Here are a few stray critters from March, including some flies mating, a rather interesting moth, my favorite colorful jumping spider and the Lesser Antillean bullfinch.

On our way off the island for a wedding, I had a little spare time at the airport, so I snapped a few photos of some insects in the little garden areas just past the main exit. Mostly I saw some true bug that I didn’t recognize, but there were also some caterpillars and insect eggs.

I’m way late in posting this, but below are a few photos of our initial construction session when building the Apocalpyso with team member Stephen. The Apocalypso was a raft built from reclaimed materials, which was based on the general from of the pirogues that the Amerindians used when colonizing St. Martin. Conceived and designed by Stephen, Jenn and I helped him do most of the construction in a few hours. The boat was completed and featured at the Love the Lagoon fundraising event.

I’ve missed the last three hikes with the St. Martin Trails Hiking Association, but I’m looking forward to getting back to it soon. Anyhow, below are a few photos from the Walk-a-Ton we did with Maternite Active at the end of March, taking us from Le Galion to Oyster Pond via French Quarter. Of particular note was the amount of trash on the dirt road between Le Galion and Quartier d’Orleans, a real shame.

I’m admittedly quite a bit behind in my posting after spending so much time on the Love the Lagoon fundraising event, but I did want to post the article from SXMFaxInfo about our mangrove marine life survey:

There will be an booth for the Incomplete Guide at the Eco-symposium Thursday morning at the Cultural Center in Sandy Ground.

A copy of the book was donated as a prize for the Dolphin Defenders art competition. Awards ceremony is May 3rd at the Philipsburg Library.

Dolphin Defenders St. Maarten
Dolphin Defenders, St. Maarten Our mission is to: 1) Stop any and all current plans for captive dolphins and all other marine mammals on St. Maarten. 2) Have it written into the Law of country St. Maarten that there will be no form of Marine Mammal captivity, in any type of facility, for any reason whatsoever, now or in the future. 3) Bring awareness to the island of St. Maarten in regards to the importance of protecting the freedom of dolphins and other marine mammals from the negative and cruel captive dolphin and marine mammal industry, destructive fishing practices and environmental hazards in our waters and internationally. We are going to do this by: 1) By petitioning the government not to permit the establishment of such a facility in Country St Maarten. 2) By lobbying the government to have it written into the Law of country St. Maarten that there will be no form of Marine Mammal captivity, in any type of facility, for any reason whatsoever, now or in the future. 3) Making available to the island of St. Maarten, from young to old, information regarding the negative and cruel captive dolphin and marine mammal industry, destructive fishing practices and environmental hazards both in our waters and internationally – education starts at home.