish from Venezuela, but it's totally unpredictable. My wife and I are seafood nuts (yeah, I know, being divers we should think twice about that) and made a point to stop in to Zarpin every couple of days just to see what they had.