Foggy Day Walk

One day last week (in fact, it was the 3rd... my granddaughter Rachel's 6th birthday), I woke up to find all the screens covered with dew. Looking outside toward the Sea I could see that it was a soggy morning with dew on the boardwalk and lots of moisture on the sand. And amazingly, when I looked out the front door toward the East - there was a layer of fog over South Creek! If you look closely at the picture you can see it hovering over the whole area.

Fog is just not something seen on Salt Cay! Inspired by this strange sight, I stuffed my camera and a bottle of water in a bag and set off for South Creek. By the time I got there, the fog had lifted and a calm hung over the Creek, setting us up for a hot day to come!

Even the Sea off the East side of the island was calm and as I walked past some clam beds, I spotted one of the young osprey perched on the top of the north osprey nesting platform.

As I walked closer to the platform, I could hear the young osprey calling to its mother. "Maaaaaama"... it really does almost sound that way! And loud! When the osprey used to nest in front of our house we were often awaken (at all times of the day and night) by the young osprey after they were kicked out of the nest. It's a relief to see them enjoying the other nesting platform instead of the roof of our house or the railing of our neighbor's house.

The osprey are not intimated by people walking close to their perchs... they turn their heads to get a good look at you as you're getting a good look at them. Unless of course they have young, just hatched babies - then they might just dive bomb you to keep you away.

But this osprey was perfectly happy to sit on top of the pole making noise. Notice the ropes draped over the nesting platform? Apparently, the osprey started to build there and for reasons known only to themselves, changed their minds and built their nest on the southern-most osprey nesting platform instead. I've also seen the osprey by the nest in town sitting there looking around... maybe one day we'll have three osprey families! At 2.5 square miles, that's about the maximum number of osprey Salt Cay can expect.

As I walked home, the mangrove area of South Creek was not without a few strange and wonderful treasures. The metal float has obviously been here for some time... it had to make it's way from the mouth of the Creek, turn right and eventually get lodged pretty close to shore. It looks like it's been here for a long time! I have no idea how long. With the sun just coming up, it turned the colors of the float brilliant orange, rich brown with some wonder rusty flakes covering it. A beachcomber's delight - and I'm sure Mike is very happy it's too heavy for me to roll home for our back yard.

The mangroves are a little difficult to navigate on foot... it's very mucky and slippery... but well worth it to catch some interesting photos of South Creek through the mangroves.

Hey! don't forget that you can click on any of these photos to view them larger. :0)

Barge delivery to Salt Cay

Salt Cay is a small island, 2.5 square miles. The harbor, Deane's Dock, was probably originally built well over 125 years ago and is big enough for a few small fishing boats and three or four dive boats. Part of the dock crumbled in a number of years ago and the part of the seawall crumbled late in 2009. So when a 150-foot barge pulls in past the seawall toward the dock, it's something to see!
Saturday was a quiet day... my friend Heather and I had kayaked out close to the barge as it was waiting for high tide. The seas were a little rough with the wind coming out of the South, so we did a short paddle and then returned home to wait the couple of hours for high tide and the Big Event of the day - the barge unloading. :0)

Actually, there were quite a few people waiting for the barge. Standing around visiting with neighbors and friends, discussing the possible dredging of the harbor, repair of the seawall, the weather forecast for the following week, and of course, Sunday's Super Bowl teams.

It was probably about Noon when the 150-foot, Lew 2 (aka Lew Tide) finally came through the opening of the harbor and approached the dock. The barge stirred up quite a bit of sand as it made it's way into Salt Cay's little harbor.

Loaded with building supplies, the District Commissioner's new vehicle and a tractor for our neighbor, the Captain of the Lew 2 gently approached our aging dock and lowered the doors to begin offloading everything. The vehicles were driven off first... then, father and son team, Alan and Enrique Dickenson, operated the backhoe and forklift in a tight space and quickly had the supplies unloaded and the barge backing out of the harbor before the tide turned too low.

Watching a barge arrive and unload might not sound like much to people who think Caribbean vacations include all-inclusive hotels, cruise ships and shopping... but that's the kind of island Salt Cay is... laid back, simple and just a slice of real life.

