Journal Summer 08
Section 1 May 15-27th
Little Spirit Cay & Far Northern Cays

The summer of 2008 brought new challenges in the Exumas as field time for completing photography for our book “Islands of the Sun” was now finite and we wanted to focus on ‘shooting’ particular creatures. Whereas summer of 2007 was more of an exploratory expedition, we now needed specific images to flesh out the chapters, particularly underwater. We spent much of our time on the hunt for large creatures – sharks, rays and turtles. This proved to be more difficult than one might imagine, as these wild animals wanted none of the celebrity we could offer by including them in the book. The long daylight hours of summer were filled with frustrating cat-and-mouse games with reclusive land birds and wary ocean residents, as well as diving whenever and wherever possible.

We were fortunate to be offered lodging in May on Little Spirit Cay, in a native stone house on one of the most scenic spots in the entire Exuma chain. This included a secure anchorage for our trusty whaler, as well as convenient access to services at Highborne Cay Marina. We knew this would likely be one of our last chances to visit the northernmost cays, as July would call us down to our temporary home in Warderick Wells at the Land and Sea Park. Unfortunately, as was to be the theme all summer, the weather was not conducive to small watercraft travel, making our adventures that much more exciting.

Blustery weather, however, did not impede our mission. The productive and diverse coppice on Highborne Cay was as reliable as always, and stakeouts of the beautiful Geiger Trees in bloom there gave us beautiful shots of nectaring Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds. Woodstars are one of our few endemic birds, meaning that they are not found anywhere outside of the Bahama archipelago. Our first trips up to Ship Channel Cay gave us a nice series of Yellow-Crowned Night Herons, both standing and in flight, although the large cay held little else as introduced pigs have destroyed the undergrowth and rooted up the ground. Despite these successes, we had at least as many frustrating ‘misses’, such as an evasive migrating Indigo Bunting and the lovely Key-West Quail Doves, so abundant at that time, who consistenly avoided our stakeouts, Our continued efforts to capture the doves resulted in a string of photos of the same unattractive juvenile bird molting into his adult plumage.

Without a doubt, the stars of the May trip were the obliging rays, so common around our home base. Southern Stingrays, Caribbean Stingrays and Spotted Eagle Rays all cooperated to produce an excellent series of images for a ‘Special Focus’ section highlighting these unusual and gentle beasts. The waters in the area were so full of large and easily visible animals that we decided we needed to return before our southern jaunt.

Highborne Cay, June 2 – 7th

Back for a short stay at Highborne Cay in June, we were fortunate enough to have continued luck with the rays. The sprawling mangrove creeks of Shroud Cay held a bounty of shots, and the outer bluffs rewarded us with a newly hatched tropicbird, looking for all the world like a Jim Henson muppet in its dank, stinky nest hole. This trip also allowed us to further explore a beauty we had been neglecting, Hawksbill Cay. In the grip of a severe drought affecting the area, the Gum Elemi trees on Hawksbill were blooming, offering crucial nectar in an otherwise barren landscape. These flowering trees were teeming with life, from hoverflies and butterflies to migrating warblers and bananaquits. Such hives of activity did not escape the attention of predatory insects capitalizing on their nectar-feeding kin, and we got beautiful shots of those hawk-like insect hunters, the Dragonflies and Robberflies.

Although the windy weather hampered our sea travel, had a few decent shark encounters with large lemon and reef sharks, but we were still unable to make much of a dent in the underwater images we so badly needed. We decided that we needed to enlist the services of a commercial dive boat servicing the area, as filled air tanks for SCUBA were beyond our reach in the stretch of cays far from Park headquarters. Leaving our faithful whaler safe in the confines of the ‘pond’ at Norman’s Cay, we headed for a live-aboard dive boat trip departing from Nassau.

Cat Ppalu, June 13 – 19th

For our dive expedition, we crammed ourselves, together with bulky camera and computer gear into a tiny room on board the ‘Cat Ppalu’, a live-aboard vessel owned by Blackbeard’s Cruises, which dives the Exumas as far south as Warderick Wells. Thanks to a friendly and competent staff, the trip proved very productive, with the only non-dive activity being the ample meals on board. It was a busy start to the underwater image-collecting phase of fieldwork.

Diving a commercial boat had pros and cons for us: on one hand, they were familiar with the area and could access offshore walls that would prove difficult in our tiny whaler, but on the other there were a dozen people in the water at once, shattering the peace underwater and startling the marine life. A definite advantage of the crowds, which we missed later on, was company underwater for the eerie night dives!.
        

Night dives were good for us, as the coral cities reveal an entirely different shift of denizens than the familiar creatures of the day. Reflective eyes betray the presence of Red Night Shrimp, and Spotted Lobsters prowl in the open. Parrotfish, ordinarily shy of close approaches, sleep zombie-like as they await first light. A multitude of bizarre worms, crabs and sea slugs storm the reef, the corals bloated and furry-looking as their polyps open to feed on the plankton sweeping by in the dark.
        

