Animal adventures on Salt Cay

Want to adopt a cat? Some years ago, a woman came to Salt Cay with a number of cats. Slowly but surely the cat population on island has increased until there are too many cats. It has become a problem that has been addressed in various ways. Porter (Island Thyme Bistro) uses a Have-A-Heart trap to help relocate the cats but it's a very slow process and hardly makes a dent in the overall Salt Cay feline population.

Nancy Connolley fell in love with one of the cats hanging around and came up with a unique way to transport the cat back to her home in Oregon State, USA. Mike (James) used a tackle box, drilled holes in the top of it and created a cat carrier for her to use to take Rebella back. Nancy contacted the vet in Providenciales to make an appointment to give the cat the necessary shots and international health certificate. Fortunately, Rebella is a female! The decrease in population may not be huge but every little bit helps.


Salt Cay's premier Animal Advocate and Donkey Friend, Pat Coe, has contacted Susan Blehr, the Director of the TCSPCA, and hopes to bring volunteer vet Dr. Rich Sefcik over sometime within the next couple of weeks to spay/neuter as many dogs and cats as possible. Debbie Bean (Say Cay Divers) is coordinating this effort now that Pat has gone off island.

It is illegal to have an unspayed female dog in the Turks and Caicos Islands, but it does happen. Salt Cay currently has a puppy population in need of spay/neuter services and we welcome the services of Dr. Rich to help with the problem.

I am happy to report that the new donkey, April Sassy, is doing well and seems to be gaining weight steadily. She is shown here with Pat Coe. April Sassy is extremely tame around humans but is learning the skills she will need to survive on Salt Cay. We hope that one day there will be an opportunity to round up the donkeys and neuter them. The hurricanes decreased the donkey and cow population quite a bit but it doesn't take long for it to get out of control again.

One population we don't want to decrease around Salt Cay is the humpback whale population! I wrote that we hadn't seen any humpback whales for a bit and they may have been heading North, but I was mistaken! Ollie (Salt Cay Divers) and Mike (Hawkins) have both spotted many whales all around the island. Yesterday at about noon we watched from shore off the West side of the island while a pair of humpbacks played for about an hour. They seem to be waiting for the weather to warm up before they head North again (hmmm, I must agree with that).

No article about about the adventures of animals on Salt Cay could be complete without a mention of a rare species spotted just after Easter at the Cyber Cafe in Island Thyme. Bunny Dive Master Dave, one of the great dive masters from Salt Cay Divers.

Picture Perfect Mornings on Salt Cay

My backyard changes every day. At the beginning of every day, I walk out the back door to the Sea and enjoy my first morning minutes watching the waves. The oyster catchers walk back and forth along the shore picking up little bits of food along the way. An osprey glides gracefully overhead with a sharp eye on the reef and a morning meal. Occasionally a little white crab will dig himself out of the sand and poke his head up before jumping out of the hole to skitter along the beach. It's just fifteen steps from my backdoor to the gate... fifteen of the best steps I take each day.

If the seas are calm enough I pull my kayak down into the lighter way and paddle North to the Lighthouse Cliffs and back. Lighter ways are places along the West side of Salt Cay that were cut out of the reef to allow lighter boats to load and unload salt during the salt industry days on the island. The lighter way in front of our house was maintained by the Morgan saltraking family.


Snorkeling out the lighter way toward the buoy is fantastic. (Click on the picture to view it larger and look hard to see the little red buoy out in the Sea). The lighter way ends at a little reef that is absolutely beautiful. Lots of the snorkeling places around the island are beautiful, but this always feels like my own little aquarium. The sea fans gently swaying while the brightly colored little fish swim in and out of the rocks.


I never tire of walking along the beach collecting bits of beach glass and little shells. And now that the beach deck is done I have a great place to put my treasures. The picture to the right is looking from the water's edge up toward the beach deck and the house beyond the gate. Every day brings a different shape to the beach and the hurricanes of 2008 really made some big changes... there is more sand going out further into the water. With a little less sand up toward the beach deck. It's hard to see it in this picture but there's a little step down from the wood walkway to the beach.



There were some songs I couldn't get out of my head all day from an album by Edie Brickell called Picture Perfect Morning... listen to it sometime if you get the chance - it's a good one.

