Hey guys, so as of today I have been living in Grand Cayman for a month exactly… Nope ok that was weird, I just remembered I arrived on the 24th so that’s a lie… I have only been here 3 weeks, and it feels like I have been here for ages!! Anyway, the point is, its time to write some blog again, I have been seriously slacking.
So I will tell you a little about what I am doing over here. I am volunteering for the Blue Iguana Recovery Program which is a breeding program set up to bring the critically endangered blue Iguana back from the brink of extinction. The Blue Iguana is native to the island and is also endemic to this island, ie is found nowhere else on earth. It was the most endangered species of the Genus of ‘Rock Iguanas’ (Cyclora spp). Back in around 2004 there were only 15 animals in the wild, as their habitat is slowly being destroyed by the hundreds of expat Americans who flock to the Cayman Islands to build their big fancy condos and beach houses and hotels so they can live a tax-free live sitting on a beach drinking Rum Punch. Also feral cats and dogs run around free everywhere on the island as the locals don’t lock them up when they go t work during the day, so they are free to roam around wherever they please and eat whatever they please including, unfortunately, the beautiful Blue Iguana. There is one other iguana found here, the common Green Iguana, however it is invasive, and became widespread on the island after hurricane Ivan, when cages housing them broke (they are highly valued in the American pet trade) and they were able to escape and colonize the place.
So my job as a field volunteer is to help prepare a new protected area on the island, away from all the development, so that it is fit for the release of young Blue Iguanas from the breeding centre. This will hopefully increase the genetic diversity of the wild releases and hopefully bring back the wild population of Blues to the standard it once was before we came along and fucked it all up. The field site I am working in has been mapped out, and certain areas of the site are suitable habitat for the Blue Iguanas. It is in these areas (approx. 300x300 metres square area – not huge areas) that around 200 2-year old Iguanas, fresh from the breeding facility were released last summer (American summer, so they have been here about 6 months) to start increasing the numbers of wild Blues in that protected area. The Blues and all the equipment was airlifted into the researve as the terrain is rough and nasty and it takes an hour just to walk into the release site from any accessable place on the island. The babies and wooden box-like retreats were placed strategically around in order to ensure that each baby had enough space for their own territory and suitable basking spots at all times of the day. No work has been done on them since they were released, and so my job, akong with two other volunteers is for the moment to prepare the site for the baseline population survey that will determine the status of the youngsters and see how they are all getting along in the wild. This involves trail clearing so that we are able to easily access each retreat without having to worry about getting tangled up in vine or poisonous Maiden Plum trees, and so that we can walk around the reserve easily, looking out for Iggys without having to worry about watching where we are going (although the terrain is so shit we have to do that all the time anyway!) We walk into the reserve in the morning, and stay 2 nights at the campsite that is set up in there. It takes too long and is too exhausting to walk in and out in one day as well as get some work done, so we do this so we can have one full day of work in the field.. Then we get back and have 2 nights at home, in a comfy bed, drink a lot of beer, swim in the sea and then head out again. Then maybe if we have worked hard next time we will have 3 nights off after that trip.
After that is all done 3 more volunteers are arriving from overseas to help with the actual survey in March, and for a month we will be walking around scanning the retreats for the babies as they all have pit tags (like microchips in a cat/dog) and looking for their own individual bead combonation on the back of the neck to identify who is living where, what is the home range like, and how many of the 200 released have managed to survive being out there alone.
Once the survey starts, the work won’t be quite as tiresome as we won’t be having to do back-breaking trail clearing and will get to enjoy the Iggys far more as we get to watch them all day.
Yes I know what you are thinking… she disappears off to a Caribbean Island, and this is what she does?!! Trust me sometimes I have the same thoughts, but these animals are truly awesome, I have gotten to know a few in very close terms, and they really do have the best little personalities, and to think that without this program they would not be alive today at all. It would be yet another “Dodo episode”: another Extinction Fuck up on our hands, due to our own human selfishness and ignorance.
So I like to think that what I am doing out here is really helping something that needs it, and the Blue Iguana has become a huge icon here on Grand Cayman, tourists flock to the botanic park to see the free roamers dozing on the sidewalk, and to hear their awesome success story.
When I am not working on that however, I try to live it up “Caribbean style” as much as possible, this island sure does know how to drink, and on our days off we can normally be found at one of the many beach side bars; with palm trunks for support and giant coconut palm leaf roofs, drinking a pint of Caybrew Beer or a Rum and coke, and watch the unbelievably blue water roll in from the Caribbean sea, and lap gently against the white sand.
Crystal and I have also been tasting the night life here in Grand Cayman, and have recently met a young Scottish lad from Glasgow, who’s name is Scott… (his parents had wild imaginations!) and is a professional golfer, here working for the fancy 5star Ritz-Carlton hotel as a Gold caddie… It’s a tough life. Anyway so we’re kind of like the 3 musketeers, we go out to bars and check out the night life, we have been trying to try each bar and club on the island before we all have to leave… trust me there is a lot of bars! Last night we went to a bar that had a mechanical bull setup… need I say more? :p
So hence the name of this blog entry… I haven’t yet thought of a punchline, which is proably just as well, as knowing me I’d probably just forget it… so we’ll leave it at that for the moment, and I will check in again soon to let you all know what is happening. In the meantime, I hope you are all well wherever you are, and the New Year is turning out the way you want it too. To those of you know know me best, I miss the hell out of you, but I promise to bring back real Caymanian pressies, and you never know maybe a postcard might be on the way at some point in the near future ;)
Miss you and love you all. Take care of yourselves.
Melissa/Mel/Liss
Ps: It’s true what they say about Jamaicans: They really do say Bacon like they say Beer Can!
PPS: I’m officially going to work in Mauritius on more reptiles for atleast 6 months starting end of July, start of August… So this blog will be going on for a while yet. :)
