Yesterday the St. Croix Hiking Association toured Salt River Bay by kayak courtesy of the Anchor Dive Center at the Salt River Marina. It was a quite enjoyable tour that lasted about two hours. There is a suprisingly great number of things to see and learn at Salt River. Our tour guide, Andy was extremely knowledgeble about the history of the area.
He gave some very interesting trivia on famous people who visit the area like Michael Nesmith of the Monkees, the 60's rock-and-roll band that had their own television show. His both sank during the heavy rainstorms last November. Apparently, he left a hatch open and the both filled up with water. Incidentally, his mother, Bette Nesmith, got incredibly rich by inventing Wite-Out. We also saw the properties of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy; and Agnes Nixon, the creatore of One Life to Live and All My Children. He pointed out that Agnes Nixon rents her house out for weddings and other events for a mere $10,000 a day.
There were plenty of animals too. We saw a rare blue herron and several nests in the mangroves. We saw a baby stingray swimming in the shallows. There were also plenty of oysters, some actually anchored themselves to the roots of the mangroves. We went to one area of the bay that had dozens of upside-down jellyfish just sitting in the water. The tour guide even scooped up one and passed it around. He tried to pick up a larger one and got stung pretty good. Needless to say, that ended the jellyfish portion of the tour.
The most spectacular creature however, must have been the feather-dusters. These worms live in tubes made of mud or silt and are plentiful among the mangroves. All that is visible of them is a plume that looks like a feather duster about the size of your fist. When something comes in contact with the plume, like our paddles, the plume seems to disappear. What is really happening is, the worm pulls the plume quickly into the tube where it lives in an attempt to eat the object that brushed against it. This takes place in the blink of an eye, so if you don't know what's happening it seems like the plume just disappears when you touch it. That's how the worm feeds.
It was a great tour and a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon. My navigator in the front of the kayak was fellow hiker Celina Santana. She always seemed to be rowing in the exact opposite direction that I was rowing in, making me work twice as hard to paddle the kayak. But she was great company and it is always fun to see long time native Crucians enjoying a different experience for the first time. That lady probably has more adventures than her children and grandchildren combined.
The St. Croix Hiking Association will have its next general meeting on Wednesday, October 6th, 6:00PM at the University of the Virgin Islands, in the Cooperative Extension Services building, Room 133. The public is invited.
The St. Croix Hiking Association was doing what it does best again this past Sunday. I joined them for the first time this year ending my semi-retirement. (I had not hiked with them since our St. Kitts-Nevis trip last year.) Olasee Davis was the fearless leader this time around.
The St. Croix Hiking Association meets at the first Wednesday of every month, at 6:00 PM in Room 103 of the Cooperative Extension Building at the University of the Virgin Islands. 
