Highbourne Cay and Iguana Beach

As we cruised past Allan Cay, which is a cute horseshoe island with a beach in the southern, u-end of it, we all thought we'd have to head back that way for our beach time. There were a few boats anchored there playing at the beach, so we thought we'd come back later. By the time we got anchored at Highbourne Cay and ate, the sun was only going to be up for another 2ish hours. When we are underway and have service, I like to pull up Google Maps and see what is nearby and what will be around us to explore when we anchor. I looked up the area as we passed Allan Cay and saw Iguana Beach. I didn't say anything to anyone about it at the time because I wasn't sure if we would be able to head back that way and didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.

After we were settled in and anchored, Ben asked what we wanted to do, so I showed him the map and suggested heading that way. Being a little less than a week into our trip, we didn't have any produce for feeding the iguanas, so I grabbed some of our dog food, putting in a ziploc bag, and told the kids that's what we would feed the iguanas. There wasn't a ton in the bag, so I said they should take a few and throw it out in front of them.

On the way over (a 2-mile tender ride), I prepped our 8 year old reptile-lover about not trying to get the iguanas to come up to eat out of his hand, not petting them, or annoying them like he does with our dog. I explained that these creatures are looking for food from the people who visit them day in and day out, so they associate people with snacks. Moose assured me that he knew how to be safe and make choices to reflect that.

The water between the islands was choppy and had a strong current. It smoothed out as we got closer to the beach and we scoped it out, like a game of I Spy. "THERE'S ONE ON THAT ROCK, SEE IT?!" 

Look at the sandy section to see the one lone iguana who greeted us. There were more on the rocks, but they're harder to see.

I read reviews of this currently empty beach landing spot and was happy to see no tourist boats were there. There were 2 boats anchored here with people relaxing out on the deck or cockpit. 

We spotted an iguana on the sand and everyone questioned if that was the only one, asking if we should we try for another place on the island or if this was it. Not knowing for sure, I said, "Well, it's right here on the map..." Ben motored the Chicken closer to the beach before turning it off and riding the waves ashore.

One iguana and two seagulls were ashore when we arrived.

Moose, of course, was the first one off the tender and ran up to the iguana with the bag of food in his hand. A few more iguanas came out when they saw the rest of us getting off the boat and realized that Moose was throwing food. Roo grabbed some food to throw as well, while Bear, Ben, and I decided we didn't want to partake. My concern about being on this beach increasingly grew as more and more iguanas emerged. These things moved fast and their legs seemed to spin in full circles as they ran. To say they were intimidating would be an understatement. Making things worse, the seagulls were just as food-happy as the iguanas and they kept flying in. Between the swooping seagulls and the speedy iguanas, this was a place I would be happy to never be at again.

I told Roo to throw her food and I'd head back to the tender with her and Bear. She didn't want to throw it all at once and Bear didn't want to go back to the tender by herself, so I had to coax Roo to feed faster so the 3 of us could get back to the Chicken. 

By the time we left, there was a flock of seagulls and somewhere around 30 iguanas!

At some point, Ben looked at Moose who was practically laying in the sand and said, "He's gonna get bit." I assured him that Moose and I talked on the way over about how to not get too close to get bit. It wasn't even 2 minutes later that Moose started walking over to us, holding a red-tipped finger on his left hand with his right hand, close to his chest. He got bit. (Not to worry, this happened at least 2 weeks ago at this point, and he doesn't even have a mark left. No infections or fevers. We are in the clear!)

No tears from Moose, but I don't think he will ever try that again.

I took the girls and got right into the tender. Ben tried to convince Moose that it was past time to go and get him to join me and the girls. He was able to, after Moose finished tossing out what little food he had left in the bag. 

Ben got in the tender and went to start it, but it wasn't working. This was our first journey in the tender after going through the big waves on the way to Nassau and the kill switch got broken off while it was rocking on the davit in the waves. He rigged something together before we left the Cartermaran, but it didn't hold when we went to leave the Iguana Beach. 

Luckily, there were 2 boats anchored off Iguana Beach. After having some obvious trouble and no luck starting the motor, 2 very kind teenage boys from Abaco came over on their tender and asked if we needed help. We threw them our line and they towed us back to our boat. 

