A Day with the Fauna and Flora

This morning was rainy and cool so we went East to the Mastic Trail.  Josh likes goals so he had written a list which included our hopes for the day.  This is the result:

1. Hike Mastic Trail
2. See Cayman Parrot
3. Visit Botanical Park
4. See Blue Iguanas
5. Visit East End

In addition, we saw:

1. Blue throated anole
2. Hickatee (freshwater turtles)
3. Wood slave (Jamaican gecko)
4. Racer, Black snake
5. A rat
6. Agouti
7. A manchineel tree

Mastic Trail

The Mastic Trail is cut into the inland forest - a mixed zone of mangroves, royal palm, acacia-like scrub and taller tropical trees.  We went to the trail the day after a torrential downpour so we were only able to make it about a quarter of the way before finding the trail flooded with about 8 inches of water.  We would have needed galoshes.

While on the trail we saw 1 Rat.  I think it was an invasive Norwegian Rat of the ratus type we are trying to kill at home.

While walking the trail I recorded the song of a persistent bananaquit on my iPhone.  I played it back and managed to summon some bananaquits.  Their calls attracted a northern flicker, a cuban bullfinch, a honeyeater and various small warblers.  I was overwhelmed by my trick.  Here is the call:

The Manchineel Tree

Also on the trail we saw warnings about toxic plants: the manchineel tree, the maiden plum and the lady hair being chief among them.  Standing in a leafy forest with kids, the questions of identification can seem overwhelming so Josh just told the kids "don't touch ANY plants".  This is hard when hiking past muddy trenches and caused Wren a lot of anxiety.  He kept saying "oh, I touched that plant, will I be alright?"

"Have I touched a plant?
How long will it take to know?"

The one I was interested to see is the manchineel tree - one of the most toxic trees on earth.  It secretes some kind of sap which is caustic to skin and causes blisters.  We found one in the botanic park but I only noticed because of the big red sign.

We did identify many maiden hair on the Mastic Trail.  This plant's green leaves cause black blisters, welts and rashes that last up to two weeks!

Maiden PLUM not Lady Hair...  (need to update the picture caption)

Cayman Parrots

We stopped to investigate a loud bird and chanced upon a pair of 'good bird' Cayman Parrots in a jacaranda tree by the road.  The say and looked back at us until we tired of them and drove off.  We all managed to see them through binoculars.  I saw another at the Botanical Park and heard many calling and flying past.

Agouti

The agouti is a large rodent from Central America which was established by early settlers for meat.  Arden Bodden told us the story of the first agouti.  A settler brought them in to breed and had them in a cage.  One escaped as he was coming to feed them and he tried to catch it,  but could not.  Realizing he couldn't breed them with only one he just let the other one go too.  Now they are called Cayman 'rabbit' and hunted for meat.  They are shy but not uncommon.  We saw one at a distance and the kids crept up and saw it again.  They loved the agouti.

Can you see the shy agouti?  It looked like a blend between a
duiker and a dassie to me. It is just to the left of the path in the middle distance.

A Blue Iguana and a Blue Anole
We are talking about getting a lizard as a pet.  Everyone is enjoying the lizards and geckos and iguana all about us.  If I were to 'discover' Grand Cayman today I would not call it los Tortugas (as Columbus is reputed to have done due to the abundance of turtles) but Los Iguanos.

Today, Josh spotted a blue anole.  He was a splendidly bright blue and was kind enough to perform by inflating his neck pouch for us.  You can't quite see that in the picture, but you can get the idea.  Also, see how his color is similar to the leaves.  Apparently they can change color a bit like a chameleon to blend in.

Blue anole at the bird sanctuary

Of course, the stars of the show were the indigenous blue iguana which are being bred and released in the Botanical Park program. We saw three in the gardens.  They are quite a big deal around here and you can see that this tourist was eager to get a good shot.