Salt Cay Women of Action

Salt Cay Women of Action

One Island, One People, One Aim

Last year island women got together and formed Salt Cay Women of Action, a chance for the women of the island to get together and get to know each other better. Last night we had our first meeting of 2010. We missed many of last year's members, but look forward to our next meeting when they will be in attendance!

Salt Cay Women of Action meet every Thursday at 5:00PM with meetings lasting about 1-2 hours depending upon what activities we're getting ourselves into! President Vershina Forbes helped us organize the schedule for February's meetings.

• February 11th, 5PM - decorate the Salt Shed for the Valentine Party
• February 18th, 5PM - Ladies Game Night (Scrabble, Dominoes and card games)
• February 25th, 5PM - Dancing Night, learn how to do the Electric Slide and the Cha Cha Slide!

Member Carolyn Dickenson announced the following community activities:

• Mondays @ 5PM, Eloisa Dickenson will be holding Spanish classes at the Club House (by the cricket field).
• She also invited anyone to join her and Norma at 5AM for aerobics at the Salt Shed every morning... we all groaned about that hour and are not sure how many will join them that early!
• Salt Cay will be hosting this years TCI Womens Conference the beginning of April, date to be announced.

Whales Ahoy!

Humpback Whales migrate past Salt Cay on both sides of the islands using the Turks Island Passage and the Mouchoir Passage as they make their way toward the Mouchoir Banks and Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic. Our house looks toward the West and the Turks Island Passage. It's about 350 yards off the beach.

We've been spotting Humpback Whales swimming past for about the past two weeks and for the past three or four days it has been an all day, every day event. I've spotted them throughout the day in groups of two to four as they swim around the island. Just saw a group of four humpbacks about 1/2 an hour ago!

Okay... I've already posted this, but I have to edit a little because now - 2 hours later - we've got three whales right next to the "Wall" (that's what we call the dropoff from the reef to the Passage) and it looks like two adult whales teaching a small one to swim... they keep going back and forth in front on us.

Today, with the wind coming out of the West, the Sea is too rough to kayak but I'll be out there again tomorrow to see if I can cruise along with them!
The map shows our location as Balfour Town. That's the name of the area where the government offices are on Salt Cay. It's not really a town, but I'm not really sure how you let Google know that. Guess they'll have to come have a visit.

I did not take the picture of the whale. A friend took it a few years ago... I have not been able to catch a picture of the whales this year and thought I'd use this to get your attention. :0)

South Point Stroll

The wind picked up last night and the Seas just didn't look like a lot of kayaking fun... especially getting out through the surf. So this morning, we took a stroll to the South Point of Salt Cay. It has to be called a stroll because we had to stop a number of times for pictures and just a few brief "ahhhs". The first stop was to take some pictures of the Cactus Tree (Consolea (opuntia) nashii) growing along both sides of the road.

The cactus trees are just starting to flower and the brilliant red flowers are a striking contrast to the blues of the Sea and sky and the green bushes surrounding it. These cactus are native exclusively to the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands and can grow to a height of about 4 meters (or 13 feet) but I've only seen them grown to about 6 feet tall on Salt Cay. (If you click on the pictures they open to a larger size so you can see them better... the flower really is beautiful!)

Salt Cay is the home of many elusive and ever-changing pocket beaches. I call them that because they are little pockets along the shoreline that under the right conditions fill with beautiful sand and are a joy to play on! You just have to walk along either side of the island and you'll find them (or not!).

Even on fairly windy days, these little pocket beaches can be fun to use... bobbing in the water and playing in the surges. Maybe tomorrow... today, the stroll to the South Point is the order of business and there are so many things to see in just that small area. Looking South toward the point there was another little pocket beach within sight of the first one... I hadn't seen it before... it must be one of the more elusive ones! Just off these little beaches, we spotted the Salt Cay Divers' boat enjoying a bright and sunny Sunday scuba dive. A great place to enjoy beautiful scenery above and below!

It's usually better to go out for a walk early in the morning before it gets too hot, but this morning the winds are blowing about 15mph and keeping everything a cool 80.

