The Caribbean, Through an Expert’s Eyes

COMO Parrot Cay is a nature-lover's dream in the Turks and Caicos, from its marine-rich waters and colourful seabirds, to the indigenous trees planted across the island. Here, Dr Ed Butler, COMO Parrot Cay’s Director of Marine Science and Sustainability, explains why he finds this pocket of the Caribbean so special.

For a small island, COMO Parrot Cay is home to a wide variety of beautiful natural habitats. Its western shores are bordered by immaculate beaches and clear blue seas; if you walk to the edge of the sand and look into the distance, you’ll see the colours shift at the shelf edge, where the turquoise waters of the Turks and Caicos drop steeply into the dark blue Atlantic.  If you head to the eastern shores of the island, a very different ecosystem awaits,  predominantly home to mangrove wetlands and swamps. Here, you’ll find an astonishing diversity of animal species both above and below the water’s surface: juvenile sharks, green and hawksbill turtles, upside-down jellyfish, flamingos and more. Between the beach to the west and the mangroves to the east, the island is webbed by footpaths and trails along which you might encounter a number of smaller creatures, from my favourite Bahama woodstar — a small but stunning hummingbird — to charismatic curly tail lizards, which are found only in the Turks and Caicos. I often hear the lizards before I see them, their feet pattering madly as they scurry between rocks. 

But while the western edge of the island is straight out of a desert island fantasy, it’s the eastern side that really grabs my attention as a scientist. We call the mangroves the ‘lungs’ of the island, because it’s thanks to them that COMO Parrot Cay has its extraordinary natural diversity. The mangrove roots are important nurseries for many fish species, while birds ranging from kingfishers and mangrove cuckoos to giant tricoloured herons and pelicans can be found here, nesting and feeding. It’s on the eastern side that nature’s marvels — and fragility — are best exemplified.

With its postcard-perfect beaches, the Turks and Caicos has become one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in the Caribbean. But with that immense growth, the tourism industry must also adapt to ensure that higher footfall doesn’t equate to ecological damage. COMO Parrot Cay is uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of these conservation efforts. We produce our own power, make our own water, manage our own developments and process our own waste. As a private island we have relative autonomy over our impact; we are responsible for what comes onto the island and for what leaves. It is both a challenge and a privilege. We have a kitchen garden and a plastic recycling scheme; we collect up to 100kg of food scraps and 1000 kg of landscaping byproduct every day, which we use to generate compost for our gardens; our landscaping team is phasing out invasive, non-local plant species in favour of indigenous alternatives grown in our plant nursery including orchids, palms and buttonwood trees. 

As Director of Marine Science and Sustainability, it’s my job to manage these initiatives. We’re working towards achieving our Silver EarthCheck certification (earned through rigorous assessments and third-party audits). But it’s not enough to tick boxes: to safeguard the island’s ecosystem, we also need to look beyond our shores to the marine environment that surrounds us. After working as a marine scientist in the Turks and Caicos’s public sector, I know firsthand that the ability of local agencies to drive conservation is reliant on knowledge of the local marine environment. So we’re establishing the Parrot Cay Marine Conservation Trust, a world-class satellite research and conservation facility at COMO Parrot Cay. We’ll be partnering with local environmental stakeholders, including the Turks and Caicos government, regional universities and research organisations, to carry out directed research programmes through international grants and funds raised through the trust. The part I’m most excited about is our youth outreach programme, which will foster environmental stewardship through an internship programme for local students. 

My favourite way to interact with nature has always remained the same: through fly fishing. Fishing was my first introduction to the watery world beneath the surface. It was an obsession which grew to the point that I decided to dedicate my life to conserving this habitat. COMO Parrot Cay sits on the doorstep of the largest conservation area in the islands; the North, Middle and East Caicos Nature Reserve – a declared international Ramsar wetland site. It’s also the main destination for fly-fishermen targeting world-class bonefish. You can also go scuba diving on the edge of the Caicos Bank, explore the natural cave systems of the North and Middle Caicos, or embark on a sailing adventure in search of Jojo, our local bottlenose dolphin. Between January and April, you may even catch sight of a humpback whale as they migrate around their warm water nursing grounds nearby. 

I always encourage our guests to engage thoughtfully with the ecology of COMO Parrot Cay. That might mean wearing reef-safe skin products to protect our sensitive corals from chemical damage. It might also mean embarking on one of our Iconic Experiences, designed to offer a unique perspective on our local ecosystem. On a guided kayaking expedition through the mangrove waterways, you might catch sight of a juvenile lemon or nurse shark gliding through the shallows, or watch fish swim between the root systems — it’s in seeing these miracles with your own eyes that a fresh synergy is created between people and planet. However you choose to engage with the sea, you’ll encounter a range of wonders from meandering red mangrove channels, to expansive tidal lagoons and dense flocks of Caribbean flamingo.

The thing about conservation, especially here at COMO Parrot Cay, is that there isn’t necessarily a single environment or organism that makes it valuable. The benefit lies in maintaining healthy and biodiverse ecosystems, all of which rely on their many components. Nature provides us with ecosystem services that many people fail to appreciate. Healthy mangroves and coral reefs shelter our islands from storms. Fisheries feed our communities. Seagrasses anchor our sand and prevent coastal erosion. Mangrove swamplands combat climate change by sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. All of these things combine to make COMO Parrot Cay something truly rare: a complex system of often fragile components, which somehow merge to form paradise.

Contact us for more information on sustainability measures at COMO Parrot Cay, or the eco-activities we offer.