Travel with me #71 : Powerboating to Exuma Cays, feeding the Iguanas! (Photos + Video)

Dear Steemit friends :

My travels in Bahamas have so far given me the opportunity to explore Atlantis and the legend that is The Lost City. In my last post about The Dig I was fortunate enough to visit the largest open air marine exhibit featuring some of the most exotic marine wildlife found in the Bahamas.

In my attempts to see other exotic animals and wildlife, I have decided to take a trip away from Atlantis in Paradise Island, and journey southwards to the Exuma Cays.

The Exuma Cays are a district of Nassau, and are a collection of over 365 named islands belonging to the Exuma district. Their largest island is called Great Exuma, an island home to the famous city called George Town.

To travel to Exuma, you have two options.

1. Take the plane from Nassau, and within one hour, you can land in Great Exuma.
2. Take a speedboat which will take around 2 hours.

For me, I opted for the speedboat. I prefer to take the extra time to live and breathe the island hopping experience. It's an exhilerating feeling traversing through the shallow waters of the Bahamian Cays and feeling the cool air run across your face, watching in detail as we pass by islands of very different sizes.

Some islands are the size of small bedrooms, whilst others are several kilometers in circumference.

Many are actually owned by celebrities who have built very beautiful holiday homes on the islands. Perhaps the most famous one is Johnny Depp, who has a fairly sizely island under his name as well as a few Yachts to match.

The powerboat is a 39' Vulture and can comfortably travel at around 55 knots cruising speed with 25 passengers. If the wind is strong, the waves can be quite high, and result in quite a bumpy ride. I wanted to sit at the front, but I was told the front is where the worst of the bumpiness can be felt.

I abstained and like a good girl, remained seated in the front row of the rear section.

This is a picture of me and the Captain. He is such a funny guy and you can really feel his passion for the seas.

Bahamian Rock Iguanas

Interesting facts about Iguanas

• The Bahamian Rock Iguanas refer to 3 main species of Iguana, the largest is the Andros Rock Iguana which can grow up to 6ft in total length!

• Iguanas are cold blooded and cannot regulate their body temperature without the heat from the Sun. This is why they spend most of their day 'chilling' at the beach.

• Iguanas can lose their tails and regenerate a new one in full.

• Iguanas can grow to 40 years old!

• Although Iguanas look quite vicious, they are herbivores meaning that they only eat vegetables and fruits. As a result, Iguanas have physically adapted to eating fruits with hard shells by having large skulls which can withstand large biting forces, as well as serated teeth.

Feeding the Allen Rock Iguanas

I arrived at a fairly small looking island with a landing beach area. From quite a distance, I could already see these little colourful creatures dashing around and looking rather welcoming.

I realised that the Iguanas knew we came bearing gifts such as fruits and veg and so they waited on the beach looking pensive as we climbed off the boat.

Although not as large as the ones in Andros, the Iguanas at Allen Cay are a respectable size. Around the size of a common domestic cat.

Because of the regular visitations from tourists such as myself, the Iguanas at Allen Cays have adapted to the presence of humans and also the food that have been fed to them.

Some scientists have noted that there are already behavioural and physical differences between the Iguanas which come into regular contact with humans, and those that do not.

One difference would be that Iguanas which come into contact with humans on a regular basis are no longer afraid of humans and will even bite them.

This beautiful Iguana came over and took off as soon as he got the grape.

Did you know that Iguanas can actually swim?

The waters around most of the Exuma cays are only a few feet deep. This along with the white sands make the water some of the lightest blue I have ever seen.

The power boat easily moors on the sandy beach, and me and my group spend the next half an hour or so feeding the iggys!

Remember, use a stick to feed them grapes. Although Iguanas are herbivores, they are known to bite!

Someone in my group told me that they know someone who had parts of their finger bitten off by an Iguana!

Also, avoid feeding them with Grapes that have fallen on the sand. They cannot digest the sand properly.

All the Rock Iguanas in Bahamas are protected by the Wild Animals Act and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Rock Iguanas as "rare" meaing that they are an endangered species very close to extinction.

Because of this, the Bahamian Government have made it illegal to hurt or damage the natural habitat of the Iguanas.

Several threats still remain :

1. Poaching for food / Pet industry

2. Falling Prey to introduced predators

3. Natural disasters such as Hurricanes and fires

In the early 2000's, through the frequent visitation of tourists, the few islands with native Rock Iguana populations became under strain due to the introduction of house mice who began reproducing and thriving on these islands shared by the Iguanas.

