Tag Archives: Blacktip Island
Blacktip Island Weather
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Temperature: 86
Humidity: 67%
Precipitation: Prob’ly not
Filed under best scuba diving novels, Caribbean, Scuba Diving
Blacktip Island Weather
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Temperature: 83
Humidity: 64%
Precipitation: On the way
Filed under best scuba diving novels, Caribbean, Scuba Diving
Blacktip Island Weather
Sunday, July 17, 2021
Temperature: 79
Humidity 64%
Precipitation – Not today
Filed under best scuba diving novels, Caribbean, Scuba Diving
Rat Races Will Aid Blacktip Island Pandemic Relief
Plaguebringer, a two-year-old Norway rat from Blacktip Island’s south end, is one of the favorites to win the island’s inaugural Vermin Derby Rat Race Saturday afternoon. (photo courtesy of Donald Hoburn)
Blacktip Island’s Animal Racing Society Enthusiasts will conduct the small Caribbean island’s inaugural Vermin Derby Rat Races, featuring double-elimination heats, Saturday afternoon at the Last Ballyhoo bar to raise funds for the community’s pandemic relief fund, organizers said.
“Folks need a pick-me-up, and there’s people hurting because of all these COVID shut downs,” ARSE president Jay Valve said. “We decided to kill two birds with one stone and have a pest-themed fundraiser. It’ll put smiles on lots of faces, and raise some needed money, too.
“The island’s eat-up with rats and roaches, so we decided to make light of that,” Valve said. “We’ll have cockroach jockeys mounted on island rats running through mazes. We figured, if you can’t beat them, race them.”
Organizers said the rules are few, but strict.
“Jockeys can be attached to the mounts any way the racer sees fit, but rider and mount must cross the finish line together or be disqualified,” Wendy Beaufort said. “Rats will be placed in identical mazes, and maze doors will be opened simultaneously. Racers aren’t allowed to prod their rats, but we’ll have bits of rotting fish at the far end of each maze to coax them on.
“Most folks’re using super glue to keep their jockeys on, but a few are experimenting with duct tape, or even fly paper,” Beaufort said. “There’s no size or weight limit, so the smart racers’ll be gluing little roaches onto biggest rats they can catch. Each rat’ll be color coded and numbered, too.”
Strategies varied among racers.
“A lot of folks are grabbing rats from near the dump, but those things’re slow and dumb,” Bill Fische said. “Me, I trapped one of those nasty, big-ass rats from down on the south end. They’re tricky to catch, and to hold still while you attach the jockey, but it’ll pay off on the race course. You just have to double up on your leather gloves.”
Early favorites include:
- Ben, a one-year-old dam raced by Dermott Bottoms
- Gnasher-Gasher, a one-year-old doe raced by Leah Shore
- Round and Round, a two-year-old buck raced by Kenny Chromis
- Ratt Damon, a five-year-old dam raced by Linford Blenny
- Plaguebringer, a two-year-old doe raced by Alison Diesel
- Buttercup, a one-year-old buck raced by James Conlee
Island authorities have cautioned against betting on the races.
“All wagers are illegal and will not be tolerated,” Island Police Constable Rafe Marquette said. “Plaguebringer may be a tempting bet at 4:1, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be severe consequences for anyone else betting on her.”
Spectators’ opinions were divided.
“Folks come here to escape the rat race. Now they created one,” Herring Frye said. “Kinda defeats the purpose, if you ask me. And they’re running it at the Ballyhoo ‘cause last time ARSE tried something like this at the Heritage House, the rats got loose and chased people all over creation. It was beautiful to watch. From a distance.”
Metallic-painted rat traps will be awarded for first, second and third place. Proceeds will go to the Blacktip Island COVID Relief Fund.
All rats and roaches will be humanely euthanized at the end of racing, despite the protests of the island chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Filed under best scuba diving novels, Caribbean, Scuba Diving
Blacktip Island Weather
Sunday, July 11, 2021
Temperature: 82
Humidity 67%
Precipitation – Not a chance
Filed under best scuba diving novels, Caribbean, Scuba Diving
Naked Dive Club Arrested, Banned From Blacktip Island
An Eagle Ray Cove dive boat sits idle on its mooring Thursday afternoon after all divers on board were either arrested or unable to dive in the aftermath of a mass nude scuba incident. (photo courtesy of Serge Melki)
Twelve members of a scuba diving club dedicated to nude diving, making their second trip to Blacktip Island, were arrested Thursday afternoon after completing the afternoon dive completely unclothed, island authorities said.
“These are repeat offenders, scofflaws who thumbed their noses at the law,” Island Police Constable Rafe Marquette said. “Warned them last time. Warned them in advance this time. But they wanted to set the record for number of naked folks on one dive and did it anyway. Now they’re in jail. Fully clothed. And’ll be deported in the morning.
“This island, and the Tiperons, aren’t that kind of place,” Marquette said. “Personally, if I could have ignored the transgressions, I would’ve. But we had multiple complaints, including from the dive operator. That forced my hand.”
The dive operator involved said the club’s actions negatively affected their business.
“Most of these folks, well, let’s just say no one wants to see anything they had to show,” Eagle Ray Divers operations manager Ger Latner said. “We had several guests vomit. And not from the waves. Other guests couldn’t eat lunch, or dinner, afterwards.
“Why is it the people who do this crap are the last ones anybody wants to see naked?” Latner said. “No one asked them to strip down. Frankly, we begged them not to. It permanently scarred some kids.”
Club members say they were unfairly targeted.
“We paid for the charter. We have a right to dive any way we want,” club president Willy Moone said. “People don’t like it, they don’t have to look. The cops’re violating our diving rights. And illegally deporting us. TripAdvisor’s getting some nasty reviews because of this.
“Nude diving’s the most natural thing in the world,” Moone said. “Except for the tank and regulator and computer. You don’t think Jacques Cousteau didn’t strip down for a skinny-dive now and then?”
Other members said nude scuba improves their diving skills.
“We’re better divers because of our nakedness,” Phil McKraken said. “You have to watch out for fire coral and hydroids—diving naked, you by-God learn buoyancy quick. We have special buoyancy and situational awareness classes. But if you pass, you can concentrate on just diving, without the distracting chafe of clothing.
Non-club divers disagreed.
“I really don’t see the attraction,” Wanda Goby said. “There’s groupers and moray eels and barracudas down there, just waiting to bite any dangling bits and bobs. There’s jellyfish, too. It’s just asking for trouble, if you ask me. Rafe did them a favor, arresting them like that.”
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The Blacktip Times 