They’re rare, exotic and a true Caribbean treasure. Pearls produced by the queen conch — a marine mollusk hailed for its beautiful pink shell and in-demand edible meat — are a sought-after gem.

The odds of finding this hidden gemstone are extremely low: about one in 10,000 conchs produce a pearl, and less than 10 per cent of those are considered of gem quality. Conch (pronounced “konk”) pearls are characterized by a rainbow of striking pink colors, swirling, flame-like patterns and porcelain surface. While shades of pink are the most common and preferred colors, they come in a variety of elegant hues, from pale white and cream to golden yellow and chocolate brown.

In Cayman, these pretty treasures are fashioned into exquisite, one-of-a-kind jewelry at Kirk Freeport. This exclusive line is the brainchild of local entrepreneurs Nick Nowak and Jon Hoffman. The partners of HN International have been purchasing conch pearls throughout the Caribbean and parts of Latin America to create handmade jewelry pieces, using platinum and 22-carat gold, with some pieces sporting sparkling accent diamonds.

“The pearls really stand out in jewelry, even the off-color ones, which are more affordable,” says Nowak, a Cayman native who started the venture three years ago and now operates out of Florida and the Cayman Islands. “They’re spectacular offset in platinum and diamonds.”

Though technically not true pearls (they lack the iridescent nacre layer), conch pearls are very rare and expensive gemstones, with prices running at $10,000 per carat or more (unlike other pearls, conch pearls are measured in carats, like diamonds). Commercial methods for culturing conch pearls have had limited success, and since most are not yet refined enough to produce a gemstone quality pearl, conch pearls are all natural gemstones, making them rare and valuable.

“A natural gem coming from Cayman waters is pretty unique,” says Nowak, noting that queen conch is a protected species here.

The queen conch was put on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species’ list of threatened species in 1992, as stocks have been drastically depleted throughout the Caribbean. Harvested as food for centuries, commercial ventures have developed in the last few decades in response to the growing demand for the meat. The shells are also used as curios and tourist souvenirs. Overfishing has led to a major population decline, prompting total or seasonal closure of fisheries and restrictive measures in the Cayman Islands.

Nowak believes these factors have made it even more difficult to find these pearls in the wild. He travels extensively in search of the rare beauties, often to remote places, contacting fishermen, divers, processing houses, boat captains — even bartenders who let fishermen pay their tab with the highly prized pink collateral.

“It’s kind of like a treasure hunt,” says Nowak. “Each pearl is so different and unique, and you never know what you have until you have it in your hand.”

While some of the pearls he collects are fashioned into jewelry, Nowak deals mostly in loose gemstones that can then be crafted into custom designs. Their scarcity, combined with the very low odds of finding close-matching pearls, often mean the pieces fetch steep prices. “Depending on the designers, they are usually high-ticket items,” says Nowak, noting such luxury brands as Harry Winston (Elizabeth Taylor donned a stunning Harry Winston conch pearl earring and necklace set to attract publicity in 1987) and Mikimoto have included conch pearls in some of their exclusive pieces.

“There [are] not enough to make them mainstream. With several hundred thousand conchs, you’d find maybe 10 to 20 pearls. Only a couple thousand (pearls) are pulled out of the water each year, and then one in 100 would be of gem quality, with the right shape, color and flame structure. They are extremely rare, and that’s why they’re usually reserved for very high-end designers.”

Conch pearls are better known in Asia and Europe than in the Caribbean, says Nowak. “There’s not a lot of consumer awareness here, even though they originate here. We’re trying to get people interested in the pearls and promote them to those who want to create custom pieces.”

Kirk Freeport’s in-house designers have crafted unique pieces with these pearls; it’s the only jewelry store in Cayman that carries them. Prices range from $7,000 to around $20,000 and up, depending on the piece. If that price tag is too high, there’s the more affordable option of buying jewelry fashioned from the beautiful conch shell. These can be found in souvenir shops and jewelry stores around the island, including Pure Art Gallery & Gifts.

The queen conch is considered a symbol of strength and endurance, as well as a good luck charm for sailors and travellers. “People love conch,” says Nowak. “It’s a symbol of the islands.”

Source: caymanairwaysmagazine.com

Residents of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are reporting sightings of green iguanas in the Islands, Norma Connolly reports in compasscayman.com. 

The iguanas have been an increasingly common presence in Grand Cayman during the last decade, but until recent years, it appeared they had not made the crossing to the Sister Islands.

