Mike in the Wild

For the third time in four years, I was on a cruise that stopped for a day on the island of Roatan.  And for the third straight time, I made a beeline for West Bay Beach - the place I’d been boldly calling the best beach snorkeling in the Caribbean.   Unfortunately on this latest visit the weather didn’t cooperate. Cloudy skies with strong winds and below-normal temperatures combined to create poor conditions for snorkeling.    I planned a full day at West Bay, even buying a day pass at Infinity Bay Resort that fronted the beach and offered the best reef access close to the south end. Luckily a pool and its adjacent lounge chairs were at my disposal because the beach chairs were in a wind tunnel.   A dozen people were in the water, most of them snorkeling near the cliffs that bordered the south end of West Bay and that offered some shelter.  The seas were certainly less choppy there but I was still frustrated by the poor visibility when I finally ...

I hadn’t been at Altun Ha long before a flock of squawking parrots shot overhead. Chris, one of our guides, identified them as olive-throated parakeets—birds I’d never seen before.  I had entered the Mayan archaeological site already scanning the trees and had even photographed an American redstart near the restrooms.  But the parakeets were the sort of tropical birds that had drawn me to Belize’s hot interior rather than to the breezy cays fringing the country’s coral reefs, a far shorter trip from my cruise ship.  Surely, I thought, there must be trogons, manakins, euphonias, and even toucans in the surrounding jungle. View of Altun Ha ruins. There were indeed plenty of birds at Altun Ha. I found additional warblers besides the redstart—hooded, black-and-white, and magnolia—along with a white-eyed vireo. Several flycatchers called the park home, including great kiskadees, tropical kingbirds, and a third species that was either a dusky-capped or a brown-crested. A clay-c...

My first encounter with wildlife at Chankanaab in Cozumel was with two live macaws perched on display just past the entrance to the sea lion show. I didn’t bother identifying the exact species; the birds weren’t native to the island anyway. In fact, no wild macaws call Cozumel home. Nor do the California sea lions that performed twice that day. Still, despite the imported attractions, I encountered plenty of native wildlife during my visit to Chankanaab Beach Adventure Park off the Regal Princess cruise ship. Cozumel is best known for its reefs, and Chankanaab offers easy access to one just offshore. There was little sandy beach, but several ladders and platforms provided snorkelers with safe entry points into the sea from the limestone shoreline. Choosing where to enter was simple — I avoided the spots clogged with sargassum, the free-floating brown seaweed that gathered in thick mats along parts of the shoreline. In the balmy water, I swam past curious chubs and into a dense school o...

Counting birds for the Arizona Game and Fish Department was a volunteer activity right up my alley.  Conducted on one Saturday every January, it surveyed wild aquatic birds at urban lakes, ponds, and canals throughout the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.  This information helps urban planners and wildlife managers manage these populations as well as identify potential opportunities for the public to view the birds.  For me, it was also a chance to check out the Gainey Ranch Golf Club in North Scottsdale before their nine o’clock tee time.  The fairways meander around five manmade lakes that lie within a small section of Scottsdale’s Indian Bend Wash - eleven miles of parks, lakes, paths, and golf courses that embellish a flood control project.  Migratory birds as well as year-round avian residents thrive in these desert oases.    Over the course of an hour and a half, I tallied all the birds at Gainey, including the commonplace ones like the twelve m...

I’d been to Barbados four or five times already, so it wasn’t exactly new on my six-stop Eastern Caribbean cruise. The island had plenty to admire—history, culture, scenery—but this time I did what I could’ve done anywhere in the region: hit the beach and go snorkeling Carlisle Bay Beach was a no-brainer—just a five-minute taxi ride from the cruise port. For $35, I scored a chaise and umbrella steps from the water, a complimentary rum drink, plus a guided snorkel to not one, but two shipwrecks.  And yes, sea turtles were basically a promise. The mile-long beach sat at the far end of crowded Bridgetown, Barbados’s capital. White sand, calm water, blazing sun, water sports—it checked every Caribbean box.  And, inevitably, so did the winter crowds. The numbers didn’t feel overwhelming until we crammed onto a pontoon boat for the short ride to our first stop, the Berwyn. In the water, at least two other snorkeling groups hovered over the century-old wreck.  Hundreds of arms a...

On my first cruise out of San Juan in nearly a decade, I revisited mostly familiar islands—Barbados, Saint Lucia, Antigua, Saint Kitts—each still delivering its own distinct charms. But it was Tortola, the lone newcomer on the itinerary, that I most anticipated. I’d explored Saint Thomas and Saint John in the U.S. Virgin Islands before, but the British Virgin Islands had always remained just out of reach—lush silhouettes rising beyond turquoise channels, a short ferry ride from shores I already knew. Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, and a scatter of smaller islets sit tightly grouped with their American neighbors in what many call the Caribbean’s most beautiful seascape. Tortola also promised some of the trip’s best snorkeling, so I booked an afternoon excursion to one reef-rich islet. Still, I wanted a feel for the island itself. So first thing after our cruise ship arrived, I hopped into a shared open-air taxi and crossed the island to Cane Garden Bay Beach, several miles from t...