A Trip to Hog Island

A neighbor of ours... who also does the hashes... works for the electric company here and invited us to join her department on an outing to Hog Island. So last Saturday morning we gave them a lift (Roslyn, her young daughter, and her mother Janice) to the Woburn jetty, where we would meet with the rest of the group for a water taxi ride to the island. (Apparently, Hog Island has been sold for development and will probably become a private island, restricting access to the locals in the future.)

Although it had been raining off & on all morning, we were all hoping the weather would clear to give us a good beach day. Unfortunately, it didn't appear that would happen as it began to rain again while we waited at the jetty. When the water taxi arrived, we gathered ourselves and proceeded to board for the quick trip to the island... less than 5 minutes! For some of the children, it was their first water taxi ride and they were a bit fearful! The boat had to make about 5 or 6 trips back and forth to get everyone over there... along with all the food for the day. And the weather improved! We only had one or 2 very light showers the rest of the day!

The first thing they did was to set up the food and drink area, and light the grill for the chicken. Meanwhile, everyone settled into playing games or exploring. We taught one couple how to play our dice game, and later in the day we got out the beach bocci balls. The young boys were playing cricket on the beach, and the smaller children played in the sand. We just hung out chatting and watching all the activities.

Soon enough, lunch was ready... chicken BBQ, rice & peas, and a salad (similar to potato salad, but with more vegetables and maybe some green bananas?). It was all very good. After lunch, Scott & I took a walk along the top of the island on the new road that was started. Along the way, we could see the markers for the lots for sale. I didn't notice any construction going on, but we didn't make it all the way to the other end... which is closer to the bridge they built recently.

When we got back to the beach, we saw that a few of the guys had just come back with some fish they caught... caribbean lobster, lambi, and a couple of fish (but I'm not sure what kind). They had a big pot of water on a charcoal fire, which would soon become what they called "fish water" (a fish soup with dumplings). It had very good flavor... but I was never a big fan of dumplings.

By 5:00 (or 5:30) we were ready to head back home. So we said good-bye to our new friends, thanked them for including us, and boarded the third boat back to the jetty. All in all, we really lucked out with the weather, so it was another great day in paradise!

(Click for more photos of the trip!)