Dissecting a Coconut

Recently we took some time to fly back to Pittsburgh to visit with Hunna and Grappy. We felt it was important to take time to connect with them while we can. Eliza has stayed behind to help her parents with this life transition they are working through. The kids and I returned to the Dominican Republic and are moving the boat around from the south coast to the north coast and look forward to the time when Eliza rejoins the cruise. This chapter has changed the course of our journey, but we feel grateful that we had the flexibility in our lives to visit and help out. We are also thankful for the kind words and support that many of you have extended.

After a brief taste of snow and winter, most of us are back in the realm of clear blue waters and white sand beaches. Jeremiah has put together a piece describing a recent activity.
Enjoy. - Peter

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While we were playing at Saona Island a coconut fell out of a tree and landed by our dinghy. We thought it would be cool to crack it open like we did with our cousins in Puerto Rico. Instead of prying at it with sticks and banging it with rocks, we brought it back to Ohana and used different tools that we had. These were a machete, a saw, a hammer, and a flat head screw driver. We knew that we needed to get the outer shell off, and then get through the thick husk. We used the hammer to pry up rectangles of the outer shell that the saw had cut. Then we used the machete to hack down to through the husk to the inner shell. The saw came out again and we made a small split in the inner shell. Finally we used the screw driver to crack open the shell. We ended up with halves, each with about an inch of white flesh around the inside. The “milk” was clear, but had bits of husk in it, so we poured it overboard. Each of us tried a small piece of the flesh. Half said “yick” and half said “yum.” Overall this way was more efficient then when we smashed them on the beach in Puerto Rico.

-- Jeremiah

On the beach at Isla Saona

Using the machete to remove the husk

The results!