Family Island Research and Education

2011-10-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

10 July 2011

GOOD NEWS

5 July 2011: the Bahamian government announced that all commercial shark fishing of the country’s territorial waters is prohibited.

This is a major advance in Bahamian fisheries policy and regulations. The new regulations are the result of a major campaign by the Bahamas National Trust in partnership with the Pew Environmental Group and the result of a commitment by government to the natural resources of the Bahamas.

___________________________________

The last day before we left Crooked Island was one of the best. I hired Michael Carroll, a Landrail Point bonefish guide, to take me into the flats of Acklins and Crooked Island. We revisited the flat south of Lovely Bay where we had worked with Clarence Williams, and then Michael took me to Thompson Creek and Old Woman south of Crooked Island. The good news was no fibropapillomas and plenty of large turtles. It was clear the Acklins fishermen have been staying out of these flats.

Just east of Old Woman three turtles ran off from in front of the boat, and we had to make a choice. Michael took after one, but I hollered at him to go after another that I thought was a hawksbill.

“How can you tell?”

“It looks like a hawksbill, and it’s behaving like one.”

We caught the turtle after Michael had done some fancy driving over a rocky bar, and I showed Michael the difference between the green and hawksbill. When we got back to Landrail later that afternoon, Michael showed a picture of himself and the hawksbill to his 10 year old daughter, Melena, who said, “Beautiful hawksbill!” When her father asked her how she knew, she said because the people from FOXY LADY had told her about turtles at Cabbage Hill Primary. So Melena, Michael, and I – three generations – had all learned more about sea turtles.

Captain Michael Carroll

As usual, when we can see the end of the season, time gets short. We ran up to Rum Cay, had a wonderful supper at Ruby Baine’s restaurant in Rum Cay with Marcus and Jenny Mitchell and family, and then headed on to Conception.

Every time we go to Conception we feel the thrill, the gift of being there. Tropic birds fly overhead to greet you in the anchorage, laughing gulls gather on the speed boat, and in the crystal water you can always see fish – barracuda and box fish around the boat, southern sting rays and their symbiotic bar jacks crossing the bottom, schools of bait fish, lemon sharks, and the occasional bottle nosed dolphin. At sunset the odds of a green flash are excellent.

And that is only a selection of what you see in the anchorage. Then you go up the creek, onto the land, circumnavigate the island, and you know there are not enough days in a life-time to see it all. So Barbara and I listened carefully to the weather, checked the tides, made a plan, and hoped we could stay until we ran out of fuel and water.

American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), Conception Island

Barbara and I did work in Conception until we had tagged over 50 turtles and had run out of gas. On one survey pass in the deep hole (about 50 yards) Barbara counted 20 green turtles. Our work was enhanced by the two days we spent with Don and Denise Bermant who helped us tag turtles and added moral support.

Then we steamed north to Cat Island to meet Barbara’s sister-in-law, Karen Buxton, and her son, Marty, who were with us for a week tagging in Cat Island. For the first time we tagged turtles in Musgrave Creek and Little Creek in New Bight. Mark Keasler had reported seeing an occasional turtle in these creeks, but we tagged four green turtles in Musgrave Creek and 5 in Little Creek. These creeks are part of the same mangrove system that includes Fernandez Creek and would get our vote as a potential national park and marine reserve.

Spotted Sea Hare Taking a Ride on a Horse Conch, Fernandez Bay

The rest of the season was frenetic but wonderful. Barbara left in early June, and two days later Alex Henderson and a friend arrived from the National Trust. Because of a nagging problem with the outboard wiring harness, we tagged turtles in Cat Island for only two days before we had to run back toward Spanish Wells so Ron Pinder could fix the wiring. On the way we stopped in Cape Eleuthera to visit the Island School and made a run in the speed boat in wretched weather up to Starved Creek where the boys caught 10 really healthy green turtles in sloppy conditions. The boys flew out of Rock Sound the next afternoon on the same plane that carried two more interns, Whitney Knowles and Venetheria Gray. That afternoon the ladies tagged three more green turtles in Starved Creek before it was too dark. In Starved Creek we also saw about a dozen mature nurse sharks aggregating for their annual reproductive activity in the shallow water.

Whitney and Venetheria

In Spanish Wells we tagged turtles north of Royal Island, in Corrie Sound, and in the Sounds on the eastern side of North Eleuthera before the girls took the ferry back to Nassau and I ran, “me-one,” back down to Cat Island to meet my grandson, Findlay Mulligan, and our family friends, Chris and Henry Lee.

The weather was excellent so we were able to get back to Conception where, among other excitement, the boys spent 15 minutes swimming with a bottlenose dolphin just outside the creek. We also went out to South Rocks to snorkel near the shore and see hundreds of sooty terns nesting on the cay.

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncates) in Conception

When Findlay and the Lees departed, Terran Moss (12 year old son of Junior and Cindy Moss) came on board for the delivery to Spanish Wells to lay the boat up for the summer. We had plenty of work, but Terran and I did get another day in the Sounds with Jean-Ann Wilson, Cord Higgs, and Rachel Ricks and her son, Storm. For many years the Harbour Island fishermen devastated the turtle stocks in the Sounds. They ate the meat and sold the shells to the ladies in the tourist market. Now, after the turtle ban, it appears the men are leaving the turtles alone and the population is growing in number and average size.

Cat Island and Spanish Wells Students Work Together

SEASON SUMMARY:

· Captured 412 turtles

· Confirmed fibropapillomas on the west side of Andros and at the entrance to Turtle Sound in Crooked Island

· Tagged turtles in several new creeks in Andros, Barra Terre, Little Exuma, and Crooked Island - Acklins

· Observed increased turtle populations in New Bight Cat Island, Starved Creek in South Eleuthera, the Sounds in North Eleuthera, and the flats north of Stella Maris Long Island

We want to thank two anonymous donors who made significant contributions to our work. The donations compensated for increases in the price of fuel, and they financed the Bahamas National Trust intern cruises. We also purchased an LCD projector that we used in all our school presentations.

LANDRAIL POINT

2011-10-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

24 April 2011

Photos by Jennifer Herrick

Foxy Lady and Bird Rock Light

The anchorage off the beach between Bird Rock and Landrail Point is one of our favorites, especially since there is a healthy green turtle habitat off Jesse Phillip’s house 200 yards away.

Barbara and I celebrated Easter with our Seventh Day Adventist friends in Landrail on Saturday and had lunch with Willie Gibson and her family after the service. If Willie Gibson mentions a meal you just say, “Yes, please.” Willie is a great cook, and her smile lights up the darkest of days.

Sunday morning we picked up “Captain” Leo Gibson, Nigel Sands, and Tommy Moss in Landrail, and Jennifer Herrick joined us to take pictures. Leo is now fifteen, but he earned the family rank of Captain several years ago when he announced his intention to become a professional mariner and began driving his father’s boats.

So we took off for the turtle grass pasture in front of Jesse Phillip’s pink house where we tag turtles every year. Barbara and Tommy took turns as lookout, and Leo was the lead diver followed by Nigel. When the turtles slowed down I got in and Barbara steered.

Tagging and recapturing turtles is usually our main purpose, but we are also studying the escape behavior of sea turtles and their possible ability to camouflage themselves as protection from predators. The turtles off the pink house are almost all dark brown with beautiful markings, and the escape behavior of the larger turtles is predictable - swim west into deeper water.

Tommy Spots the Turtle and Leo is Ready to Dive

Our strategy is to spot the turtles right near the beach in shallow water and try to keep the boat between the turtles and the deep water so we can see them more easily and tire them out before they go deep and are harder to dive up. Green sea turtles have not survived for millions of years, however, by making it easy for the opposition.

The Chase is On

We got lucky with the first turtle that stayed in shallow water, and Leo dove it up easily – a recapture from last year.

Leo with a Green Turtle Recapture

The second turtle was a different deal. The turtle was larger and headed for the deep, and we ran wide open to keep up. Barbara began to have real trouble seeing the turtle, but it slowed down, and Leo went in to tow behind the boat. Finally the turtle slowed way down, and I went over. The turtle lay on the bottom, but neither Leo nor I could get down to forty feet. Slowly the turtle began to move, and I knew we could get it when it came up to blow. That took another half an hour while the turtle swam out to the wall which starts at 70’. Leo caught it when it finally came up for air.

The next chase started out the same. After a short time in the shallows, the turtle swam under the boat and headed offshore. Leo went over and we towed him fast until the turtle slowed. Again I went in and the turtle lay down in fifty feet. Within twenty feet of the green turtle was a hawksbill resting and looking up at us. Nigel and Tommy were now in the water, and I told them to watch the hawksbill while Barbara hovered nearby watching all of us. After a few minutes the hawksbill started to move away, so we had to make a choice. We want more DNA samples from hawksbill, so we abandoned the green, and we all took off after the hawksbill which swam slowly out to the wall.

I lost sight of the hawksbill, but Leo has younger eyes and kept swimming and pointing down. We followed that turtle back into forty feet and back out to the wall twice before it headed for the surface. Hawksbill do not head for the surface with the same sense of mission as green turtles. That turtle toyed with us, coming close, diving down, coming up, and then finally jetting away out of reach, blowing and diving back to the bottom and back out to the wall.

The same drill again, and the boys all followed him. Then the turtle finally started to ease inshore, and I thought Leo might be able to dive him up, but the turtle never lay down long enough. I yelled at Barbara that we would keep at it, and she just laughed. I don’t know how many minutes went by, but the turtle headed back for the surface and started his toying routine again. I made a shallow dive, and he did a one-eighty and took off toward Leo. Big mistake for the turtle. Leo swam for his life and just caught the hawksbill as it hit the surface.

Hawksbill Salute

That capture took an hour and a half. Everyone was tired, and Jennifer had gotten some great shots but had to go ashore to tend her baby. We ran out to Foxy Lady for peanut butter and jelly and back in to anchor off the beach. Then we worked up the turtles, and the boys paid close attention to the data and our lectures on the biology. It is always useful to show the differences between the hawksbill and the greens and try to understand how the physiology of each species suits its way of life. And we had all just witnessed differences in escape behavior.

Captain Leo, Tommy Moss, and Nigel Sands

And so ended a fantastic day. We had caught only three turtles, but all were healthy, and one was a hawksbill. The joy of the day was spending so much time in the water with the boys and watching the turtles swimming in their environment.

The Foxes and the Cartwrights

2011-09-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Clarence Town, Long Island

9 April 2011

Photos by Wendy Edler

The Fox boys, Dylan and Alexander from Salt Pond, arrived at 0900 and off we went in the speed boat to tag a few turtles at Lochabar Beach before the Cartwrights arrived. Roger Cartwright had said he would be down by 1100 with his son Tyler and a couple of friends in his Boston Whaler.

