Belize Blog – Belizeadventure.com

Our bunny Coco died last summer, and the staff surprised me with TWO new bunnies last March! Bunnies are the perfect resort pet… some don’t like dogs, some don’t like cats, but no one doesn’t like a bunny.

Here they are: Papillon (the black bunny), so named because he is an escape artist, and Honey, posing with Trip Manager Victor Myers and guest Catherine last March.

Our bunnies are free roaming, they have the whole island. These two are super tame, come visit them next season!

Our belize vacation packages are only powered by the sun and wind. Slickrock has built an alternative energy system for use on Long Caye as part of our ecologically sensitive policy in developing our facilities. Our ‘rustic’ approach to building our cabins and creating our water and disposal systems are designed to have the least amount of impact to the island’s pristine nature, and our energy systems also conform to this approach.

Our power systems are needed for lighting, communications, recharging small batteries (camera, etc) and for pumping water. The electric system is entirely 12 volt, employing solar panels and wind generators. When we need power for building tools or to recharge our 12 volt system if there is a problem, we do have several small gas powered generators, but these are seldom needed. Since 12 volt electricity cannot be efficiently delivered over long distances, we have set up five different systems on the island to cover our various needs; each system has its own solar panels, batteries, and charge controller, and provide for 3 different water pumping stations, power for our office communications, and lights to all our buildings. Two of these systems also have wind generators to assist the solar panels during stormy periods when there is not enough sun to keep the batteries sufficiently charged.

The 12 volt systems work surprisingly well, and manage to keep up with our energy demands even during our larger trips. And, the benefits of not having to deal with noisy generators, fuel costs and transport, are immeasurable.

Recently I was contacted by Robert Felton of AdventureTravelMentor.com to write an article for this great travel website. One thing led to another, and he asked to interview me about our company’s history, guided kayak trips, and philosophy, and this article is now featured as the May Adventure Travel Mentor. Please check it out!

This March when my boyfriend Gerrish Willis and I were on the island, he decided our Nature Trail needed a major overhaul. He spent days deciding what needed to be included, researching the various plants and other subjects included in the Nature Trail, then finally made and placed the markers found along the trail.

The trail includes 22 stations, covering blue porter weed, Indian almond, black mangrove, white mangrove, red mangrove, buttonwood, devils spaghetti, cocoplum, golden creeper, island pimento, island blackberry, spider lily, sea grape, ziricote, coconut palms and the palm tree disease, erosion, Mt. Long Caye (9.3 feet), the osprey nest, thatch roofs, and the island dump! (which explains our composting, recycling, and burning).

During the March 25 Adventure Island at Glover’s Reef trip we officially “opened” the trail and held an inaugural nature walk and ribbon cutting. Here are two photos of this great afternoon on the island! Thanks Maggie for bringing the bubbles!

And thanks so much Gerrish for the new trail!

View my recent post on the excellent site Adventure Travel Mentor:

What to Bring on an Adventure Trip to Belize

The most common local resident on Long Caye is the hermit crab. They are terrestrial crabs that inhabit the island by the thousands, and although nocturnal they are encountered at all hours of the day, everywhere. Most of these hermit crabs inhabit the shells of the West Indian Top Snail (Cittarium pica), a large snail found in the inter-tidal zone on the shores of the island. Hermit crabs are seen in all stages of growth, from miniscule juveniles to giants that are several inches across. They crawl along endlessly, hardly ever stopping, scavenging for food. Their tracks are seen in the sand everywhere, with the shells leaving drag marks.

Hermit crabs have a very effective defense system. If threatened they retract inside their shell and present a sealed, armored body, barely protruding from the opening, with only their formidable claws exposed and ready to snap at anything nearby. One has to be careful when handling these crabs, since their incredibly strong claws can easily cut through a finger.

As a hermit crab grows, it needs to find a new shell to accommodate its bigger body. However, since they don’t make their own shell, they have to find a new one. There are almost no empty shells lying around, virtually every shell on the island is already taken (and we occasionally find crabs in other homes, such as shampoo bottles, small light bulbs, champagne corks, and other odd trash). So when new shells are needed, the crabs will select one unlucky, large, individual and gang up on him. Working together the smaller crabs extricate him from his shell and leave him unprotected. This frees up a large shell and the victim soon dies. Once that shell is free, all the other crabs in the group move up to a larger shell, leaving only the smallest one free which is quickly occupied by another crab not originally in on the exchange. We often see these ‘gangs’ of crabs in small heaps, going through this process.

Hermit crabs serve an important function on the island; they compost all of our kitchen scraps for us. All food scraps are taken to the island dump and piled in a huge mound. This pile could take over the island if it weren’t for the crabs turning them to dirt, little-by-little. Also at night the crabs do a “patrol” of our dining hall floor, and leave it completely clean for the next day. If you are up early, you will see their tracks all over this sand floor.

Every Friday night we host a Hermit Crab Race, a great way to end a fantastic week. This event is hugely popular, you will be amazed to see the excitement this generates!

Like most other Caribbean nations, Belize has been afflicted with Yellow Leaf (YL) palm disease (also called Lethal Yellowing Disease) for the past 12 years. The disease is caused by an organism that attacks the head of the palm tree where its growth is concentrated, and causes the tree to die when this part of the tree rots away. The organism is spread from tree to tree through the leaf hopper insect, which feeds on the leaves.

First seen in southern Florida in the 1970’s, YL disease is 95% fatal to most palm trees, in particular the Jamaican Tall variety which is the most common coconut palm found throughout the Caribbean. The Jamaican Tall palm is most favored for producing commercial grade coconuts, and is the primary palm tree used in coconut plantations. It spreads prolifically, and is found almost everywhere in the tropical latitudes of our hemisphere.

Once the disease takes hold of a tree, the coconuts are shed from the tree, and it ceases to flower. Then the leaves turn yellow and as they die their stems break, leaving a characteristic signature of broken, hanging dead leaves. Eventually the crown rots and falls off the tree, leaving a dead trunk that can stand for years (this photo was taken on a nearby island that is not treating their trees as often as they should).

Horticulturalists in Florida studied the disease and developed a system to vaccinate the trees which prevents infection. This is an arboreal based tetracycline drug, and it is administered 4 times a year to save palm trees in afflicted areas. At right are the equipment and supplies needed for our quarterly treatment.

On Long Caye, where YL disease was first seen in 1998, we currently treat about 500 trees. We spend about $3000 US/year treating our 4-500 trees that are infected with the disease. All of the other trees on the island, estimated to be over 1000 palms, died of the disease within two years of infection since they either were not treated, or were vaccinated too late. The tetracycline is mixed from a powder, then injected into a bullet case in which the firing cap has been replaced by silicone, which is drilled into the trunk. The size of the hole is carefully calculated to be slightly smaller than the volume of the injected liquid. This allows the mix to be pressurized so that it will flow into the tree’s sap. The shells do ‘bleed’ a bit and stain the trunks.

In addition, we have planted over 500 ‘hybrid’ palm trees that have been bred to be disease resistant. We bought these palm starts from the Belize government, which purchased the nuts from a facility in Jamaica. We have spent an additional $3200 US on these trees, not counting the labor to plant and maintain them. We don’t do any more plantings because there is no more room on the island for any trees! These trees have grown very fast and have replaced those that we lost, so the island is once again covered with a thick forest of palm trees.

I just heard from the folks out on the island and a few days ago an inland bird showed up out there! In the rail family, the Purple Gallinule is not known to fly long distances. I don’t know if it got blown out there or what! I am so bummed out that I missed it! Here’s a photo of the bird on the island.