Where do you buy fresh seafood?

mahojim · Post by **mahojim** » Thu Oct 09, 2014 2:33 pm

So, anyone else read newsofstjohn.com ?
There's musings with outrageous seafood prices at Starfish Market today...A pound ot tuna-$36.99, salmon-$18.99, and what looks like mahi mahi is $16.99. ( a small bag of grapes are said to be $14.00, jsyk...wonder if they're half price when they dry to raisins...)
Now, any reasonable person can see that those prices are a bit steep. Heck, probably find some of said fish on a menu somewhere cheaper. We LOVE dining out, but also enjoy home cookin' at the villa. So I'm curious; aside from the normal STJ price mark-up, why is fresh seafood so expensive on an island? Where do you shop for yours?

Smiles-
MJ

Coconuts · Post by **Coconuts** » Thu Oct 09, 2014 4:02 pm

When there are more fishing charter boats going out (things are pretty quiet now), Ash or friends has a cooler at the stand across from the BVI ferry dock. Most whole fish are $10 per pound. I think that there is a similar fellow in Coral Bay. I tend to choose smaller fish to avoid any chance of ciguatera. For cooked fish, several of the West Indian restaurants or deli counters have reasonable prices and large portions. It's not fresh, but some of the markets have reasonably priced frozen seafood.

All the best,

Kevin

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Thu Oct 09, 2014 9:58 pm

Prices go up and prices come down - grapes today at St John Market are $4.75 for a bag

Pia

mahojim · Post by **mahojim** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 4:55 am

Pia wrote:Prices go up and prices come down - grapes today at St John Market are $4.75 for a bag

Pia

I was in that "just wondering" mode...
Just making conversation, haven't been there in a while.
"When life gives you grapes, make grape-ade!"..do they call that wine, or grape juice?
Did you ever see the Saturday Night Live episode where Garrett Morris is making freshly squeezed raisin juice? Pretty funny.
Just sayin'...
Smiles-
MJ

Bigcheeze · Post by **Bigcheeze** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 6:26 am

Jim,

Good to see you have a Ticker again...I agree with Kevin and Pia. In the past we have also tried Fish Trap's market too.

Enjoy
Dave

(Just got my ticker installed today finally)

iheartsj · Post by **iheartsj** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:31 pm

A simple answer to your question. The Gulf Coast of the United States. I live on STJ but ate fresh caught sea food almost everyday for a week when I was visiting the Gulf Coast.

Here I eat frozen seafood from Cost U Less. I buy from Ash and other local fishermen if they have deep sea catch-- fish that do not feed on the reef.

Reef fish have a good chance of having ciguatera.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:54 pm

Saturday market in French Town, St. Thomas.

Cheers, RickG

AquaGirl · Post by **AquaGirl** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:32 pm

I will confess that we bought Mahi at Starfish on our last trip. Our driver (aka my hubby) did not want to go to more than one place to get groceries for dinner that day. It was either 15.99 or 16.99/lb in May- can't remember. Similar to prices we pay at Whole Foods in our area for fresh Mahi. We marinated it in Cruz Bay Grill Rub and cooked it on the grill. It was absolutely delicious and very fresh. (We eat a lot of seafood and usually can tell if its fresh or frozen.) It was so good that we went back a second time during a trip and bought more. We fixed it the same way and was just as good as the first time. There were only 3 of us eating it, as the 4th person in our group is not a fish eater, so we didn't have to buy too much. Next trip, we will try Fish Trap's market.

Regarding prices of other items - we got grapes at a price much less than the price in newsofstjohn. We must have hit a sale. The best prices we found were at Pine Peace Market, especially for produce, but its more limited in selection (depending upon what you're buying). We also picked up some items at St John Market since it was very convenient to pop in on our way back from the beach to the villa. Some items were reasonably priced..others were close to or same as Starfish.

mahojim · Post by **mahojim** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 1:45 am

Thanks, y'all!
So funny how much I'm already trying to relieve the stress regarding whichever night we want to eat seafood "at home". What's my issue?! ...
Overplanning a trip 6 and 1/2 months away!!!
Then again, can't do anything without a plan...
I'm a moron.
Smiles-
MJ

kklay · Post by **kklay** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:19 pm

MJ,

I am right there with you on the whole planning thing. I'm sure there are times I drive my travel friends crazy with updates, spreadsheets, etc. but for me, it helps the time go quicker until the trip! Someone has to plan and make decisions, it might as well be us!

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