Department of Environment staff have been called out to deal with a small handful of cases on both Islands, but warn that a close eye has to be kept on the number of green iguanas showing up there or the population could get out of control, like it has in Grand Cayman.

“We have had reports of green iguanas from the Brac and Little Cayman – several in recent years,” said the Department of Environment’s Mat Cottam.

He said it was likely some green may have “hitched rides” in shipping containers and that in the past people had brought green iguanas on the Islands as pets. “We hope that people will know better these days,” he said.

“Green iguanas have potential to be invasive in the Brac and Little Cayman just as they are in Grand Cayman, so we take these reports very seriously. DoE conservation officers have responded to all reports from both Islands and, to the best of my knowledge, all have been successfully dispatched to 
date,” he said.

He said DoE staff had dealt with two or three on Little Cayman and one or two on the Brac.

Mr. Cottam said invasive species require immediate response for efficient control, because once established, eradication is usually effectively impossible.

The Department of Environment does not respond to calls regarding green iguanas on Grand Cayman, but it is trying to prevent the reptiles from becoming established on the Sister Islands.

“If members of the public cannot catch and dispatch the animals themselves, we encourage them to contact local DoE Conservation Officers immediately: In Little Cayman, Keith Neale, in the Brac Erbin Tibbetts and Robert Walton,” he said.

A survey of iguanas, funded by the Department of Environment, the National Trust and the Reptile Conservation Foundation, is under way on Cayman Brac with volunteers tracking and tagging rock iguanas.

Bonnie Edwards, liaison on the iguana survey, said the project also involved finding out how many green iguanas were on the Island and she urged anyone who spots a green iguana to call the “iguana hotline” on 917-7744.

“We’ve already had some calls, about two, about green iguanas. When we get them, we give those reports to the Department of Environment enforcement officers,” she said.

“They have to cull them. We love all iguanas, but the green ones don’t belong here and they are a threat to the native rock iguana,” she said.

District Commission for Cayman Brac Ernie Scott also confirmed green iguanas had been seen on the Brac.

“For the longest while, we didn’t have any of them here, but I am reliably informed that we have them here on the Brac now,” he said.

Mr. Scott said that while it did not appear as though there were too many green iguanas around right now, “I am well aware that those creatures can add up over time and cause problems.”

The key to preventing a widespread appearance of an invasive species is to nip it in the bud and capture and kill the non-indigenous creatures before they have time to multiply.

Paul Watler of the Cayman Islands National Trust advised residents or visitors to the Brac or Little Cayman to immediately report sightings of green iguanas. He said it was vital to get the word out on the Sister Islands that green iguanas were invasive and should be reported whenever they are seen.

“It’s no good going back a day later and trying to find the iguana,” he said.

Until 2010, it was illegal to catch and kill any iguanas, including the green iguanas.

The Animals Law was amended in 2010 to remove the inadvertent protection of the non-native green iguanas. The law originally mandated the protection of all iguanas, although when it was originally written when the only iguanas in the Cayman Islands were the indigenous blue and rock iguanas.

Mr. Cottam admits it is unlikely that the green iguana will ever be eradicated from Grand Cayman as “the situation here was allowed to persist for too long”.

“Despite persistent pressure from the DoE, the situation was allowed to continue under outdated conservation legislation, which remains in place to this day. While the existing legislation (Animals Law) was eventually amended to remove the unintentional protection it afforded to the green iguanas, this measure came too late for Grand Cayman,” Mr. Cottam said.

He added: “Until the Islands can benefit from a comprehensive conservation legislation, such as the draft National Conservation Law, it will be a matter of time before the next invasive species issue presents itself, and when it does DoE will be similarly powerless to take appropriate action.”

Source: compasscayman.com

Her spirit is as colourful as the many costumes she has designed and sewn for carnival revellers around the world. Born in the district of West Bay in 1954, Reba Dilbert grew up with a pair of scissors in hand and her six siblings stepping in as her models. Decades later, she continues to draw attention to her talents, competing in pageants around the world as Cayman’s only professional costume designer.

How did you become a costume designer?
I have been cutting fabric since I was young. My grandmother, the late Maggie Bodden-Hydes, was a dressmaker and had a sewing room in her home. I loved being in that room because I wanted to learn to sew and make doll clothes. I began observing what she was doing when I was three years old. One day, she left a pair of scissors in the sewing room, and I took it. I got up while everyone was asleep and starting cutting! I did not know what I was doing at the time. I would cut my hair, my siblings’ and the neighbours’ children’s hair, tablecloths, curtains, my father’s shirts and pants.