Although the Iguanas do not eat the mice, Owls do. In the breeding season, the owls would come and hunt for the mice on these islands, but also catch many young Iguanas unable to fend for themselves.

This is one of the reasons that the population of Iguanas have failed to increase, very few Iguanas survive to adulthood.

The Bahamian government have since taken action to get rid of the house mice on these islands inhabited by the Rock Iguanas and hope in doing so, the population may grow significantly larger than the current 1000 or so remaining world wide.

This little eager Iguana came back for seconds, being attracted to red and pink colours, it must have thought my finger was another fruit, so gave it a quick gnaw. Thankfully, it was just a scratch!

Take a look at my video of Feeding the Iggys!

Feeding the Iguanas was a real treat, I certainly don't regret travelling across the ocean, getting sunburnt, for the opportunity to see these incredibly beautiful creatures living in their natural habitat and getting to interact with them.

Please upvote if you liked the post, follow if you wish to see more, and comment to let me know what you think!

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熟悉我的人都知道，我可能是个实足的海岛控。但是今天我却做的一件从未在海岛上做过的事情。没错，在巴哈马能够做的事情总是你意想不到的，今天我们就要从首都拿骚的码头出发，坐船去Allen Cay喂蜥蜴。你没有听错，现在我们就一起去喂蜥蜴吧。还好这里的蜥蜴品种叫做岩鼠蜥蜴，它们只吃水果和蔬菜，不吃肉，甚至连水分也从食物中摄取，平时不喝水。所以不是拿我们自己喂蜥蜴，长呼一口气。

从拿骚码头坐power boat能量小船去Allen Cay，大概要一个小时。刚开始的时候，我以为会是个平稳的小船，但是当船加速开起，大家都变成了水上的兔子，被海浪颠簸的一蹦一蹦。原来是为了赶时间，所以船长选择了能够跑的最快的。说实话，刚开始我真的有点担心，这么快速会不会不安全，但是船长技术非常精湛，完全没有把我们甩进海里。

期盼已久的蜥蜴岛Allen Cay终于出现在眼前，从远处就看见岛上站满了大大小小的天然野生蜥蜴。岩鼠蜥大多分布在加勒比地区，是非常珍惜的品种，全世界目前大概只有1000只， 巴哈马有3个岛住着岩鼠蜥，其中巴哈马最大的岛 -- 安德罗斯岛分布有最多的岩鼠蜥。

岩鼠蜥其实面临着2大危害：

1. 曾经人们乘船去看岩鼠蜥的时候，不小心带去了老鼠，老鼠来到岛上大量繁殖就招来了猫头鹰，猫头鹰在吃老鼠的同时也会吃岩鼠蜥的蛋宝宝，这下就让岩鼠蜥的数量大大减少，好在后来经过人们的努力，把老鼠从岛上彻底赶走了，猫头鹰也就不再偷吃蛋宝宝了。
2. 因为岩鼠蜥身型漂亮，可爱的脑袋，胖乎乎的身体，还有灵活的尾巴，最长能长到1米8，还穿着鲜艳的彩色外衣。过去人们曾把它们当作宠物养或是吃它们，不过现在有了法律规定，就没人敢这么干了。

船长给我们发了一大袋葡萄喂岩鼠蜥，我用竹签插着葡萄，试着慢慢靠近他们，但是它们却显得有些害怕，可能我穿了鲜艳的黄色，也可能它们害怕我会伤害它们。很多只岩鼠蜥都在我的葡萄面前犹豫着。终于一只可爱的红宝石般的眼睛睁大看着我，慢慢向葡萄靠近，我努力不动以免吓到它，终于它吃到了葡萄。这让我想到了汉语里的俗语，吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮，岩鼠蜥就是这么吃葡萄的。这下我才有机会认真的看看岩鼠蜥，它彩色的外衣真是人见人爱，背上漂亮的脊，看起来像贝克汉姆的莫西干发型，其实是它们用来散热的工具。不过不管怎么样，岩鼠蜥是我见过最漂亮的蜥蜴了。

慢慢的它们开始熟悉我，开始围着我抢吃的，也不怕我突然把它们抱走了。正当我喂的开心的时候，一只大蜥蜴接受了我的葡萄，正当我从手中拿另一颗葡萄，准备放在竹签上的时候，它突然咬了一下我的手，吓到了我。不过我想它并没有恶意，只是等不及要吃葡萄了。

下面是我喂蜥蜴的过程，我把它们编辑成了一个视频，希望你们能够喜欢哦！