On Friday, June 15nd the San Pedro Lobster Fest 2012 started off in grand fashion with opening ceremonies at El Divino Restaurant at Banana Beach Resort. The jam packed party of lobster lovers gathered to celebrate the opening of the long anticipated opening of the lobster season. With DJ music entertaining the crowd outside and the Caribbean sounds of live steel drum music inside, guests enjoyed great food and crustacean camaraderie.
The festivities continued with the Grand Lobster Crawl, where lobster enthusiasts could visit participating local restaurants, bars and businesses to have their Lobster Crawl Passport stamped while enjoying daily special events. At the end of week each stamp counted as a ticket to enter a grand raffle to win a vacation package to San Pedro Lobster Fest 2013. This turned into great fun as many made it a point to fill their passport with as many stamps possible.
Saturday’s fun moved to Fido’s Courtyard where lobster specials such a bacon-wrapped lobster skewers were devoured and dance-contagious live music entertained the crowd all day long. Sunday the party started at the Sea Horse Bar at Corona del Mar where Carolyn’s lobster tacos and grilled tails were a hit. The fun moved to the beach where a horseshoe tournament engaged many throughout the day. Although rain threatened the day, lobstermania continued that evening at Kama Lounge where drinks specials and Traveller’s Rum held a Taste Off. Monday the action was at Lola’s Pub for great bar specials and Mojito’s Bar held the evening event with a large variety of grilled lobster dishes. The curried lobster tail was especially good and folks danced into the night with the keyboard jams and vocals of “Men at Work”, Terryl Godoy. Tuesday Searious Adventures offered a passport stamp when taking a tour with them and Pineapples Restaurant at Ramon’s Village held a beach BBQ that night. On Wednesday folks enjoyed Estel’s during the day while lobster pizza and Texas Hold’em Poker was the scene at Pedro’s Inn. A beach party, live music and delicious food by Ms. Shelly was served at Wayo’s Beach Bar and Crazy Canucks hosted the evening fun with delicious coconut popcorn lobster and drink specials. Unfortunately the countrywide power outage at 9PM put a damper on things! Friday night Wet Willy’s threw a super fun party with yummy smoked lobster fettuccini and a night of very entertaining karaoke.
By Saturday June 23, the island was excited and anxiously awaiting to have a lobsterous time at the annual San Pedro Lobsterfest Block Party. Every year the block party proves to be bigger and better and this year was no exception. It was lobster food galore! From delicious lobster sliders from Casa Picasso, to Fido’s flavorful Caribbean BBQ lobster kebabs to the mouthwatering Curried Coconut Lobster from Elvis Kitchen, lobster was prepared in all possible ways. Then the signature drinks were also in abundance, tropical and tasty sangrias, rum punches, margaritas and even Lobster Key Lime Martini and Papaya Lobster Colada all bring out the lobster theme.
Six judges, from different island media houses, town councilors and others had the arduous tasked of judging for the best signature food and drink as well as overall booth. With just short of one point, Elvi’s Kitchen Curry Coconut Lobster almost had a perfect score from the judges. Their dish was awarded the Best Dish while Blue Water Grill/Red Ginger and Caliente’s Lobster Key Lime Martini captured the Best Drink Award. There was tie for the Best booth between Ramon’s Village Pineapple’s/Purple Parrott both and Blue Water Grill/ Caliente/ Red Ginger. The winner of the Lobster Crawl raffle was also announced during the course of the night. Lori Betz, a frequent visitor to the island, won herself a vacation package for two to San Pedro Lobster Festival 2013. The package included complimentary hotel stays, tours, golf cart rental, bar tabs, dinner and many other gifts.
The evening entertainment began with the Caribbean rhythms of the Panerrifix Steel Band from Our Lady of Guadalupe RC School in Belmopan City. The steel band performed popular beats from a wide variety of local, regional and international artists. The Panerrifix along with Gino and the Shack Shakers of San Pedro set the stage for the main performers, the Garifuna Collectives. The combined acoustic, alternative and roots music performed by the Garifuna Collectives captivated the attention of the crowd from the start to the end of the performance.
Lobster fest culminated at Grand Caribe’s Cowboy Doug’s Pool Bar and Grill on Sunday June 24th with an all day pool party.
The San Pedro Lobsterfest proves to be attracting hundreds of mainland and international visitors to the island making it perhaps one of the biggest Lobster Festivals in the entire country. The festival is one of the activities organized by the business community of San Pedro to increase tourism arrivals and in effect generate local economy on the island. The organizers would like to thank all those people who helped including the valuable businesses, residents and visitors that made the Lobster Festival 2012 a great success.
