A History of the Carrie Bow Cay Station

The British Honduras government (now Belize) awards land to veterans who fought in Mesopotamia in the Middle East during World War I. Most veterans opt for land in the Mesopotamia area of Belize City, a neighborhood with street names of Middle Eastern origin. One veteran from Stann Creek requests a small, uninhabited cay known for its birds and sea turtle nesting. The cay is known as Ellen’s Caye or Bird Caye. In a time of hardship, the man sells the island to William Alexander Jex Bowman, a citrus pioneer from Stann Creek.

Henry Thomas Anthony Bowman, a prominent citrus farmer, buys the island from his father. He renames the island after his wife, Carrie and ferries out a house in sections. Upon purchase, the island is two acres in size. Bowman also builds a 90-foot-long concrete boat dock, which is famed for its beautiful tile work. Many island visitors later reminisce of its beauty. 

Bowman, bothered by the mosquitoes, removes the mangroves from the island, a decision he later regrets. Mangroves naturally build islands and prevent erosion, and a lack of mangroves means the island gradually shrinks in size. 

The first investigations focusing on the cays and reefs of Belize are undertaken by the "Cambridge Expedition to British Honduras" led by J. E. Thorpe. Part of the investigation includes mapping 40 cays, including Carrie Bow Cay, and collecting samples of their flora. 

The Smithsonian Institution establishes the Investigations of Marine Shallow-water Ecosystems program (IMSWE, a precursor to Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program) with the mission to document coral reef diversity, community structure, and other environmental processes. The Caribbean is deemed the best system to study, given its proximity to the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. With limited funds they buy an inflatable boat with a horse-powered outboard motor and begin the search for a permanent field station in the Caribbean.

A Smithsonian sponsored coral reef workshop at Glover's Reef, Belize gathers coral reef scientists to discuss the future of the program. Program founders Arnfried Antonius and Klaus Rützler return to collect and store their equipment and stumble upon Carrie Bow Cay while taking a shortcut from the reef to Dangriga. They learn it is owned by Henry T.A. Bowman, also the owner of Pelican Beach Motel in nearby Dangriga. 

Rützler meets with Henry Bowman Jr. and Alice Bowman and together they agree to lease the southern half of the island to the Smithsonian for three to four months per year. The initial facilities for the science team are primitive and intimate. The facilities consist of a small three room building with a tin roof which included a lab, living quarters for two, and a kitchen. A stone throw away is a small shed that houses two, a tent that accommodates six, a dive compressor and a small generator. The shower consists of a spray-head on a pipe screwed into the bottom of a huge wooden vat where collected rainwater runs in from the roof.  After a few years, a room in the main house is used to house the station manager. The island is remote and removed from the modern world—communication with the mainland is limited to only a shortwave radio to call Pelican Beach for supplies. A local cook prepares meals for the station inhabitants.  

Hurricane Fifi hits the island, killing most of the plant life on the island. About 20 percent of the coconut trees also die (16 total trees). Some coastal erosion reduces the island's size by about one third, but much of the sand is redeposited only months later. 

An initial report on the local reef with a map of the area is internally published by the Smithsonian. Despite being one of the best studied geographic regions many new species are discovered. 

An Exxon Corporation grant doubles the budget for Carrie Bow Cay field operations, providing stability and security to the fledgling field station. Many new projects are given the green light. 

Captain Graham Thomas of the Royal Signals Detachment is detailed to Belize to support the training of British forces in jungle environments. A helicopter pilot, he takes aerial photos of the reef that help create detailed maps of the area. Prior to this information maps were based on surveys conducted in the 1830s with minor updates in the 1940s.

A helium weather balloon launches from Carrie Bow to increase map resolution.

The geology team drills the first core sample to study the history of the reef. They find that the Outer Barrier Platform, the shallow reef that protects the inner lagoon, likely formed relatively recently in geologic time, within the last 7,000 years. Much of the rock bed is composed of coral rubble, indicating it was likely swept in and deposited by the unique topography. 

