16860: [Fwd: [Greentour] Tours to U.S. Caribbean Territories?] (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Yacine Khelladi <yacine@yacine.net>
From: Eric Dondero <worldwidephrasebook@yahoo.com>

Anyone know of any tours to the U.S. Islands of Navassa, Seranilla Banks
and Bajo Nuevo in the Caribbean?

Navassa is an island 2.9 square miles off the coast of Haiti.  Used to
be a U.S. Coast Guard Base, but more recently it's been turned into a
wildlife refuge.  I've read on-line where there are some super exotic
iguanas and other species that live only on Navassa and no other place
on earth.

The island is made up entirely of Guano which is odd in and of itself.
There are 9 foot cliffs and access to the island is very challenging.

There's also Seranilla Banks and Bajo Nuevo, two tiny island chains
surrounded by a coral reef about 100 miles south of Jamaica.

All three islands were acquired by the United States under the 1857
Guano Islands Act.

I read about these islands a couple years ago in an interesting article
in the ATLANTIC MONTHLY - "America's Forgotten Islands."  Since then
I've followed up and learned of some Environmental Research outfit
headquartered in Maryland that visits Navassa twice a year.

Wonder if they allow civilian observers?







Eric Dondero, Author, "Worldwide Multilingual Phrase Book; Survival
Skills for Over 40 Languages."  www.portsidelanguages.com