I gave the Foxes the usual options, “You can jump the turtles, swim after them, or use the dip net.” Dylan and Alexander had gone with me before so they knew the drill. Alexander decided he would jump as we chased the first turtle. Right off it was obvious the boys had good eyes. They saw everything, and passing turtles didn’t distract them from the target. Alexander jumped twice and caught the first turtle.

Dylan tried next, but had a trouble with his timing, so he picked up the net and almost immediately got the knack. When we headed into the dock to pick up Wendy Edler the boys had put six green turtles in the boat. Wendy was coming along to take photos. The Cartwrights were late, so we headed back to Lochabar to keep working until they arrived.

The Boys Catch a Green Turtle in the Dip Net

We put one more green turtle in the boat and were chasing another, when we saw a loaded Whaler headed our way.

The Cartwrights Arrive

Roger stood by while we caught our turtle then came alongside to get a plan. There was a high neap tide, so if we were quick we could catch a few in the small hole before we got trapped by the ebb. Tyler and “Dutch Boy” (Earl Knowles) hopped into our boat and we motored carefully up the creek and across the flats into the hole. We caught all the turtles we chased, and both boats had four turtles before the tide started dropping and we had to leave.

Tyler Dives on a Green Turtle

With perfect weather and plenty of talent we headed for the main channel to catch the larger turtles. There is a wonderful habitat in 10-15’ at the end of the channel into Clarence Town where it turns toward the Flying Fish Marina and the government dock. There are pastures of turtle grass and escape routes to deeper water. Over the years we have worked in this habitat, but you need good weather, and Barbara and I cannot catch many alone.

To lighten the boats we put all our turtles ashore on Strachan Cay. We agreed to catch only one turtle in the Strachan beach habitat on our way out to the channel. Tyler got one.

Roger and Dutch Boy and the young spotters made it look easy in the main channel. In our boat we towed Dutch Boy, and he easily caught the first big one. Then Tyler and Dylan started joining him. It was wonderful to see Dutch Boy hold back to give the boys a chance before he helped them. (Later Roger told me that Dutch Boy has no children but plays uncle to a whole gang of kids in Mangrove Bush and finances the Optimus sailing program.) He’s the kind of man you are proud to know.

Dutch Boy Towing

Green Turtle Blows

Dutch Boy brings a Green to the Boat

Soon each boat had three greens, and it was definitely time to start the science. When we had all the turtles line up on the beach at Strachan Cay, Roger went out to the channel and caught one more. That gave us 24 green turtles to measure, weigh, tag, and photograph. Everyone had a job, and even the youngest boys stayed with the program.

Weighing a Green Turtle

It took a full two hours to work up all the turtles. We processed the Lochabar and 2^nd Hole turtles first, because they had been in the boats the longest. When they were done, Roger ran them back to their habitats while we finished the rest.

The Team

Wendy took the team picture with the final turtle, and the science was finished – 24 total green turtles from four distinct habitats within Clarence Town harbour. We had 5 recaptures from Lochabar Beach, 5 recaptures from 2^nd Hole, and 1 from Strachan Cay. All the turtles from the Main Channel were new, but Roger and Dutch Boy saw a couple with tags while they were towing. It was all proof of the extraordinary site fidelity of green turtles, even in an area where only a hundred yards would take the turtles into a different habitat.

As we motored back toward the marina, Dylan and Alexander counted 30 turtles in the hundred yards between the red buoy and the marina bulkhead. Three years ago we had made the same survey and had been excited to see 12 turtles.

That evening some of us assembled at the Cartwright’s for crab and dough and plenty of talk about politics, families, and Long Island; but the thread running through all the talk was pride in the community and the environment.

Hopefully the Bahamas National Trust will soon establish a branch in Long Island that can work toward creating a couple of national parks on the island. I would recommend that all of Clarence Town Harbour be protected. The park would allow for bonefishing, selected dredging, expansion of the marina, and work on the government dock but would protect the beaches and cays and the wildlife.

Newsletter 20 March 2011

2011-04-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

Caribbean Reef Shark: photo by Stuart Cove

Why is the proposed ban on the commercial harvest of sharks so important for the Bahamas? What pressures make the situation so urgent?

The following announcement from the Bahamas National trust explains the problem and proposes a realistic solution.

Bahamas Shark Campaign

• The demand for shark fins, meat, and other products has depleted numerous shark populations. 30% of shark and ray species are now threatened or near threatened with extinction.

• The growing demand for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup, has led to the killing of up to 73 million sharks a year. Most fishermen remove the fins and discard the carcass while still alive.

• Slow growth, late maturation and production of few offspring, make sharks vulnerable to overfishing and slow to recover from decline.

• Because of a ban on longline fishing gear in the 1990s, The Bahamas has relatively healthy and diverse shark populations.

• As apex predators sharks are important to maintaining a healthy balance in marine ecosystems.

• Divers and film crews visit The Bahamas, known as “the Shark Diving Capital of the World,” to see sharks in the wild, and they contribute tens of millions of dollars to the Bahamian economy every year.

• The objective of the campaign is to amend the Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) Act (Chapter 244) to include shark specific protections as follows:

o Prohibit the commercial fishing of sharks throughout the entirety of The Bahamas exclusive fishery zone;

o Prohibit the import and export of shark products in The Bahamas;

o Prohibit the sale of shark products within The Bahamas;

o Allow recreational catch and release of sharks;

o Allow the incidental, artisanal catch of sharks by citizens of The Bahamas, assuming the subsequent shark or shark products are not sold.

Chinese companies are now applying for permits to fish for or purchase shark products in the Bahamas. A small fishery has already developed in Andros. The Chinese have broken ground on the new Baha Mar hotel project on Cable Beach in Nassau, and the Bahamian government has issued 8,000 work permits for Chinese workers who will work on the project. That is at least 8,000 reasons to act before the market for shark fin soup explodes.

The Bahamas National Trust in cooperation with the Pew Environmental Group, the Nature Conservancy, BREEF, and others is proposing the new shark regulations to Government and is trying to educate the Bahamian population on the reasons for the legislation. Those interested should go to www.bnt.bs for more information. Our readers may also want to read about the Shark Conservation Act signed by President Obama on January 4th to control shark finning.

OUR TRIP:

Emerald and Foxy Lady ran down together from Black Point to Lee Stocking Island to stay for a week and tag turtles in the Brigantines and Barra Terre. We saw southern sting rays mating on the sandy bottom a few hundred yards south of the anchorage and tagged green and hawksbill turtles in the Brigantines and Barra Terre with the Rosens, Allen, and Tori Redinger from the Perry Institute.

Tori Redinger with her First Turtle

Rescue of the Connie Ann

18 February 2011

I still leave the VHF on channel 16 at night in the out-islands. At 0430 Barbara and I were woken by a Mayday, and the boat in trouble sounded close.

Like any sailor moored comfortably in a good lee, I rolled over and prayed someone else would respond to the emergency. No such luck. Barbara and I forced ourselves out of the rack to answer the call. The skipper of the Connie Ann said he was unable to start his engine and gave us his position. His boat was a 27’ Bahamian commercial fishing boat being delivered from Grand Bahama to Exuma. When I plotted his position I knew why he and his crew were not happy campers. He was drifting at about 1 knot and was a mile from the rocks on the windward side of Lee Stocking. It was any mariner’s nightmare – drifting onto a lee shore in strong winds and breaking waves.

I called BASRA, the Bahamas Defense Force, and Marcus Mitchell only to learn that they could not help, and we were on our own.

At 0615 I picked up Eric Mueller at the Institute and Allan White from Emerald and ran our 20’ Spanish Wells speed boat out Adderly Cut in 6-9’ seas. The wind was 18-22 knots, and the seas outside were 6-8’ and starting to break. Towing in the seas was going to be questionable, but in less than half an hour Connie Ann would be too close to the rocks for us to pick up the tow.

Connie Ann threw us the end of their anchor rode, and Allan got a bowline around our bridle and we started to tow NW up the coast and a little further offshore, but as we approached Adderly Cay I could see it would be too dangerous to tow Connie Ann down wind through the cut.

I asked Erich if there was another way into the lee at a better angle. He suggested the north side of Adderly where he knew there was enough water with the high tide. We towed north of Adderly, and luckily the angle of the seas was not bad and the wind had subsided a bit. Within 20 minutes we were in the lee and heading into Lee Stocking.

So the boys on the Connie Ann got lucky. We had left our radio on; Erich Mueller had local knowledge; and the seas were just small enough for us tow. If any of that had been different the Connie Ann would have struck the rocks on the ocean side of Lee Stocking Island and three fishermen might have drowned.

F/V Connie Ann inside Adderly Cay

The wind was forecast to stay up all day. We knew our friends, Tony and Eusie Zane, had arrived in Georgetown, so Barbara and I hooked a ride with Catherine Booker and had a wonderful day with Tony and Eusie and their friend, Pem Hutchinson, who has had a house in George Town forever.

Saturday morning the Rosens departed for Staniel Cay, and we ran the 60 miles south and east on the bank to Long Island, so we could leave the boat in the Stella Maris marina while we flew out to Nassau to meet up with Shelley Cant and Kerrilynn Miller at the Bahamas National Trust and travel to Spanish Wells to promote the shark campaign and have people sign the petition that will be submitted to Government to prove that Bahamians are informed and in favor of the new shark legislation.

Taking a fisheries campaign to Spanish Wells may sound like going into the lion’s den to sell vegetables, but in reality Spanish Wells people are smart, reasonable citizens. Rachel Ricks helped us at the school Book Fair, and we spent the rest of our time giving presentations to the primary students and walking the streets promoting the ban.

Rachel Ricks, 1st Grade Teacher in Spanish Wells

Outside the Gap restaurant we met “A1 Broadshad”, a pilot and fishing guide. I introduced Shelley, and she stepped right up and proposed the ban. During the conversation Shelley mentioned that her grandfather was Dr. Cant.

“Dr. Cant!” said A1 showing Shelley his right palm, “See this scar? I cut myself with a knife from there to there and was bleeding like a pig. Dr. Cant stitched me up. That was forty years ago.”

Shelley had instant credibility, and A1 signed the petition as did several other fishermen who listened carefully while Shelley explained the need. Shelley left Spanish Wells with 70 signatures.

Back in Stella Maris, Barbara and I tagged 14 green turtles on the bonefish flat north of the marina with CC Schneider, a young girl from another boat in the marina. Last year we caught 8 in the same flat. The population is growing.

On our way back from Long Island to the Exumas Barbara and I stopped at Rocky Point on the south side of Barra Terre. For us Rocky Point provides a near perfect anchorage in easterly winds. The holding is excellent in a good lee within 50 yards of the cays. There is seldom another boat, and we are only a mile and half from the turtle grounds.

