Eating The Venomous LIONFISH

This week on Sailing Bye Felicia, Matt and Lisa sail from Great Sale Cay, to Fox town, as they slowly make their way across the north Bahamas to The Abacos islands. Great sale cay proved to be a sturdy Anchorage, and the crew had amazing conditions as they spent all day sailing.

Once anchored, Matt and Lisa work together to hoist the dinghy back into the water, using the boats rigging and the spinnaker halyard. Then, they reassembled the Yamaha 9.9 outboard engine to the dinghy, using the dinghy davits as a makeshift crane.

Then, the crew dinghy in to Fox town, for provisions, and propane fuel. Only to find that the propane services on the island were unavailable for a few more days. So, the crew settled for an amazing seafood lunch and a couple of local beers.

The following day Matt and Lisa feel inspired to catch their own seafood dinner. And what’s on the menu? The poisonous lionfish.

Although very beautiful, the lion fish is highly invasive. And it’s not meant to be in this part of the world. How lionfish were introduced, is heavily debated. One theory, is the lionfish escaped from an aquarium that was damaged during a hurricane in the early 90s. Another theory is they were intentionally released.
Regardless of how the lionfish arrived here, their populations are out of control, they have no natural predators, they eat large amounts of reef fish, it’s legal and encouraged to remove as many as possible from the environment.

Removing spines from a lionfish is very dangerous, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Captain Matt is a professional scuba diving instructor, and has been working around lionfish for 15 years.

Once spines are removed from the lionfish, it’s treated just like any other fish, and simply filleted deep-fried and enjoyed.

#episode37 #sailingbyefelicia #lionfish