Jarion Richardson hitched a ride on the first eco-tour that would shed light on Bermuda's original ecology.

Sixteen Bermuda residents and tourists braved crashing seas to enjoy the inaugural eco-tour of Nonsuch Island last week.

At around 9.30 a.m., the eco-tourists boarded a Bermuda Biological Station for Research boat and left St. George's parish for Nonsuch Island despite small craft warnings.

Our Biological Station tour guide "Nancy'' said the decision to go on was made because of the small number in the group.

"Everyone can get forward, under the shelter.'' she said.

The boat had a small forward cabin and a shelter on deck that everyone hid under as the ocean tossed the boat back and forth.

Within an hour of arriving on Nonsuch Island, participants were standing on the edge of a windy north-facing cliff, looking for the elusive green sea turtle that recently retired conservation officer Dr. David Wingate said were quite a common sight on the island.

Dr. Wingate's intimate connection to the Nonsuch Island project "brought it alive'', said one of our group.

Nonsuch Island is a conservation zone maintaining a very delicate balance of native and endemic wildlife and subsequently only special interests groups were previously allowed on the island.

The eco-tourists declared the tour a success.

When the BBSR boat arrived at Nonsuch Island, it docked to a rusted hull that Dr. Wingate built a dock on top of.

Colonies of marine life were clearly visible through the crystal waters.

A quick walk through a hand-carved cave and the tour began near the complex that housed a boys reform school (the privileged young men who carved the cave) and a yellow fever quarantine area.

Before continuing, Dr. Wingate told of rumours about American spies purposely planting the disease on Bermuda.

During that time, the American Civil War was in full swing and the British/American War of 1812 was fresh in the history books.

The American President's White House is still scarred by the fires when British troops took Washington D.C. and set it ablaze -- giving British-owned Bermuda more than enough reason to fear interdiction and threats by Americans.

Dr. Wingate spoke briefly about the history of the island before moving out toward the north-facing cliff.

He talked about the experiments and lucky chances the nature reserve had taken in trying to recreate Bermuda's unique ecology before colonists, cut, burned, ate and decimated everything they found in Bermuda.

One experiment required the importation of Night Herons from Florida.

The bird is a natural predator of Bermuda's land crabs that burrow into an soil area.

Dr. Wingate also told us about the replanting of Nonsuch Island which had been devoid of most plant life.

The scale that annihilated the Bermuda cedar had wasted 96 percent of vegetation on Nonsuch.

Today, the island is covered with Olivewood, Palm and Bermuda Cedar trees -- all endemic and making a thriving return on the island, just south of St.

David's.

Casuarina trees provided a "stop-gap'' while project workers try to regrow the cedar trees.

Dr. Wingate said that many of Bermuda's plants and wildlife depend on the canopy cover provided by casuarina -- and without it most foliage would just be blow or washed away.

Using a horticultural technique, the casuarina is being slowly phased out as the cedar comes back and fills in its original ecological function as a canopy.

The highlight of the eco-tour was a talk on the state of the cahow -- including a tour of cahow's "government housing''.

The Nonsuch Island project was originally conceived to attract the cahow population from the tiny islands where it currently nests to larger and safer Nonsuch Island, but unexpected problems occurred.

Dr. Wingate believes the cahow developed a natural safety mechanism in response to the decimation of its population on the mainland by nesting only where there are other cahows.

There are no cahow nests on Nonsuch Island.

"Basically, we have to make them think its the hottest club in town,'' said Dr. Wingate.

Nonsuch Island projects propose playing cahow-call tapes and using cahow models on the land, near prepared nests.

Project leaders and staff build concrete burrows which cahows use as nests.

Since the funding derives from Government coffers, Dr. Wingate has termed the burrows "government housing''.

The four-hour tour included spectacular sights of pristine, untouched beaches where 16,000 hatchling green turtles were released.

And a fresh water marsh that has proved invaluable in re-creating Bermuda's wildlife.

Butterflies with silver wings, skinks and longtails also clutter the island.

And after seeing the untouched Bermuda in Nonsuch Island, it is little wonder visitors once thought Bermuda was another world.

Flourishing: Native and endemic Bermudian plant life flourish on Nonsuch Island. Ninety-six percent of life was wiped out on Nonsuch prior to turning the island into a nature reserve. The island now hosts some of Bermuda's most precious and rare natural life.

Where's the bird? Dr. David Wingate (second from left) shows a demonstration man-made cahow burrow that Nonsuch Island project workers build to help support and foster cahow nesting pairs. It is hoped that the burrows and other efforts will draw the cahow from the smaller, at-risk islands, to the much larger and safer Nonsuch Island. No cahows nest on Nonsuch yet.

Searching: Dr. David Wingate and eco-tourists stand near the edge of a north-facing cliff, looking for the elusive green sea turtles that loiter near the reefs.

Still going: Eco-tourists spent all morning exploring the delicate balance of Bermuda's native and endemic life on Nonsuch Island last week. Nonsuch was only open to special interest groups previously but the public is now invited in small groups organised by the Bermuda Biological Station for Research and Dr. David Wingate.

Creepy-crawly: A common and terrifying sight to Railway Trail walkers, the silk spiders die in the colder months -- this is one of the last of the season on Nonsuch Island.