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Fire at the Blue Hole in North Abaco

February 27, 2012 by Mary Chamie

Yesterday we went up with some friends to Treasure Cay and spent some time locating the Blue Hole near there.  At first we couldn’t find it, but after asking some very helpful locals for assistance, we finally figured it out.  As we drove up the road toward it, we could see a forest fire raging in the background in the  general area where the wild horses live.  But since we were on a wide and safe road, we forged ahead.

This Blue Hole we were looking for is 3.6 miles north of the Treasure Cay road and to the left for 2.5 miles. 

The blaze was apparent in some places.  The smell of smoke was everywhere. 

We parked on a two-lane dirt track that we thought was the road to the Blue Hole and the guys walked ahead to see if they could find it.  We followed after they shouted for us to come.  We  walked down the road past the burning grasses along the side. 

An old truck drove up and a woman stepped out. She is Milanne Rehor, a person who has dedicated her life to protecting the wild horses on the island.  She is worried that the horses will be badly affected by all this fire as they are losing their grazing areas.  We chatted with her for awhile, then she got back into her truck and left.

We stood there, listening to the crackling of small fires, amazed with the strangeness and beauty of the setting.

Milanne Rehor

It is fun to read about Blue Holes in the Abacos and there is a lot to learn about them.

They tell us that the top of the water in a blue hole is fresh water and deeper down is oceanic saltwater.  There is a  layer in-between that really doesn’t support much life.  The story of the blue holes is fascinating.

But when you really get to a Blue Hole,  it feels eerie to peer down into one. It is deep and possibly treacherous.  It feels as though if I were to fall in that I might sink and  never be seen again.

There are people who swim at this site and find it a wonderful experience.  Next time I will wear my swim suit and give it a try, but think that I will do it with a life jacket on just to appease my instincts.  If you look closely at this photo you can see the rope tied to the tree where people swing to jump into the water hole.  They tell me that the water is refreshing.

We did not exactly jump in, but one of us did check out the temperature of the water.

 

I took photos of the hole from different angles. It is an amazing site.

See how deep it is?

If you ever have the chance to go find a Blue Hole, please do.  It is well worth the effort.

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Kayaking Tour in the Abacos

February 26, 2012 by Mary Chamie

Ricky Johnson, of Abaco Nature Tours took us out for a kayak ride just five miles from High Banks.  It was a delightful tour.

He is very knowledgeable about the plants and birds and points them out as he goes along.  We learned a great deal about our local natural habitat from him, as well as stories about how Bahamians use plants for nutritional and medicinal purposes. He also advised us on a great herbal drink to give to kids who say they are too ill to go to Sunday school.  One look at the drink and they are well again.  He is informative and friendly and really kept us interested in where we are and what we are seeing around us.

A half day tour with Ricky gave me a perspective that I did not have before on the plants and birds that comprise the many micro-environments that  surround us.

Ricky picked us up at 8am and drove us just a short distance from where we live.  He headed up the road toward Marsh Harbour, made a hard left into the woods and we bumped along on a two-tracker until we reached the western side of the island, filled with shallow lakes and canals, and marls that lead to the ocean.  The tide was on its way down, so when we touched our kayaks into the water and headed out, we had an extra push from the tide taking us out.  I figured I had better rest up, because coming back was going to take some heavy paddling.

We headed across the lake toward the marls.  Then Ricky signaled for us to go right into the marls with our kayaks, into tunnels of roots that made a really beautiful canal.  We could see small fishes around us everywhere.

The water was rough and pushy on one side of the marls, and beautifully peaceful on the other.

Ricky grabbed a red mangrove root and we all joined him and sat there and chatted about where we were and what we were seeing.  We rested up, knowing that we had to push to get back.

Then we turned around and headed back to the shore to head home, through the tunnels and out into the open, wind-pushed tide-driven lake.  

He held our interest by pointing out the birds and plants of interest on the way back.

In all, we probably traveled ten miles, of which one or two of them were in the ocean water.  Yet in this short half -day trip we discovered a great guide and a very interesting tour of our area, listening and learning, and paddling.  Great fun.  I really recommend it.