I starting sewing at the age of five and could sew and cut by time I reached nine. I could sew [by] hand like a sewing machine.

In those days we had… lamplight to see at night, and I’d stay up with my mother and grandmother to sew school uniforms and school bags made from chicken feed sacks, Cayman straw hats and school bags made from the national tree of the Cayman Islands, the silver thatch.

One day, I went to Lu Lu Panton beauty salon with my mother. As soon as I walked in, I fell in love with that little salon. There was makeup, nail polish and the like. I decided to buy nail polish and remover, hair cream, razor blades, and such. I had big, big, big plans for my siblings and cousins when I got home with my items; they were going to be my models.

When did you start drawing/creating carnival costumes?
I started making costumes in 1975. The first ones were for my daughter for Sunday school. Then I made floats and costumes for the Cayman Pirates Week Festival in 1980, and for the first year of Batabano [Cayman carnival] in 1983. I started making costumes, and I’m still making ‘em today. I like it more than just sewing a dress, pant and blouse. Bridal dress or cocktail dress, that is easy to learn and do, and not as creative as making costumes. I love to create my own designs.

What makes carnival time so special to you?
It is the one time each year that I can go wild and crazy creating! I love what I do, I create from the heart, mind, body and soul, and I put all my pride into the work I do — that is when I show my true colours. I love the beautiful colours of fabrics, sequins, feathers and glitters, and most of all, I enjoy having lots of material to cut and create my own design.

What makes it so very, very special is that I only work with children and young people. I see their smiling faces of joy and happiness when they first receive their costumes, and hear from their mom or dad how they loved their costumes so much that they went to sleep wearing them.

Where do you draw your inspiration from when developing such beautiful costumes?
I create designs in my mind and envision what I want to do. My eyes design whatever pattern I need, and then I sketch it out and work from it.

To be very honest, my parents, grandmother and siblings all knew that God had given me a very special talent. I never went to university or college; it’s a gift given to me by the Creator of this earth, and all that comes with it is common sense, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, patience and most of all, faith. Without faith, my work would change. Before I cut, I pray, and then I leave it in His hands. It is an honour to be blessed by the mighty one and I am so proud that it does not come from mankind, because what God has given to me no man shall take away, and that is what makes my talent so special to me.

I love to be alone when I am creating, and late at night, there is no one to disturb me when the Spirit comes to me.

In what other ways do you enjoy expressing your creative talents?
I love working with children and young people, for they are the future. I enjoy travelling around the world showcasing my work and competing in international competitions. I would love to hold a camp to teach the people of the Cayman Islands my trade, how to make costumes, and more about our culture and history through costumes for the annual festival.

What are some of the most memorable moments in your career?
There are many — and my father, if he were alive, would be surprised to learn a pair of scissors has taken me to so many places and given me so many awards.

In 1998, I was nominated by the Cayman Islands Cultural Foundation for outstanding work in costume design. In 2002, I had my first pageant, which got my career off the ground. I started talking to young ladies around the world, and my first trip won me best national costume in Malta. A year later, I went to Russia to compete; I finished in the top nine and won the Gold Apple Award and title of “World’s Best International Artist in Fashion Design Costume and Creativity.”

It was after Hurricane Ivan in 2004, when I lost my home, that I took a break from competition to work and travel with other international designers and learn more about costume making. I returned to work in 2010 for Batabano.

In June this year, I was honoured to receive the Cayman Islands Certificate and Badge of Honours on the Queen’s 85th birthday celebration.

Who would you say helped you become the person you are today, and why?
I would say my father, because he wanted me to become a teacher or a nurse; he never wanted me to sew. He said education is the key to success. I remember him telling me, “Your sister Ezmie will travel because she wants to be a lawyer.” Little did he know it would be the girl with the scissors who travelled the world.

Source: caymanairwaysmagazine.com

Research offers new clues to sea-floor formation, dispersal of deep-ocean organisms

British oceanographers and biologists say a group of volcanic vents on the Caribbean seafloor are the deepest discovered to-date, and another field of vents on a nearby submerged mountain suggests that so-called black smoker hydrothermal ventsmay be much more common than previously believed.

The vents — about three miles deep in a rift in the Cayman Trough, south of the Cayman Islands — may be hotter than 450 °C and are shooting a jet of mineral-laden water more than a kilometre into the ocean above.Despite extreme conditions, the vents are teeming with a new species of shrimp that has a light-sensing organ on its back.