The morning progressed wonderfully and by mid day we found ourselves having cracked conch at Debbie's Coral Reef Bar & Grill with a few friends who were headed back to the States. With soft trade winds keeping us cool, it was fantastic to relax while we watched the activity in the harbor.

Just as we were finishing our lunch, we watched the largest yacht any of us have ever seen cruise past Salt Cay! Debbie hailed the yacht on her marine band radio and invited them to stop by so we could buy them a beer. :0) They were very friendly but let us know they were headed to Grand Turk (to clear customs probably) and were just cruising. The name of the yacht is the M/Y Mayan Queen IV. Looking it up we found out that it is 301 feet long! Amazing!

We celebrate the differences and contrasts on Salt Cay! This was certainly a fun one to experience.

The rest of the day was spent snorkeling, laying in the sun, reading and a little light gardening. Okay, and I did a load of laundry and hung it up to dry. Regardless of what we're doing, at 6:30PM we head out to the beach deck every day to watch the sunset. A picture perfect evening begins...

The Salt Cay Dump, treasures to be found...

In March I wrote a little bit about The Further Adventures of Captain Mike or Another Boat on Salt Cay and I promised to write more about the launching of the boat and everything it took to drag the boat from South Creek to North Beach, fix it up... etc., etc. Well, it's just too darned nice outside to sit at the computer that long, so maybe I'll get to it on a stormy day.

Rain or sun, Mike keeps busy. Even before launching the "Sal Vage" he was thinking about what he would do for a trailer to pull the boat out. He had intended to build a trailer for the boat that blew away in the hurricane - it was a lot smaller. This new boat... well, it needs a big trailer.

Once a week we take the trash to the Salt Cay Dump and spend at least 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour looking around for treasures. FM Mike told me about a great chandlier and brought it to the house for me - I'm going to string it with sea glass for the beach deck. Mike's found some really cool antique stuff. But that's not what I'm writing about today, I'll take a picture of his find and write about that another time! I wanted to tell you about the giant boat trailer (well, pieces of it anyway) that he found. Exactly what he needed to construct a trailer for the new boat.


The frame was much too big and needed a lot of modifications. At the Salt Cay Dump, with the help of FM Mike (that's First Mate), Captain Mike cut apart the frame and brought home the pieces he needed to construct a boat trailer. He had an axel laying around that he was going to use for the other boat trailer and it's coming along pretty well.

He had to cut the frame and weld it to get the exact shape he wanted and now that the main part of it's done he's beginning to work on getting the rest of the parts he needs to finish the trailer.

It's heavy! Keeping our fingers crossed that our buggy (aka Kawasaki Mule) will be able to pull the trailer once the boat is loaded onto it. I'll be there to take pictures.

Donkeys of Salt Cay, a birth announcement

Louise Knucklehead, daughter of the late Thelma Knucklehead and sister to Stormy gave birth sometime between afternoon water and breakfast yesterday morning. The new Knucklehead is a gorgeous little gray female foal. Her name is April Sassfras Knucklehead (of the South District Knuckleheads) aka Sassy.

Premier Donkey Caregiver, Pat Coe, reports that both mother and daughter are doing fine. They spent their first day on the grounds of Compass Rose. Michelle (owner of Compass Rose) reported that the baby was nursing and Mom just ate a cardboard box. It is expected they will move on to other gourmet treats soon.

A Deserted Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Exploring deserted islands is a fantasy that we enjoy fulfilling as often as possible in the Turks and Caicos Islands! It's fantastic to have Mike's little boat (the "Sal Vage") and the chance to explore some of the over 30 small uninhabited islands around Salt Cay and the Turks and Caicos Islands. On Sunday a small group of explorers ventured to one of those islands - about a 15-30 minute boat ride from Salt Cay. The Seas were calm, the sky was clear and the colors of the sea and sky were absolutely breathtaking.

(The boats at rest by the reefs we snorkeled.)

We arrived on the island (I know the name, but to keep in anonymous I'm not telling) at about 11:45AM. Unloaded a few coolers of food, water and beer and snorkeled around the little reefs off the west side of the island while waiting for a few more explorers to appear.

(Photo looking down from the small cliff above the beach with Salt Cay on the horizon)

After everyone had arrived we had a light lunch and took off to have a look around. As we hiked up above the beach we came to a small path made by local fishermen and started off toward the old sisal fields and ruins of a sisal farm.

(Mike standing in the ruins looking at the sisal plants beginning to bloom.)

