Chipka came well prepared for his sojourn on Saba. Equipped with aerial maps of the island and knowledge of prevailing weather patterns from his own experience sailing the Caribbean, he targeted his fieldwork in advance to promising areas on the northeast side of the island. He expected to find orchids in these favorable spots and his homework paid off.

He marked their exact location with a global position system (GPS) unit. On his return to Saba, he will relocate these plants to check their growing cycles and will search for additional varieties in previously unexplored crooks and crannies. He will specifically be looking for Psychilis and Bletia specimens, which he did not locate in January. These genera should be on Saba since they prevail on nearby islands.

On The Orchid Specialist:
Chipka came by his interest in orchids at a young age. His Czech grandfather, who immigrated to the US with the family in 1917, was a renaissance man. A machinist by day and a pastry chef by night, his spare-time passion was orchids. As a boy, Chipka accompanied Gramps on trips through the Florida Everglades to gather various specimens.

Chipka studied to be a structural engineer, but always kept the hobby. Now approaching retirement, he has developed his love of orchids into a serious avocation. He is president of Encyclia Enthusiasts, Inc., an affiliate of the American Orchid Society, publishes in lay and scholarly journals, and facilitates courses at the International Orchid Center in Palm Beach, Florida.

An avid grower himself, specializing in Encyclias, Chipka now has at least 250 varieties in the garden behind his modest condominium in Naples. When he rhapsodically describes his Lime tree with more than 300 species of epiphyte orchids in its branches, Chipka takes on the look of the true believer: the nature lover who finds a spiritual experience in his work.

On Tonight's Program:
Stewart Chipka, Director of Saba Orchid Research Center in the Netherlands Antilles, will present the activities in orchid research now underway on the island of Saba. Chipka began the initial cataloguing of Saba's orchid population in the winter of 2002 and, in cooperation with the Saba Conservation Foundation and interested volunteers, has documented 23 species for this tiny island to date. This presentation is an exciting look at how actual orchid field research is conducted, documented and published.

We hope to see you all there. And don't forget to bring a friend!

For more information on Saba and its wonderful orchids, visit the Official Web Site of Saba's Tourist Bureau.

(Some of the excerpts above were written by Suzanne Nielsen of the Daily Herald and taken from http://www.sabatourism.com/orchids.html)