Results of the 2010 expedition were reported this week in the scientific journal Nature Communications. The deep-sea research was led by marine geochemist Doug Connelly at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton and marine biologist Jon Copley of the University of Southampton.

The researchers also found black smoker vents on the upper slopes of an undersea mountain called Mount Dent. Mount Dent rises nearly three kilometres above the seafloor of the Cayman Trough, but its peak is still more than three kilometres beneath the waves. The mountain formed when a vast slab of rock was twisted up out of the ocean floor by the forces that pull the plates of the Earth’s crust apart.

“Finding black smoker vents on Mount Dent was a complete surprise,” said Connelly. “Hot and acidic vents have never been seen in an area like this before, and usually we don’t even look for vents in places like this.” Because undersea mountains like Mount Dent may be quite common in the oceans, the discovery suggests that deep-sea vents might be more widespread around the world than previously thought.”

The team named the Beebe Vent Field after the first scientist to venture into the deep ocean. They are gushing hot fluids that are unusually rich in copper, and shoot a jet of mineral-laden water four times higher into the ocean above than other deep-sea vents.

Although the scientists were not able to measure the temperature of the vents directly, these two features indicate that the world’s deepest known vents may be hotter than 450 degrees Celsius, according to the researchers.

“These vents may be one of the few places on the planet where we can study reactions between rocks and ‘supercritical’ fluids at extreme temperatures and pressures,” said Connelly.

The team found a new species of pale shrimp congregating in hordes (up to 2,000 shrimp per m2) around the 18-feet tall mineral spires of the vents. Lacking normal eyes, the shrimp instead have a light-sensing organ on their backs, which may help them to navigate in the faint glow of deep-sea vents. The researchers have named the shrimp Rimicaris hybisae, after the deep-sea vehicle that they used to collect them.

The Cayman shrimp is related to a species called Rimicaris exoculata, found at other deep-sea vents 4,000 kilometres away on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Elsewhere at the Beebe Vent Field, the team saw hundreds of white-tentacled anemones lining cracks where warm water seeps from the sea bed.

“Studying the creatures at these vents, and comparing them with species at other vents around the world; will help us to understand how animals disperse and evolve in the deep ocean,” said Copley.

The vents on Mount Dent, which the team has named the Von Damm Vent Field to commemorate the life of geochemist Karen Von Damm, are also thronged with the new species of shrimp, along with snake-like fish, and previously unseen species of snail and a flea-like crustacean called an amphipod.

“One of the big mysteries of deep-sea vents is how animals are able to disperse from vent field to vent field, crossing the apparently large distances between them,” says Copley. “But maybe there are more ‘stepping stones’ like these out there than we realised.”

The UK expedition that revealed the vents followed a US expedition in November 2009, which detected the plumes of water from deep-sea vents in the Cayman Trough. A second US expedition is currently using a deep-diving remotely operated vehicle to investigate the vents further and the UK team also plans to return to the Cayman Trough in 2013 with Isis, the National Oceanography Centre’s deep-diving remotely operated vehicle, which can work at depths of up to six kilometers.

Source: summitcountyvoice.com

Whenever I feel overly stressed, I lace up my running shoes and sprint down the road for a few miles to clear my head. I’m not sure why exactly, but when I return I find all the thoughts that were bouncing around in my brain have settled and things have become clearer.

The other morning, on my routine run along the water, I was a good three miles in when I realised I hadn’t thought of one thing; my mind was “thought free.” I stopped and wiped the sweat away from my eyes and had a laugh to myself. Had I found the self-fulfilment that many find during various forms of meditation? I wasn’t sitting in a dark, quiet room with my legs crossed while chanting some ritual-like mantra. I was outside; the sun was warm and just bright enough that I had to find relief under the small shadows cast by the trees along the street. It was a beautiful morning and my mind and body felt free.

I loved the way I felt, and so had to find the means to get to this place of calm again. So I set off on a journey of meditation discovery. I was surprised to learn of the several types of meditation that exist; most of which stem from various forms of yoga.

Diane Donovon, owner of BodyWorks Holistic Wellness Centre, has been teaching meditation and yoga for over 20 years. She introduced meditation classes and workshops at BodyWorks recently as part of her approach to overall mind, body and spirit well-being.

