But as with most affairs its sometimes the small things that make the occassion. This was no exception. One of the hors d’oeuvres served was a heart shaped pizza that immediately made Al Porto one of the kids favourite places on the island.

Photos from my first Antigua Sailing Week.

The trip to Harmony Hall was picturesque.

Today I went to Harmony Hall which is Antigua’s most prestigious art gallery. Built on the ruins of an old plantation, its structure is a stunning work of stone nestled on a cliff, giving it a picturesque view. The gallery is a little out of the way, but the drive passes a really scenic lookout that’s worth stopping off at. The gallery also has a great restaurant overlooking that cliff so that patrons can enjoy lunch and a visit to the gallery together as a relaxing and stimulating day trip.

Joseph Jones and myself looking at some of his photographs that I especially liked (photo courtesy of Sara Jones).

The exhibit “Oh Antigua and Barbuda” being launched today was a collection of works by noted local photographers Joseph and Janet Jones. It was a candid and insightful glimpse into local life in Antigua and Barbuda as captured through the lenses of this talented husband and wife team. Photos such as “Sunday Morning at the Standpipe”, “A New Take on an Old Tradition”, and “The Pageant I” showed exactly what is unique about Antigua and Barbuda, while capturing people just going about the course of living life here. I appreciated this rare opportunity to see such an honest and sympathetic portrayal of local life … which was also somewhat of a time capsule since the aspects of life that it so touchingly captures, are also aspects of life that are rapidly changing here.

I rarely see any kites in the air these days. Yet driving back to St. Johns from English Harbour today I looked up and was surprised to see the same six sided kites that a Rastaman taught me how to make when I was young. I pulled down the road the kites seemed to be flying above and saw a bunch of young boys gathered loosely around a snack stall at the entrance to a school yard. The kite strings seemed to emanate from the yard itself. One of the boys smiled and said very politely “good afternoon sir”. I returned the greeting, very impressed with his politeness.

I took a couple of photos of the kites lolling about in the sky and contemplated this pace of life enjoyed by some here, where a break in the day is plenty of time for the most enjoyable pursuit of nothing at all … like flying a kite.

I said my greetings and soon got to chatting with them. I’ve seen many tarpon jumping there so I asked if they ever caught any with the hand lines they were using. “No man” one answered. “The tarpon when they get big you can’t catch them on the line. You have to net them”. I wondered why they would net them. I’ve always heard that tarpon are inedible. In fact if you Google “are tarpon edible”, among the hundreds of articles telling you that they are too bony to be edible, you may not find a single article that telling you that they are. This never quite made sense to me. Especially in the West Indies, picking through bones was just always part of eating fish as far as I knew. Bone-free fillets is one way of preparing fish …  but in these days of ecological awareness restricting oneself to just this mode of preparation would seem to be far too wasteful of precious natural resources (the fish) to be conscionable.

Speaking to the young men I was delighted to learn that tarpon is used to make a local dish called shad which I was told is often served with a polenta-like local dish called fungi, and a mix of cooked greens called chop-up. Chop-up they said is made from eggpland, spinach, okra, and a type of cactus (which they called cassie), all mashed up together. “A man meal deh” the young man commented. “Strong!” one of the other ones added for emphasis. Being a big fan of healthy eating through the consumption of diets richer in vegetables (particularly local vegetables), I made a mental note to learn more.

I was glad to hear than Antiguan country people had once again nonchalantly jumped decades ahead of the times in making efficient use of the tarpon flesh as a renewable resource that others might have left unused. Still I wondered how they did it where so many others appear to have failed. “You have to pull the tarpon (stretch it) when you just catch it” the first young man told me in answer to that question. “My grandfather taught me to do it. Then when it’s cooked there’s more space between the bones”.

The young men informed me that I could taste tarpon cooked in the local dish “shad” at Antigua’s  National Food Fair in November. But they left me with one word of advice should I try to cook tarpon on my own. “With the tarpon you use the young ones … understand”?

I’ve seen Devil’s bridge many times from the water on trips to the offshore islands but visiting it today from shore I got a chance to see how truly alien a landscape it is. The waves there crash against bare jagged rock with fearsome power. Ashton Williams, one of the leaders of the local Environmental Awareness Group, told me the story of how the place got it’s name. He said that in slavery days some black men and women would decide to end their suffering by walking into the sea there where they could never be rescued. Their masters, he said, were horrified at the loss of good stock and so came up with the story that anyone who walked off those cliffs would be leaving slavery only to commit themselves to the endless torment of hell. Thus the name “Devil’s Bridge”. Looking over the edge at the bone crushing surf and marrow splitting rocks, even now with the benefit of all my scientific training I was not certain that they were wrong.

But bridge to the Devil’s lair or not … the dream of catching a wild Antiguan wahoo was still calling me. I baited my hook and cast into the roiling surf … waiting to hook whatever was strong enough to brave those fearful natural forces.