The highlight of the live-aboard trip was undoubtedly the walls. Never seen by most Bahamians, the most spectacular scenery in the whole country is deep underwater: the drowned canyons, precipices and chasms that rim the edges of the Bahama Banks. In the Exumas, the edge of the living reef in as shallow as fifty feet of water abruptly ends, and plunges straight down into Exuma Sound, a depth of thousands of feet. These submarine ‘walls’ are incredible, with lush sponge and black coral growth, groupers and basslets, and occasional visitors from the vast blue beyond.

Warderick Wells July 3 – 29th

In July, as in 2007, we were graciously granted accommodations at the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, one of the wonders of the Bahamas. Maintained under the authority of the Bahamas National Trust, we were assisted and advised at every turn by the resident park wardens, Tom and Judy Barbernitz, without whom our book would be much shorter, to say the least! We are eternally grateful for their help, which allowed us to document one of the prettiest parts of the Bahamas, if not the planet.
        

With our field time running short, we still had an intimidating list of various plants and animals to photograph. True to form for our summer thus far, the weather remained stubbornly windy, although we persevered (sometimes foolishly) into the waves in pursuit of our targets. Access to SCUBA tanks was a huge bonus for us while staying at the Park, as we still needed loads of underwater fauna. Diving in the Exumas is tricky, though, as most of the best shallow reefs lie in tidal cuts between cays, and unless we could catch ‘slack tide’ (once every 6 hours as tide turns), our “dive” would consist of grasping at the bottom for dear life as the raging current threatened to carry us towards either Cat Island or Andros! Needless to say, we carefully planned our days around the one or two daylight slack-water periods that we were offered.
        

These lulls in the roaring tide, though brief, were a boon to us. The protected shallow reefs in the Park, to eyes used to the Nassau reefs, held staggering numbers of fish. On one of our first shallow dives near headquarters we blinked as the entire seabed appeared to retreat away from us – a school of large snappers and grunts that poured over the reef like a river. It was wonderful to be back in the Park and see firsthand the success of such a far-sighted endeavour, preserving breeding stocks of fish for generations of Bahamians to enjoy.
        

Back above the waves, one of several trips to Hawksbill Cay finally allowed us one of our most coveted shots: our first snake, a lithe Bahama Racer. The insects and salt pond fauna we had been anticipating were absent; a prolonged drought kept the foliage dead and the salt ponds empty until we left, which was a shame. Green anoles and spiders held our attention in the bush; we journeyed as far as Staniel Cay combing the skies for Man-O’-War Birds – a wandering Brown Pelican was an unexpected surprise! Nesting Sooty Terns on Osprey Cay and shy Oystercatchers all got crossed off the “needed list as well. Reef prizes included Basket Stars, feeding atop soft corals at night, Caribbean Reef Sharks, Spadefish dancing in the blue, and a displaying male Sailfin Blenny, signaling to other males to warn them of his two inches of fury. It was by far our most productive trip yet, and we were incredibly sad to leave – Nikita took the whaler, alone, down the cays to Darby Island where it will serve at a new marine lab. We will be incredibly busy in the coming months finishing up the book!
        
        

Dec 7-8, 2007, Festival Noel, Rand Nature Center, Grand Bahama.
With Christmas fast approaching, we were honoured to be invited as featured artists at Festival Noel, a Bahamas National Trust event in Freeport. The event was held at the Rand Nature Centre, in one of the island's national parks. Opening Friday evening, Festival Noel is spectacular, with sparkling lights, wine, great food, and of course, Bahamian art. The turnout was great and both of us enjoyed seeing our work in a real art-gallery venue! Saturday brought out lots of families, but a serious downpour shortened the day. We thank the Grand Bahamians for their hospitality and look forward to returning for future events.

Oct 26-27, 2007, Wine and Art, The Retreat, Nassau.
The Bahamas National Trust kindly allotted us two booths for their annual Wine and Art fair, in which many established Bahamian artists display their talents. Our side-by-side tents were decorated with seagrape leaves, hibiscus, and palm fronds in an Exuma theme. We each had prints of our work for sale, and 'exhibit-only' images to generate interest in our forthcoming book, 'Islands of the Sun'. New business cards and brochures promoted the Danguillecourt Project. The event was well attended and a great experience--  it was Nikita's first show! We look forward to participating next year, with new material reflecting our adventures in 2008!

Highborne Cay: A visit to Highborne Cay in late May chronicled the shift from spring into summer as the rainy season commenced. Images captured on this trip include the Exuma Cays Ameiva (lizard), feeding Antillean Bullfinches and the first photographic record of a Short-Eared Owl in the Bahamas, as well as shots of the resident race of the beautiful Barn Owl. May also brings the Rufous Encyclia Orchid into bloom in the thatch palm groves, and we photographed a rare purple-streaked variety in addition to the standard yellow ones.

