Rain, rain and more rain…that seems to be the theme for this week. There’s a baby tropical storm brewing just off the coast and it’s dumping buckets of rain on us constantly. Hope it doesn't hit you guys in Florida as hard as it's hitting us!!
Luckily, we still got out to Buck Island today! We had a break in the weather this morning when we were clearing a path of rocks and coral rubble along the beach. We definitely don't want to be twisting an ankle on a rock while we’re stumbling around at night! Thunder rumbled intermittently in the distance and you could see rain falling back towards Christiansted, but we were dry and cool on the island. There must have been an awesome storm brewing offshore, though, because just around midday it showed up in force. We made it back to the shelter just in time and had lunch amidst driving rain and wind. There was one gigantic thunder clap that made us all jump it was so close. You really know the storm is right on top of you when the thunder vibrates in your bones.
Luckily, we still got out to Buck Island today! We had a break in the weather this morning when we were clearing a path of rocks and coral rubble along the beach. We definitely don't want to be twisting an ankle on a rock while we’re stumbling around at night! Thunder rumbled intermittently in the distance and you could see rain falling back towards Christiansted, but we were dry and cool on the island. There must have been an awesome storm brewing offshore, though, because just around midday it showed up in force. We made it back to the shelter just in time and had lunch amidst driving rain and wind. There was one gigantic thunder clap that made us all jump it was so close. You really know the storm is right on top of you when the thunder vibrates in your bones.
After much hype from my coworkers back in Miami, I finally got to meet the “killer plants” on Buck Island. They don’t mess around – almost all plants are either full of burrs, spines, or thorns, or are “highly toxic”. We watched out especially for Christmas bush and Manchineel, which are prevalent and give you crazy rashes. Christmas bush was described to us as “poison ivy on steroids”. We hiked up to the observation deck on the top of the island and met all of these plant enemies up close and personal…sometimes right above your head! On the way back down to the beach, we shared the trail with a rushing torrent of rainwater, something Ian, our boss, had never seen on the island before. The view from the top was great – ocean met the green hills of the island in a narrow, rocky coast then stretched as far as you could see on the horizon.
Once we got back down to the beach we had a crash course on turtle nesting habits. There are 7 turtle species throughout the world and 4 nest here in the Virgin Islands: green, hawksbill, loggerhead, and leatherback. Hawksbills, especially, like to nest further inland under the vegetation. That could make things interesting if we’re following turtles in and around our plant enemies in the dark!
More thunderstorms brought our afternoon on the island to an abrupt end and we high-tailed it back to St. Croix amid big swells. Back at the Buccaneer we had a relaxing dinner accompanied by…guess what…more rain! Luckily there was a really talented guy playing the steel drums which lightened the mood, along with some tasty Cruzan rum punch. Tomorrow, looking for more turtle nests in the rain :)
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