The mangroves creeks on the south side of Barra Terre, Exuma, and Little Exuma rival those of Andros. The creek system in Barra Terre opens onto seven miles of the coast and consists of hundreds of acres of flats and a maze of mangrove waterways that provide an amazing habitat for wildlife. We had one of our best days ever, working alone in a remote area tagging large hawksbill and greens and marveling at the egrets, herons, puppy blacktip sharks, large nurse and lemon sharks, bonefish, and gray snapper. It was a privilege to be there and it hurt to leave.

In Samson Cay we met our friends, Taz and Sue Stafford, who were staying ashore on the cay. We enjoyed ourselves like tourists – laughing, snorkeling, having supper with the Rosens, and eating the big hamburgers at Compass Cay. But we also made another trip to the Exuma Park with students from Black Point. The Staffords and Roberta McKenzie, the school Principal, went with Allan in the Rosen’s boat. Four years as principal in Black Point and Roberta had never been to the Park.

Black Point Students in the Park

Most of the week I had been sick, so late on Saturday I put myself on antibiotics. Monday morning Barbara insisted that I call my doctor, Bob Carrellas, and go to the clinic in Black Point. The nurse “sounded me” and by chance Bob called back right after she had had a good listen. Together they determined that I was taking the right antibiotics and would live, resting and drinking orange juice.

When we left Black Point we ran in the lee of Bitter Guana Cay and flew by what I thought was a huge turtle. I made a hard left turn back into our wake.

“Barbara, you want to catch this thing?”

“You’re the one who has to catch it.”

So, like a kid out of sight of his mother, I suited up and went overboard. The turtle didn’t swim fast, but it sure wanted to head for the bottom. Just before I ran out of air, I managed to pull its head up and reach the surface.

Then the Staffords helped us struggle the 200 pound dinosaur into the boat and hold it down for 15 minutes while we tagged it and took skin samples for DNA analysis. When we got it back overboard I was wiped out, but I felt justified. The lab needs DNA samples from loggerheads, and the Staffords got to see a big turtle.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

March 11th, Barbara and I departed again for Long Island to meet Shelley for more campaigning. The wind was almost due north, and we had an extra day, so we anchored south of Little Exuma and turtled off the Ferry Settlement and in McPhee’s Creek. With the help of a couple of local boys, Kenyadah and Kenton Dames, we tagged five turtles in Ferry Creek. Then we moved on to McPhee’s which we had never seen. The creek is drop-dead beautiful with white sand beaches, coral, grass, and no humans. We saw three greens in the late afternoon and tagged one.

The schedule in Long Island included presentations in every school and a public meeting at the Community Center in Clarence Town.

Three days later we had made presentations in five schools and Shelley Cant and Nikara Pratt from the Trust had met with 50 people at the public meeting at the Community Center in Clarence Town.

A Cartwright has the Answer

The crowd included the head of Local Government, fishermen, teachers, business men and women, and 12 students from NGM Majors High School. It was an exciting evening with plenty of passion and hard questions. Most people signed the shark petition and 20 signed up as members of the Trust. The BNT now has over 4500 Bahamian signatures on the petition.

We are now moored at the Flying Fish Marina in Clarence Town. Tuesday we fly home for a week and then return to tag all the turtles in Clarence Town harbour before we sail for Crooked Island and Acklins.

NEWSLETTER 15 February 2011

2011-03-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

NEWSLETTER

15 FEBRUARY 2011

Grammy-Bee's First Green Turtle in 2011

The Christmas blizzard forced us to change our plans. We missed the Love Boat, so we flew directly to Miami to visit Ali Ingersoll, a St. George’s alumna and resident of Cat Island who is undergoing extensive therapy for a broken neck. Ali’s condition is improving with her spirit and hard work and the support of her family.

Two days later we celebrated New Year’s Eve with Diana Claridge and her family in Spanish Wells. Diana is a world famous marine mammal specialist who lives and works in Sandy Point, Abaco.

January 4th we took the Fast Ferry to Nassau to attend the Bahamas National Trust public meeting about the proposed shark ban. With support from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the BNT has initiated a campaign to ban commercial shark fishing throughout the Bahamas. Many years ago the BNT pushed hard for legislation that banned the use of longlines to protect large pelagic fish and sharks. As a result of that ban and the exclusion of foreign fishing fleets, the shark population in the Bahamas is one of the healthiest in the world.

Pierre Cousteau and a representative of the Pew Trust joined Eric Carey and members of the BNT staff to announce the BNT campaign and explain the reasons for banning a commercial shark fishery in the Bahamas. They played to a packed house of believers. The questions from the children were the hit of the evening - questions like, “If mangroves are so important for fish why are people allowed to fill in the mangroves to build houses?” It was a great evening.

The next afternoon I had lunch with Eric and Charlene Carey and Portia Sweeting. There was a lot of serious talk about sharks, taking grouper off the restaurant menus in the closed season, educational outreach, volunteer programs, and the parks; but there was also plenty of laughter and good natured teasing about growing up on the wrong out-island. I always feel there is a fresh breeze blowing through the Trust. Barbara and I always leave Nassau fired up and ready to go.

After two weeks of boat maintenance and the installation of a new outboard on the speed boat, we headed south from Spanish Wells. Sib Reppert anchored alongside us in Norman’s Cay, and we had supper together at McDuff’s. Sib’s daughter, Victoria, works at the US Embassy in Tunisia, and her mother, Chris, was visiting her when the revolution started. Sib was in touch with them every day on Skype, and the stories he told us went way beyond the information published in the press. It seemed impossible, but Victoria and Chris felt safe in Tunis, slept at home to the sound of gun fire, and worked at the embassy every day.

The next day we were anchored inside Fowl Cay getting ready to visit the local schools and meet David and June Rosen to cruise in company to Andros. We gave a presentation on sea turtles at the Black Point Primary School before Shacara Lightbourne arrived from the BNT to award badges to the members of the Discovery Club. It was a lively celebration. The next day Barbara and I caught two small green turtles in Dotham Creek and carried them to the school so the students could help tag them. Hands on education can really spice up a day at school.

Proud Keeper of the Turtle Scale

At the Staniel Cay All-Age School we talked about shark biology and the shark ban. Kids are always fascinated by sharks, and enthusiasm was high. When we mentioned the danger of a black market for shark fins among the Chinese workers at Baha Mar in Nassau, one boy leapt up, “And I’ll have to watch out for my dog.”

Staniel Cay Enthusiasm

The trip to Andros was very successful but too short. We moored in Lisbon Creek, Mangrove Cay, and we met some wonderful people. We turtled in the western creeks with bonefish guides, Marvin Miller and “Shine” Greene and tagged greens, hawksbill, and loggerheads. The Rosens came with us when they could, but their mate, Allan, came every day and proved invaluable. I have never seen so many large juvenile hawksbill in one area, and subadult loggerheads are reasonably common just off the western coast.

Marvin and Allan with Green Turtle from Kit Sound

We gave presentations in the Mangrove Cay High School and Burnt Rock Primary. Androsians are fishermen, and their children know a lot about marine wildlife. The high school and primary students asked excellent questions.

Mangrove Cay High School Students

The weather was dry, and we had a good easterly breeze, so the famous Andros insects did not bother us. The problem operating in Andros is distance. The men there think nothing of running up to 40 miles and back to the bonefish flats. We didn’t mind the runs to the west side and even down to Thatch Cay, but the gas consumption put a hurt on the wallet.

Back from Andros we refueled in Samson Cay and moved down to Black Point to take members of the Discovery Club to the Exuma Park. David and June Rosen donated their family’s 32’ Regulator and Allan’s time for a day, so we could carry 11 students and two teachers in the two boats. Mrs. McKenzie, the principal, and Juanita Monroe had the students all organized, and throughout the trip the students were very well behaved despite their excitement.

Captain Allan, Students, and Mrs. Clarke

We ran the boats up to the southern anchorage in Wardrick Wells and then around to the headquarters where Andrew Kris, the head warden, met us at the beach. Andrew was fantastic with the students. He took them on a long tour of the cay showing the kids the various ecosystems and explaining things along the way. Two Defense Force officers went on the tour.

Exuma Park Warden Andrew Kriz

After lunch we took the boats out to snorkel on one of the small heads near Emerald Rock. Since the park is protected, the small heads are covered with fish – not just grunts and snappers but also large grouper, Margaret fish, and crawfish. The kids were amazed.

The Exuma Land and Sea Park is one of the world’s great parks and the Caribbean region’s first marine reserve. It is beautifully managed and usually full of yachts and visiting scientists. When Barbara asked Andrew about visiting students groups, he could count on one hand the number of groups that had been to the park, and most were from the United States. “We need to get more Bahamian students here, and that’s why what you are doing today is so important.” That made us feel good, but it was also a challenge to make these visits more frequent and sustainable.

Next week we will fly to Nassau and take the Fast Ferry to Spanish Wells with Shelley Cant from the BNT to help promote the shark ban.

NEWS 30 November 2010

2010-12-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

ANDROS ISLAND

There are good reasons why so few people go to the west coast of Andros. Red Bays is in the far NW corner, but south of that there are no settlements or fuel or supplies until you reach Cuba. Charlie Bethell and Cindy run the Flamingo Cay Club up inside Wide Opening, and they are good people to know; but Charlie has to fly in all his supplies and cannot offer much to passing boats. There are no safe harbours on the west coast, though a four foot draft can be carried into a few of the creeks where there is all around protection with plenty of current and a zillion bugs.

There are, however, some excellent reasons to spend time on this uninhabited coast – fish, turtles, birds, and solitude. Androsians claim the finest bonefishing in the Bahamas, and the fish are found over so many miles of creeks and flats that it would take a lifetime to fish all the habitats. There are significant populations of sea turtles, and the birds, including flamingos, are magnificent. If you want to be alone, fish, and savor the wild life the west coast of Andros could be your place.

October 18th Trueranda Cox and Ortam Rolle arrived in Spanish Wells on the Fast Ferry from Nassau. Both girls are members of the Young Bahamian Marine Scientists (YBMS). Trueranda works for BREEF and is a BESS scholarship student, and Ortam is working for YBMS. Both plan to attend college next year.

On October 20th, after the usual hustle to get underway we left Spanish Wells for Chub Cay where we took on fuel at the Berry Island Club and then spent the night at anchor. The next day we ran 100 miles from Chub Cay to anchor inside Williams Island and go turtling on the west side of Billy Island.