A blue iguana on the color-garden loop

A tourist getting a close up while Wren kneels in an odd way.
I love this picture.  Its very funny.

We saw no sign of aggression except from the iguana who was waiting by
the picnic tables.  When Wren sat at the table he rushed up as if to get food.

I told them to get back but they crept up on the iguana.  They are
generally lazy things wanting only to lie undisturbed in the sun.

This one was a bit insistent.  He was lying on the hot bricks but grew excited
a bit later.  You can see how big he is in this picture.

Black Snake
We also saw three racer snakes (Black Snakes).  They are harmless and like to lie on the path.  We passed an Australian woman who was quite scared of them but when I stamped this one cleared off the path in a hurry.

It is now quite late and I realize this has been a survey of animals rather than hugely informative.  Still, it was a day full of animals and the kids loved the Botanical Gardens, fighting with fallen palm fronds they found on the path.  Both were impressed by the signs about the risk of falling coconuts - Frost says it is a well-known fact that more people are killed by coconuts than by sharks.  He adds that it is also well known that more people are killed by bovine herd animals than sharks and coconuts combined.  I checked the cow claim and it seems that on average 1 human being is killed each year by a shark in the US while 22 people die from coconut strikes (about 150 annually worldwide).  In an average year about 20 people in the US die from deliberate cow attacks.

Be afraid, people.  Be very afraid of cows and coconuts.

"Don't do it Frost!  There are coconuts!!!"  yelled Wren.

The kids asked me to photograph this warning.

The Conk Man

We have come across three traditional foods on Grand Cayman: turtle, conch and jerk chicken.  Today, we learned about conch.  Over here they pronounce the name of the large sea mollusk (strombus gigas) 'conk' not conch.  The shells are everywhere.  Earlier, I'd posted about seeing drifts of them at Barkers Point but they are all around town.  Every restaurant has conch on the menu.  There are conch burgers, conch chowder, conch cerviche, cracked conch with pickled fennel....

A conch I picked up in the sand at Barkers.

A drift of conch shells

Conch shells are ubiquitous.  There are roadside stands advertising varnished conch shells for $10.  Every house has a few of them outside - for Christmas they are put up in rows as decoration.  Some of the shells are old and faded white but locals paint them pink again.  Down the road from us we saw a house in which conch shells had been cemented into a wall and painted and a sign for conch horns and shells.  I asked a passing local why the shells all had a hole in the top and she said "You should ask Eden, he's the conch man".

The conch wall.  Wren waits to find out about a conch horn.

A lovely conch shell outside Eden's

Eden was sitting outside his house smoking and drinking a beer.  Old fishing nets and floats snagged the branches of a nearby tree and a radio played from a gazebo where a game of dominos lay, unstarted.  A life sized plastic marlin stuck its head out from a sea grape.  He is a man in his early 60s with a rich Cayman accent.  Seeing us talking about conch, he came over and explained that he had to make a hole in the top of the shell because it was the easiest way to cut the muscle and remove the flesh of the snail to eat. 

I found this reference to the Queen Conch harvest on the site for the Cayman Department of the Environment, explaining that the measured population declined by 50% 1988-2006:

"The Queen Conch has been harvested for human consumption since prehistoric times.  It represents one of the most commercially exploited marine species in the Carribean.This has led to overfishing and depletion of most know shallow water stocks." 

There are limits on the catch and a closed season, but poaching and over-harvesting still occurs.  The large conch has a wide flange with bright pink color while a young conch is called a 'conch roller' because it has not yet grown the wide lip and so will roll in the surf.

Eden explained that the dives for conch in North Bay but that they are now more scarce.  That said, he is still selling conch horns - a traditional horn that makes a loud noise and remains an accepted noise maker for a small craft under US Coast Guard regulations!  He went inside and returned with a conch horn, giving us a demonstration of how to blow it.

Wren IMMEDIATELY wanted one and tonight we returned to pick it up.