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When Replacing Australian Pines with native Red Cedar Trees – Think BIG

January 16, 2012 by Mary Chamie

My neighbor  invited me to see how big a Red Cedar tree can get.  She knew from my earlier blog that I planned to plant one in my yard.  She had planted one a number of years ago in her own backyard and wanted me to see the size of it today.  She said that if she had known how big it was going to get, she would have planted it farther away from the house.  This is what she showed me:

Now I realize how much space I need to give this baby Red Cedar to grow! It certainly pays to plan ahead.

The tree is lovely and dense.  I think that it would be best to place it in a place where privacy is desired.
Here is a close up of its branches.

 I will plant it on the north side of our house, just as my neighbor did,  but a bit farther away.

My Red Cedar in a pot, ready for planting

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Rainy Day in Paradise

January 15, 2012 by Mary Chamie

When it rains on this island, it rumbles.  
Last night lightening streaked across the sky, thunder woke us up several times.  Finally, early yesterday morning, it burst into rain.  We got up to watch.  Our electricity was off inside the house, but there was plenty of electricity in the sky.
Front road mud puddles
Afterward, bright grey water settled on the dirt road out front
quite different from the brown mud-puddle 
that we get in New York.  This water reflects softened coral rock.
After awhile, the sky broke open with scattered light.
The ocean was still but the sky was not.

Plants opened up and started uncurling from their parched positions, relaxed with water.

This coconut palm captured the joy of water received.

Our Birdhouse

The backyard looks greener, softer.  The birdhouse sits midst stunning greenery.

Sabal Palm tucked under old almond tree stump.
Native sea grape in rain.
Wet hibiscus overlooks native plants.
Our upper deck, as our neighbor call it, overlooking nature’s theatre.

A perspective on our home from the  point of view of the native sea grape.

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Encouraging Native Plant Growth Under Casuarinas (Australian Pines)

January 13, 2012 by Mary Chamie

Posted by PicasaWhat grows well under those pesky Casuarinas or Australian Pines?  (Latin names: Casuarina equisetifolia and Casuarina glauca).

My neighbor plans to remove the Australian Pines in front of his house and asked how to prevent erosion. He wants to try the method that Martin suggested in his blog, of cutting them down slowly, allowing undergrowth to get started. And he wanted to know, what grows under Casuarinas? 

I got out my camera and decided to photograph some of the plants growing around the stump of a giant Casuarina in an area that we had  cleared of Australian Pines.
Stage One

Here is what our site looked like when we started.   One could see the ocean through the Australian Pine trees, but not very well.  Although there was other vegetation, it was well hidden and certainly not flourishing.

The first year, we started to remove the Australian Pines by removing many small, baby trees.  At first, we used a machete and just cut down the 7 to 10 footers.  Then I spent a number of days pulling out smaller ones by hand, roots and all.  Most of the ones that I pulled out were three feet high or shorter.   I counted that I removed over 700 small baby Casuarina plants, by hand  while using a pickaxe to pull the root out.  It was a tiring job, but the view of the beach and the ocean was beautiful making it a pleasant work site, especially in the cool of the early morning.

Stage Two, opening up to undergrowth

After doing all this we began to see other trees emerging around the remaining Casuarinas.  Then new groundcover started to show, but not very clearly.  We got a view of the ocean.  And the baby plants got some sunlight.  But we still had more work to do.

Stage Three, New Growth

The next year, we cut down a giant Casuarina that was out in front of our house.  Now the other plants really started flourishing.  We added some Coconut Palms.  In addition, the Seagrape (Coccoloba Uvifera), Coco Plum (Chrysobalanus Icaco) and the Bay Geranium (Ambrosia hispida), among others, emerged and started to grow everywhere, on their own.  I took a series of shots below showing all the plants that now grow naturally around the old Casuarina stump.   Here they are.

Thatch Palm
Bay Cedar  (Suriana maritima)
Palmetta Palms
Bay Geranium
Coco Plum
Sea Heather

It is so wonderful to have all this diversity of plant life. The birds and butterflies like it too. They flutter from plant to plant, eating seeds and lighting on them, probably enjoying the ocean view, as do we.

