Oistins Fish Market

It’s easy to buy fresh fish in Barbados and the most popular place to go is the open-air Oistins Fish Market.

Oistins is a fishing town on the southernmost part of this island nation. Each day small boats return from the Caribbean Sea and nearby Atlantic Ocean with dolphin, blue marlin, swordfish, kingfish, barracuda, tuna and flying fish (which are now primarily fished in Tobago, 120 nautical miles southwest of Barbados). They are sold to the fish mongers in the market and then, weighed, sliced and sold to locals and tourists.

If you’re lucky you can come down when there are large catches of what is called a lobster, but are actually large marine crayfish. As far as I’m concern, it doesn’t matter because the sweet meat from the creatures are every bit as succulent as lobster.

The market is known more for its Friday Fish Fry, a weekly outdoor party attended by locals and tourists that starts at 6 p.m. and goes into the next morning. But every day the fish market is open selling the freshest of what is available that day.

A fish monger skillfully weighs and cuts blue marlin: