Bimini, Bahamas: A 40 Year Reunion, Part 4

Although Jake and I both live in Florida and thought that we were rather used to the heat of summer, we both found the lack of available shade on Bimini a bit disconcerting. True, there was always the dense scrubby woodlands, but these were so amply packed with poisonwood (to which we are both very allergic) that neither of us chose to spend much time therein. The lack of transportation on South Bimini was also taking its toll. Departure time was drawing ever nearer and we were still nine taxa short of our goal.

Then came a bit of good luck. Asked by a store owner what we were doing on South Bimini, we explained that we were photographing reptiles but weren’t having the best of luck.

His response was “Look up Jack and Jill (fictitious names as I don’t know whether they would choose to be identified). They know all about the reptiles here.” So that afternoon we did just that. Not only did these kind folks allow us to photo a Bimini Boa, Epicrates striatus fosteri, that was temporarily in their keeping, but they provided a few locales for us to check that evening.

So after supper, as darkness enveloped us and the BSDs (blood-sucking dipterids in the forms of mosquitos and no-see-ums) came out to play, we were back on South Bimini.

Within minutes we had found several beautiful Yellow-tailed Geckos, Sphaerodactylus nigropunctatus flavicaudus, more tarantulas, Greenhouse Frogs, Eleutherodactylus planirostris, and two fresh Bimini boa sheds. All in all, despite the constraints, we considered this day a definite success. Five taxa yet to go.

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.