Our mission was to check the major habitats identified by Karen Bjorndal and Alan Bolten in their excellent 2006 and 2007 surveys of the west side of Andros. We wanted to survey the habitats for numbers of turtles, species composition, and infection from fibropapillomatosis; and we wanted to tag and release as many turtles as possible and collect skin samples for DNA analysis. The DNA will allow us to determine (with a very high probability) where the turtles were born.

Strong easterly winds forced us to work only on the west side of Billy Island, but we had good light. The dominating characteristic of this part of Andros is mud – knee deep in most places. The flats around Billy are all this kind of soft mud which is stirred up by the wind, bonefish, turtles, and the outboard. We probably chased 4 turtles for every one we finally caught, because we would lose sight of the turtles in the muddy water.

In three days we caught 12 turtles, six of which were infected with fibropapillomas – one as badly as I have ever seen. The turtle had a lot of difficulty swimming with all the drag.

First Green Turtle

We have positively identified three islands in the Bahamas where we find green turtles infected with fibropapillomatosis – Andros, Grand Bahama, and Crooked Island. All of the turtles are in relatively shallow water. We still do not know how this herpes type virus is transmitted or why it is found in some habitats and not others. Shallow water and muddy bottom seem to be common characteristics in the Bahamas, but we need to learn a lot more. The best we can do in the field is continually document the presence of the infection and interview local fishermen to learn what they know about the appearance of the infection and the locations where they find it.

Getting Underway

Anyone who knows Andros would ask how we managed with the bugs. The answer is that we anchored far enough offshore to miss the mosquitoes, but the doctor flies nailed us while we were turtling. For every turtle we tagged, we each killed twenty flies – mostly after they had drawn blood. I had to laugh watching the girls standing in the bow hopping around, trying to hold on to the bow line, watch the turtle, point with the net, and swat flies at the same time. I was back aft trying to keep my eye on the turtles, drive the boat, and kill flies. I was in too much pain to laugh at myself. Finally we found an insect repellent cream that helped a little.

Charlie Bethell’s Flamingo Cay Club is a special place. We anchored as close as we could at low tide - 2 miles off Wide Opening in a good lee despite the distance offshore. Right away, we hopped in the speed boat and ran up the channel. Just as we approached the mangrove creek to the club, a friend of Charlie’s arrived in his float plane, so we let him pass and followed him up the creek which was barely wide enough for the floats, and the wing tips often brushed the mangroves on either side – quite an act. The east wind was keeping the tide from rising, so we couldn’t get FOXY LADY into the channel the next morning and had to stay offshore. We did, however, spend a wonderful afternoon and evening at Flamingo Cay. It was a real treat for the girls to spend a few hours socializing with someone other than myself.

Big Loggerhead Creek

We hoped to tag some loggerhead turtles which are abundant in a couple of the creeks. We saw plenty of loggerheads blow, but the water was so muddy there was no chance to catch them. The only way to catch any turtles was to chase them down in the shallower water where the creeks meet the flats. At the head of Great Loggerhead Creek we caught one green turtle (infected with fibropapillomas).

Charlie Bethell was able to sell us some gas, so we could run 30 miles south of Wide Opening to work in Miller Creek where we counted 8 turtles blowing as we ran the two miles up to the flats. Near a rocky bar in the shallow water we found a beautiful 100 pound loggerhead which Trueranda went overboard to capture. We would have spent more time in Miller Creek, but thick clouds developed overhead and made it impossible to find the turtles.

Trueranda and Loggerhead

After our day in Miller Creek, it was time to head back to Chub Cay and meet up with GERONIMO, the sailing school vessel owned by St. George’s School. They also tag turtles.

It was a twelve hour run to Chub Cay, but the weather was beautiful, and we arrived in time to fill up with diesel and contact GERONIMO whose crew had caught 4 turtles in the creek that afternoon. We made arrangements to meet them outside the creek the next morning.

The day with the GERONIMO crew was one of those magical days when everything comes together. The early morning looked iffy. We saw a few turtles but the tide was low, and there were clouds. In only an hour, though, we had caught a few turtles, and we just kept at it as the tide rose and the sky cleared. We used two boats and rotated crews with the four or five people on the beach. Our best turtle was the one we chased out of the creek into deep water. Meredith, the GERONIMO 1st Mate, swam almost the whole mile and finally caught the turtle. But all of the kids got in the water at some time during the chase. It was a group effort, and our girls did well.

Meredith and the Foxy Ladies after a Long Chase

We ended the day with 17 green turtles, proving the population in the creek has increased dramatically.

Captain Mike and Students Chasing More Turtles

That night I took the girls up to the Berry Island Club for an excellent supper of grouper, cracked conch, peas and rice, and salad after a 30 minute ride dodging potholes in an ATV – an out-island adventure meal.

The next morning I committed us to a day off for rest and shelling. We went up to the sand bore west of the cay for shells and then dove in the channel on the west side of Chub for biscuits and urchins. The girls got a pretty good selection, especially of the oblong delicate biscuits. Then back to hot dogs and packaged potatoes for supper. That was the best we could do at the commissary.

Cleaning Shells in Chub Cay

The run back to Spanish Wells was exhausting in 20-25 knot southerly winds. The girls did a good job getting off the dock and letting the tow ropes out to full length when we cleared the marina before they sat down and slept. The seas were really cranky and rough, so I ran down to Nassau to get a lee. The water was reasonable north of New Providence and the rest of the way to Spanish Wells, and the girls came alive and ate some lunch. We made it to Muddy Hole by 1800 just as it started to pour rain.

We were back in the land of restaurants and stores and had cracked conch and grouper from Norma’s Take-Away while we watched “Grey’s Anatomy” to which the girls had become devoted.

The next morning we went to visit the Spanish Wells All-Age School. True met a former teacher who asked her to talk to her students about the BESS scholarship program in the afternoon. Interestingly, when I asked the 11th grade how many hoped to go to college, all but one raised their hands. When I asked the 10th grade the same question it was just the opposite – only one girl raised her hand. That is a better average than in previous years.

The next afternoon the girls were on the Fast Ferry back to Nassau. They had been on board FOXY LADY for three weeks. Despite the long runs down and back to Andros, the muddy water, doctor flies, and the strong easterlies, we had had a good trip. We confirmed a lot of the work done previously by Bjorndal and Bolten, collected DNA samples from the captured turtles, and gained an excellent contact in Charlie Bethell who is a force in marine conservation in Andros.

2009-11-23T13:14:00.000-08:00

HOME
Welcome to Family Island Research and Education, sponsored by the Bahamas National Trust. Through this site students and faculty in the Bahamas will be able to follow our research, submit helpful observations, and visit other islands and schools.

CHARTS

All charts are used with permission of Lewis Offshore Ltd, producers of the Explorer Charts. The charts displayed on the blog are not to be used for navigation.

NEWS
Below are entries which document the current activities of the program and questions and comments from students and faculty in the out-islands. We invite you to participate.

CORE PERSONNEL

2009-11-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

Stephen Connett

Family Island

Research and Education

Barbara Crouchley

Family Island

Research and Education

Portia Sweeting

Director of Education

Bahamas National Trust

ASSOCIATES

2009-11-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

Mark Keasler with Bahamian boa

Philippa Papadopoulo with Spanish Wells students

BOATS

2009-11-19T07:27:00.000-08:00

FOXY LADY

38' lobsterboat designed by Spencer Lincoln

and built by Covey Island Boatworks

in Nova Scotia

19' speed boat built by

Spanish Wells Marine

RESEARCH

2009-11-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

Sea turtle research is conducted in cooperation with the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida. Karen Bjorndal is the Director and Alan Bolten the Assistant Director. Stephen and Barbara are included on the ACCSR’s research permit issued by the Bahamas Department of Marine Resources.

Mission of the ACCSR program in The Bahamas:
(1) survey the archipelago for foraging and nesting populations of sea turtles
(2) establish long-term demographic studies of sea turtles
(3) use a variety of tagging and molecular techniques to answer the questions: where do turtles in The Bahamas come from, how long do they stay, and where do they go when they leave The Bahamas?

SURVEYS:
We make GPS track surveys of turtle feeding habitats throughout the Bahamas to assess populations. Repeated surveys help us establish long-term demographic data.

survey tracks of Robin Creek and Joe Sound Creek

(chart used with permission of Lewis Offshore Ltd)

TAG AND RECAPTURE DATA:
Over the past 30 years the ACCSR and Stephen Connett have tagged thousands of sea turtles in their feeding habitats in the Bahamas. Hundreds of these turtles have been recaptured locally and throughout the Caribbean region. Bjorndal and Bolten have published much of these data and the results of their research in Great Inagua. Go to the ACCSR website (http://accstr.ufl.edu/) and click on “Conservation Strategy for Sea Turtles in the Bahamas” to download publications.

arrows indicate green turtle migrations from Great Inagua

DNA ANALYSIS:
Over the years turtle biologists have taken blood and tissue samples from thousands of turtles in the north and south Atlantic. Mitochondria DNA analysis and tag and recapture studies have shown that female turtles nesting on the same beaches can be identified as distinct DNA groups. Scientists have also proven that a very high percentage of nesting females return to their natal beaches to nest.
Analysis of DNA samples taken from Union Creek in Great Inagua have shown that the majority of turtles feeding in Union Creek were born in the Caribbean, Florida, and South America.

chart show where green turtles in Great Inagua were born

EDUCATION

2009-11-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

The education program is directed by the Bahamas National Trust.

MISSION:
The educational mission is to promote and support environmental education in the family islands. We want to inspire the next generation of Bahamian citizens to meet the challenges of preserving the marine and terrestrial environments and to connect with other regional and global initiatives.

The program offers:

Topical Power Point presentations to family island students, teachers, and interested citizens

Mrs. Turnquest and her students,

Current Island Primary School

Distribution of environmental educational materials

Portia Sweeting and Anthony Armbrister lead
a Bahamas National Trust meeting in Cat Island

Opportunities for students and faculty to participate in oceanographic research

Moss brothers and Bop Dorsett with tagged green turtle
in Joe Sound Creek, Cat Island

Educational materials:
The program distributes educational material provided by the Bahamas National Trust to students and faculty in the family islands.

Please visit the BNT website (http://www.bnt.bs/) to learn about the many useful materials and other resources available from the Trust.

Mark Keasler with his Trash Board teaches students

the importance of cleaning up the environment

Links to Websites:
Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida
http://accstr.ufl.edu/

Bahamas National Trust
http://www.bnt.bs/

Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation
http://www.breef.org/

Nature Conservancy
http://www.nature.org/

Sea Turtle Bibliography for advanced students and faculty:

Bjorndal, Karen. Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles

Bolten, Alan and Blair E. Witherington. Loggerhead Sea Turtles

Gurko, David and Karen L. Eckert. Sea Turtles: An Ecological Guide

Lutz, Peter L. The Biology of Sea Turtles. Vol. I and II

Spotila, James R. Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation

HOW YOU CAN HELP

2009-11-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

Get Involved:
Spend time outdoors and in the water, and have fun. Learn how to swim and snorkel, and learn as much as you can about the environment and Bahamian wildlife. The more you know the more you will love the natural world and want to keep it healthy.

