Following Valle Nuevo the team made an impromptu overnight stop at Ebano Verde, a small reserve of cloud forest. A wide variety of Tetragnatha wove intricate webs over pristine pools at the foot of small waterfalls. The surrounding foliage was dense with jumping spiders and other interesting arachnids making the trip worth sleeping on the floor of the ranger station, burning gas in a generator for a few hours of electricity.
Travelling to José Armando Bermudez, we ventured deeper into the central mountain range. There we hired guides and mules to pack our gear from La Cienaga to Los Tablones, a quiet camp nestled in the forest. Two team members, Ian and Trevor, split off to sample higher elevations reaching the summit of Pico Duarte, the highest point in all of the Caribbean (3,087 meters). Both groups found many valuable specimens and enjoyed camping near the sound of running water. A huge rainstorm left the team damp before packing out the next morning. Zamira and Anne left the team for their respective homes in Puerto Rico and Portland, OR.
The drive from Armando Bermudez to our current location in Parque Nacional Isla Carbritos took an exhausting nine hours. In this time we moved from the highest peak (Pico Duarte) to the lowest depression (Isla Carbritos) in the entire Caribbean in a single day . After over a week of sampling in the cool mountains, the insane heat here is a shock. The team perseveres regardless. Today four members loaded on a boat to spend the night on Isla Carbritos in the middle of the largest salt water lake in the Caribbean. The island is no doubt crawling with scorpions and other amazing eight legged friends. Those on the shore searched by a nearly full moon around the perimeter of the lake and will sample a nearby cave in the morning. Our next stop will be the north entrance of Sierra Bahoruco.
Travelling to José Armando Bermudez, we ventured deeper into the central mountain range. There we hired guides and mules to pack our gear from La Cienaga to Los Tablones, a quiet camp nestled in the forest. Two team members, Ian and Trevor, split off to sample higher elevations reaching the summit of Pico Duarte, the highest point in all of the Caribbean (3,087 meters). Both groups found many valuable specimens and enjoyed camping near the sound of running water. A huge rainstorm left the team damp before packing out the next morning. Zamira and Anne left the team for their respective homes in Puerto Rico and Portland, OR.
The drive from Armando Bermudez to our current location in Parque Nacional Isla Carbritos took an exhausting nine hours. In this time we moved from the highest peak (Pico Duarte) to the lowest depression (Isla Carbritos) in the entire Caribbean in a single day . After over a week of sampling in the cool mountains, the insane heat here is a shock. The team perseveres regardless. Today four members loaded on a boat to spend the night on Isla Carbritos in the middle of the largest salt water lake in the Caribbean. The island is no doubt crawling with scorpions and other amazing eight legged friends. Those on the shore searched by a nearly full moon around the perimeter of the lake and will sample a nearby cave in the morning. Our next stop will be the north entrance of Sierra Bahoruco.
RSS Feed
