The New Year

Mithrax spinosissimus or what Bahamians call a Channel Clinging Crab can be found throughout the Bahamas and occasionally in Florida. On my fist day spearfishing off Saddle Cay I scored one as well as did Corbett from Cookie Monster. After steaming the crab in water it took me the better part of ¾ of an hour to clean the meat out with the 2 crabs yielding a small bowl of meat. With only a small bowl of crab meat divided among the five of us crab cakes were out and crab dip was in.
After spending over a week in Warderick Wells Land and Sea Park we sailed north to Shroud cay then on to Saddle Cay where we got the two crabs. While at Warderick I spent most days working with Corbett on the numerous trails on the island as they were overgrown needing attention. It was during such work where in addition to the numerous types of palm and other type trees both of us encountered Metopium toxiferum a tree in the cashew or sumac family. It grows quite prolific on the island with some trees reaching 20+ feet in height and when the branches or leaves are cut releases the compound Urushiol. The locals call the tree Poison Wood as Urushiol is the same oily compound found in Poison Ivy, Poison Oak and Poison Sumac.

Corbett and I both knew about Poison Wood and I avoided cutting, touching, tried not to look at the trees and even went to great lengths to reroute trails around trees . After several days Corbett felt he was immune to the tree as there are rare individuals whom indeed are, however I did mention to him that the first contact with Urushiol may not result in a “breakout” but a second contact typically does. And a few days later Corbett did indeed discover he was not immune as his arms and legs were showing signs of an Urushiol encounter. I went to great lengths to decrease my chance of encountering Urushiol, however unlike a virus the Urushiol oil is “active” for over 5 years and I had localized breakouts on both arms. To put it mildly a Poison Ivy breakout is fun compared to Poison Wood. It’s been almost two weeks and the “rash” is just now beginning to show signs of running its due course. Once I discovered I had encountered Poison Wood I quarantined every item associated with working on the trails from shoes to back pack to the linens I slept on and sealed them in a plastic bag for washing when we get to Black Point, onward….