Island Living - Bimini, Bahamas Part I

Bimini Part I, Bimini Part II, Bimini Part III.

You might remember from about this same time last year that I entered the world of underwater photography? I haven't had much of a chance to dive and practice my new hobby since our trip last February. With winter fully upon us, Molly and I decided it would be a nice time to escape the ice and snow. Sounds like a great time for another dive trip!

We decided to stay a little more low key than Bora Bora. We wanted someplace close and easy to travel to quickly. I wanted good diving, (and maybe a snake or two) and Molly wanted warm weather, and a beach. Armed with our wish list, we looked at the Caymans, Utila and the Bahamas. Utila and the whale sharks were our first choice, but we decided it was a little more travel than we were looking for. We decided to try the Bahamas. I was fueled by some amazing images of Great Hammerhead sharks coming out of there, and Dick Bartlett and Jake Scott had some interesting stories of foreign herps.

Bimini was easily reached. We flew from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale, and then picked up a 25 min plane ride for the 50 mile trip due east. There is even a highspeed ferry (cruise ship?) that makes the trip from Florida to Bimini in about 1.5 hours. We had an early flight, and were to land on the island a little after noon. There were some rain delays, but we still got in early enough that our day was not wasted.

I may not be up on the most recent nomenclature for the fish or the herps. I used Reef Fish Identification to Florida, Caribbean and the Bahamas for the aquatic stuff. For the herps I used www.caribherp.org and Island Lists of the West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles from 2012.

Greeting us upon our arrival were the resident bull sharks that hang out around the docks of the Marina. 

Seems like we were at the right place! The next day got off to an early start as there were a couple dives planned for the morning. It was going to be one of my only dive days where sharks were not the focus, as well as I my first time shooting with the camera in a while. I decided to try my hand at macro and focus on the small(er) critters.

I'm still pretty new to trying to ID many of these fish. Corrections welcome!

Squirrelfish Holocentrus adscensionis

Yellowhead Jawfish Opistognathus aurifrons

Blue Chromis Chromis cyanea

Whitespotted Filefish Cantherhines macrocerus

Spotted Moray Eel Gymnothorax moringa

The resort we stayed at had plenty of trees and some of Bimin's herps were easily found on the grounds.

Bahaman Brown Anole Anolis sagrei ordinatus

Bimini Ameiva Ameiva auberi richmondi

Bimini Curly-tailed Lizard Leiocephalus carinatus coryi

Bimini Green Anole Anolis smaragdinus lernerii

Bimini Bark Anole Anolis distichus bimiensis

I also explored the streets around North Bimini a bit, flipping rocks and debris when possible and trying to not be too intrusive of people and their homes. Places that looked inhabitable definitely had inhabitants... More of the species above were seen, as well as a Sphaerodactylus sp. that escaped without definitive ID. I was able to find my fist snake though, the biggest blind snake I have ever seen, flipped under a small board.

Typhlops bimiensis

After, Molly and I enjoyed a decent Valentine's Day sunset facing Florida.

We planned to explore North Bimini a bit the next morning, and then rent bikes to explore South Bimini in the afternoon. North Bimini is where most of the population lives and works. We wandered the local streets and made sure to check out a "museum", The Dolphin House. A native Bahamian has been working on this house for many years now, building it out of reclaimed materials. He has a ton of patience and creativity.

Says he found these washed up on the beach...

I believe this is a loggerhead turtle shell.

I believe this a green sea turtle shell,

He talked about protecting the bimini boa, and even mentioned he had a "baby". It was actually the smaller, dwarf boa species.

We don't miss cold Detroit at all...

That afternoon we rented craptastic bikes and took the ferry over to South Bimini. Plenty of anoles were visible on the trees, and we even got a glimpse of another snake.

Bimini Green Anole Anolis smaragdinus lerneri 

Bahaman Brown Anole Anolis sagrei ordinatus

I had now seen 3 of the 4 anole species. Much of my time was now being spent starting at small branches for the elusive twig anole, and searching low for the boas. It wasn't a boa, but seeing this basking got my blood pumping!

Bimini Racer Alsophis vudii picticeps

Attempts at capture in the midafternoon sun were widely unsuccessful. Further exploration on bikes turned up one more DOR racer.

More to come soon, I promise!

Bimini Part I, Bimini Part II, Bimini Part III.

Hawai'i Herps: Lizards

The vast majority of the herps on Hawai'i are lizards.  I have had a good amount of luck turning up some of the "big game" but there are still quite a few that I probably won't see.  I was really hoping to find a few more of the skink species, but I never made it happen.  That being said, there are some pretty neat lizards currently living in Hawai'i, and I hope you enjoy!

There are currently a few species of skinks living in Hawai'i.  I really hoped to find the moth skink and the snake-eyed skink, but alas, I settled for a ton of metallic skinks. All of these species are native to other south pacific islands, and it is thought they might have come over with early polynesian settlers or on land rafts.  You might argue this makes them "native" in a way, and I can't really fight that point. 

Metallic Skink  Lampropholis delicata

I found these fairly common in certain areas.  They were easily heard scurrying along in the leaf litter.  Sometimes, I was even lucky enough to see one or two.  Catching them was much harder, and I was only able to bring the third individual photographed to hand.  It looked a little worse for the wear, and I suspect I was only able to grab it and pose it secondary to a mild case of death.

The most common lizards on the island were by far the brown anoles.  I saw these basically every place on the island that I bothered to look.  I will choose not to talk about them much, they don't desearve any attention. 

Brown Anole Anolis sagrei

One of my favorites, the Green Anole, Anolis carolinensis, I was happily suprised to find hanging on most places.  These have been decimated in their native SE US by the brown anole and even speaking to local Hawaiian residents, used to be much more common.  They turned up most places though, in much smaller numbers. 

Last, but definitely not least, is the jackson chameleon.

Jackson's Chameleon Chamaeleo jacksonii

Female jackson, showing the teloscopic eyes

These have become extremely common in parts of Oahu, and Maui.  The are large, beautiful lizards that are often collected as pets and then moved around.  I found them best by spot lighting for them at night, after striking out a number of day hikes.  Veiled chameleons are also being found on Maui, but to the best of my knowledge, are not yet established on Oahu.

A nice male, found nearby

Next up, the geckos!

BH