IGUANA'S AT ALLEN'S CAY

 

MARCH 7, 2013

SITTING IN PARADISE

7:30am Nassau – We are on our way out of Nassau Harbor, away from the cruise ships & casinos & into the Great Bahamas Bank.  Our destination is Allen's Cay in the Exhuma's.  With a partly cloudy sky & light winds, it is about 36 miles to our anchorage.

We sailed the first few hours & then started the motor when we headed into the Yellow Bank.  This area has scattered coral heads to navigate through & is about 5 miles to the opposite side.

Before noon we finally saw our first dolphin since crossing the Gulf Stream.  It was a small pod of large dolphin that had no interest in It's Perfect.  The only other sign of life were a few flying fish.

By midafternoon we turned into our anchorage between Allen's Cay & Leaf Cay, we joined 4 catamarans.  These islands are low & rocky with short scrub bushes & palms.   The islands themselves are not much to look at but the water & beaches are breathtaking. After setting 2 anchors we took the dinghy to the small white beach on shore to check out the permanent residents.

Allen's Cay is famous for its iguanas.  The guide book says some are the size of a small dog, they were right.  A French family already ashore had drawn the attention of more of these large & small iguanas than we could count.  Some would follow you around looking for a handout while others sunned themselves on the rocks.  These reptiles can live to be 80 yrs. old & this particular iguana which is on the endangered species list, is only found on these islands. 


They were very interesting but you had to watch where you stepped.  The largest we saw was way over 2ft long.  You are not supposed to feed them, one of the other visitors offered one a leafy veg. & had her finger bit.  Their teeth are very short but it drew blood & I kept my hands to myself.  After one night, we weighed anchor & once again headed south, our destination Hawksbill Cay.