Coming upon the ruin, we were surprised to find that the walls of the old place are in remarkably good repair for their age - it's fascinating to imagine what it was like when the sisal industry was active. We do know that there were small goats on the island brought to provide milk and food for the sisal farm. We did not have an opportunity to see any of them while we were exploring.

The island was too big for us to explore the whole thing. We hiked along the coast before returning to the beach for a swim. The skies were clear and it was hot - a little too hot for too much more hiking. The island had a little shade (we forgot to bring our urban umbrella) and the water was warm, clear and great. I think we probably spent at least an hour just swimming, snorkeling and floating around talking while we enjoyed the beauty of the day.

The day's adventure was almost over - climbing into our boats we made our way slowly back to Salt Cay, enjoying the changing aquas and blues of the sea and sky. The peace and beauty of the day were a special gift that we all enjoyed.

(Don't forget that you can click on any of these pictures to view a larger image.)

Platform Party on Salt Cay

Tim & Nancy Connolloy, long time Winter residents on Salt Cay, lost their home in Hurricane Ike - well at least the top half of it... and the bottom half was filled with water and debris. UGH! They have shipped down tons of building materials and are preparing to rebuild. BUT... no event can go without a party - and if anyone knows how to do that it right, it's Tim & Nancy! Knowing that the barge full of building materials was due to arrive on Tuesday (or Wednesday, or Thursday), they hosted the first (and last) Salt Cay Platform Party at Captain Morgan's Retreat on Salt Cay! It was strictly a BYOE (bring your own everything) event.

They had a stairway on the outside that went up to the "platform" but it was deemed too shaky and we walked through the bottom of the house to the inside stairway. Here's a picture of Mike James coming up through the stairwell to join the party. It was a bizarre feeling coming up the stairs to the open platform that used to be the second floor of the house!

What a view of the island from the "Platform"! You could see att the way to the South... and the views of the water and salinas were breathtaking!! Mike Hawkins brought a battery to plug in a converter and operate the blender, everyone brought snack foods and the Platform Party was on! Little by little more and more people arrived bringing their own chairs, food and drinks.

Tim (in his solar hat) and Don Shope took a little time out to study the plans for the new house. The Platform will be transformed into a wonderful kitchen, master bedroom, living/dining room and two beautiful decks (one on the south side and one on the north side of the house). I can't remember what the plans are for the bottom of the house, but if Tim & Nancy are on island, they'll be happy to show you the whole thing. And by next year it will be ready for the actual house warming party! WooHoo!

This is just one small story among many of the recovery efforts after Hurricane Ike. During the Platform Party, many people took the time to sit and talk about their own experiences with recoverying from the winds and waters that came through the island. Earl Talbot and Mike Hawkins sat and talked about the history of hurricanes on Salt Cay - it's fantastic to listen to Mr. Earl talk about the history of the island and what past hurricanes did to the island.

We were all a bit nervous about how many people could safely be in one place on Captain Morgan's Platform... but not so much that some of us didn't brave it and get together for a group picture to commemorate the event!

Tim & Nancy are fantastic... in the face of all of this they always take time out to remember why we were all drawn to Salt Cay in the first place. The sleepy, laid back atmosphere, the wonderful people who call it home (permanently or seasonally), the fun times getting together to celebrate (and needing very little reason for this!), the beautiful waters to snorkel, dive, kayak, swim and just float it - and so very much more.

BEST WISHES TO TIM and NANCY!

Salt Cay's Humpback Whale Playground

The humpback whales are heading North - out of the Turks & Caicos Islands and back to their northern homes (off the coast of Maine, Massachusetts, etc.) It has been a wonderful whale watching season (mid-December until sometime this month) this year and I will look forward to their return next December.

It's hard to know when they will show up but be assured that they are here in the months January and February. It was a bit cold this year and I'm wondering if that's why we didn't see as many sightings as usual during those months...

This year we saw them playing off the shores of Salt Cay throughout the month of March. So great! Perhaps the best times are when they hang out right off the Wall (about 150-200 yards from our house). Watching the whales play with each other - slapping the water with their flippers and tail, throwing their bodies out of the water as they breach, and calling to each other in their eerie beautiful voices - are some of the best memories we keep with us every year as they leave their "playground" off the shores of Salt Cay.

(Pictures by Donna Shope - thanks Donna)