It was an ordinary day. Got up early today to try to get some photos of the beach before too many people start to dot the landscape. Headed from our third floor suite down the concrete stairs to the colorful walkway that takes me to the beach, pass a few hundred lizards sunning themselves and trying to escape the birds that are looking for a morning meal. I passed a couple of workers that are cleaning the freshwater pools or trimming and planting shrubs. Then, I smell the bacon! I must be getting close to the water since the Cabana Beach Bar and Grill is at the end of my walk, just before I step off the deck onto the cool, soft, powdery white sand of Grace Bay Beach. Someone is lifting the large wooden covers that encase the restaurant and protect it from the weather and locking it in place. The Cabana is open for business for yet another day! As I pass, Jeff greets me. I have gotten to know most of the restaurant staff over the time that we have been on the island. Everyone is extremely friendly and loves to tell stories about the island and them selves. Jeff is no different, except he is the owner of the restaurant. I sit on a stool and we talk; the photos can wait for another day. I guess he is probably in his mid-50s. Still has the endless energy and drive that I did when I was that age. He has been on the island for 30 years now. This place is his 4th restaurant that he has owned, but the first one on the beach. He seems to really enjoy what he does. He looks out over the water as we talk and he tells me about his life on the island. He is now a belonger; someone who has been a resident of the island long enough that he can vote on election day. He was originally from California, but decided to move his family to Providenciales when he saw a chance to open his own restaurant. He lives close-by and raises chickens that furnish the Cabana with the eggs he uses on his menu. Also has an aquaponic system at his home. Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. In aquaponics, you grow fish and plants together in one integrated, soilless system. The fish waste provides a food source for the plants and the plants provide a natural filter for the water the fish live in. Aquaponics produces safe, fresh, organic fish and vegetables. When aquaponics is combined with a controlled environment greenhouse, premium quality crops can be grown on a year-round basis, anywhere in the world. Aquaponics can be used to sustainably raise fresh fish and vegetables for a family, to feed a village or to generate a profit in a commercial farming venture. The fish that he has in his pond are tilipia and he plans to sometime soon offer them on his menu. Jeff said that he buys his canned goods and has them shipped on containerships. Quite pricey! I asked if I could step behind the bar for a few photos and he promptly obliged. I believe, if I was younger, I could do the same thing that Jeff does for a business. That way I could spend my entire life on the ocean instead of visiting it once or twice a year. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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