Off to see the lizard.....

"We're off to see the lizards, the wonderful lizards of Allan's !" We left Nassau yesterday with Ian aboard and had a great day moving south to Allan's Cay. We took a dog leg around the "dreaded" (not my word, but the description in one of our cruising guides) Yellow Banks. This is any area of shallow water with patch reefs, and coral heads just below the surface. You must cross this area when the sun is high in the sky so that you can see through the water for dangers. The water is so clear, we could see starfish on the bottom in 16+ feet. The wind was up and down, so we had an opportunity to get in some sailing.

We arrived at Allan's just after 2pm and worked our way in applying the "anchor by Braille" method; as the anchorage has many shallow areas. This consists of working around the anchorage, occasionally touching bottom, backing away and trying another approach. We found a spot and dropped the hook. Unfortunately, we had a wind shift and low tide caused us to begin bouncing off the bottom softly. I didn't want any problems, so we just shifted our spot 50 yards west and re-set the hook; without incident.

T made spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner and we sat in the cockpit as a rain squall went through; all under the Christmas lites. We were all beat, so it was lites out (including the XMAS ones) around 9 pm.

Today we are going to see the lizards. Allan's Cay is one of the few remaining islands which is home to giant iguanas. These prehistoric lizards are about 3' long and very unattractive (read: UGLY) We will post pix when we have "real" internet access instead of "only" ham radio. Think of the Geico gecko on steroids and brown in color.... The rest of the day will be taken up by beaching, snorkeling and dinghy exploring (and of course a couple of "coldies")

Mike, you gotta start making reservations to get down here again before the winter is over....bought a Bob spear for hunting lobster....will let you know how the hunt goes.....

THE IGUANA CREW