Day Trip to St. Barths
As rich and famous amateur naturalists are wont to do, I took a day trip to St. Barths with Jenn, our friends Marc and Laura, and Marc’s parents. After a bumpy, but reasonable, 45-minute ferry ride, we went out to the beach near St. Jean. While the others rested on the beach, I took a short hike in the nearby hills to check out the local fauna. In particular, I was interested in locating a species of iguana that is now extinct on St. Martin. After catching some nice views and taking an abandoned road to a small pond, I was able to find my iguana. Clearly differentiated from the green iguana by its lack of a subtympanic scale (i.e., a large round scale below the ear), it’s quite a gorgeous lizard.
The island itself is quite beautiful. The topography and vegetation is quite similar to St. Martin on a smaller scale. One of the most interesting things to note was the abundance of small islets surrounding the island. We were sad to depart so quickly, but determined to return.