Wren, his conch horn and Eden - the maker

Wren is thrilled with his conch horn.  He has learned to blow it and is very careful to keep it safe. Eden gave Frost a conch shell (with a hole) that was eaten.  He is also pleased with it but unsure that US Customs will allow us to return to the US with it.   This is a valid concern since conch are Conch are protected under the Endangered Species (Trade & Transport) Law.  I have checked and you are allowed to bring them in from Cayman.  I am not sure what Wren will do if we are not!

Here is a very interesting local article on the eating and endangered status of the conch.  

Wren learned to boogie board a little

Evening swim.

I bought Frost one of those cheap styrofoam boogie boards at the supermarket and he has been enjoyed bouncing around on it.  There are not really big waves here, behind the protection of the barrier reef, but as the beach banks down sharply they rise up a bit just at the shore.

Wren asked for a turn and practiced riding the small foamy waves up the beach.  Since he cannot swim he was closely watched and since he hates salt water in his eyes he would run up the beach each time water splashed his face.  Still, as he had more fun riding the water-in-eyes were less of a drama for him.

Here we are swimming in the later afternoon before the most amazing sunset. You can see a cruise ship heading out after a day moored off Grand Cayman.  Frost is in the deep water where he cannot stand - there is an abrupt shelf off the beach that plunges a few feet.  We bough tWren a snorkeling life jacket today so that he can play more safely without me having to be on high alert for the shelf.

Wren is watching for a wave.  Really, there were some waves!

Wren catches a wave!

Talking all the time about being "level 1" now and how he caught it and
what he was thinking and how this was the BEST DAY EVER!!!

Turtles, nectar feeders and some swimming

We started the day as usual with a morning swim then headed over to the Turtle Farm & Boatswains Lagoon to see the turtles.  As with any zoo like exhibit, the turtle breeding saddened me.  There is a big pond - a small lagoon - with many large green turtles in it splashing around.  It is not a nice place for a turtle that is by nature solitary and migrates thousands of miles across oceans.  Here, many live in same-age tanks and they are raised as a legal source of turtle meat which is a local traditional delicacy.

The only mitigating fact is that they release a fair number of yearling turtles each year - 31000 since 1980.  They do not have good records on the number of these turtles which survive but last year 11 were recorded returning to Cayman Island to breed.  This is not too bad since they did not do a full record of all turtles returning and they only breed when they are 20 years old.  Anyway, the kids enjoyed picking up a turtle.  Wren snorkeled in the lagoon (despite grave misgivings about water purity after the guard warned us not to swallow the water) but kept telling me he thought he had swallowed some!

You were allowed to pet the turtles in the yearling turtle ponds.  The turtles swam around and around and, after washing hands, you could carefully pick them up.  We were told that stroking a turtle under its neck could calm it down.

A highlight of our visit to the Turtle Park was the Caribbean Aviary.  In the aviary we met Arden who told us about the birds and how he used to hunt agouti in the dry forests inland.  The agouti looked cute, but they are apparently invasive like rabbits.  We bought a cup of nectar and the kids fed the bananaquit and a brilliant blue honeycreeper from Cuba/Brazil.

Josh has a bananquit on his head.

We were amazed by the blue honeycreeper 

Juvenile bananaquit

The parent and child bananquits.  The baby kept yelling at its parent
even though it is of an age to feed itself!

Tomorrow and following days are likely to be less sunny than our first four days - a thunderstorm is forecast for tomorrow, followed by overcast days with increased waves.  We are planning to explore the forest and botanic garden later in the week.

The Cayman Chanterelle

Mycology is one of my chief interests home in Seattle where the moist forests of the Pacific North-West host a formidable number of fungal species.  Coming on vacation on the Cayman Islands I did not expect to be studying mushrooms.  Of course, it is winter but the sand is dry and the forests are completely different to those at home.

