Wild orchids blooming at Harbour Club Villas over looking the sail boats in the Marina.
We enjoyed our first sunset of the first day of the new year in our favorite spot overlooking the marina. I had to include a beautiful Encyclia Altissima (orchid), the sun setting and some sail boat masts. Perfect end to a perfect day!
Hope 2012 is a great one for all!
Marta
Wishing you and yours joy, happiness, sunshine and much laughter
at this very special time of year.
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
It must be that time of year again! I just saw my first Christmas Vine with its' stand out red flowers creeping over some native bush along the Venetian Road and near the villas at Harbour Club.
Every year as we head into December, I search the bush for these spectacular, showy red flowers. Sure enough there it was today…..the Ipomoea Microdactyla, also known as the Christmas Vine or Hog Potato Vine. Look around you as you are sure to sight it too.
Marta
Mike's photos of Harbour Club's newest resident.........a Caribbean Octopus
By the time I had run down to the docks at our villas…Harbour Club Villas and Marina….the octopus had disappeared. I was disappointed to say the least but left my camera down there in case our son Mike saw it again. Well, yes……..he came out apparently changing colours and with at least two foot tentacles. Mike was able to get the following photos.
You can see the distinctive blue-green colours with occasional mottled-brown markings
The Caribbean reef octopus is usually a solitary and are able to quickly change colour using specialized cells in their skin known as chromatophores.
Trying to hide in under the ledge of the rocks underneath the floating docks at Harbour Club Villas and Marina
Close up of the octopus' bulbous head
The Caribbean Reef Octopus lives in hidden, rocky lairs that are difficult to locate. Their lairs are usually created in shallow warm waters.
Its colour range is incredibly large; it can change from crimson to green, bumpy to smooth.
The Octopus is difficult to describe because it changes color and texture in order to blend into its surroundings. It can weigh around 3.3 lb or 1.5 kg.
It can move pretty fast but Mike got some amazing shots!
Beautiful colours and constantly changing !
It feeds on a wide array of animals including primarily crustaceans as well as small fish and bivalves. This octopus species often feeds by spreading its webbed arms to form a canopy to net its prey.
Thanks to my son Mike for these great photos of our new resident reef octopus and perhaps you’ll be able to see them for yourself when snorkeling or diving here in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Marta
How lucky can a person be? Up close and personal with a Turks and Caicos Rock Iguana!
The Turks and Caicos Islands has approximately 50,000 rock iguanas. Their official name is Cyclura carinata and these iguanas are critically endangered and endemic (found nowhere else) to these islands. I was lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time and at least 300 photos later with the rock iguanas on one of the little cays.
I think he was posing for this photo.
The West Indian rock iguana is one of the smallest of the Cyclura species and measures less than 770 mm or 30 inches when fully grown. Its basic colour ranges from green to brownish grey and usually patterned with some darker markings.
Don't come any closer!! They are so very dinosaur-like and can be very intimidating when coming towards you.
The rock iguana has a ridge that runs from the top of the head to the tip of the tail. The males, have a very prominent ridge on the crown, and a large dewlap. This is a large flap of skin that hangs from the throat area and assists in temperature regulation. This beautiful creature is adorned with a crest of some 80 to 110 scales down the centre of the back, and rings of enlarged spiny scales around its tail.
Showing off its magnificent tail ......it really does look prehistoric!
The Turks and Caicos rock iguana lives in rocky areas and sandy habitats as sand is required for nesting. It lives and sleeps in shallow burrows dug in loose sand or under rocks. In the morning they will emerge from their burrows and
bask in the sun before going off to feed. At midday, when the sun is the hottest, they hide in the shade to avoid overheating.
A handsome ridge runs from the top of the head down to the tail
We have some 2,000 iguanas that are the only land creatures living on Little Water Cay. A boardwalk has been built throughout the island and our visitors can take a tour of the island by walking along the boardwalk. But please, do not step off the walkway.
The Atabeyra drops a group off to see the iguanas at Little Water Cay.
See you next time when you visit the rock iguanas at Little Water Cay.
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Shadow dancing on a deserted West Caicos beach
About two weeks ago and a smooth, calm sea found us heading for West Caicos. The boys dropped us off and left us to do a spot of fishing. It was an incredible sight to see this long stretch of deserted beach that had become much wider as Hurricane Irene swept in tons of sand. It was low tide and the water was shallow for a ways out. The waves had created ripples and sand bars and pools of water with shells and interesting bits of debris. We had the beach to ourselves with only a few pelicans that swooped in occasionally to land and shared it only with the pelicans as they dive bombed for fish. What glorious entertainment for the afternoon!
