Of course, no trip to the Exumas would be complete without stopping at Allans Cay to visit the iguanas. Thanks to the lack of natural predators, there are over 700 of the beasties on the 3 sand dots that make up Allans Cay. The anchorage is lovely, but watch the current, you’ll swing 180 degrees every couple of hours.

So Forbidden Planet made the trip down with the wind on the nose the whole way (8 hours) and the iron sail (motor) chugging along. The next day was beautifully sunny (big surprise), and we jumped in the dinghy to make new reptilian friends. We landed on the beach and were ignored by a couple of iguanas. This is it we thought?

Just then there was a deafening roar began and 3 massive power boats screamed around the corner with a wake the size of skyscrapers. They rammed the beach and promptly started spilling their cargo of holiday funseekers. They had made the trip down from Nassau in 55 minutes.

A happy happy social director began bellowing at the funseekers, “you’ve got 20 minutes to feed the iguanas. Everyone out! Start feeding!” The happy happy social director had an assistant who pulled out trays of cold fruit for the iguanas. Iguanas can most definitely read, because as soon as they saw the Powerboat Adventure boats, the trees started swaying and a flood of iguanas started oozing down the beach.

You were supposed to put a piece of fruit on a stick and feed the beasties. Personally I think that a girl needs cold fruit more than a reptile and some of the iguanas got short changed that day. Like they’d notice.

After 20 minutes, the happy happy social director started rounding up the funseekers and herding them back onto the boat. Within 4 minutes they were gone, off to find more true island experience.

That left us on a small strip of sand, with several hundred iguanas the size of small dogs who weren’t finished eating. They knew I’d eaten their fruit. We ran for the dinghy and beat a hasty retreat.

More of Allans Cay: