I’m not sure how one defines epic in regard to walks, but today I walked for six hours from Grand Case past Cul de Sac to a nature walk in the preserve that ends up at Anse Marcel and then back to Grand Case. Now I will recount some of what I saw.

Before reaching the nature reserve, as you will see in the photos below, I saw a very large tree, a cotton plant and a newly hatched monarch butterfly that I could photograph easily because it was not yet ready to fly. There were also numerous butterflies drinking from the mud that had retained the morning’s rain. I also saw lots of donkeys who came by hoping I had some food. Donkeys are really neat if you look at them up close.

The nature trail was very nice. According to the signage, it circumnavigates the last intact littoral forest in Saint Martin. The sign also claims that 182 species of flora and 25 species of vertebrates are present in the forested area. I cannot confirm this, but there were a lot of plants and at least a couple kinds of lizards. The unfortunate part about the trail is that it begins at a dump and ends abruptly at a sewage treatment plant. But in between is some gorgeous coastline, interesting terrain and plenty of nature to enjoy.

The trail begins on a shore made primarily of large chunks of coral skeleton. Interspersed are large pieces of layered rock, some of which also contain coral. Heading up from there, you enter a scrubby land that also features large jutting rock formations. If you look at the photo below with two hills in the background and two rocks in the foreground, you may notice that on the hill behind the right hand rock there is an exposed patch of layered rock at the exact same angle. Perhaps this indicates that some or all of the island was created by some type of seismic movement. Also, the underwater formations at the reef Aure found (now named Kusasa Reef) also seem to match the same angle and structure. This would indicate geological continuity between both underwater and above-water landscapes, which is pretty likely anyways, but still kind of neat.

I found what may be another species of little blue butterfly (like the furry one from a few posts ago) which is darker than the other one that I have seen. (In the photos it is the one that is gray with a little tail, but I remember referring to that family of butterflies as ‘blues’ in my childhood.) Also pictured are one of the big black bumblebees that are frequently seen, a spider tending its web and several pelicans that were fishing just offshore.

I have seen small black butterflies in various places, but have never been able to get a close look. To my great delight, in a semi-wooded part of the walk I was able to see many of them and photograph what I think are actually probably two different species of little black butterfly. There were also many land-dwelling hermit crabs. My favorite used its one large claw to block the door to its home.

On my way back, I stopped to rest near an abandoned concrete structure and found its underside covered in wasp nests made of mud. I also learned that there are almost always iguanas at the airport. More importantly, the one I saw today was half-way between the previous pair in both size and coloration. I think this is a pretty strong indication that they start bright green and then turn gray-brown as they age.

All in all, a very interesting exploration. I do feel that I pretty much reached the limit of my current capacity for walking up and down hills and such in tropical heat, but that is what I am here to do.

Yesterday I walked down Route de L’esperance to visit the brand new US Market supermarche. The marche was not that super, but I did see some interesting things, including:

• The remains of the milkweed where I took the monarch chrysalis. Perhaps I saved a life.
• A new kind of millipede.
• Fresh water pools that have some sort of very small fish in them
• Iguana crossing at the airport.
• A smaller, bright green iguana. Is it a different species, or is that just how the big iguanas look when they are young?

As a special birthday treat, we went out with the Octopus Diving team to explore a reef that Aure discovered while passing over it on his boat. To our knowledge this area had never been visited by divers, so it was a rare treat to explore a virgin reef.

The seas were quite rough, and Chris stayed on the boat as large swells broke over the bow. Underwater, there was a strong current, which made swimming difficult, particularly for Stuart, who was towing a surface marker buoy. The reef itself was quite beautiful with a wide variety of sea fans and other soft corals waving in the surge. The topography featured stratified rock jutting out at an angle and small sandy channels where fish congregated.

There was a considerable amount of sea life, including very large spadefish and angelfish. A skittish hawksbill turtle did not seem to be comfortable around divers, unlike many of the turtles we see at frequently-dived sites. There were a great many sponges of varied types, including a strange, maze-like formation on the underside of a rock ledge.

After 40 minutes, we scrambled back onto the boat amidst crashing waves and headed to Ilet Pinel for a drink, and to discuss plans for future explorations of this new site.

Bell Point is the closest point on the island to Creole Rock. To get there, I swam past Grand Case Beach Club and walked down the shoreline to the point. Snorkeling the area past the beach club is quite a pleasure. There are rocky outcroppings that provide a nursery for small fishes, and a variety of small corals and sponges live there, too.

While traversing the shore to reach the point, I encountered a great deal of matter washed up on the shore, including shells, dead corals of various types and, of course, manmade trash. The area at the point was very pretty, although too rough to snorkel.

