Inspired by good memories of our conch dinner here at Honda Ensenada, we planned to do a repeat with our friends Judy and Sherman on Fairwinds.

Once we were securely anchored yesterday, we headed off to scour the reefs for conch. The reefs at Ensenada Honda are amazing. You don't expect it in a place like this but it rivals some of the best dive sites I've been. So...I'm on a conch hunt but I get dazzled by eagle rays, angelfish, damsel fish. puffers, porcupine fish, etc. I still manage to find two huge conch even with the distractions. Mature conch are beautiful. Maturity is defined by a hard lip vs. one still growing. Two big ones are a good find but I decide to save them and hunt for more today. You keep conch by drilling a hole in their shell, running a string through it, and hanging them over the side.

Today's snorkel (hunt) was magnificent but I only found one more. I've gotten the knack of getting them out of the shell down. With a hammer and chisel you cut a hole in the shell and run a knife to cut where their muscle holds them in. The shucked conch isn't real pretty but once you cut away the gross parts and skin them you are left with beautiful white meat. There are several ways to skin them. "Barking" them is traditional. You " bark" them by gripping the skin in your teeth and twisting the meat away. I've been there and done that...once. I used pliers today.

The final step once they are shucked and cleaned is to beat the crap out of them. Meyka used a meat mallet. Any blunt object will work.

To cook them, you dip in egg and breading and fry.

What do they taste like?

Would you believe chicken? No? OK...they taste like fried clams. Pretty darn good ones at that.

So there you go. Conch: it's what's for dinner.