July 7, 2004 - The Night Has A Thousand Stars

Back to the store

We drove back to the market at Rock Point only to discover it had just closed! The sign posted on the wall said it was closed on Wednesdays at 2:00 - must be for church - and it was just then 2:10!

There was a liquor store open next to the market, so we picked up a six-pack of Kalik (pronounced like "k-lick, emphasis on the second syllable) and coke for Leia. We then headed back to the bungalow (the Kaliks were only $2.00 each!).

I was hungry, so we kept an eye out for restaurants. Leia had heart about the Sunset Inn at Palmetto point, so we made for that place. We stopped to ask a local the directions (a very nice older man) and found it right on the Queen's Highway.

The Sunset Inn

The restaurant is right on the Caribbean side and has a moderate view of a couple of nearby islands. The water was SO blue it was gorgeous, sunlight glistening on the small wavelets looking like so many diamonds. Breathtaking!

We got an inside table - it was too hot and humid outside. Natasha sat us at a table at the far end. She turned on the oscillating fan for our comfort, took our drink orders and left.

Kendra, our waitress, brought our drinks and took our lunch orders. While our food was being prepared, Leia wandered outside on the deck to look around. Meanwhile, I read the succinct history of the restaurant on the back of the menu. It was built in the 1940's as a [illegible], but became a restaurant after that. The original building burned down in 1997, but was rebuilt in 1999.

While I waited for the food, I could hear the pounding of the mallets in the kitchen which was, I'm sure, the conch being prepared for our meal!

The food looked and smelled delicious. I had order the conch chowder and conch salad. Leia order the fried conch pieces.

The was chowder was more like I would've expected - like a Manhattan clam chowder - excellent, savory and a bit spicy (the way I like it - perfect!). The conch salad was unexpected, though. No lettuce - tomatoes, onions, green peppers mixed with generous (yet small) pieces of conch in an excellent vinegar dressing. That and a couple of Kaliks and I was a happy camper!

Leia's conch pieces were lightly battered and fried and very tasty as well. All in all, a GREAT meal, but not too heavy.

By the way, "conch" is not pronounced as it's written - the local pronounce it "conk" - and in Italian, it's scungilli!

Pure heaven

We headed back to the bungalow for a little rest and relaxation. Before we did that, though, we activated our rental cell phone and made our calls to our family as well as our realtor. No offer yet, unfortunately. Also, we checked our messages at home. A woman on the island named Sandee called about some property for sale, so Leia called her - but she lost the connection, so we couldn't tell her where we were staying. I even tried to call back - could hear her, but not vice versa (quite maddening, actually).

Leia and I climbed in the hammock for two. She read while I did crosswords. Both of us napped and occasionally waking up to wave at passing cars. Eventually we got up and went into the bungalow.

That night, we decided not to go out, but stayed in to read and talk. At one point, Leia went outside and came in to tell me about the stars. I FORGOT! We went back outside and saw how utterly beautiful the sky is without light pollution! We used the binocular left for guests by Katy and Mike (the owners) and saw some very cool star clusters. Finally, we went back inside.

We ended up playing our music on our MP3 players again because nothing came through on FM and AM was kind of boring. Had we remembered, we would've brought with the crank radio we have which has shortwave on it. Next time!