It was a slow morning in the calm anchorage of Williams Cay. The best seat in the house was on the flybridge where I enjoyed the view over breakfast and then transitioned to a little reading. At 11:00 we joined Ti Amo, River Rat, and a few other cruisers for a dinghy trip to Leaf Cay and a visit with the pink iguanas. In a scene similar to West Side Story, the lines and humans and reptiles converge. Folks slide out of their inflatables and the iguanas leave their shady spots in the rocks. The parties meet at an invisible line in the sand, where the iguanas have been conditioned to expect food and the humans are more than eager to offer up lettuce and celery in exchange for a few photos.
With an initial dose of caution we all came to a mutual acceptance of one another. This medium-sized iguana gently took the leafy treat from my fingers. Once all the food was gone, the iguanas retreated to their limestone crevices and we walked around to the north side of the sandy beach. It was close to high tide and a large warm pool of water reached far up on the beach. There were a few little fish in the pools, darting through gentle ripples, but no shells or sea beans.
While walking around we were fortunate to have Jaxon on patrol. He was quite interested in the odd-looking, similarly-sized (although much heavier) creatures and was ready to go play with one that was equally curious about him. Ultimately we took turns watching the little guy ...
... and keeping him safely above the action. All parties stood for final photos before loading back into their dinghies and setting off for the beach of Norman's Pond Cay. We saw several juvenile conch as we walked around the point trough the ankle-deep water. The pink and salmon colors of their shells were beautiful through the shimmer of the shallow water. Their smooth undersides were even more colorful. The conch are being over-harvested and their numbers are plummeting so it was good to see several occupied shells. Then it was back to the anchorage to grab lunch and drink some water. We enjoyed an afternoon visit with Ti Amo and then relaxed for a few hours.
After an early dinner, everyone gathered on a small beach to watch the sunset. I found the best view was roughly 100 yards from shore, in knee-high water. Sea stars dotted the sandy bottom as the sun dipped just off the point of land. Jaxon was still full of energy and raced up and down the beach. As the stars in the sky emerged from darkness, a bonfire in the sand burned bright and warm. We soon called it a night and headed back to Crossroads to close another smile-filled day.
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