In a message dated 10/23/2013 1:21:27 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, power_lou...@hotmail.com writes:
I just have one question, why did they want to put a nature trail in an area with such toxic vegetation? Cuz it was a cruise ship destination! Originally known at Little Stirrup key it was renamed Coco Cay by the total scumbags at Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. The mothership would park offshore then send up to 4000 tourons at a time to the man made beach where they would line up in lawn chairs like sardines in a can only packed tighter. There they would roast in the sun. Needless to say it wasn't any fun so they hired top dollar consultants who did a study which determined that a nature trail would alleviate some of the crowding. The island is quite beautiful in a wretched sort of way but impossible to experience because of jagged karst and impenetrable scrub so I whacked out a 2.5 mile trail that encircled the island. It visited all the old lignum vitae trees, karst features, hidden beaches, conch camps, dope drops, etc. I made it a point to remove all the poisonwoods that were within easy touching distance and to visit all the rare plant communities. The scrub is beautiful and botanically diverse with lots of endemics but without thinning it is impossible for a moron touron to "see the forest for the trees". I made about $300/hour swinging a machete which made me an object of envy for all Mexicans. Unfortunately the aforementioned scumbags only wanted to be able to say they had a nature trail so they didn't buy the next phase improvements which included "cool spots" with interpretation, etc. These were the same Disneyfied idiots who had a fake "Blackbeard's grave" but wouldn't admit that present day pirates were still crashing planes full of dope, all of which I wanted to make part of the story. SW
