Update from Anne McHugh
I arrived to the Lesser Antilles last Monday, flying into Sint Maarten and then connecting to St. Kitts. After a harrowing taxi ride, I made it to the ferry terminal and took a short ferry to the island of Nevis (Nee-vis). I had dressed for collecting which was a good thing-- Ana and Lauren picked me up in the dinghy, took my stuff to Sailboat Reboot, and we were back to the surge-y dock by dinghy within the hour to meet Almond and Kelso who helped us navigate Nevis.
We collected in various different habitat types over three days . Unlike prior trips where we spent time in the afternoon identifying in the field, working at a scope on a boat that rocks back and forth is not really possible, so I can give an estimate of what we found based on what I could identify by eye while collecting. We found a diverse array of salticids, anyphaenids, a couple of scorpions and amblypygids, Gasteracantha, Cyclosa, tetragnathids and others I am sure. We set up lots of berlese funnels at the Nevis Historical Conservation Society which will hopefully yield samples of the smaller leaf litter inhabiting spiders.
NHCS is housed in the Alexander Hamilton birthplace house. This is the permitting organization for the island and they were really helpful in allowing us to use their space on shore and in providing local expertise on where good habitats might be.
Yesterday, we spent the day preparing to sail, after dropping Lauren at the ferry terminal to begin her journey home. Departing at 9pm, we mainly motored our way to Montserrat due to poor wind conditions. Roger and Ande are preparing to go to customs to check us in right now, and I have discovered a wifi signal on the boat, although we lack cell coverage.
Fair Winds and Following Seas-- until next time.
I arrived to the Lesser Antilles last Monday, flying into Sint Maarten and then connecting to St. Kitts. After a harrowing taxi ride, I made it to the ferry terminal and took a short ferry to the island of Nevis (Nee-vis). I had dressed for collecting which was a good thing-- Ana and Lauren picked me up in the dinghy, took my stuff to Sailboat Reboot, and we were back to the surge-y dock by dinghy within the hour to meet Almond and Kelso who helped us navigate Nevis.
We collected in various different habitat types over three days . Unlike prior trips where we spent time in the afternoon identifying in the field, working at a scope on a boat that rocks back and forth is not really possible, so I can give an estimate of what we found based on what I could identify by eye while collecting. We found a diverse array of salticids, anyphaenids, a couple of scorpions and amblypygids, Gasteracantha, Cyclosa, tetragnathids and others I am sure. We set up lots of berlese funnels at the Nevis Historical Conservation Society which will hopefully yield samples of the smaller leaf litter inhabiting spiders.
NHCS is housed in the Alexander Hamilton birthplace house. This is the permitting organization for the island and they were really helpful in allowing us to use their space on shore and in providing local expertise on where good habitats might be.
Yesterday, we spent the day preparing to sail, after dropping Lauren at the ferry terminal to begin her journey home. Departing at 9pm, we mainly motored our way to Montserrat due to poor wind conditions. Roger and Ande are preparing to go to customs to check us in right now, and I have discovered a wifi signal on the boat, although we lack cell coverage.
Fair Winds and Following Seas-- until next time.
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