Pipe Creek: In early June, we were fortunate to travel by private yacht to Big Major's Spot, the cay between Pipe Creek and Staniel Cay. Here we photographed the famous swimming pigs at Surprise Beach, and we did several day and night dives at a fantastic wall reef near Staniel Cay. The night dives produced portraits of such rarities as the Regal Slipper Lobster, Leopard Flatworm and the all-too-common and invasive Lionfish. Samson Cay gave us a late blooming Tall Orchid and we had painful and exhausting trek in an attempt to photograph a beautiful Organpipe Cactus.

The popular Thunderball cave was problematic as the first few visits during low tide greeted us with the grotto full of screaming children on inflatable floats. However, visits during high tide when entry is more forbidding resulted in an empty cave and some decent shots. A highlight of the return leg of this trip was a visit to Shroud Cay, where we hit the Tropicbirds' peak nesting season. Pairs of birds were doing aerial courtship dances up and down the beautiful beach on the Exuma Sound side of Shroud. Nikita produced some great shots, despite the fast, nimble flight of the birds, the heavy camera gear and the scorching sun, which left us both sweaty and whiplashed!

Exuma Land and Sea Park: In late June, we headed to Exuma Land and Sea Park headquarters in Warderick Wells, where park wardens Tom and Judy Barbernitz assisted us with any and everything we could possibly need. A friend helped us move the whaler from Highborne to Wardrick on a glass calm day, the small boat nearly sinking from the weight of the gear and food. We had a few thrills with a faulty gas line on the way down, but Tom mercifully intercepted us near Hawksbill Cay and we were able to gather some speed for the last leg.

Our home for the next month was one of the newly renovated cottages on the Park Headquarters compound, bustling with Bahama Mockingbirds and Curly-tailed Lizards. Warderick Wells is a beautiful and diverse cay, offering marked trails for viewing its many points of interest. The July heat was intense- and our daily expeditions were a sight to behold, loaded with camera gear and enough water to prevent dehydration and heatstroke! We were saturated with subject material and managed to photograph (with varying degrees of success) numerous land- and water-birds, including Ospreys, nesting Grey Kingbirds, and visiting Herons. Warderick boasts bluffs, blowholes, mangrove-fringed Banshee Creek teeming with young fish, sharks and rays, salt ponds, beaches, sinkholes, and Loyalist ruins from the 1700s. The forests yielded many unusual butterflies, as well as the nocturnal Hutia, our only native land mammal, which swarms the cay nightly.

Boating from Park headquarters took us from Pipe Creek and Staniel Cay in the south to Shroud Cay in the north. Diving was challenging in the rushing water of the cuts and channels, but we managed several productive days, striking at slack tide. Night diving in the Warderick channel at our doorstep proved to be a brief endeavour, thanks to an overly enthusiastic nurse shark used to being hand fed. Not being provided with any food, he opted to wrestle Nikita, provoking a short hiatus from night dives. The success of the Park can be seen everywhere underwater, with large grouper hovering about like dogs, enormous lobster strolling around in broad daylight, and conch slowly lurching over the sand and grass beds in abundance.

An ugly reality in the Eden of the Park is the passage of Haitian sailing vessels laden with illegal stowaways seeking a better life in the Bahamas or the United States. One of the duties of the Park Wardens, with the able help of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers, is to intercept these boats. During our stay in the Park, this happened three times, with one of the sailboats just thirty-five feet long containing 107 immigrants. The refugees are turned over to the authorities for repatriation and the boats, full of human waste, are towed to the nearby Malabar Cays to be burned. Witnessing this process was a sad and sobering event. We photographed the submarine boat graveyard, with tattered clothing and other mementos littering the bottom. A poignant sight here is the seabed covered in quartz gravel and other stones not found in the Bahamas, the boat ballast collected in Haiti now blanketing the Bahamian carbonate sand.

Staniel Cay/Black Point Regatta: With a return to school soon looming for Nikita, we were able to squeeze in one more trip in early August - the famous Staniel Cay-Black Point Regatta. This is the largest cultural event of the year in the Exuma Cays, and the sailors from this area are rumoured to be some of the best in the Bahamas. We were hosted in the tiny settlement of Black Point on Guana Cay by Kevin Rolle, who doubles as town police officer and Pastor of one of the Point's two churches. We were fortunate to be thrust into the thick of the action on a press boat, with the talented crews tacking just inches from the bristling rocks peppering the course from the start at Staniel Cay. The sight of the small sloops with their coloured hulls and white sails skimming over the turquoise banks is breathtaking. With school back in session, we will not return to the Cays until Christmas break, when we will be busied with wintering migrant birds and dry-season blooming trees, as well as testing our wetsuits in the cool water!

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