You can see that I have yet to learn the name of all the plants in my front yard. This is because I did not purchase them at any nursery.  They emerged naturally, once the invasive plant was fully removed. In other words, they did not arrive in containers with plastic labels showing their names. But my neighbors are teaching me the names of these native plants.   As I learn their names, I will add them to the photos.

We recently bought two additional plants that we will be putting into the ground around our house.   They are highly recommended and are great native replacements for the Australian Pine.  They are Lignum Vitae (Gualacum sanactum) and Red Cedar (Juniperus bermudiana). We just bought one of each from our local nursery called Wonderland Gardens in Marsh Harbour.  Here is what they looked like when we bought them.

Baby Lignum Vitae
Red Cedar

These two plants are natives that like the native soil, the sunlight and the ocean salt.  According to our book from the Friends of the Environment, Abaco, Bahamas called  ” A Guide to native and Invasive Plants in Abaco”, both the Lignum Vitae and the Red Cedar plant are protected trees of the Bahamas.  We will be planting them in the next few days.  For the longest time I could not find them in the local plant nurseries and was very pleased to find them available for sale this year.  

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Eat Australian Pine Seeds (Or Get a Bug to do it For You)

January 9, 2012 by Mary Chamie

Sunrise under an Australian Pine in the Abacos

One way to control the problem of the proliferating Australian Pine tree in the Bahamas is to eat the seeds!

But I cannot find a single recipe calling for Australian Pine seeds.

Australian Pines line the beach of Eight Mile Bay

Unfortunately, insects in the Bahamas don’t eat them either.  Thus the pines proliferate.

Australian Pines are free to reproduce in the Bahamas because there are no people or insects in our area that eat their seeds . Hundreds of thousands of these uneaten seeds are dropping to the ground and growing spontaneously, everywhere, uneaten by either humans or insects, or even fish.  Now that is a special kind of problem, a population problem.  If we could learn to control the population of Australian Pine, then perhaps we could live happily with them, mingling in their shade, burning their wood, and crafting them into tables and chairs, as needed.

A group of researchers, mostly entomologists, are hoping to find a good set of bugs that will eat Australian Pine seeds.

I am happy to report that Australians are involved in the research project.  In my opinion, it makes sense to have them collaborate with us on this problem since they are the culprits who, several hundred years ago, sent us these trees.  I figure they ought to know a lot about them or at least might have a few pine seed recipes that they could share.

But now we have another problem.  Australians don’t necessarily have the same issue with the trees that we do, because in Australia, there are a group of insects all eating Australian Pine seeds, thus controlling the size of the Australian Pine tree population. We, on the other hand, acquired the trees without the natural controls.  This helps explain why Australians like their pines and we don’t always share their viewpoint.

Which bugs eat Australian Pine seeds and how do we get them?

Wait a minute, not so fast!  There is a bit of work to do before one takes a new bug into our environment.  For example, we have to make sure that something eats the bug and that it doesn’t become yet another invasive problem.  We also have to be sure that that bug over there in Australia is going to like the specific “Australian Pine” seed that we now have here in the Bahamas.

Until this is resolved, and we decide who or what is going to eat the seeds, I ask:
What can we do with Australian Pines? 
Stay tuned. 

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The Australian Pine

January 8, 2012 by Mary Chamie

Recently, I asked  Martin,  an Australian friend of mine to write in his blog about how Australian Pines might be used here in the Bahamas.  The Australian Pines, or “Casuarinas”  have the reputation of being “invasive plants”, rather unmanageable and growing everywhere, with and without permission, thus being largely viewed in the Bahamas and in Florida as giant weeds.

He replied with some very thoughtful commentary.  Here is what he said:

Thank you, Martin, for your thoughtful remarks.

Let’s see if we can’t get some additional good ideas about how to manage and use these pines from both sides of the world.

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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE, January 1, 2012

January 2, 2012 by Mary Chamie

Less apocalyptic than the blank that I first put up.








