Cooking can be a challenge, space is limited and we have to try and think of all meals in advance (including breakfasts and all snacks), since opportunities to go grocery shopping are limited. Depending on how long we’re gone for, we might only be able to stop for groceries once or twice. It was therefore essential to write up a list of what was needed at the grocery store and another one for the items we had to bring along with us from home.
We do get hungrier at sea as we’re rarely just sitting around doing nothing, we spend all our days being active, swimming, fishing and island exploring. So we had to cook often and be creative to make meals that were going to sustain everyone.
On my first expedition, I was very lucky to be with experienced chefs who brought all kinds of ingredients we couldn’t have found in The Bahamas. For example, Angel and Valentine brought spices, bottarga, homemade spice blends, sushi sauce, a blow torch, pasta, etc. Will was also really good at preparing fish and seafood so even though we ate fish every day for dinner and lunch, I never got tired of it. Everything was so tasty and different!
Some of my favorite meals were Angel’s torched sushi with homemade olive crumble, fresh lionfish ceviche, mahi mahi tacos, lobster pasta and I am still hungry just thinking about Valentine’s fresh carpaccio!
As I mentioned before, food supplies are limited so we did our best not to wasting anything, we cooked the grouper heads and collars, we made bottarga with fish eggs, we cooked the liver, the milk and Angel even ate the eyes! We don’t have a lot of veggies and they don’t last for long on the boat, so most meals are accompanied with rice, potatoes, kidney beans or quinoa salad.
We were always super happy when we found palm trees with fresh coconuts. We had to work hard for it sometimes but it was always worth it! We would share and savor the water, the meat and the jelly or use the coco water for drinks with rhum or gin.
Here are a few pictures of our meals throughout our journey on the sea.
Beach Bonfire & Fish Tacos
Fresh Ceviche, Carpaccio & Dinner with a View
Homemade Sushi, Lobster & Grouper Head