Join the Bahamas National Trust.

Initiate projects that will help the environment and keep your settlement clean.

-- Organize community clean-up days
-- Snorkel the shores and mangroves to remove plastics and other rubbish
-- Start recycling

Attend town meetings and special meetings called by the Ministry of Marine Resources. Stay in touch with your Member of Parliament.

Obey Bahamas Fisheries Regulations:
Learn all the fisheries regulations, obey the regulations, and insist that others do the same. It is in the best interest of all Bahamians to strictly adhere to fisheries and wildlife regulations.

Provide Information:
The research program is very interested in scientific observations and anecdotal
data - especially evidence of sea turtle nesting, turtles infected with fibropapillomas, and turtles that carry any type of tag.

If a tagged turtle is recaptured, please record the tag numbers along with important information about the turtle – date of recapture, location, and size.

Send information about observations and tags to:

Dr. Karen Bjorndal
ACCSTR
University of Florida
PO Box 118525
Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
Tel 352-392-5194

NEWS 9 Nov 2009

2009-10-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

The Abacos are famous for turtles. Over the years Thomas Bethel of Hope Town and others have tagged a lot of turtles in the Abacos for the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, but most of the work has been south of Green Turtle Cay or around Little Abaco. This seemed a good year to survey the northern cays to identify the principle green turtle feeding habitats, check for the presence of fibropapillomas, and look for small loggerheads. Beside, I had never been north of Lynyard Cay.

Phil Allen, an old Newport friend, and I arrived on board FOXY LADY in Spanish Wells October 16th and hustled to get underway before the arrival of the next cold front. We cleared Ridley’s Head by 0950 the next morning and steamed up to Abaco in beautiful weather. We anchored in the Bight of Old Robinson in time for a quick tour of Little Harbour (which was loaded with green turtles) and an early supper. At 2300 a squall hit with 40 knot gusts, pouring rain, and lightning all around the boat. That was the beginning of a week of bad weather.

The next morning there was nothing for it but to head up to the anchorage in Marsh Harbour. Fortunately we were welcomed to there by Carol and Robby Robinson who had already been in the Abacos aboard ARETE for a couple of weeks. Robby and I are both retired school masters who sailed together many years ago. We all hunkered down and became residents of Marsh Harbour. The weather stayed miserable right up to Phil’s early morning departure on Thursday the 22nd, so Phil never got a day of “brochure vacation,” nor did he tag a turtle.

ARETE at Anchor

After Phil had left, I walked inland to see Kristin Williams, Director of Friends of the Environment. Friends is doing an outstanding job of protecting the environment in Abaco and educating students and adults about environmental stewardship. Kristin put me in touch with several people who helped us along the way.

Friday morning, I met with David Knowles, the BNT Park Warden for Abaco. The Trust consistently hires people who are dedicated and competent. I spent several hours with David talking about his work and the condition of the fisheries and agriculture in the Abacos.

On Sunday, Tevin Williams and Alex Henderson arrived from Nassau. David Knowles drove the boys from the airport and picked up Kentucky Fried on the way. The boys were joining the boat for the two week research cruise to the northern cays.

Both boys have BESS scholarships (The Island School's Bahamas Environmental Steward Scholarships). BESS Award recipients participate in a 14-week course at the Island School in Cape Eleuthera and a 6 month internship at a conservation minded organization in The Bahamas. This fall Alex was working as an intern with the Bahamas National Trust, and Tevin was working with BREEF. For information about the BESS scholarship program go to www.islandschool.org or www.breef.org.

By noon the next day we were underway to anchor between Guana and Scotland cays where Susan Roberts (a marine artist –www.turtlelady.com) had said there were turtles. Carol and Robby Robinson joined us. We spoke to some local residents who said they see one or two green turtles every day. There is a grass flat between the cays and a channel out to the east, and there are indeed several green turtles living there. We caught 3 greens and showed the residents and their guests how we tag the turtles.

Tevin and Alex Release a Green Turtle

In the late afternoon ERETE and FOXY LADY moved to Fisher’s Bay. Then we ran the speed boat up to Joe’s Creek, an extensive mangrove creek, the major part of which has been destroyed by the Baker’s Bay development. We motored into the Baker’s Bay marina. So far, the development has a couple of large buildings and empty slips for 200 phantom boats. There was strong local opposition to the project which has had a sad history. Now there are new owners and new promises. Does anyone want to bet another real estate development will fail in the Bahamas? Baker’s Bay is a landlocked harbour to keep in mind in hurricane season.

The next morning we ran north through Whale Cay Channel to moor in Manjack Cay alongside Bob Gascoin and Jane Minty who make the Wavey Line charts. We jumped right in the speed boat and caught two green turtles in the anchorage before the Robinsons arrived. At 1500 Bill Herrington, a long-time resident of Manjack Cay, showed us through Nunjack Creek on the high tide. Even in the late afternoon light, we saw several green turtles, and Bill said that in the last few years the creek had gone from no turtles to numerous. That is now the good news in many of the mangrove creeks where the local fishermen have stopped taking turtles.

On 28 October we ran down to Green Turtle Cay and caught two green turtles in Cocoa Bay. A local man told us there are no turtles in White Sound, but we saw several in the cove on the west side of No Name. By 1315 we were up in Nunjack Harbour and had caught a small green. There were several more turtles in the harbour, but most were in murky water, so it seemed prudent to go up to the clearer part of the creek to catch a sample large enough to check for fibropapillomas.

The light was good, so we were able to work reasonably well, despite the limited maneuverability of the speed boat in the narrow creek. Tevin was getting very good at spotting the turtles, and Alex was getting very good at catching them. We caught 4 greens and 1 hawksbill. The light was gone before we could make it into the small lagoon where Bill sees the most turtles. None of the turtles we caught was infected.

The next morning we anchored at Powell Cay and ran the speed boat ten miles up to the creek in the south end of Pensacola Cay. The creek is another hurricane hole to remember if you draw 5’ or less. The water and the bottom of that creek are dark brown with tannin from the mangroves. We had a tough time following the turtles, but at local noon the light was sufficient to catch the three green turtles shown below. When the light was gone, we ran back to Powell Cay to dive the east side for conch. With the Robinsons we took six broadlips in a healthy conch bed. Then we ran up to Spanish Cay for gas and diesel and back to Powell Cay to knock out the conch for a conch salad. It was a great day and a lovely last evening with the Robinsons who had to start heading back south.

Beautiful Patterns on Pensacola Creek

Carters Cays is an island group with no permanent citizens, but fishermen from several settlements go there to fish. Many of the men live in shacks and in the old missile tracking station buildings ashore. The shallow anchorage outside the main current is good for most winds, and the boats can shift to other anchorages if necessary.

We anchored at the SE corner of Old Yankee Cay, in good bottom just out of the current. Then we circumnavigated Old Yankee and caught one small (24.8 cm) green in the narrow creek running east from Hogstye Harbour. We had only seen two turtles, so we ran around to the anchorage to talk to the fishermen who told us about turtles in the cove around the corner of Carters Cay. The light and the tide were low, and the water was murky, so it was a struggle just to get in and out of the cove; but we saw three turtles blow. The eastern part of the cove was loaded with cormorants and dozens of nests.

Cormorants Nesting

By 1030 the next morning we had two anchors down in Grand Cays and were in the speed boat. We looked in the obvious places in Grand Cays but saw no turtles, so we ran over to Double Breasted Cays which is a cluster of long thin cays forming a good anchorage, a large mangrove creek, and areas of shallow flats. The tide was too low for us to do anything in the creek. We had to go overboard and push the boat in and out when we tried.

But the deeper channels had large green turtles. Alex caught the three that we chased, but the water wasn’t quite clear enough for us to keep up with the small ones.

Walker’s Cay, which used to be the best sport fishing destination in the northern Bahamas, is now closed, so Grand Cays has grown in importance. The community of 500 souls is supported by fishing. At least 10 small boats leave the harbour every morning to go for crawfish, grouper, and conch. There are several fishing guides who take customers out for bonefish or work on the big sport boats that arrive in the late spring and summer.

After a flat calm night of sand flies and little sleep, Sunday was a day off, so we went ashore to meet Marcel “Prince” Russell (the head bonefish guide) who is obviously a capable man. He said turtles around Grand Cays are scarce. He said north of Walker’s Cay in the grass and coral there are occasional large greens and small to medium loggerheads. Marcel often sees growths on the loggerheads but never on the greens. We should return someday soon to investigate the loggerheads. Prince said the place to go for turtles was Great Sale Cay in the sailboat anchorage.

“SuperK,” Marcel’s brother, then took us to meet the all-age school Principal, Suresh Seeram, who invited us to give presentations in his school Monday morning.

In contrast to most of the settlement in Grand Cays, the school is clean and well maintained. We met Mr. Seeram at 0900 to set up for our presentations. The boys talked about the Island School and the BESS scholarship program, and generated a lot of interest from the older students. I gave a lecture on the life history of sea turtles and our research. All the students were enthusiastic and asked excellent questions. I would have been happy to spend a week teaching in the school.

Grand Cays All-Age School

“Super K” attended our presentations and later produced a turtle tag (#BP5387) that he had collected from another fisherman in August. It was a hawksbill “big enough to eat,” caught between Grand Cays and Walker’s Cay. I notified the ACCSTR, and Peter Eliazar informed me that I had tagged that same hawksbill on the east side of Conception on 26 March 2001. It was good to receive the tag, but outrageous that the anonymous fisherman had killed a hawksbill. We have had very few tag returns from hawksbill, and this is the first hawksbill I can remember that we know migrated a significant distance within the Bahamas.

After chatting with Kennedy, we fueled the speed boat and were underway before noon for Great Sale Cay where we tagged one green in the late afternoon and saw several bonnet head sharks. As Marcel had promised, Northwest Harbour had plenty of turtles and fish.

The forecast predicted that the good weather would end soon, so at 0830 the next morning we were in the small boat headed for Curry Creek on the northwest side of Sale Cay where we saw six tarpon, 4 big bonefish, and one turtle. To take advantage of the last of the weather, we headed back to Northwest Harbour to concentrate our efforts. From 1000 until 1430 we chased turtles and missed a lot because of the glare and the dark bottom, but we tagged 1 loggerhead, 1 hawksbill, and 8 greens – still no fibropapillomas. I cannot remember seeing a more active habitat. There were fish working all around us and plenty of birds and turtles.