Yesterday, while looking for birds, I stumbled across a huge patch of chanterelles.  They were clearly chanterelles - as you can see from these pictures.  I took a spore print and looked at them under magnification.  I didn't have a measuring eyepiece here so I can't give the size in microns but the shape of the spores was the same as that shown online for chanterelles - smooth oval with a small 'tooth' on one end.

Spores of Cayman Chanterelle.  100X.  No oil!

There are a few distinct differences between these chanterelles and those in the PNW.  Firstly, there are no conifers around here.  They are growing under low dry forest trees and sea-grape.  Secondly, they are a vivid sockeye pink and bright, apricot orange rather than the subtle egg yellow and soft pinks of our varieties.   The closest match I can find is Cantharellus Cinnabarinus which is reported to grow in Eastern Hardwood forests under beech, aspen and hickory.  They are supposed have caps of 1-5cm while mine grow a few cm larger than that range.

Since I was so sure it was some kind of chanterelle and I read online that some local restauranteurs had eaten them, I ate one last night and had no ill effects 24 hours later.  I hope to collect some more to eat later.

I asked a few locals about the mushrooms.  Their responses showed that they know nothing about them, as follows:

"I was told you can't eat the brightly colored mushrooms because they are the poisonous ones."

"It is like this, if animals and chickens eat them, then they are good for us to eat but if these mushrooms are in the forest and not being eaten, they are probably not good to eat."

"Mushrooms?  Did you say MUSHROOMS?  In the FOREST?"

"No, we don't have mushrooms here except the white ones in the Food Mart.  I don't even eat those."

PS.  Please excuse my mushroom spore slide.  It was made on a piece of plastic cut from a catalog lid because I left my microscope slides and immersion oil at home! 

Stingray Sandbar Trip

This morning we took a charter with Captain Crosby on his snorkel trimaran.  It was clear but cloudy with a fair breeze but no swell in the sheltered bay behind the reef.  Although the plan was for Wren & Josh to stay home, it turned out that our family of four were the only passengers, and it was not worthwhile to go with just two SO Josh and Wren came along.

Wren was only partly happy - he wanted to be home.  He says "It was fun and I got to see the stingray kind of out of the water and I got to see one school of fish.  I saw another stingray that was very demanding and wanted to take all the food from Mom and Frost and there were lots of seagulls flapping their wings in the wind but they could not move forward at all."

Stingray Sandbar - surrounded by hungry rays after our squid

Frost and I had a ball, we both love snorkeling and both go to hold and feed the stingrays.  They have been trained by years of feeding to congregate and 'feed from hand' fairly gently.  That said, they are big and demanding.  After you feed one a piece of squid, 5 or 6 huge stingrays swim around you and press up against you trying to get in position near the surface to be fed.  If you hold onto the squid too long they slurp your hand into their mouth - this is not sore but very peculiar.  One slurped my hand across his ridged teeth.

Frost was very entertained by them.  We both held them and stroked their skin which is soft and jelly-like underneath but firm and sandpapered on top.  Captain Crosby, who was one of the original feeders and habituaters of the rays, is a local Cayman who was a laid-back and informative Captain.  He showed us how to hold the rays, feed them and also took us to a popular snorkeling location where we were mobbed by sergeant-majors, stop-light parrot fish, tang, squirrelfish, scrawled filefish, needle-fish, wrasse and many others.

On the way home we stopped off for some Popeyes Fried Chicken which Josh said was an East coast 'thing'.  Frost had sides.  I am going to swim out to the reef in front of our house this afternoon.

Grand Cayman Day 2

Today began with a dawn bird walk and ended up with Wren throwing up and us cashless.  Still, it was an excellent day:

Good morning on Grand Cayman!

Birds

I woke early and went on a short birding walk down the lane.  It was 7am (4am Seattle time).  Walking down the lane of mansions and shacks, bouganvilleas tumbled over fences, palm trees stretched overhead and jacaranda pods hung low.  I passed dog walking locals in flip-flops and Cayman house-cleaners leaving vacation homes with buckets and brooms.  High in the trees iguanas sunned themselves while honey-eaters hovered over acacia blossoms and small birds walked palm leaves looking for insects.

