Conch Tipping: It's A Dirty Job

 Conch tipping—have you ever done it? Well I hadn’t either until today. I would imagine it to be a lot like cow tipping, which I have also never done, but I suspect it's much easier to sneak up on a conch than a cow. 
    Today The Big Guy and I decided to step out our back door and do a little scuba diving. We have a bunch of new gear that needed tested, so someone had to do it. A dirty job, I know, but what are you gonna do? We are working here, remember?

The view out our back door

 “Here”, for the moment is at Little Harbor (on Peter Island), in a little cove known as Unemployment Alley. The water is calm, about 85 degrees and incredibly blue. I know what you're thinking; crappy work enviroment and hopefully we are getting paid overtime and have benefits. Hey, they don't call this "Unemployment Alley" for nothing, but back to the conch tipping.

Does this tank make my butt look big???



     It was a shallow dive, only about 20-30 feet and the bottom was pure sand and reminiscent of a desert landscape, only with a mother lode of conch spread all over it. It was as if they had been dropped from the sky ~ out of a C130. So as I was swimming along I would flip one over and then watch as it retreated into its shell. It was pretty cool! I picked one up thinking it was empty (or dead?) and then all of a sudden it poked its head (if that’s what you call it), out at me. 

    Big then found the Queen Mother of all Conch! It was about the size of a football and when we tipped her over, the inside was a shade of pink that is usually only seen in sunsets and on bridesmaid’s dresses. Truly amazing!

     Besides conch, we saw a beautiful spotted eagle ray, a frillfin goby, a needlefish and a sea cucumber, which I’m not so sure wasn’t just a big turd laying on the ocean floor. Big poked it with a stick and I'm pretty sure it let out a fart. Eeewww!    

     Yes, it's a dirty job and we have much more work to do. From what I can tell there are a lot more conchs to be tipped!

I know, I know...I should be posting a recipe with conch in it, but truthfully I don't really care for the stuff and would rather chew tinfoil. Therefore I'll post the recipe from dinner tonight; Pesto Crusted Salmon with Orange Sauce (from Bon Appetit, I think)  and I served it with coconut rice. At any rate, it was delish and no conchs were tipped or killed in its making. Go to the "Seafood" tab at the top of this page to view it.