During the night, the weather deteriorated, so we got underway for West End early on November 4th. In West End we fueled, cleaned the boats, washed the laundry, and treated ourselves to supper at Bonefish Folley’s. We also rode bikes around the resort – both the finished marina complex and the expanse of land that had been denuded in preparation for a new golf course and a hotel development that may never happen. Bankruptcy looks imminent.

Following are Tevin and Alex’s remarks about what they saw on our bike tour of Old Bahama Bay:

"The development of Old Bahama Bay is, least to say, a sport fisherman’s paradise with a great marina just 62 miles off the coast of Florida. This resort is fully equipped with private lots with docks, a fitness centre and restaurants. However, this is only a small portion of the 1900 acres.During the expansion of the resort native trees and land have been destroyed, not to mention the new harbour they dug out. The natural shrubbery of the entire area was flattened to make room for the golf course that they are constructing. We are not against the idea of development, any country needs it. Look how Atlantis has economically transformed New Providence. But it must succeed. There are too many failed projects in The Bahamas where land has been completely destroyed in vain and the lots remain empty for years. This not only effects the environment but the economy with the loss of all the money."

Tevin also made a very interesting comment about developments. He said that residential developments should be designed to attract Bahamians, not just foreigners. Developments that have proven longevity as Lyford Cay have a high percentage of Bahamian ownership.

The next day we left early to enter the Running Mon channel at high tide and moor at the home of Karin and Al Sanchez. Karin is the head of the Grand Bahama Regional Branch of the Bahamas National Trust. She and her family are generous hosts.

Neither of the boys had ever been to Grand Bahama, so we rented a car and hit the road. We met with Cecelia Bodie and toured the Rand Nature Center, then drove to the Lucayan National Park, walked the paths, inspected the caves, and read all the informative signs in the mangroves on the way to Golden Cay Beach. We had not expected to see so many people using the beach. It is always wonderful to see an active park.

So the boys could see both ends of the island, we drove on to McLean’s, one of my favorite places. Three years ago I spent 10 days tagging turtles out of Deep Water Cay with Randy Reckley, a bonefish guide from McLean’s.

Early Saturday morning we were all up at 0530 to drive to the airport so the boys could catch the 0700 Bahamas Air flight back to Nassau. They had been a great help and wonderful ambassadors for the Trust and BREEF.

SUMMARY:

We made a fast survey of the major green turtle habitats in the northern Abaco cays. Several of these, such as Double Breasted Cays and Great Sale Cay, should be investigated at least once a year for long term demographic studies. The local people were very helpful, and it was clear that they all knew about the recent ban on the harvest of turtles. We saw no sign of fibropapillomas in green turtles, though we heard of what might be the presence of fibropapillomas in loggerheads. Anecdotal evidence from expatriates and local fishermen suggest that the populations of juvenile green turtles have increased significantly in the last few years. Increased protection of populations throughout the Caribbean and decreasing harvest in the Bahamas are producing results.

“Super K” Russell returned a tag that showed movement of a hawksbill turtle from Conception Island (March 2001) to Grand Cays (Aug 2009).

TOTAL TAGGED:
27 green
2 hawksbill
1 loggerhead

NEWS 1 June 2009

2009-10-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

Near the end of our stay in Cat Island, the weather man, Chris Parker, predicted one calm day and then at least a week of strong northeast winds; so we ran right down to Hawksnest, loaded fuel and water, and left the next morning for Conception.

When we reached West Bay, Conception there were no other boats in the anchorage – there is no place on earth where it is more wonderful to be alone. We set two anchors just before the wind went into the north and began to blow, and by morning the wind was NE 25-30 where it stayed for the next seven days.

The first day we made a turtle survey in the creek to estimate the number of turtles, and every day we tagged as many turtles as possible. We counted 31 green turtles in the survey, and over the week we captured 29 green turtles in the creek.

Studying movements of turtles in and out of the creek is a challenge; but we are making progress by snorkeling outside the creek and capturing and recapturing as many turtles as we can. Green turtles are hard to catch in the deeper water, but we always manage to get a few. Recently we have also been able to take close-up photos of resting turtles and read the tag numbers on the photographs. We often find turtles we had tagged in the creek, and, conversely, we now find turtles in the creek that we have tagged outside. It is clear that a significant number of turtles move in and out, and it appears that the larger turtles spend most of their time outside. There are patches of turtle grass in the deeper water.

Green Turtle #BX2097 South of Conception Creek

With 25 knot northeast winds, there was no way we could take the speed boat around to the north shore, so one day we walked to “Turtle Cove” to see if we could count turtles from the high ground at the western end of the cove. The walk across the land has now been marked by cruisers. The going is easy, and the vistas are spectacular, especially when the sun shines directly on the striated limestone cliffs. We counted six green turtles in the northern bay.
Years ago my wife, Babbie, happened upon some ruins on the hill at the very south end of West Bay; so one day Barbara and I anchored the speed boat in the creek and walked up to the ruins with food, water, and a cutlass. The ruins were more extensive than we had heard, and we cleared some of the bush to gain access. The ruins seem part of a small settlement with a view of

Long Island and an easy walk to the creek. We think we found all the buildings, but there may be more. We called Antiquities, Monuments, and Museums to ask about the history of the ruins, and they contacted Jud Rosen who is on their Board and lives on Long Island. He will measure all the ruins, study their construction, and draw a site plan. Hopefully these ruins will be put in the National Register of Historic Resources.

Conception Island Ruins

On May 1st we left for Rum Cay and then followed the Long Island fishing boat DESTINY down to Clarence Town and moored at the Flying Fish Marina, where we were welcomed by the owners, Mario and Claudia Cartwright. Flying Fish is one of the finest marinas in the Bahamas.

In the last three years Clarence has become a very important place for us. The harbour contains several separate turtle habitats, and the area is teeming with green turtles ranging from small juveniles to teenagers well over 100 lbs.

A new discovery to us was the green turtle population in Little Harbour, 10 miles south of Clarence. For several years local fishermen had told us of a healthy turtle population in Little Harbour, but the weather never let us get down there. This year we had a calm day and recruited Garrett Fletcher, a young tri-athlete from Colorado, to go with us. The local boys were absolutely right. There are plenty of small turtles in the flats at the southern end of the harbour and large turtles in the deeper water inside the cut from the ocean.

Many people we take with us say they can swim, but Garrett was the real deal, so we caught 10 green turtles with 4 turtles over 70 cm curved carapace length. We estimated one was over 200 pounds - no way Barbara and I could have handled that turtle alone.

Garrett Captures a Green Turtle in Little Harbour

Garrett Brings the Turtle to the Surface

May 11th we moved to the anchorage off Strachan Cay; and Elizabeth Buxton, a senior student from Greensboro Country Day School in Greensboro, North Carolina, arrived to work with us for two weeks. Her senior project was to help us with our research and make student surveys in two of the primary schools. Elizabeth learned quickly, swam hard, and had good eyes.

NEWS 24 April 2009

2009-05-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

20 March – 22 April FOXY LADY was anchored in Fernandez Bay and The Bight, Cat Island where many like to believe Columbus first found a harbour that could “accommodate all the ships in Christendom.”
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On 20 March we got underway from Conception and ran up to Fernandez Bay, Cat Island. The first several days included visits with friends and a wonderful drive with Ralph and Uschi Ingersoll up to Orange Creek to eat sheep’s tongue souse at the Periwinkle, a new restaurant in The Lot, and visit Nick Cripps and Minette Poitier at their house on the top of the northernmost hill on the island. The hilltop views in Cat Island are spectacular.

Over lunch, Uschi Ingersoll told us about her volunteer program, the Cat Island Relief Association, which assists elderly Cat Islanders. Once every month Uschi and an assistant drive the length of the island to deliver food and loving care to those in need. Uschi’s long range plan is to build a nursing home near Smith’s Bay.

The next day Uschi drove us to the ruins of the Golden Grove Plantation just north of Greenwood. The ruins are on the national register, yet few people seem to know much about them. Last year the government cleared a track road to the ruins which are the largest complex of plantation ruins we have seen. They are surrounded by good farm land and overlook the north shore. Hopefully someone will take a greater interest and preserve these ruins and make a small park where the local students and citizens can learn more about their history.

Main House, Golden Grove Plantation

On the 26th, the wind shifted to the south, so we moved FOXY LADY to Old Bight and anchored just east of the entrance to Joe Sound Creek. On the 27th Mark Keasler joined us with the Ecklund family, guests from Fernandez Bay Village, who were excited to help us tag turtles. With two boats and a couple of strong swimmers we were able to overcome the wind and tag seven green turtles in Joe Sound Creek.

Eco-tourists help with Turtle Research

Saturday morning Barbara left to fly home to Newport for two weeks to visit family and friends and take care of some business. It is hard when the better half of the team is away.

Every Saturday we try to get local students out in the boat, so that afternoon Mark and I picked up the Moss brothers who are always ready and ran down to Joe Sound Creek for another seven green turtles. It was a big day for the Moss boys who don’t get much time off. They are dedicated students who put in a lot of extra hours on their studies, help their father on construction projects, and help their mother in her shop. Their older brother, Al J, has set a high standard and is now enrolled in a seven year medical school in Cuba, taking all his courses in Spanish.

A couple of days later Mark and I were back in Joe Sound Creek with a group of American high school students. The tide was high and the weather was perfect, so we were able to go way up onto the flats. That was our most productive day with 13 new greens. After that we thought that we had tagged a very high percentage of the turtles, but we would learn there were more turtles than this estimate.

On Thursday morning I ran FOXY LADY back up to New Bight for lunch at the Bluebird Café. There is no more delightful restaurant in the Bahamas. Located on the beach in the center of New Bight, the Bluebird is owned by three lovely sisters – Jenny, Neeker, and Grace – who cook delicious Bahamian food and provide family island hospitality that makes you want to live in Cat Island.

The Hermitage Overlooks New Bight and the Atlantic

After lunch, Mark called and asked if I wanted to join him and Donna on a busman’s holiday into Fernandez Creek. I ran the speed boat up to Fernandez Creek and anchored off Mark’s house. We would take Mark’s bonefish boat which was lighter and handier. When he was gassed up and Donna was ready we cruised up the creek happy to be together in a familiar, beautiful place. It was one of those magical afternoons when the tide is right, and professional friends are free to enjoy the creek without worrying about students and guests. As soon as we started seeing turtles we chased the ones we found without tags. Mark drove, Donna was the lookout, and I jumped the turtles. On the first turtle I was off my game and took three tries (maybe too much lunch at the Bluebird). The next two turtles were easy.

