Hello, everyone!

First a special shoutout to our patrons whose continuous support helps keep our research, exploration and education efforts at Mandahl Bay on-going. We’re happy to welcome one of our latest patrons, Felecita Sprauve! We appreciate your efforts to assist the Eco-system. 🙂

PATRONS: Download your unwatermarked copies of today’s images here. 🙂 Enjoy!

I tried to get to a number of things done at Mandahl these couple weeks, including wanting to send cameras into the deep dark lagoon areas in search of scarce fish. Weather patterns, however, proved capricious switching from blue cloudless sky one hour, to gray squalls and pounding rain the next and back again. Yo-yo weather. Wet. Dry. Windy. Calm. Sunny. Cloudy. (Rinse and repeat).

Thus I elected against risking expensive equipment to venture a peek underwater at this time. My decision proved fortuitous. When the weather turned, it REALLY turned!

Beyond that, home is no safe place for equipment either when local weather turns wonky. In the most recent drawing of the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) Power Lotto I won a brand new PC at my expense. “We break it, you bought it” … should be the WAPA customer support slogan.

So, the new computer arrived a few days ago and I am fervently loading software and trying to catch up on data entry plus image and video processing from the last fort night. The wildlife news, however, is not great. What footage I have reviewed shows that wildlife presence of both birds and fish continues to be in a diminished population state. Signs of ‘normal-cycle’ natural Eco-system replenishment have yet to occur, which causes me minor worry. Read more in my story updates this week!

PATRONS: Download your unwatermarked copies of today’s images here. 🙂 Enjoy!

WICKED WINTER WAVE WHACKS WILD MANDAHL WATER WALTZER

Don’t mistake me … I think we have some remarkable surfing talent on St. Thomas, but sometimes I gotta laugh at the things water does to people. What about getting head-slapped by a wave. It’s bad enough when your buddy shave-whacks you … but when inanimate objects join in on the fun, it’s just not your day.

To this guy’s credit he didn’t wipe out, but that wet-slap is worthy of a closer look! 😀

As I stated above, St. Thomas surfers got talent. And guts. Danger is close as Mandahl rollers form suddenly and can break late over concrete-hard Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) or rock rubble and shell debris. Rip tides, undertows, whirlpools and cross-currents are rampant.

Breaking waves also reveal a lot of flotsam and debris being carried in from the Atlantic Ocean.

Not worrying about contact with pollutants or debris, this dude dances like a dervish across his break.

Waiting for the perfect wave, these surfers just hang loose in rough ocean waters hoping for five seconds of pure nirvana. Can you imagine idly floating out there in the deep among all those crashing waves?

To end the picture-story, there’s Hans Lollick Island in the background. The tiny island acts as a partial buffer to Mandahl Bay against the full force of the Atlantic Ocean. It is also part of the Mandahl Bay Area of Particular Concern (APC). Can you imagine what Mandahl Bay would look like if Hans Lollick was not there?

PATRONS: Download your unwatermarked copies of today’s images here. 🙂 Enjoy! 

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CAMP UMOJA ANNOUNCEMENTS

The CAMP UMOJA NON-PROFIT ECO-LEARNING CENTER remains closed to camping as hurricane renovation work continues. We appreciate your patience as we take our time to do it right … ie: minimize and/or eliminate impacts on the the sensitive Mandahl Eco-system.

The ENVIRONMENTAL RANGERS meetings remain suspended due to COVID-19. We continue to explore infection-safe options for direct learning in the Eco-system.

PUBLIC TOURS will resume when we have a better idea from government officials as to how infection rates/treatments for COVID-19 and its variants will progress.

RESEARCH, OBSERVATIONS & LITTER MANAGEMENT continue, albiet at a reduced paced due to the absence of E-Ranger research assistants during this period.

FUNDING OUR CAUSE 

YOUR SUPPORT is critical to our efforts, especially during this time when our visitor revenue stream is reduced because of the cancellation of tours. Your patronage, no matter the amount, goes a very long way. Please, “Be a Part of Something Green©” and support us by pledging to a PATRON TIER HERE. 

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Thank you for taking the time to view this report. I have lots of wildlife photos, videos and activities to catch you up on this week! Watch for them!

~ Karl

[Blessings to all during this Holy Season of Lent]

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