There are so many warblers that I failed to conclusively ID even one.  Everything warbles.  They fly in flocks of tweeting rushing things.

Despite my warbler challenges, I saw 7 lifers.  The identified bird list for today (for my Mum):

White crowed pigeon

White winged dove

Common ground dove

Bananaquit

Greater Antillian Grackle caymanensis 

Northern mockingbird

Smooth billed ani

Green Heron

Cattle egret

Belted kingfisher

Snorkeling

Frost and I swam out to the coral bommie off Cemetery Beach while Wren jumped waves.  At first, Frost battled with keeping the fins in the water instead of splashing on the surface.  He said "my body just floats up out of the water with these fins on.  My feet just float!"  After some practice and adjustment he became comfortable and we snorkeled around for almost an hour.  At one point a couple on lilos threw fish food into the water and Frost almost swam into a group of large silver fish which clustered around him.

Wave jumping.  Really, there were waves.

See, a wave!  Round pieces of coral roll up and down in the wash
and litter the beach.

I could barely use my iPhone until this afternoon when I realized I could
turn the brightness way up.  Until then I was screen-blind and just pointed my
camera in the general direction.  This is how many things look to me still.  Its very bright!

Walking home after the beach.  Our house is behind the turquoise roof-thing.

We saw many fish but didn't reach the full range of coral of the barrier reef.  I am glad with did not continue swim out further as it was harder to return against the wind and withdrawing tide.  The water was slightly cloudy, probably due to wave action.  A number of people have mentioned that they are having higher-than usual waves for this area.  Today, the swells were 3-5 feet while many days the seas in the area are calm.  Frost and Wren enjoyed the waves but they had stirred up the sandy bottom which made it harder to see.  

Tomorrow Frost and I are going out on a snorkeling boat to the stingray sandbar and to a few other snorkeling sights.  Wren & Josh were going to come but Wren had a sore and upset tummy tonight and threw up once.  He also has a low fever.  I hope he feels better tomorrow, but is having a quiet day at home with Josh.

Josh is not terribly keen on snorkeling and is being very sweet saying he is going to have 'man time' with Wren.  Those who know me know that I love snorkeling from the beach but am not a big fan of boats on open ocean.  I really dislike big swells.  The wave height tomorrow is supposed to be 2-4 feet so that sounds okay.  

The Lizards of Conch Point

This afternoon we explored West Bay and the Barkers Point area where we stopped and watched kite surfers skimming over the mud-flats.  The road to the natural area is called Conch Point Road. At the point there are drifts of huge conch shells swept into the mangrove roots by the tide.  Some had crabs inside but most were just filled with sand.  I collected a few - pretty ones sell for $25 in town.

Drifts of Conch Shells at the point

Along the road we stopped to watch a large green iguana with a yellow and black striped tail.  As we drove closer for a picture it scuttled into the mangroves and startled a green heron which had been sitting, unseen, less than 6 feet from us.  The heron let out a great cackling shout at the iguana until it noticed me peering with my binoculars.  Here is today's best lizard picture.  We also stopped for lizards crossing the road, saw them in trees, stepped over them etc.  I am looking out for a book called "Reptiles of Grand Cayman."

Cashless

Before we left, Josh and I both drew a small sum in cash and expected to use our BECU atm cards once we arrived.  Both of us tried to get money and received mysterious messages from the atm.  We googled and learned that the US Credit Union system has no participating banks in the Caymans.  Uh oh.  We can get a cash advance on the credit card by walking into a bank and proving our identity and paying $25 but then we may as well open a Cayman bank account, right.  And we can still buy rum.  And Lynn - yes, flights are around $600 or less... but hurricane season starts in May.  Its also some of the calmest driest weather.