When we reached the south channel out of the creek all the turtles we saw were tagged. So we turned around to head home before the ebb tide would prevent us from making it across a couple of the really shallow spots. We were congratulating ourselves on a perfect day when we saw another small green turtle without tags. We chased it for a while, and then it swam into a hole in the mangroves. Mark couldn’t get his boat in, and the tide was now running out fast. So I told Mark, “Just put the bow up against that mangrove, and I’ll walk in. If I don’t get the turtle right away, we can get out of here.”

The water was about knee deep in the mangroves, and the bottom was mucky, but I saw the turtle and found a mound of sand that was almost at the surface. I stepped up onto the mound, let the turtle move a little closer, and leapt. It was not a pretty dive, but I caught the turtle and struggled back out to the boat. Donna and Mark laughed, “No way you caught that turtle.”

Mark and I took the turtles to the beach in Fernandez Bay to show the guests. Ecotourism is now a major activity at Fernandez Bay Village, as it is throughout the Bahamas, and the visitors are always fascinated to learn about sea turtles. Almost everyone who stays at Fernandez Bay goes for an eco-tour with Mark or paddles a kayak through Fernandez Creek to see the wildlife. Whenever we tag turtles on the beach we also invite the cruisers who are anchored out. We want to stimulate as much interest as possible in these endangered species.

Cruising Children Help Cool the Turtles

Mark Keasler and Eco-tourist

On the beach we taught the guests how to identify a green turtle, explained its feeding habits and locomotion, and discussed the purpose of our surveys and tagging project.

On Friday, Dr. Imogen Hoyle and I drove to Arthur’s Town. Imogen is a Dr. of Oceanography who works at Broadreach creating an experiential ocean program for college students. Mr. Dean, the Principal of Arthur’s Town High School, had asked Imogen to speak to the students about her education and her career as an oceanographer. Mr. Dean wants his students, especially the girls, to learn about a variety of possible careers. In a nation of 700 islands, oceanography is a natural. I came along to give a presentation on fisheries management.

On Saturday I again carried the Moss brothers and their friend, Lance Gilbert, to Joe Sound Creek in a strong southeast breeze. Lance, Shaque, and I took turns swimming after a huge green turtle that we finally caught. Terran and Melik had stood lookout in the bow of the boat and had never lost sight of the turtle. The turtle was 80 pounds and healthy. It was much the largest green turtle we had seen in Joe Sound Creek. (Only a few years ago that turtle would have been on the table before we had had a chance to tag it.) We then caught two smaller turtles in the shallow water before the clouds shut us down.

Moss Brothers, Lance Gilbert, and a Green Sea Turtle

The next week the tide was right for Mark and I to take Tiffany and Ali Ingersoll and their friends into Whale Creek. We also carried the Canadian Ambassador to England and his wife and daughter. We caught every turtle we saw – seven new green turtles. Whale Creek is much smaller than Joe Sound Creek, and I would estimate that there are about 12 green turtles that live in and just outside that creek.

Roger Fox's PROMOCEAN

Easter weekend the Fox family (at least 22 of them) from Salt Pond, Long Island arrived in New Bight. Roger Fox and most of the family came aboard his commercial fishing boat PROMOCEAN, and his brothers ran out with their own smaller cruising boats. What better way for Bahamians to celebrate the holiday? The Fox family picnicked on the beaches, rented cars for an island tour, and attended the Good Friday service that climbed past the stages of the cross up to the Hermitage.

After the Easter egg hunt on Sunday, I took several of the Fox children out to tag turtles. Kris Fox jumped two in Smith’s Bay; and Kris, his sister Leandra, and his cousin Rachel Knowles took turns on an exhausting chase outside the mouth of Bonefish Creek. The turtle finally lost them, but they gave it a good try and were happy to have spent so much time in the water watching the turtle swim.

Foxes with a Flat Friend from Mangrove Bush

April 15th was a good day, because Barbara returned to the boat and brought our friend, Gail Jacobs. The weather forecast predicted strong NE winds on the 17th. We spent Thursday night off Hawks Nest and the next morning ran FOXY LADY to the anchorage in Winding Bay. The reef harbour off Port Howe and Winding Bay are two of the loveliest places in the Bahamas and provide some of the very best diving.

There was too much breeze to chase many turtles, but with our friend, Gail, who was a top collegiate swimmer, we caught two healthy green turtles in Port Howe. When we were done we took the turtles inshore to conduct an impromptu class with several of the Young children and Julius Hunter. Julius recognized me from many years ago when he attended the Port Howe Primary School, and we used to bring turtles to the beach by the school, so the students could help us tag them. It is always nice to be remembered.

Julius Hunter

Gail Jacobs and her Twin Turtles

By the time we had left Cat Island, we had captured 37 different turtles in Joe Sound Creek, and GERONIMO, the sail training vessel from St. George’s School in Newport, had captured 2 more without tags. Mark Keasler has been bonefishing in Joe Sound Creek for twenty years and swears that until six or seven years ago he would only see “one-one” in a full day on the flats. Until even more recently there were no green turtles in Fernandez Creek. There is no doubt that the turtle populations in the southern part of Cat Island are increasing. If the local men obey the new regulations against the taking of sea turtles, the future could be very bright indeed. If green turtles can feed in these creeks until they have grown to 50 cm or more, they will migrate out at a size that greatly reduces predation from sharks and gives them an excellent chance of reaching sexual maturity and increasing the greater Caribbean population of green turtles.

Now we are again in Conception, riding out a week of NE 20-25 knot winds, and we are alone in the anchorage with the tropic birds, laughing gulls, and osprey. We even have three boxfish mascots that hang out under our stern.

Long Tail Tropic Bird Nesting

NEWS 20 March 2009

2009-03-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Conception Island National Park

FOXY LADY is anchored in West Bay, Conception Island. No island in the world is more beautiful, and the creek is full of turtles. The older Long Island fishermen still call Conception “Turtle Island.”
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We have had a busy month, cruising to Long Island, Rum Cay, back to Long Island, and out to Conception. On our first visit to Long Island we rode out some bad weather in Thompson Bay and tagged a few green turtles in Salt Pond and McKanns and resupplied for our trip to Rum Cay.

The crossing to Rum Cay was quiet, but that was the last calm day before a period of strong northeasterly weather which limited our turtle research to a good survey of the Cottonfield Point habitat and two tagged hawksbill turtles. As usual, though, the snorkeling was spectacular. And when you make a salad of Rum Cay conch and season it with Rum Cay salt and bird peppers, you know you are in the finest kind of place. We met with new and old friends (including the Repperts who had sailed down from Spanish Wells) and celebrated Barbara’s birthday at Sumner Point with a pot luck dinner for fifty people. Thank you, Bobby Little!

The Rum Cay All-Age School is small and remote, but the hospitality is wonderful, and the students were very enthusiastic about our turtle studies and Flat Stanley.

Friday evening was the beginning of Rum Cay Day. The LADY EMERALD arrived with friends and relatives and a hundred people had supper by the government dock. The food was delicious. The ladies gave all the credit to their Rum Cay salt.

We left Rum Cay on the 28th, and after an overnight stop in Conception we headed to Stella Maris Marina in Long Island to wait out a strong cold front, work on our engine, and catch up on maintenance. We changed the transmission oil, the lift pump, the secondary fuel filter, and the starting battery volt meter; and we got all the air out of the steering system. Even our flat friends got involved.

Our Flat Friends Help Work on the Engine

Anchoring out in the Bahamas is beautiful but occasionally it is good to be in a marina. Stella Maris is safe, friendly, and provides good facilities. One evening Barbara and I went up to the Stella Maris Resort for supper. We had a delicious meal and split two games of pool. We played so poorly that neither of could be accused of “a misspent youth.”

On Tuesday Mrs. Ruth Smith picked us up to visit the Glinton’s Primary School, the northernmost school on the island. Mrs. Smith is committed to the environment and has strong feelings about providing exposure for her students. Her husband, Delbert, is a bonefish guide.

On Thursday we moved down to the southern anchorage in Salt Pond to have some privacy and be near the turtles. We tagged a couple of more turtles in Salt Pond and on the weekend tagged five healthy green turtles in Gray’s Bay off Pratt’s Hill. Last year we searched the same habitat and saw no turtles, so it was a heartening day.

The next week was academic. We rode the school buses back and forth to the NGM Major’s High School and Lower Deadman’s Cay and Mangrove Bush primary schools. It was fun to meet the students outside of class and to chat with the drivers. As life-long sailors, we were excited to meet Zoe Cartwright in Mangrove Bush who has started a junior sailing program in Optimus dinghies. Our grandchildren are now sailing in Optimus dinghies in Newport.

Happy Teachers Make a Happy School:
Lower Deadman’s Cay Primary School

Wednesday night we moved FOXY LADY up to Simms so we could visit the North Long Island High School and Simms Primary on Thursday afternoon. Barbara took Flat Stanley to Simms Primary, and I gave a presentation on fisheries management at the North Long Island High School.

Friday morning we went ashore to collect two flat friends at Simms Primary; and Raymond Gibson, the Principal of Simms Primary, read us his prize-winning poem about the sand fly. Every man, woman, and child in the family islands has a personal relationship with these tiny monsters.

Why the Sand Flies

Sand Flies are a pest.
They never let you rest,
They crawl all through your hair
And bite anywhere.
Why the sand flies?

They love it when it’s calm,
They are all over your arm.
All through your clothes
Even in your nose.
Why the sand flies?

They are hard to see.
Their sting is like a bee.
You want to hit with all your might,
But they are not in sight.
Why the sand flies?

Windy weather they can’t stand,
They hide in the sand.
Sand is from where they came;
That’s how they got their name.
Why the sand flies?

You would think the storm would drive them away.
Not the sand flies, they are here to stay.
They can survive through thick and thin,
When conditions are right they will bite again.

Why the sand flies?

On Friday morning we moved up to Santa Maria and ran the speed boat down to the flats north of Stella Maris to tag turtles. We caught four greens and called Mrs. Smith on the cell phone to say we would bring the turtles to Stella Maris and tag them with her students if she wanted. “How long do I have to get there?”

Half an hour later Mrs. Smith arrived, and the bodies just kept climbing out of her van. They all helped us tag the turtles and reinforce what we had taught them the week before.

Glinton's Students with Green Turtle

When we went back to the flats on Saturday we carried Demron Sands from Glinton’s Primary and Zoe Brennen and Vernalia from the Simms High School. We tagged four new green turtles. We saw plenty more, but it was too breezy to catch turtles in the deeper, western part of the habitat. The turtles looked especially healthy, and the population seems to be growing.

