Day 155, Year 10: Black Point to Bitter Guana Cay
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Less Windy, Winds SE 10-15
Latitude: 24 08.601 N
Longitude: 076 25.077 W
Location: Anchored at Bitter Guana Cay, Exumas
This afternoon Windbird and Sea Turtle we moved three miles from Black Point on Great Guana Cay to Bitter Guana Cay in search of iguanas. The iguanas that live in the Exumas are among the most endangered lizards in the world and the bulk of them hang out up north on Allans Cay and here on itty bitty Bitter Guana Cay. We were told that all we had to do was go to shore and they would slowly come out to greet us. And, indeed, they did. Even though this is an iguana preserve, obviously people who come here feed them. One particularly large iguana thought Lee’s iPhone was food. So the iguana marched right up to Lee and started nibbling on his toes and looking up at the phone. We walked along the beach finding more and more iguanas hiding the scrub and one by one they came out to see us. The largest ones can weigh about 24 pounds and some were about two feet long, including their long tail. Their bodies are dark, almost black with pink to red coloration around their heads and front legs. I love to watch these creatures walk and leave their tail trails in the sand. I took tons of photos and videos that I will post when we get to Staniel Cay. Mark took his GoPro to shore with us today and got a few shots. We use the GoPro mainly for underwater photos as the land shots always look like you are standing on a curved surface because it has a super wide angle lens. Of course, we are standing on a curved surface, we just don’t always see it that way! In addition to the iguanas, this cay provides stunning views of huge limestone rocks that are providing the white sand on the beach. The rocks look snow-covered, but thankfully they are just sand-covered. There are small caves all along the shore so after doing our iguana watching, we rode along the shore in the dinghy to take a look. The caves you can explore are on Gaulin Cay that we passed on the way here. Tomorrow morning we will move on to Big Majors Spot near Staniel Cay, but before we leave here, we might do more dinghy and land exploring.
We are constantly amazed by the beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear ocean water here that comes in every shade of blue imaginable. As we traveled around the world, the places with this combination of bright white sand and clear, azure water were fewer than we had anticipated. Many of the islands of the South Pacific and the Caribbean are volcanic and the sand on volcanic islands is not usually bright white. The Bahamas sit on a platform of limestone (the only rock found in the Bahamas) that was formed one to two million years ago. About 10,000 years ago during the glacial period, the water level in the ocean dropped as it was literally sucked out of the oceans to form the ice at high latitudes. This exposed the Bahama plateau. Then when the ice began to melt, the water running back through the exposed limestone caused the formation of caves. Once under water again, coral grew on top of the limestone rock. And it is this combination of limestone, coral, and sea shells that produce the white sand and crystal clear water found here.
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| 150314 Day 155 Bahamas–Iguanas on Bitter Guana Cay |
