Exuma dining

[liamsaunt]

For the next week I am staying on Little Exuma in the Bahamas. We decided to come down without knowing much about the island, or making any advance plans.  It seemed like the kind of place where you can do that.  View from the air

 

 

The airport is small. This is the terminal.

 

 

We are staying on Little Exuma. There’s not much here, which is how we like it. We got to the house just before sunset. This is part of the outdoor area

 

 

Here’s the kitchen

 

 

The giant snack bowl and bottle of rum was left for us by the house management. All the grocery stores close early, and there are no places nearby to get dinner. I did research enough to know that, so brought down a small cooler with some food for our first night and made dinner from that.

 

This morning was a beautiful sunny day

 

 

This is the beach our house is on. All beaches in the Bahamas are public, but you cannot access them over private land.  I think there’s a public path over that rock outcropping you can see at the end of the beach. 

 

 

And this is the beach next to the one that we are staying on. There’s a public path between the two

 

 

We headed out in search of a late lunch and drove down a rough and steep road to end up at Haulover Bay restaurant and bar.

 

 

The menu was just a chalk sign, offering fried or grilled snapper, grilled shrimp, grilled chicken, or a grilled steak, all with pigeon peas and rice and either vegetables or corn.  Cash only.  We chose the snapper and the shrimp and went outside to find a place to sit

 

 

 

I had a lemongrass iced tea, and husband had a mint drink

 

 

Shrimp

 

 

Snapper

 

Everything was really tasty, and the setting was fantastic, with a wonderful breeze. 

[gfweb]

3 (three) shrimp?

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

As I gaze out my window at the drifting snow.....😇

 

 

 

[liamsaunt]

10 hours ago, gfweb said:

3 (three) shrimp?

No, there were four or five, just piled on top of each other in that little dish. It was enough food for me. 

[rotuts]

just the sort of Mirage I need today .

 

Snow to be dealt with by Maurice and Me.

 

Maurice is the SnowBlower.

 

 

[KennethT]

Looks like a nice little hideaway!  I hope you enjoy....  although that must be the smallest snapper I've ever seen!  But certainly enough for 1 person - most snappers are for 2.

[liamsaunt]

Today was pretty lazy. We went into town (about a 40 minute drive each way) to buy some fruit and pick up a couple of bottles of wine for my husband. The lady at the wine shop randomly announced she was giving him a 50% discount. Not sure why, but he’ ll take it. The prices for wine are about the same as at home. The grocery prices are not that much more than home too, maybe $1-2 more per item, which isn’t too bad.  There is a 10% VAT on top of all purchases. 

 

The rest of my afternoon was spent alternating between sitting on the house deck and walking on the beach.  (I dipped my foot in the pool, but am not sure if I am going to end up swimming in it. I am a wimp when it comes to water temps)

 

 

We went to dinner at Blu on the Water, one of the closest restaurants to our house. Probably a 15 minute drive.  We were seated in a screened porch area, so the photos of the view did not come out, but it’s on a cliff above the water, and very lovely.  
 

 

Here’s the menu

 

 

 

Husband had a margarita, and I had club soda with lime

 

 

We shared the seafood fritters to start. There was not a ton of seafood in them, but the batter had a nice flavor, and I did get one big chunk of conch.

 

 

Husband had the seafood risotto, which he enjoyed very much. It had lobster, grouper, and shrimp. 

 

 

And I had the grilled grouper. They brought out some of their jerk sauce on the side for me to try

 

 

And then we shared a slice of key lime pie for dessert

 

 

Edited February 4 by liamsaunt (log)

[liamsaunt]

Breakfast at the house. Not too exciting.  Those are vegan “eggs” I brought from home. Basically they are mung beans soaked and pulverized with spices and stuff.  I like regular eggs too but these are pretty tasty for what they are.  
 

 

 

A yellow crowned night heron was hanging out on the beach in front of the house all day

 

 

Went walking on three different beaches today, all beautiful, all deserted

 

 

 

We drove down the road for an early dinner at Santanna’s Bar and Grill

 

 

Very casual

 

 

The menu

 

 

Shrimp app

 

 

Cracked conch 

 

 

Grouper

 

 

Husband’s margarita

 

 

I also went to Mommy’s Bakery next door to see what was on offer, and picked up a loaf of coconut bread for breakfast.  
 

 

We got back to the house in time for a beach walk before sunset

 

[Shelby]

You guys take awesome vacations   I don't know why I read your blogs when I'm hungry.  I want alllllll the seafood.

[donk79]

22 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Cracked conch

Can you say more about this?  What makes it "Cracked?"

[rotuts]

Snow tomorrow .

 

Most of the day .  1 - 3 " .   

 

Not that much

 

still , 

 

please post more pics.

 

thank you .

Edited February 6 by rotuts (log)

[liamsaunt]

1 hour ago, donk79 said:

Can you say more about this?  What makes it "Cracked?"

I think term “cracked” refers to the fact that the conch is sliced and pounded to make it somewhat tender, then deep fried. At least, that’s my understanding! This version was topped with stewed onions.  It was just OK to be honest.  The tartar sauce was too sweet and the conch was a bit greasy. The shrimp was the best dish.
 