Zoe and Vernalia with Green Turtles

Demron with Tagged Green Turtle

On the way back to Calabash Bay, Barbara and I passed close to the western shore of Hog Cay and were lucky to see a large flock of whistling ducks (Dendrocygna arborea). There are said to be more whistling ducks in Hog Cay than anywhere in the Bahamas.

Whistling Duck in Flight off Hog Cay

Sunday afternoon the breeze let down, and we headed out to Conception Island.
Our mission in Conception was to survey the creek and tag all the turtles. The GERONIMO program at St. George’s School has been tagging turtles in the creek since 1984, and much of the data collected have been published by Karen Bjorndal and Alan Bolten at the University of Florida. We want to sustain the long-term demographic studies and monitor the health of the green turtle population. The northern bay habitat, for example, was almost wiped out by fishermen several years ago. Yearly surveys since then suggest that the population is coming back very slowly. Perhaps the men still take the turtles.

March is the best time of year to see the long tail tropic birds in Conception. Every morning the birds fly over West Bay performing their mating rituals. The birds fly in small groups as the males woo the females before the females lay their eggs in the rocks ashore. It is hard to spend more than a day in Conception without seeing great blue herons, great egrets, oystercatchers, and osprey.

One of the Blessings of Conception Island

Tomorrow we leave for Cat Island where we will survey the creeks and visit the schools.

NEWS 14 February 2009

2009-02-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

On Valentine’s Day FOXY LADY is anchored south of the Brigantine Cays on the bank west of Barra Terre after being weathered in off Fowl Cay and Black Point for almost two weeks.

FOXY LADY at red flag south of Brigantine Cays

On February 6th and 7th we visited the Staniel Cay All-Age School to lecture on sea turtles and read Flat Stanley. The school is up this year from eight to fourteen students. The Principal, Mr. Denny, says with a smile, “Next year we may be up to thirty.” Mr. and Mrs. Denny run a cheerful, vibrant school, and visitors are always welcome. They have an excellent computer laboratory. Steve Piggot, a local computer technician, maintains the equipment and volunteers to teach the children. The older students in Staniel Cay leave the school to attend high school in Nassau or one of the other family islands.

Mrs. Denny and students at Staniel Cay All-Age School

We moved down to the anchorage in Black Point on Feb 8th. There were over 50 boats in the anchorage. Black Point has become an important destination. With RO water, a large Laundromat, internet connections in 3 restaurants, and friendly people, the boaters have a wonderful time. The boaters that we met all commented that people are friendly and they feel welcome and safe. Kevin Rolle, the Police Inspector, has been a great influence in helping to change the attitudes of the people there, and the Bahamas National Trust has an ongoing investment in the all-age school with Juanita Munroe, as it representative, teaching computer literacy and environmental science. Roberta McKenzie, the school Principal, is one of the very best.

At the school Barbara and I talked about sea turtles and Flat Stanley; and the next day I lectured to the older students on the principles of fisheries management and discussed community responsibility for fisheries and protecting the resources in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.

Field Day in Black Point

One day in the anchorage we met with Monty and Sara Lewis, publishers of the Explorer chart series. They produce and publish superb charts that have made working and cruising in the Bahamas a lot safer and more enjoyable.

Sara and Monty Lewis

The highlight of the week was our trip to the Exuma Land and Sea Park in our speed boat to show Juanita the Park and to meet with Tom Barbernitz, the Park Warden. The Park is one of the crown jewels of the Bahamas. Located in the center of one of the loveliest cruising grounds in the world, the Park is absolutely first class.

In the morning we toured the anchorages in Warderick Wells and then walked the path up Boo Boo Hill for its spectacular view of the area. Then we had lunch with Tom Barbernitz, so he and Juanita could discuss their plans for a camping expedition in March. They will bring students from Black Point and, hopefully, Staniel Cay and Little Farmer’s to Warderick Wells to camp and learn about the environment in the park.

Juanita Munroe at Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

On our way back we checked out several of the reefs, including the Aquarium, so Juanita could see some of the underwater life that she can then show the students.

From Black Point we worked our way south to the Brigantine Cays and Rocky Point on the bank near Barra Terre. It was our first time around the Brigantines and a privilege to make a turtle survey of such a beautiful, uninhabited area. We found a couple of healthy turtle habitats that had been unknown to us. It was late in the afternoon, so we had time to tag only one turtle; but the turtle was especially beautiful, and its picture appeared on Barbara’s Valentine card (with a play on Barbara’s Flat Stanley project.

Round Stevie Porkchop with New Cay green turtle

The turtle population in the mangroves around Barra Terre seems very healthy. We found a good number of green turtles and a big hawksbill despite the visibility. A long cumulus cloud hung over Great Exuma and Barra Terre all day, so it was hard to see into the water.

The whole area on the bank side of Exuma is a gift. Very few people live there, and the wildlife in the mangroves is incredible.

NEWS 30 January 2009

2008-12-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

FOXY LADY 30 January 2009

FOXY LADY is anchored at the flag north of Fowl Cay which is near Staniel Cay in the Central Exumas.

We left our anchorage off Meek’s Patch outside Spanish Wells at 0300 Sunday January 18th. We Spoke to Roy Pinder aboard ATLANTIC LADY as they passed us on their way into Spanish Wells at the end of a crawfish trip. The run to the Berry Islands was beautiful in calm, clear weather. As we passed Great Stirrup and Coco Cays in the early afternoon our flat friends from North Eleuthera Primary, the Current Island Primary School, and the Spanish Wells All-Age School got to see two huge cruise ships. These cruise ship destinations are the major employers of the people in Great Harbour Cay.

Flat Bob from Current Island Primary School

At 1400 we moored FOXY LADY in the Great Harbour Cay Marina. On Monday and Tuesday we visited the RN Gomez All-Age School in Bullocks Harbour. We spoke to primary students and the high school students about the Bahamas National Trust and sea turtles. Barbara also read Flat Stanley to the fourth grade.

In the marina we met an American cruising family with twin girls in the second grade, so they joined us for two days at the school and had such a wonderful time, they took the school bus to school and back on Wednesday.

Tuesday was a very important day for us and for Bahamians – the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States. After Captain Connett’s lecture to the high school, we stayed to watch the Presidential Inauguration with the high school students on a television set up for the occasion. The inauguration was impressive, and the enthusiasm of the students was overwhelming. They listened carefully to the ceremony and cheered and cheered when Obama was sworn in and gave his speech.

Fourth Grade students at RN Gomez All-Age School

The whole northwest Bahamas had strong westerly winds through Wednesday, so we were glad to be in a safe marina. When the wind died down on Thursday we got underway for Chub Cay where we anchored up outside the marina.

The northern part of the Tongue of the Ocean provides some of the best big game fishing in the world. In season, the Chub Cay Marina is filled with sport boats that fish every day for blue marlin, wahoo, tuna, and dolphin. There is a magnificent bronze statue of a 1,000 pound blue marlin (the national fish of the Bahamas) in front of the new club house in the marina.

On the south side of Frazer’s Hog Cay there is a good turtle creek, but the tide was too low in the middle of the day for us to get way up the creek in the speed boat, so we went shelling on Sanddollar Hill, a sand bank several miles west of the harbour. The water was cold wading ashore, but we found a beautiful flame helmet which had recently died, several large sand dollars, a tun, a sunrise tellin, and what we think was the test of a great red-footed urchin. We also picked up a cushion sea star so our flat friends could see all these beautiful critters together.

flame helmet, tun, sunrise tellin, sand dollars, cushion sea star

Our next stop was inside Morgan’s Bluff in Andros where we only spent one restless night in the rolly anchorage. On Sunday we moved on to New Providence for a night on our way to the Exumas. By noon Monday we got underway for the run from Lyford Cay, through Nassau Harbour, down to the Exumas. It was a rough trip in a 20 knot easterly, but we anchored safely in the lee of Highbourne Cay and spent the next day working on FOXY LADY. Boats, like houses, don’t take care of themselves, so we have to work at least one full day a week maintaining our home at sea.

In the afternoon we took a break to take our flat friends to Leaf Cay, in the Allen’s Cay group, to see the rock iguanas (Bahamian dragons). We were careful not to feed the iguanas, but the iguana’s thought we were offering our flat friends as food, so it was difficult to take pictures without our friends being bitten by the dragons.

Flat Friends with Bahamian dragons, Leaf Cay

Wednesday we moved down to Norman’s Cay to make a turtle survey of the southeastern side and the Pond. We saw four green turtles and captured one in the flats of the southern anchorage. That was the first turtle we have ever tagged in Norman’s Cay.

On Thursday we moved down to the Staniel Cay area to get fuel and find a safe anchorage for the approaching cold fronts. We anchored between Fowl and North Gaulin Cays on Friday morning and got into the speed boat to look for turtles in Pipe Creek, one of the most beautiful cruising grounds in the Bahamas. Usually we see a green turtle or two, but not that day. In the late afternoon we made a drift dive on the eastern side of Wild Tamarind Cay and caught a hawksbill in the soft coral.

hawksbill turtle, Pipe Creek

NEWS 16 January 2009

2008-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

North Eleuthera

FOXY LADY is anchored at the red flag on the chart just south of Spanish Wells. On Tuesday we visited the fourth grade at the North Eleuthera Primary School in the Bluff. Barbara read Flat Stanley to the students. The students will design and name their own flat friend whom we will carry with us as we travel in the family islands. We will post our visits on the Blog, and the students will be able to follow their flat friend and learn about other family islands.

Barbara reads Flat Stanley at N. Eleuthera Primary

Wednesday morning was breezy, but we ran the skiff down to the eastern side of Current Island and walked across the land to the Current Island Primary School to visit Mrs. Turnquest and her students. Unfortunately, half the students were home with the flu, but Barbara read Flat Stanley to the 5 students that were there, and we had a wonderful time. The students from Current Island will send a flat friend to us in Spanish Wells.

Current Island Students with Flat Stanley

Mrs. Turnquest and her students sent the following information about Current Island.

“Current Island is a unique, quaint settlement with about fifty persons. The island is seven miles long. The settlement is about three quarters of a mile. There is one church (Methodist) and one school (primary). The main industry is crawfishing. The ladies plait straw baskets, platemats or whatever item is requested.”

On Thursday, Barbara read Flat Stanley to Mrs. Papadopoulo’s third grade class in the Spanish Wells All-Age School. The students were very enthusiastic and will produce a Flat Stanley for us to carry.

In the morning and afternoon Stephen gave lectures to the 10th and 11th grades about fisheries management and marine reserves. He explained The Bahamas National Trust’s role in the Caribbean Initiative and how the Bahamian government has committed to protecting 10% of its marine environment by 2012. Marine resources are especially important to the fishing community in Spanish Wells, and the students asked some excellent questions.

Spanish Wells Crawfish Boat Underway