Baja St. Martin

I noticed at the Belle River landing that someone had posted signs on the pavilion posts saying Do NOT CLEAN FISH UNDER THE PAVILION so I assume that has been an issue. Also, another sign states the rules of the river, so to speak, showing with graphics and words on which side of a boat you should pass when overtaking one or crossing or approaching another vessel. Kind of interesting and certainly good things to know. I have no idea who put up the signs.
It may be because my husband and I don’t fish for a living anymore and therefore don’t know all the latest, but I am inclined to say there isn’t as much illegal hunting/fishing as there was a few years ago. Maybe I am just not aware of it. Obviously some man who got caught (Teche News) with pipe bombs in his car felt it was better to ‘fess up to shocking fish than to suffer the consequences of being a terrorist.
I want to thank Henri Bienvenu for his information on the crooked-beak birds I mentioned. They are, of course, ibises, and the Bay Cross name comes from bec croche. I should have known they were ibises but couldn’t remember until Mr. Bienvenu sent me some information. They are a protected species and should not be hunted .
I will phone all my Food for Senior recipients, but I’ve learned that due to some problem in another town, the next Food for Senior distribution for Belle River, Stephensville and Four-mile Bayou will be on Thursday, Nov. 21. As far as I know all else is the same for us – time, place. I believe this is the month for double boxes, so please don’t forget this one. If you can’t come on that date, please, please contact me and/or make arrangements for someone else to pick up your boxes. Despite the fact that we have the nice, new building in Belle River for the distribution, we can’t leave it open and unattended yet, so I can’t leave boxes for later pick-up like we do in Stephensville.
Hopefully, when Grover and his helpers come this next time, they’ll be able to tell me what the next date will be. Sometime in January.
My husband and I took a nice boat ride last week and I finally got to see the building at the end of a drive that I have seen from the road. Someone has put a lot of money into building a nice drive which curves out of sight toward the river. On our ride we could see a very nice camp – maybe a full-time home at the end of that new drive. Don’t know who it is.
We also drove by the island just a way from this new camp. The owner of the property had built two drives across the bayou to the island some time back. I probably told you about that. We have recently heard that proposed development on the island has been stopped because there is an eagle nest there which might be endangered. Somehow that seems a bit extreme, but that’s the rumor going about. We didn’t see any eagles there but did see several in other places. I’ve finally become familiar enough with the eagle’s cry that when I hear that distinctive “whistling” I start looking up and almost always there it is, circling on an air current.
I’m hoping another cool front arrives in the near future. I find it’s that terrible time of year when I don’t want to put away my short pants and sleeveless T-shirts quite yet, but need some warmer clothes now and then. It is awfully pretty, however.

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be e-mailed at lcooke9417@bellsouth.net.