Breakfast was a slice of the coconut bread I picked up yesterday, with yogurt, fruit, and iced coffee

 

 

Then it was beach walking time for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got hungry, we decided to drive over to Tropic Breeze, another casual place pretty close to the house

 

 

 

The view from our table

 

 

It was very windy today and some sargassum came up on their beach
 

 

The menu was very small, and I forgot to take a picture of it.  We just ordered what the server recommended anyway.  Margarita for husband

 

 

Fried lobster chunks. I actually ate some of this and enjoyed it. I guess I don’t dislike lobster anymore haha

 

 

Husband’s surf and turf burger, topped with lobster, served with garlic fries

 

 

and fried grouper with plantains and rice for me. The portion was huge and it was really good, so I brought half of this home to possibly eat tomorrow

 

 

We got home in time to get in two laps up and down “our” beach under the stars before it got too dark. I think I need to find something not fried for dinner tomorrow 😀

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Of all your destinations @liamsaunt I think I'd enjoy this one the most.

 

[liamsaunt]

Today was very chill.  We really are not doing too much this visit, just relaxing
 

Breakfast, basically the same as yesterday

 

 

Beach walking, same as yesterday

 

 

We did have to venture back to town today to buy ice. One disadvantage to staying on Little Exuma is that there are no stores. At all. So if you need anything you have to drive back to Georgetown. (A one lane bridge connects Little Exuma to the main island—you have to stop and make sure no one is coming the other way before driving on to it).   All we needed was ice, so to make something more of a 40 minute trip each way, we decided to stop by Sonia’s, a well regarded local food stand, and get some takeout.

 

The menu

 

 

Sonia's stand

 

 

We ordered the conch salad, the chicken wings (husband wanted, I don’t like them), and the sautéed shrimp.  It’s all made to order, but we thought to bring a cooler for the ice, so husband went and bought that after we ordered. I think the food took about 40 minutes to come out.  Conch salad (it was almost a quart, we could not eat it all)

 

 

spicy wings

 

 

sauteed shrimp, which came with seasoned rice, sweet potatoes, and slaw

 

And a post dinner walk on two deserted beaches as well.

 

 

 

We are supposed to fly home Saturday, but we will see if Mother Nature decides to keep us here for a few days longer…

[MetsFan5]

Is the ocean warm and safe to swim in (it looks a bit rocky). 
 

 I do love conch and am jealous! Enjoy! 

[KennethT]

What was the conch salad like?  I think I've only had it in fritter form... 

[liamsaunt]

14 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

Is the ocean warm and safe to swim in (it looks a bit rocky). 
 

 I do love conch and am jealous! Enjoy! 

The water is 72, which is not warm enough for me to swim comfortably.  Hence all the beach walks. I brought a wetsuit and did get in a few times.  The beaches are very sandy and it is safe to swim. The rocks are only on the sides. I just like the way they look so take lots of pictures of them. 

 

11 hours ago, KennethT said:

What was the conch salad like?  I think I've only had it in fritter form... 

 

It was delicious! Very spicy, very lime-y.  
 

Today was more of the same.  Breakfast at the house

 

 

More beach walking on beaches you have already seen too many pictures of.  
 

Husband wanted to go back to Blu on the Water, so of course we did.  Coconut shrimp appetizer. It was not sweet, which I appreciated.

 

 

Husband had the grilled lobster

 

 

and I had the seafood pasta

 

 

We passed on dessert.  
 

One last beach walk

 

 

 

Our airline has waivers in place for tomorrow and Sunday, but we are going to try and get home ahead of the storm. There are three more storms behind this one, and if our flights are on time, we should get in before it arrives.  If we stay I think we would be stuck for an entire extra week.  Fingers crossed. If you see me on the dinner thread on Sunday you will know I made it 😀

[KennethT]

Good luck getting home!

[KennethT]

I don't think I've ever seen a grilled lobster served out of the shell before.

[liamsaunt]

On 2/8/2025 at 8:07 AM, KennethT said:

Good luck getting home!

Thanks, we made it. We connected in Charlotte and were the last Boston bound flight to get out, all the later ones were already cancelled when we arrived. The standby list for our flight was huge.  The flight itself was basically fine.  There was no cabin service and they asked us to keep our seatbelts on for the whole flight.  It was a little bumpy at times, but not too bad. I have certainly been on bumpier flights. 
 

We really liked Little Exuma and will definitely return. There’s a lot of the island to still explore on a future visit. 
 

[TdeV]

Thanks for taking us on another fabulous vacation, @liamsaunt.

[rotuts]

those beach pictures help a lot w Snow Days in N.E.

 

thank you for sharing.

[Smithy]

I missed this until now -- in other words, you're already home -- but what a treat to read! The food all looks so good, and so unlike anything I'm likely to find or cook (because of inspiration and availability of materials). I'm a bit envious. The scenery is about as radically different from mine as it can be, and it's beautiful. Thank you very much for bringing us along! And I'm glad you made it home before the storm!