Lots of Lobster, A Trip WAY North, and more....
Last week was busy!
Aside from the regular errands and house maintenance, Lobsterfest was in full gear! This is the first year that we were "on island" for the Block Party - I picked up a Passport (you earn a stamp at each lunch and dinner location you attend while they host Lobsterfest IF you order lobster, to be entered into a drawing) at the Belikin Store on Coconut Drive on Wednesday - mostly I went to support Fresh n Go - they wisely cross-promoted lobster snacks since Belikin makes....beer. Not lobster. And Fresh n Go is right next door! In the end, I earned my first (and only) passport stamp off of an $8BZ draft beer.
Friday, I was invited by our neighbor/friend Diana to Paint n Splash at Mesa Cantina again - formerly known as Mesa Bistro. Kit picked me up and we met three new ladies. While my "artwork" is not quite at the "internet shareable" level, the view sure was!
Getting ready to paint another "masterpiece"....
Nathan was ready to get out of our villa after a long week at work, so we asked Kit and Brian if they wanted to try Jyoto Downtown with us. I had ordered some rolls "to take" a few months ago when they had a lunch special, and they were fantastic! Yet we hadn't dined in before. Their spicy beef dumplings are AMAZING, we could have made a meal out of 4 orders of those and been very pleased! Every item ordered was exceptional, the only negative to report is that prices were a few dollars ($3-5BZ per item) higher than posted on their menus they shared October 31, 2024. It's not inexpensive, but if you are craving legitimate sushi and Japanese dishes...Jyoto is a can't miss!
Over the weekend, we attended our first Lobsterfest Block Party - it started at 5 pm Saturday at Saca Chispas Field on Back Street - we walked so we could enjoy cocktails and not have to mess with parking. I am glad we arrived shortly after they opened, the lines were tolerable - and some booths ran out of food by 9:30, when the event ran until midnight! We had a lobster torta (a rare miss from one of our favorite spots, but they seemed "off" that night...), lobster-stuffed jalapeno poppers, a lobster mac and cheese ball, and lobster bisque - all of those last three were dynomite! We left before the sun went down - and I was reminded of how much I dislike crowds and large events.
We also traveled further north on the island than ever before! Almost to Mexico - when I dropped this blue pin, we were already on our way back south when the mosquitoes became unbearable.
Nathan didn't Picaridin-up above his legs, and he was swarmed to the point we had to turn back - we turned around inside a construction site, I don't know how those workers stand the mossies! You definitely feel like you are in the jungle up there - the trees are dense and there are hardly any signs of humans.
The sargasso north of town varies widely - some stretches, it was quite light:
This photo was taken not far from El Norte bar
While others were seemingly creating new land out of sargasso so thick, you couldn't see any water. Like Margaritaville. That link will take you to a video of their current situation - by far, the worst I have seen, anywhere, ever. I'm not just saying that because we loathe Jimmy Buffett.
I did take a photo of the giant flip flop in the bar to send to some of our dear friends (despite their love for yacht rock, we are still friends).
I think we have driven past Margaritaville four times now...? And it's always a ghost town. I'm not sure how they manage to stay open.
Sunday afternoon, rain came out of nowhere and the rest of the day was wet. We celebrated Roxy's third birthday, time is flying by with her...last weekend we shaved down some of her fluff as her belly was getting some mats. She just lies there...not a care in the world...the heat doesn't seem to bother her, we were worried as we don't see fluffy cats here.
We allegedly (and I take weather forecasts with a grain of salt here) will have dry weather the next three days, so ideally, the patios dry out and we can re-coat them. We shall see....!