The Cayman Islands
May. 10th, 2019 04:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
We've been back a week and it's photo post time! Not that there are too many land photos, since we spent most of the trip getting wet, but this is the summary:
Taking off from Grand Cayman airport.
The 'airport' at Little Cayman.
Lobby fountain at Little Cayman Beach Resort.
A Sister Islands rock iguana, a critically endangered species endemic to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. They have very distinctive black front feet, and the biggest males get dramatic stipes along the ribcage. They were thriving in the hotel grounds, but apparently elsewhere on the islands they get squished on the roads a lot. Plus there are problems with introduced green iguanas. (We had a lecture on them given in the bar one evening by a very enthusiastic German woman who's involved in their research.)
The chapel on Little Cayman. Yes, there's only one, because there are only 180 permanent residents on the island. I don't know what you do if you're a different denomination...
The booby pond nature reserve, a seasonally flooded lagoon where up to 20,000 red-footed boobies nest, among others.
Large sections of Little Cayman have outer reefs with huge, shallow lagoons that are incredibly clear.
The Little Cayman Beach Resort stretches between the sea lagoon and the booby lagoon. It's the pink one in the middle, with a big dock for mooring dive boats.
Apparently tarpons have tapeta, bright orange ones. They like to hang out beneath the boat dock at night, and we went down there with our dive lights and shone them in the water.
I grabbed one of the hotel bicyles and visited the Westerly ponds at (you guessed right) the west end of the island.
This is where I found the West Indian whistling ducks. I even heard them whistle.
And some tricoloured herons.
I don't know what this is, but it's pretty. It was growing alongside the elevated trail to the protected iguana nesting grounds, so I hope it's native. EDIT: Now identified as a Singapore graveyard by my niece, and yes, it is native to the west Indies, yay!
Two docks along from the dive boat dock was a fishing boat dock. Nurse sharks accumulate around that one, waiting for the fish to be gutted. Sadly, these were the only nurse sharks we saw all trip - some people saw them while diving, but we never did.
Sunset on Grand Cayman.
The Cobalt Coast Beach Resort.
An anole on Grand Cayman. I think this might be a blue-fanned anole, but I lack an expert to ask.
A curly-tailed lizard! That's literally what they're called, not just a description. So cute.
The dive videos will take a while longer...
Taking off from Grand Cayman airport.
The 'airport' at Little Cayman.
Lobby fountain at Little Cayman Beach Resort.
A Sister Islands rock iguana, a critically endangered species endemic to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. They have very distinctive black front feet, and the biggest males get dramatic stipes along the ribcage. They were thriving in the hotel grounds, but apparently elsewhere on the islands they get squished on the roads a lot. Plus there are problems with introduced green iguanas. (We had a lecture on them given in the bar one evening by a very enthusiastic German woman who's involved in their research.)
The chapel on Little Cayman. Yes, there's only one, because there are only 180 permanent residents on the island. I don't know what you do if you're a different denomination...
The booby pond nature reserve, a seasonally flooded lagoon where up to 20,000 red-footed boobies nest, among others.
Large sections of Little Cayman have outer reefs with huge, shallow lagoons that are incredibly clear.
The Little Cayman Beach Resort stretches between the sea lagoon and the booby lagoon. It's the pink one in the middle, with a big dock for mooring dive boats.
Apparently tarpons have tapeta, bright orange ones. They like to hang out beneath the boat dock at night, and we went down there with our dive lights and shone them in the water.
I grabbed one of the hotel bicyles and visited the Westerly ponds at (you guessed right) the west end of the island.
This is where I found the West Indian whistling ducks. I even heard them whistle.
And some tricoloured herons.
I don't know what this is, but it's pretty. It was growing alongside the elevated trail to the protected iguana nesting grounds, so I hope it's native. EDIT: Now identified as a Singapore graveyard by my niece, and yes, it is native to the west Indies, yay!
Two docks along from the dive boat dock was a fishing boat dock. Nurse sharks accumulate around that one, waiting for the fish to be gutted. Sadly, these were the only nurse sharks we saw all trip - some people saw them while diving, but we never did.
Sunset on Grand Cayman.
The Cobalt Coast Beach Resort.
An anole on Grand Cayman. I think this might be a blue-fanned anole, but I lack an expert to ask.
A curly-tailed lizard! That's literally what they're called, not just a description. So cute.
The dive videos will take a while longer...
no subject
Date: 2019-05-11 05:55 am (UTC)I do love that heron. I have a soft spot for all herons and egrets :)
O/T How are your fur beasts getting on with each other now? We noticed a 'growth' on Shula's anus, which turned out to be dried excretions from blocked up scent glands. The vet vet expressed them and cleaned it all up so her bum (which she is always sticking in our face for inspection!) was all pink and lovely again.
However, she is now utterly traumatised and runs away any time the car we took her in, starts its engine. Poor baby :)
no subject
Date: 2019-05-11 02:23 pm (UTC)The cats are still going through the long, slow process of trying to convince Boog to tolerate Kuro. It was interrupted by our travels, but now we're taking baby steps forward again.
Ugh. No animal enjoys having anal glands expressed, but cats really hate it. I hope that doesn't become a regular necessity for her.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-11 07:04 pm (UTC)Love the iguana - the black feet look like it's been mucking around in the dirt. *g* So cute!
And SHARKS!!! Boo that you didn't get to see them more, though.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-14 04:05 am (UTC)Cuba has definitely spoiled me for sharks forever. When you've been in a place where there are so many sharks you give up videoing them, where you can have 17 sharks in one shot, anywhere that has ever been seriously fished is rather obviously denuded...