A 2014 photo of the Blacktip Island mersquatch, the only known picture of the elusive and secretive aquatic relative of the more widely-known sasquatch. (photo courtesy of Molly Miller)
Blacktip Island visitors will have a new adventure option starting next week when local naturalist Rocky Shore launches his Mersquatch Photo Safari on the Caribbean island’s sparsely-populated southern end.
“The mersquatch is the mostly-aquatic relative of bigfoots and yetis,” Shore said. “It’s native to Blacktip and loves it down south where there’s not a lot of people and the island’s eat up with caves and sinkholes leading out to sea.
“We’ll be taking folks In Jeeps and on foot on overnight trips in the interior to see if we can get a look at him,” Shore said. “They’ll also see iguanas, hermit crabs, land crabs, grackles, no telling what, but the brass ring’s the mersquatch. There’s no guarantee, of course, but that’s the goal.”
Some residents scoffed at the idea.
“The mersquatch is a bunch of hooey, and Rocky knows it,” Ginger Bass said. “He’s charging a small fortune to take people out in the bush to get bug bit. Any ‘signs’ the guests find’ll be Rocky’s buddies off in the bushes howling and breaking branches.”
Others were more supportive.
“People say there’s no mersquatch, but I saw him first-hand, four years ago now,” south end resident Molly Miller said. “Got a quick picture, too. Right after he stole my sundress. The worry isn’t Rocky finding the mersquatch. it’s what happens when the mersquatch finds him?”
Island leaders were cautiously upbeat.
“I can’t speak to whether this what’s-it exists, but anything that brings visitors to the island is good,” island mayor Jack Cobia said. “Blacktip’s definitely lacking in topside activities, so Rocky’s camping trips are a perfect addition to our tourism product.
“Rocky’s quite the entrepreneur, I’ll give him that. He created a demand, then supplied the product,” Cobia said. “This’s already working out better than his Atlantis tours in the glass-bottom boat. And clicks on the island’s website have jumped through the roof.”
Guests on a test safari this week raved about the experience.
“It was as exciting as a big-game photo shoot,” Maria Pompano said. “We were never sure when the mersquatch would leap out from behind the trees. Or tear through our tent at night. The guide wasn’t armed, either, so that added to the rush.
“We didn’t find the mersquatch, but there were a lot strange noises at night, and some broken tree limbs. And scat. Lots of scat, so we were close,” Pomano said. “Sure, the mosquitos were hellish, but we got a t-shirts and water bottles, so it balanced out.”
Shore brushed aside the safari’s critics.
“Whether we find the mersquatch or not is beside the point,” he said. “People are getting an exciting nature tour, and loving it. And, really, are you more likely to pay top dollar for a ‘nature tour’ or a ‘mersquatch safari?’”
The Blacktip Times 