Hurricane Greta passes over Carrie Bow Cay, damaging equipment, removing the laboratory wall, destroying the small house and outhouses. Severe erosion from the wind and waves removes significant portions of the island and 30 coconut trees. Most of the elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and the fire coral (Millepora complanata) is reduced to rubble and water visibility, usually crystal clear, remains to 10 feet (3 m) for two weeks following the storm. The lagoon, usually a salty 35 percent salinity drops to 25 percent.  

The Smithsonian Western Atlantic Mangrove Program (SWAMP) is launched, with special interest on the dense mangrove forests on nearby Twin Cays. Many scientific illustrators worked on the project to help catalogue life in the mangrove forests and share their often-overlooked beauty.

Black band disease, first observed by Antonius in Belizean reefs in 1972, makes its first appearance in the reefs off of Carrie Bow.  It is the first described coral disease.  Corals begin to show signs of black band disease, a coral disease characterized by a blackened band of infected coral tissue that spreads across a coral colony, ultimately killing the coral. Black band disease is ultimately found on 40 coral species throughout the world. 

The first weather station is installed near Carrie Bow on an elevated wooden platform. The added data source helps scientists better understand environmental factors that affect local marine life. 

As scientists continue to visit the station, it becomes apparent that updated housing and equipment is needed. The big house is remodeled to include dry lab space, a library with a computer, and additional living quarters. A new sound insulated shed protects the compressor-generator, which is used to both power the station and fill scuba dive tanks. The station also adds much-needed propane gas refrigerators to store samples, solar panels and an improved radio system. Other lab equipment and the weather system are updated.

An exhibition titled “Science as Art” at the Smithsonian’s S. Dillon Ripley International Center in Washington DC showcases the illustrations of mangroves at Twin Cay.

A new weather station is established by Tom Oppinshinsky.

Launching of new boat (25 ft) Physalia.

Researchers at CBC discover that the Pelican Cays, a system of cays southwest of Carrie Bow Cay, are especially diverse with many species from both mangrove and reef habitats living together. Discussions with Belizean officials initiates the creation of the South Water Cay Protected Area, a marine protected area covering 117,875 acres.

Visiting scientist Emmett Duffy discovers a species of snapping shrimp that forms a social structure similar to bees. The shrimp live within sponges and form a colony of up to 300 individuals with only one reproductive queen. It is the only known instance of the “eusocial” colony structure outside of insects. 

Launching of the second boat.

On December 6, a devastating fire destroys the station. Old wiring likely creates a spark that easily ignites the station’s termite riddled wood.  Fueled by windy weather, the entire station burns to the ground. Valuable research equipment and the library are lost.

Hurricane Mitch, a category 5 storm, hits the island. The staghorn coral are reduced to rubble. 

Rebuilding of the station commences. Cuban trained architect Hedel Gongora, a friend of the Bowman family, designs and builds a new laboratory.

The new building is completed. An anemometer, an instrument that measures wind speed and wind pressure, and a weather station are included. 

Candy Feller plants hundreds of mangroves in an effort to restore mangrove forests to the island and help with coastal erosion. In 2019 there were still a few but now they are gone.

Hurricanes Michelle and Iris barely miss Carrie Bow. 

Founding Director Klaus Rützler steps down as Director of the CCRE program. Valerie Paul, the Director and Head Scientist at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida steps in to fill the position. 

Carrie Bow’s infrastructure is upgraded, including the installation of solar panels, composting toilets, and a new generator.

The Smithsonian’s new Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network (aka MarineGEO), a marine biodiversity program aiming to monitor marine life across the globe, establishes Carrie Bow as one of its key sites. A team of scientists converge on the island every year to monitor marine biodiversity. The year also marks a visit from Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough.

After many years of coastal erosion, the island is less than an acre in size, less than half the size of the island when Henry Bowman, Sr.  bought it. Therese, Henry Bowman, Jr.’s daughter, adds sandbag projections to help slow erosion.   

After decades of use, the old outhouse on the end of the pier is decommissioned to decrease the research station’s environmental footprint. New Composting toilets are installed, and though more environmentally friendly, they lack the view and charm of the weathered outhouse. 

Research projects at the station comes to a halt as the COVID pandemic overtakes the globe. 

Upon returning to the station, MarineGEO surveys the reefs and find Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). First reported off of Florida in 2014 the disease quickly spread throughout the Caribbean infecting over 20 species of coral.