For all of you out there wondering what would've happened if no one was anchored there, our tender has a set of oars and we would've had to bust them out. It would've been a long, hard trip across the water with a strong current. Not pleasant, but doable.

We left the tender down for the night so Ben could look at it the next day, since we weren't picking up anchor bright and early like we had been. He was able to fix it the next day, in time for our family beach day.

From our anchorage, we could look out our window and see another horseshoe beach. At different points in the day, there were tenders and other small boats visiting. There were little gazebos and at night, they had bonfires on the beach. We were excited to check it out! 

Applying sunscreen is a daunting task each and every time because I'd hate to forget someone or somewhere and be the reason for hurt. Sure they can apply it on their own, but they just carelessly slap it on, instead of covering every spot, resulting in a very unwelcomed sunburn. Ben jokes and says it takes 2 hours to get ready for the beach. Obviously, he's wrong. It takes closer to an hour. Ha!

Anyways... two hours later 😉 we were loaded onto the tender and headed over to check out the beach. Upon our arrival, we saw large signs indicating it is a private beach, no landing. (Turns out, it is Xuma Beach Bar and they have their own clients.) So we turned around and were headed for the other horseshoe beach I saw on our way into the anchorage, by Iguana Beach, when I spotted a tiny, secluded beach almost right across from the Cartermaran. We pulled in to check it out and it was perfect!

In the blue background, you can peep the Cartermaran. The kids and I are near the rocky reef area to the left. This was the perfect little cove beach!

A few rocks spotted the entrance, so we had to navigate around those to get to a sandy place to pull the Chicken ashore. This little beach had a rocky reef boundary to protect the beach from any large crashing waves, making it a perfect location for looking at sea life during low tide. Moose found 2 sea stars that he picked up and built a habitat for us to observe them in, closer to shore. I found 2 tiny sand dollars, both about the size of nickels, that were unfortunately already dead. Every time we found a conch shell, we ask whoever is looking at it, "Anyone home?" A lot of conch shells had nobody home, so they weren't worth exploring. After a few hours of playing and looking around, we went back to the boat for lunch (Mac and Cheese- have you tried this new brand I found at Target? It is called Goodles and tastes just like Kraft and has so many veggies in it!) and a break from the sun.

The first sea star Moose found kept crawling under his shoe (at the top of this image), which is how he found it originally. They like hiding out of the sunlight, so he built the habitat with some shade protection where the two sea stars liked to stay.

I loved this tiny sand dollar!

While riding back on the tender, the plan we came up with was that while I was making the Goodles, Ben was going to get in the water to scrub off the icky green growth we'd accumulated since our last bottom cleaning. He asked the kids to stand on the boat and be shark lookouts for him. They agreed and got excited at the possibility of seeing a shark close to our boat. I giggled at that and went up to the cockpit to go inside and make lunch. Before I got inside, I heard someone yell, "SHARK!" so I turned around to see who was going to get in trouble for crying wolf. Ben was climbing back on the boat and taking off his mask. I asked who saw the shark and he said he did. It was 10 feet away from him, under the boat, so no one would've seen it except him. I looked over the side of the boat to see the shadow of it as it swam away. Shark spotting number 2 meant the in the water chores were done for the day.

The tide was even further out when we got back. We were able to look around so much more of the beach that was underwater when we left. The sea stars that Moose returned to water before we left, were now getting hot and dry in the sand. He rescued them and put them back in a new closer to shore underwater habitat. In one of the tidepools, I found a conch and someone was home! Conchs are a fun creature to explore, so we added him to our habitat closer to shore with the sea stars. Even though we've seen all of these creatures before, it never ceases to be fun to observe them for hours on end!

Notice how far out the tide was by the time we got back! All of the sand in this picture was underwater when we first got here.

This is the habitat that Moose built for our sea friends. Under the coral, there are two sea stars, which you can kind of see here. We added the conch, who liked to be flipped down, and would flop over if there wasn't a lot of movement around him. That was fun to watch, but also a little surprising!