Second Day on South Bimini, first chores, then a nature walk

It is cold here folks, cloudy and 50 degrees, so Tom and I put on sweat shirts and started to sort through the various problems that cropped up on our trip over. One of the plaguing problems has been the pump on the refrigerator. It circulates water to cool it and it keeps getting clogged. Tom worked on it for several hours before he got it working again.

We also had a leak – very large leak of fresh water in the bilge. We inspected the water tanks and found the starboard side was almost empty and we filled it before leaving Fort Lauderdale. It did give me an opportunity to clean it out, but when we filled it we found that the seals around the three opening leak. When we were bouncing around and heeled over the pressure forced all three ports to leak gallons of precious water out. We are still working on that one.

Around noon I talked Tom into a walk down the road to where there was a nature trail, then on to the Shell beach.  We entered the path and our first sign was warning us about a Poison Wood tree. Poison Wood, can cause an uncomfortable itchy rash to people who come in contact with it. A natural part of Bimini’s ecosystem they provide a variety of food for birds. They hang signs on most of the trees but not all of them. Then we find there are blind snakes, mini boas, the Bimini boa that gets to be 8’ long, Spiny backed Spiders, Banana Spiders that bite, like a bee sting, and a Bahamian Brown Racer the most abundant snake in the Bahamas. I was to take comfort that this “swift moving venomous hunter poses little threat to people. I personally was glad that it was cool and dark hoping that all these critters would stay curled up and out of site. I have no photographs – so thankfully they did.

I have tried to identify as many of the plants that we saw. It was an interesting trail, even saw a tiny lizard and one bird. 

PART ONE

it was  odd to see this  battered conch shell in a bed of
pine needles

Tom at entrance to the nature  trail

Splashes of color  hibiscus and Morning Glory

sign on a Poison wood tree

Percy Cavill’s Conch House a famed Australian swimmer  built the house in the 1920’s  and was used by writer Corey Ford to write the book “Salt Water Taffy”, among others. A common practice at the time was to fortify the walls with conch shells many can still be seen today.

Torch Wood An evergreen tree the wood is too thin to be used for carpentry or building materials, so instead people used to split it and use it for torches. It is used medicinally as well  as a diuretic and astringent properties used in the treatment of inflammation of the kidney and bladder. The leaves are parched and ground then used to treat skin sores.

Wild Tamarind

There are 20 different species of termites in the Bahamas. They uses their feces to build their large mounds.

Sisal plant was one of the first industries between the years 1845 and 1919 acres of south Bimini were used as Sisal Farms. Treated and dried the tough fibers were twisted and braided into excellent rope. Now it is used mostly as a decorative plant.