Nate's Blog

First blog now since we first left bright and early friday morning. Stopped to change planes in San Juan first then got onto my first prop plane ever and flew over Puerto Rico and then a short flight and a smooth touchdown and we were in St. Croix. They greeted us nicely by giving away a free shoot of a Cruzan rum flavor. After getting the rental vehicles and packing the luggage in them we headed out to Cottages by the Sea and the refuge were we would be staying. It is incredible, the weather is nice with bright skies and beautiful water that is the perfect temperature. Although I didnt use sunscreen and soon payed the price and had a nice sun burn which is finally starting to go down now after several days.
After getting settled in and enjoying the island for the first day we got to go to the into the refuge to set up the mongoose traps and mice and rat traps. The traps for the mongoose were set up in two different locations one along the road and the other next to the salt pond. The mice and rat traps were set up as well along the salt pond. For the first day the mice and rat traps were filled with a bit of oatmeal as bait.
The dry bait didnt catch any mice or rats so I decided to mix it with peanut butter and try that for the following day. The traps are set up in the evening before it gets dark and checked first thing in the morning to prevent the mice from baking in the metal traps. The peanut butter balls worked great and caught three mice the first time and then five the second time.
The traps were then collapsed and moved to the refuge for the second location and will be there for two more days. The only thing caught so far have been a large rat and a crab.
The biggest highlight so far was yesterday night going out on the beach and watching the leatherback turtles hatch and protecting them from the birds and placing them in buckets to relocate them for a better shot at making it out to sea and be safer. Will have lots of pictures to upload when home from all the awesome sights we have been seeing.
The people here have been far nicer than I could have imagined and love to hear the work that all of us are doing out here. The people at the refuge and at Cottages by the Sea have been great and really make this trip so much better too. So for now I will enjoy the nice breeze and prepare to go out soon to set the mice and rat traps and check the mongoose traps.