“The mind is the greatest of all mysteries. It’s an energy field. And delving into our mind is more incredible than taking a trip anywhere,” describes Donovon. “In our yoga meditation we begin by befriending the mind and our free-flowing thoughts. Noticing it and giving it even more space. From there we begin the practice of earnest introspection by reviewing our day — noticing both the positive and negative.”

Better news for those of us who might feel too busy to devote time to finding their inner peace: You don’t have to take an Eat, Pray, Love-style trip around the world to find self-fulfilment. “What most don’t realise is that they can meditate anytime and anywhere,” Donovon says. “It takes practice and discipline to achieve that deep state of meditation, but where you are or even how long you stay there is up to you. Even if you are there for 30 seconds, celebrate and next time you may be there for 35 seconds. Become aware and witness how you feel.”

The weekly, one-hour meditation classes at the BodyWorks Holistic Wellness Centre’s Yoga Studio focus on calming the mind, beginning with 30 minutes of breathing techniques. Donovon describes the session as utilising the breath to help calm the mind and body. Then she moves her students through a series of stages to facilitate a calm mind. “Breathing is so important. It repairs the body, both mentally and physically. Science has proven the benefits of a deep breath — it’s a way of detoxifying your body and ridding it of pollutants and the mental benefits help to slow the mind and bring things into focus,” adds Donovon.

Another form of meditation is Yoga Nidra, which is offered through Bliss Living and Yoga, in the Marquee Centre off West Bay Road. Janelle Kroon, owner and instructor of Bliss Living and Yoga, describes this form of meditation as yogic sleep or sleep with awareness. “We teach different types of meditation classes and encourage those interested in the classes to have practice of the physical body before they start meditation,” says Kroon. “Your body must be prepared to handle the state of meditation because it aggravates the nervous system.” Meditation, says Kroon, reduces the work of the sympathetic nervous system and encourages or energises the work of the parasympathetic nervous system, which results in enhanced breathing and blood flow.

In addition to Yoga Nidra, Bliss also hosts monthly restorative yoga classes for people who want to incorporate mind and body wellness into their health routine. “We have seen a tremendous amount of interest in meditation classes so we’ll incorporate it into our regular class schedule in January 2012,” says Kroon. “It’s exciting to see so many people embrace a method that helps people to slow down, focus on one thing and feel how good it feels to simply let go.”

Source: caymanairwaysmagazine.com

A body of top Afro-Cuban priests is predicting a year of change and upheaval in 2012, but the group says fears the world will end are wrong, the Associated Press reports.

In their annual New Year’s forecast, the priests warned the world could see more earthquakes and increased global warming, and they cautioned that people should also be vigilant against matrimonial discord.

That may not be a very cheery message, but it’s a lot better than the fire-and-brimstone prophecies that that some have attributed to the Maya, whose calendar cycle ends on Dec. 21, 2012. The priests say they see a spiritual end to old things, but not a physical end to the planet.

Believers around the world have furthered the theory, which stems from a stone tablet discovered in the 1960s at the archaeological site of Tortuguero in the Gulf of Mexico state of Tabasco that describes the return of a Mayan god on that date, similar to the story of Judgment Day.

But Cuba’s priests say that “what needs to die is not the world itself, but rather the ways in which the world has lived until now: confrontations, wars, misery and discrimination”, said Lázaro Cuesta, one of the island’s leading Santería priests, or babalawo. “For us, an old world must end so that a new world is born …. It is not a physical end.”

Santería, which mixes Catholicism with the traditional African Yoruba faith, is followed by many people in Cuba, where about a third of the 11.2 million population is of African descent.

The Afro-Cuban priests have a mixed track record themselves, despite keeping their predictions rather vague.

In January 2010, they forecast struggles for power, treachery and coups d’etat, and said the world would see the death of an inordinate number of political leaders. That would have been a better description of 2011, which saw the upheavals brought on by the Arab Spring, as well as the death of North Korean leader Kim Jung-Il.

The babalawo priests predicted more coups and wars in last year’s message, in addition to growing economic openness on the island. That latter prophecy was a relatively easy call as President Raul Castro had already announced plans for a major shakeup of Cuba’s command economy.

This year, the priests also warned of the loss of many people to the infirmities of old age, always a delicate message on an island run by an 80-year-old president and several octogenarian aides.

But the priests often make the same prediction, and they said their message this year was not aimed at Cuba’s leaders or former President Fidel Castro, who at 85 is fully retired.

The priests also declined to weigh in on major events for 2012, like the March 26-28 visit of Pope Benedict XVI or elections in the United States.

Source: 3news.co.nz