Little Cayman 2009 Photo Gallery by Jim Markowich at pbase.com

Little Cayman 2009

Little Cayman Island marks one of the three spots where a steep, underwater mountain range breaks the surface of the Caribbean Sea, between Cuba and Belize (Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac are the others). As a result, it is surrounded by coral reef walls. Not being scuba people, the walls remained a deep, mysterious upwelling out of the blue. But being snorkel people, the shallower reefs were great fun. So was the chance to get up close with iguanas again, to watch frigatebirds and boobies engage in their bizarre relationship, to exult in a near absence of tourism infrastructure, to inhale whiffs of that fragrant, baked, floral air and to get some damned sun.

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Map of Little Cayman	New license plate	Welcome sign	Our unit, Paradise Villas
Sitting room, our unit, Paradise Villas	Front porch, Paradise Villas	Fulltime residents, Paradise Villas	By the house, Paradise Villas
Iguana on the steps, Paradise Villas	Near the shoreline, Paradise Villas beach	Iguana portrait, Paradise Villas beach	Sea fans and spiny lobster shell from our beach, Paradise Villas
Sea fans, Paradise Villas beach	Spiny lobster shell, Paradise Villas beach	Brain coral, Paradise Villas beach	Coral geometry, Paradise Villas
Sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera), Paradise Villas beach	Sea lavendar (Argusia gnaphalodes), Preston Bay	Gulf frittilary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) on sea lavendar	Paradise Villas pool, toward sunset
Late afternoon	Cloudshow	Sea lavender, night	Sea grape, night
Sunrise	Booby Pond at dawn	Dawn over the island's only church	Booby Pond, early morning
Frigatebirds and boobies	Little Cayman Nature Center on Booby Pond	Once was a crab, Little Cayman Nature Center	Roosting magnificent frigatebirds
Frigate pinwheel	Three frigatebirds	Female frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)	Female frigatebird portrait
Young frigatebird in flight	Female frigatebird in flight	Male & female frigatebirds in flight	Male frigatebird, thinking he's sexy
Kleptoparasitism in action	Red-footed booby (Sula sula), white morph	Owlish-looking red-footed booby	Hovering booby
That's why it's called "red-footed"	Duck flock applying the brakes	Black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), Booby Pond	Low flight of stilts, Booby Pond
Stilt lineup, Booby Pond	Hammocks, Pirate's Point Resort, Preston Bay	Conch art, Pirate's Point Resort	Why they call it sea grape, Pirate's Point Resort
Can they make sea wine from it?	Backlit sea grape, Pirate's Point Resort	Preston Bay	Coconut palm branches, Preston Bay
Coconut palm, Preston Bay	Coconut palm frond, Preston Bay	Those damned burrs, Preston Bay	A grass, Preston Bay
Oleander, Salt Rock	The pier at Salt Rock	Limestone karst, Salt Rock	Chitons, Salt Rock
Like the way it droops in three parts	Gumbo limbo trees (West Indian birch or red birch) near Salt Rock	Gumbo limbo tree (Bursera simaruba)	Gumbo limbo bark
Don't know, but attractive	Path to the beach, Bloody Bay	Sun shelter, Bloody Bay	North Coast Road, looking east
Nickernut	Don't know, but it is quite red, eh?	Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), north shore	Coconut palms, north shore
Lion Lizard, Little Cayman Research Centre	Screened-in patio, Little Cayman Research Centre	Broadleaf (Cordia sebestena) flowers	Noni fruit (Morinda citrifolia L.)
Rusted wreck, northeastern shore	Rusted wreck, northeastern shore	Tarpon Lake boardwalk	Red mangrove, Tarpon Lake
Tarpon Lake	Hermit crab	Is it safe out there yet?	Hermit crab about to walk on
Easterly Ponds, near Point of Sands	Westerly Ponds, near Preston Bay	Tri-colored heron in flight, Westerly Ponds	Egret, Westerly Ponds
Egret, Easterly Ponds	Egret take-off, Paradise Villa's lawn	Yellow-crowned night heron, Paradise Villa's lawn	Bleeding tooth snails (Nerita peloronta), south shore
plastic garbage on beach, south shore	Jim, beach, garbage	Southern Cross resort	Coconut portraiture.
Owen Island	Judging the distance to kayak	Little Cayman cemetery	Spare tomb"stones"
Marble headstones laid down in the sand	?	Parasitic dodder (Cassitha filiformis) on red birch (Bersera simaruba)	Land snail on red birch tree trunk
Land snails on coconut palm trunk	Old giant agave, East Bluff	Silver thatch palm tree, East Bluff	Karst limestone landscape with dodder, East Bluff
Karst limestone sinkhole, East Bluff	Tree, limestone sinkhole, East Bluff	Sharp little buggers cover the east end of the island	The newly-laid road through the karst, East Bluff
Century plant (Agave parryi)	Century plants feature a fast growing, trunk-like spike...	...that grows really fast and drains the plant of its energy...	...so it only happens once in the plant's lifecycle.
Young giant agave, East Bluff	Wish we knew, East Bluff	Smooth-billed ani giving a shout out to the world, East Bluff	Wild sage (Lantana camara)
Plop nut (Thespesia papulnea)	Point of Sands beach	Fighting hordes of sun-bathers, Point of Sands beach	Coconut palms in the wind
Point of Sands beach	Battered license plate	Prop plane takes off

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