As we approached the South Point the sounds of the Sea increased to a low roar as the currents coming around the West side hit the currents coming around the East side of the island.Two years ago when I kayaked around the island, this was the toughest part of the trip. There are reefs half-submerged and the currents both ways are very strong. It is impossible even on a calm day to stay very close to shore in the kayak. At one point, I remember looking at the shore and wondering if I was traveling forward at all! The wild, free waves are incredible to watch.

It used to be a bit of a secret that the very best shells could be found on the South Point. That's not the case anymore, now it's best to get there early after a storm to search through the seaweed if you want the best shells. The weather and Sea have been calm for the past week and I was fairly confident that I wouldn't find and real treasures, but looking is half the fun!

I found a great stick and proceeded up and down the beach poking through the sea fans, sponges, pieces of coral, small broken shells, and seaweed. And of course, there's always the odd shoe that washes ashore. (can you spot it in the picture?)

Because the Sea has been calm there were not many piles of seaweed to go through but I did manage to find a nice Chestnut Turbin and a couple little melanilla and a cowrie shell. Lots of beautiful bits of shell, including a bright orange scallop nestled in the seaweed.

With sand in my shoes and a smile on my face, I took one last look toward the powerful beauty of the currents at South Point and headed home.

Salt Cay Rake 'N Scrape Haitian Benefit

Debbie Been, owner of Coral Reef Bar & Grill on Salt Cay, hosted a benefit for the island's Haitian families to aid them in finding and helping their relatives in Haiti after the earthquake. Salt Cay Rake 'N Scrape Band donated their talents to the event and entertained the crowd for about three hours. Debbie donated $1 from every drink sold and had a donation jar for people to make their own donations to Salt Cay's Haitian Relief Fund.

Through the efforts of Coral Reef Bar & Grill, Salt Cay Divers, Salt Cay Rake 'N Scrape Band, and the Salt Cay community over $2000 was raised for Salt Cay's Haitian Relief Fund

Winter Resident, Elinor Davies, graciously donated a number of original artworks to the cause. With the help of Sharon Herwin of Pirates Hideaway (pictured here), the Salt Cay Windmill watercolors were sold and the donations added to the Fund.

Salt Cay is home to many Haitian families, they are some of our best craftsmen and work hard to provide for their local families as well as sending money back to their families in Haiti. Communicating with their families in Haiti since the earthquake has been difficult. A few people have been able to find out information because their families do not live in Port au Prince and still have cell phone capability.

We have heard of two deaths to the Salt Cay Haitian families to date. There are a few of the men who are working to try to get enough airfare together so they can take the trip back to Haiti to find out about their families and help them in any way they can.

District Commissioner Carolyn Dickenson and Police Officer Kammeron assisted Salt Cay's Haitian community by providing them with phone numbers they can call to find out about their relatives earlier in the day and a Prayer Meeting at the Salt Shed was also held on Friday evening.

On Thursday the Salt Cay boat went to Grand Turk for the weekly shopping trip. We had heard on the local radio station that First Caribbean Bank has a special fund set up that sends the money donated directly to the Red Cross in Haiti and another contribution in that fund.

We would like to urge you to find out how you can help. And if you cannot afford to give a donation, please keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.

Salt Cay's Morning Traffic

Weather Report: Windy, blowing steadily from the... wait a second while I check the weather vane... okay... the full report. Sunny, with a few scattered clouds, wind blowing out of the East at about 20 mph, temperature about 75F. Some good swells out at sea but a great day for diving.

Traffic Report:
To the West of us... A beautiful three-masted schooner that spent the night off the West side of the island headed North in this morning at about 9:30AM.
To the East of us - I'll let this picture speak for itself. The wall on the left is our front wall, looking North on Victoria Street.

It looks like another quiet day on Salt Cay.

There are a few guests and divers on island enjoying a quiet, laid back vacation.

Tomorrow there will be a Haitian relief benefit for Salt Cay's Haitian population at the Coral Reef Bar & Grill. raising money to directly help our Haitian friend's own families. It's been so very difficult for many of them to find out what's happening with their families in Haiti... thoughts and prayers for our Haitian friends and their families please.