The husbands head off for some fishing and look at those ripples and as a small sand bar forms
Sand ripples formed by the wave action made for interesting patterns in the sand
There were so many bird tracks along the ripples of sand and I was fascinated with all the patterns.
A beautiful shell lies in one of the ripplesand there were lots of bird tracks in the sand
The brown pelicans were amusing to watch and photograph but were a little leery of my presence
Probably one of my favorite shells, the sunrise tellin shell lying at the edge of the water, made for a beautiful photo.
Me and my shadow, strolling down a beach avenue!! Just me and my shadow, all alone and feelin' good!!
What a glorious day and a wonderful afternoon. We’re going to return to West Caicos as soon as the weather clears………GO AWAY MARIA!!!!
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
Glorious sunset just after Hurricane Irene paid us a visit
Quite the two weeks since Hurricane Irene came calling! All’s well and we’ve been treated to fair, calm weather and some beautiful sunsets over the lake by Harbour Club Villas. The Flamingos are also back again in Flamingo Lake….they did the same thing after Hurricanes Ike and Hanna.
Beautiful flamingo stretching gracefully like a ballerina as it wades through the water.
Soft sunset fusion of pink shades over Harbour Club Villas as a flamingo wades the lake waters searching for crustaceons in the silty bottom.
The flooding has all but disappeared, clean up after the hurricane is all done, the bush has been cleared of debris and trimmed and new foliage is sprouting once again.
The wonder of nature.
Marta
A new hummingbird appeared and began adding a second storey to the old existing nest
Can you believe it? A week ago, we were surprised to see that our old hummingbird nest in the cactus beside the walkway to our house, had grown taller. It wasn’t a few minutes later, that I heard her! A new hummingbird mama had seen the nest and decided to re-use and re-cycle the old nest. She was busily adding a second storey to the old nest to build it up a little more.
Here's the nest showing the new portion between the two stars.
The nest is totally about 1 3/4 inches and the addition is almost a half inch. Still pretty tiny all things considered. Mama has laid her second egg (yesterday) and is now sitting on the nest leaving periodically to feed.
Here's the nest from the back side showing all the fine strands of cobwebs used as "glue" to secure the nest.
I wanted to show you the new materials and fluff that has gone into recycling the top of the old nest.
A backside view of the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird sitting on a nest with two little eggs
Nesting hummingbird ... how sweet she is!
So here I go again! I’ll keep taking more photos………….I can’t tell you how many I already have but there’s tons!!
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
The two baby Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds are squished into the tiny nest as they continue to grow.
The above photo was taken a month ago and as you can see, the little birds are growing very fast. The nest is glued and held together with cobwebs and this enables the babies to compact and stretch the nest to hold the both of them. Clever little birds they are and when they just get too big, they are ready to fly.
Please check the previous blogs.
From building the nest..http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2601
To laying the eggs…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2616
To the chicks hatching…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2699
The chicks getting bigger…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2745
One little baby sits almost on top of the other.
At a different angle, the baby birds are definitely getting too big for the nest and sure enough the day after the photo, we missed one flying out of the nest
What excitement as we managed to catch the one baby leaving the nest and making his first flight. The other little one must have been hidden in the bushes and trees.
Here it is.....ready to fly off into the big world!
It's first flight was from the nest to a nearby Opuntia cactus where he perched for a few minutes
Here the baby hummingbird lifts off and flies up into our large bouganvillea
It has been such a joy to take all these photos from start to finish…………right from when we discovered the nest just being built to seeing the eggs hatch and the birds grow and fly away. Nature is so wonderful !!
Now just when I was getting used to leaving my camera behind…………..we have another event unfolding!!!!
Marta
http://www.harbourclubvillas.com
A red Flamboyant tree (Royal Poinciana) was ablaze with firey red orange blossoms and made a showy foreground for this photo taken with Sapodilla beach in the background.
The Royal Poinciana tree is flowering right now. It has bright red showy flowers that make this tree stand out. Take a look in the Bight as there's quite a few of them there.
My gorgeous daughter posed patiently while I took many photos......thanks babes!
Marta