Caribbean UFOs

UFO's, Unidentified Flying Objects, have been sighted around the world for the past several decades, (some would say the last several centuries). They do exist, if it is unidentified and flying, it is a UFO. They have recently been seen buzzing around a small town in Texas, but there are very few sightings from the Caribbean. Why?

The Caribbean is an ideal spot for visitors of all types, but especially for those from the heavens. There are wide open spaces around the numerous small islands with an extremely large variety of terrain, plants and creatures. While people come here from all over the world, on many of the smaller islands the airports close down shortly after sunset, so would make it easier to avoid detection or collisions with other aircraft and yet give a good sampling of the planet's population. So why are there no Caribbean UFO's?

Living on Nevis in the Eastern Caribbean and doing astronomy programs for the past 15 years, I can say that indeed there are UFO's sighted in the Caribbean. They are often not reported because the sightings are usually solo and people don't want to be ridiculed, and some feel it may be the result of too many rum punches down at the local beach bar. Also here, like in all other places, 90% of the UFOs have logical explanations and are easy to sort out.

Planes at night are not as common, but satellites at this latitude can be very visible and move very quickly, visible shortly after sunset. Nevis averages 12 shooting stars an hour which some are fireballs, large meteorites that go flaming across the heavens shedding debris. The moon and planets can be very bright and shine through the clouds (we have little of the light pollution found in most metropolitan areas), at this latitude they are in different positions from what most expect.

Then there is the visitor that is driving back to their hotel after dinner and spots a large band of lights above the trees. These UFO's can drift over houses, disappear and reappear in the blink of an eye. The lights will also change configurations, going from a band into a circle and then vanishing completely. There are occasionally photos and they look weird! Indeed they are Caribbean UFOs.

It is not an Unidentified Flying Object, but rather an Unidentified Floating Object! These islands are small and many visitors do not realize that, due to the curvature of the earth, the ocean horizon appears to rise up above the land. On a dark night this creates an optical illusion, making the lights of passing ships appear floating in the air. The lights can change as the ship changes direction and the flickering is caused by our tropical breezes moving "invisible" branches around. The "satellite UFOs" that attach and reattach are often dinghies checking out things around the ship.

To be honest, having done astronomy programs over the years I can say that these will account for 90% of the calls I get on UFOs. What about the other 10%? Well I have seen some things that I can't explain! Lights going overhead, then suddenly stopping and changing directions, not planes, meteorites or cruise ships, so Caribbean UFOs are out there. What are they? I don't really know, that is why they are UFOs! Only time will tell.