Another beautiful day

Today was beautiful - sunny with a slight westerly wind. We headed out by boat to Nonsuch Island, which I described in the 2008 blog. The vegetation on the island has filled in even in the eight years that I have been coming to Bermuda. The goal of David Wingate, the original Conservation Officer, was to create a forest similar to that present prior to human arrivals on the island (or at least a best guess at what that might be) to encourage the Cahow to return to Nonsuch and recover from near extinction. The native and endemic trees are short in stature and as a result can withstand gale and some hurricane force winds. Otto came through about two weeks ago and there are many regions on Nonsuch, as well as the mainland, where the vegetation was "burned" by the salt spray. However, there was little destruction (if any) on Nonsuch while even at the Bio Station there are uprooted and damaged trees.

A new story to me (or at least one that I do not recall hearing before) was about a spider, commonly called Banana or Hurricane Spider. Apparently, they spin their webs higher when weather is clear but lower if a hurricane is approaching. This occurs not when the hurricane reaches the island but rather in anticipation. Who needs the weather channel, I ask.

After the walkabout on the island we had a chance to snorkel along a fringing reef. The fish are so huge on Nonsuch given that is has been a nature preserve since the 1950's. New today (again, at least to me here on Bermuda), a sighting of a Bearded Fireworm (Hermodice carunculata). This polychaete worm has sensory hairs on each segment that are bundled into detachable bristles. Imbedded in a human finger (or a natural predator I assume) the bristles can cause pain and long-lasting irritation - this information provided by reference sources and not personal or student experience!

In the afternoon we headed over to Clearwater Beach. This is a new national park that was established on property once occupied by the US navy. If I have the story right, the base was established because there was a 3 minute black-out period when the Apollo rockets (and perhaps others) were launched from Cape Canaveral. The base in Bermuda allowed for that 3 minute gap to be filled.

It has been several years since we explored the waters at Clearwater and today turned out to be a real treat. The waters were clear and there were great numbers of fish and, yup, once again, squid. I've included a couple of highlights below. First, our encounters with a very cooperative Smooth Trunkfish - what in the world could have been the selective forces that worked together to end up with this body plan?

The squid were once again doing their precision movement routines. If you look carefully you'll see changes in their tentacles - forward, backwards, in a Y, perhaps an M, maybe a C, or A? Perhaps the Village People of the aquatic world? You'll also see squid watching humans and humans watching squid - our precision drills need work as what is not shown are humans bumping into humans and fins in faces. In thinking about though, our moped slinky looks a bit like the squid as we maneuver our way through traffic, lefthanded round abouts, and around the island.

While there has been much laughter (and dare I say no scooter accidents to date) I don't have many tales to tell about mishaps and adventures. Good for me, but perhaps not the most intriguing reading.