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Many Ways to Use Those Coconuts!

December 31, 2011 by Mary Chamie

Coconut palm in our backyard.

Every year we try to get better about using all the coconuts that fall in our yard in the Abacos.

Here is what we have tried to do with them thus far:

  • cooking projects
  • arts and crafts
  • drinks
  • garden composting
  • landscaping
  • more will follow, no doubt.
Whatever you do, DO NOT stand under these formidable plants and look up.  
Yikes!
The first problem I encountered, after conquering my fear of being hit by one, is this: 

PUZZLING OVER HOW TO OPEN UP A COCONUT

According to a youtube film I watched, this technique really works. First, take off the exterior layer
Use a knife or your teeth. This fellow can do it  with his teeth in 11 seconds!

Try This!!

That looked so easy!  Let me give it a try.
To be continued…….

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Bye Bye, Irene – Updated

August 28, 2011 by Mary Chamie

She is now officially Little Miss Irene and is downgraded to a tropical storm and is no longer “Hurricane Irene”.

Ironically, the minute the announcement went out that she was downgraded, the wind picked up at our place and two big trees came down on our property.  The first big drop was our neighbor’s tree and a huge branch dropped on our fence.  The second big tree was on our property and fell across the road, stopping traffic until our village emergency trucks came and removed it.

The winds whipped for quite some time.  In fact, these were the first really bad gusts of wind that we encountered from her of any significance.  Fancy that.

TROPICAL STORM IRENE SHOWS HER STUFF

Let me entertain you.  Sit back and relax.  Put on Willy Nelson, and listen to his song while you scroll down through the rest of the photos showing our transition through Little Miss Irene’s visit to Hastings on Hudson.

Our story

We patiently waited for her  tantrum to subside so we could take a walk or get out of the house without worrying about a tree falling on us.  Below, is the transition that I photographed from humid, wet Irene, to dry cranky Irene, to bye bye, Irene.

HUMID,WET

SHE OFFERED US DRY, PROMISING, BUT CRANKY WINDS

BYE, BYE, IRENE

This morning, the 29th of August 2011, the morning after Irene, there were a few “hangovers” to take care of.  Take a look at our Saw Mill Parkway, that is now the “Saw Mill Canal”.  Our neighbor photographed people kayaking on it yesterday.  This morning I got shots of it just languishing in the beauty of our sunny, bright, windless early autumn morning.

Anyone want to go kayaking with me? Here is a photo that our neighbor Ron Hollander took of the Saw Mill Canal yesterday. 

Just for the record, we are aware that this is not a happy story for everybody.  They are saying on the news that there were 20 deaths from her, and most of it sounds like people injured and killed from high waters.  We are sorry for what happened.

We have relatives in Connecticut who have no electricity and probably won’t have any for days. We have friends in Vermont who are this morning, trying to find their way through a lot of damaged trees.

Before we moved to Hastings on Hudson, we lived on Roosevelt Island on the East River of Manhattan and their tree damage and flooding is considerable. Take a look at their Roosevelt Island Blog. to see the tree damage.    

We have friends in the Bahamas who are wishing for some light in the evening, phone service and some running water.

We are sorry for the damage and injuries that did occur.

These storms appear to be increasing in magnitude.  I hope all of us will start taking note of the scientific evidence we have that these storms, these environmental disasters, are partly caused by human activity over which we have some control.

It was impressive to see the way that a strong mayor and city management affects urban behavior.  Our New Yorkers proved yet again, that  they move quickly when they have to. They efficiently evacuate their homes when deemed dangerous.  They use public transport a lot and walk when they cannot ride.  They may be famously cranky like Irene, from time to time, but they are efficient and quick and full of good spirit.

No doubt, part of this story is just plain mother nature overwhelming us, as she is prone to do.

Bye, Bye, Irene

By the way,  a friend of mine in Australia recommends that we move from Willy Nelson to Leadbelly to get a really good orchestration for the storm. I have to admit.  It really does sound good.  You can listen to it here:  FRANMART BLOGSPOT
 

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