This is the rum, on our deck.  It is 65% over-proof Jamaican rum.
It was tasty.

Grand Cayman Day 1

This evening, returning from the beach, I told Josh that we should make a booking now for next January so we can come to the same place again next year.  I know it is only the first day, but I have seen enough to know I want to do this A LOT MORE.

We arrived, red-eyed and grumpy after about 12 hours of very turbulent, squashed, no-frills, low-sleep flights.  On approach, we circled the island a few times, swooping over cruise ships looming far higher than the island and across uninhabited atolls with yachts moored nearby.  The sea changed from a moody turpentine to pure turquoise.  On arrival, there are no concourses in the airport, so we just walked off the plane onto the blazing white cement runway and 85 degree heat.  The kids were thrilled.

Frost said "This is great.  This is tropical."
Wren said "I thought it would be MORE tropical.  It is very hot.  There are palm trees!"

Our house is lovely.  It is one half of a duplex on the beach or rather on a tiny rocky shelf with a tiny beach which connects right onto the end of the famous 7 mile beach.  We are a short walk from one of the best beach-snorkeling sights in the area (Marine Park's Cemetary Reef) and around the corner from a supermarket and a liquor store featuring gazillions of types of rum.

Everyone is very helpful and laid back.  Josh went to one of the U21 World Cup soccer games and reported that they couldn't figure out how much to charge or how to issue tickets so they told everyone to just come in.  The supermarket shopping aisles are chaos as people just leave carts at odd angles and drive hither and thither up and down the aisles.  It is not uncommon to have an 8 cart grid-lock.  Nobody minds.  Everyone just stands still and looks confused.  I came to the front of a 7 cart line at the checkout and asked where eggs were.  She told me where and added "If you need eggs, go and get them... there's a long line so they can wait."  How does that work?

We have started our bird list, or rather tried to.  I thought I had identified a kind of dove, a black cuckoo and a shrike.  However, going through the bird book I missed vital diagnostic features and am only able to conclusively identify a wild rooster which was begging by the Car Rental place.

On the road from the airport we saw some large lizards (18" to 2 feet long) dead on the road.  I mentioned this to the owner and she said that they were invasive South American iguanas and they are told to run them over!  These are not the rarer, native giant blue iguana which we hope to see later in the week.  When we first came to our house, the kids screamed to me to come and see A LIZARD. Indeed, the rocks by the shore are home to many larger hunting lizards - the kind that stand up tall and run fast and upright.  We will stalk them again tomorrow.

While Josh watched the Seahawks game I took the kids down the beach (in the picture) to a nearby swimming beach and marine park.  We snorkeled and Wren built castles and jumped waves.  We stayed until sunset it was so lovely.  I saw many fish, including tang, silver fish and something that looked like a hawk fish. I also found a complete lobster carapace which I hope to draw tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning I am going bird watching and then we'll try and snorkel out to the reef with Frost and wade and baby snorkel with Wren.  There is a kayak under the deck we can take out and moor to a buoy if Wren gets comfortable enough to snorkel himself.  Right now he only wants to jump waves.  The sea is VERY salty and warm.  The visibility is good but I have not yet seen the coral.  Tomorrow, I hope.

Our house is the left half of this duplex.  This is taken from the beach wall.

This is the view from the deck over the rocky foreshore.
Plain sand starts around that corner.  In the distance you can see some white silhouettes which
are huge cruise ships in port.

Newark 3am

After I have walked concourse C failing to find a coffeeshop, Josh tells me that Dunkin Donuts is the Starbucks of the east coast.   Urbanspoon says there is a  Starbucks here but my up-all-night eyes cannot see it.  

The kids are asleep.  

There were drifts of dirty snow along the railroad tacks and the wide glass windows are radiating cold.  Frost brought no coat so Josh is in a t-shirt  while fist has the sounders jersey.  Frost said he thought it was going to be hot. 

We are going to wake the kids shortly to get a bite to eat before boarding.