This morning I took a walk past the airport and up the little dirt road I had noticed a few days ago. The area was a mix of trees and meadows and many butterflies and other insects were around the road, probably enjoying some water from this morning’s rain.

One of my first discoveries was the plant on which the swallowtail caterpillars feed. Although I don’t know what it is called, I do know that the caterpillars prefer the young shoots in shady areas. These they will eat until not a bit of leaf is left, while larger shrubs in exposed areas are almost totally untouched.

I was also able to photograph a couple of the local butterflies, including a tiny yellow sulfur and a fuzzy little blue butterfly. There is also a tiny white butterfly with yellow forewings, cabbage butterflies, larger sulfurs, the buckeye-type butterfly, a skipper, some sort of fritillary, the monarch and the swallowtail. There is also some small black butterfly or moth that I have yet to get a good look at.

On the hill there were plenty of goats, a tree with little green fruits that almost look like olives and a strange, super-prickly cucumber-like vine. On my way back, I found a struggling swallowtail. At first I thought it might be a dying mother that just used her last energy to lay eggs, but seeing the brilliant colors and watching how it pumped its wings, I realized it must be a newly hatched adult still working up the strength to fly. I also saw hundreds of baby spiders hatching from an egg sack and almost ran head on into a paper wasp nest.

On my afternoon walk, I headed out past the airport, through Hope Estate, an industrial-ish area, and a little past the turn off to Cul de Sac, towards Orleans. Inspecting every milkweed plant, I did find some chrysalides, but only ones that were either evacuated or eaten by some sort of predator or parasite.

In an abandoned, or seemingly abandoned yard of rock and dirt piles, I did get a chance to photograph some sort of fritillary and a goat. Outside a nursery (the kind that sells plants), I photographed a young lizard. Also pictured below are some sort of skipper (the small butterfly) and my third iguana sighting, this one not so fortunate.

This morning I took a walk around the salt pond and nearby Grand Case Airport. Around the main pond and nearby smaller ponds, large muddy flats with some succulents and other vegetation predominate. I found a buckeye-type butterfly very common in this area, and numerous fuzzy orange caterpillars that I am guessing belong to the same species as they are neither monarch nor swallowtail caterpillars.

Also seen on this exploration were the so-called water chicken, a flock of egrets and a small bird’s nest with its entrance on the bottom. I’m guessing the nest belongs to one of the local finches that have bright yellow belies. I also saw another iguana, and like the last one it was in a tree over a marsh. A dirt road off the main road on the other side of the airport looks promising, heading up a forested hillside.

I have also noticed that despite seeing monarch caterpillars of all sizes on almost every milkweed plant I have encountered, I have yet to see a single chrysalis. Perhaps it is not quite time for that stage of life, but I would have guessed the butterflies would breed year-round in this climate. Perhaps I am just not good at spotting them.

This morning I went out on the boat with Chris, Sally, Aure and ERB to explore potential new dive sites. Our first stop was in the channel between St. Martin and Anguilla. The seas were choppy, so we hopped in quickly. While the exact location of the site is top secret, I can tell you that we descended to the bottom at 74 feet and did a 35 minute drift dive. The landscape was what I refer to as a reef prairie: a long, flat underwater plain sprouting with corals and sponges. At one point, we crossed paths with a large school of sardines. The photos below are from this site, which we christened Fisherman’s Reef.

Next, we dove off the point to the north of Anse Marcel. Exposed to the current, the visibility was worse here, but there was plenty of life. We started at 55 feet and worked our way around the point to finish in the shallows. At the end of our dive, we were surprised to find an octopus sitting out in the open on the ocean floor. It studied us for a while before turning white and shooting off into a coral refuge.

Our last dive was at the rock in front of Anse Marcel. Similar to Creole Rock, the waters were quite shallow. We maxed out at 27 feet. This site was probably the best of the three, with many coral overhangs. Beneath one, I found an adult spotted drum and a small nurse shark. On the higher points, there were large coral heads. As we came around the southwest part of the rock, the reef gave way to areas of sand and sea grass with intermittent corals. Probably a great place to see rays. The cutest thing I saw on this dive was a young queen angelfish, less than two inches long, but still gloriously colored in blues and yellows.

After my morning excursion, I decided to try snorkeling the west end of Grand Case Bay near Molly Smith Point. By the afternoon, the wind and waves had picked up, making for tricky snorkeling and low visibility. I did explore a little, though. The underwater topography consisted of numerous sandy valleys between rock outcrops providing plenty of hiding places for fish. The area was not dense with life, but did feature a decent variety of corals. I would say it is worth further exploration on a calmer day.

On the way back I took some photos of the cemetary, the remains of Sebastiano (presumably an Italian restaurant) and a shot of the sea and a dog (a sea dog, I suppose) seen through the remains of an abandoned shack.