I was jealous in Stacia when some fellow cruisers said they saw an Antilles iguana. In Stacia, the only iguana we saw was the one right here (the sign).

Stacia’s trails were well marked, well maintained and provided excellent flora and fauna signage info, illustrations and photos.  Their National Parks organization likely makes that happen.  Their office, as well as customs, and the historical site offices were all closed when we came through

After seeing monkeys in the rainforest and encountering an octopus taking up residence in a conch shell (click for more on that) I temporarily brought on board on Nevis, I was spoiled.  I expected to see a legendary Antilles iguana, too!  But I didn’t, at least not on scarcely populated, industrial (more on that in a future post) yet environmentally-oriented Stacia.

Stacia was very clean.  The water was clear. There was minimal litter.

Stacia, aka Saint Eustatius, is one of the few islands where acerback snakes are found.

Seeing a couple rare racerback snakes and watching Wayne’s reaction to a friendly rooster (click here for more on that) made up for it, almost.

Handsome fellow!  We ran our dinghy aground trying to get a better photo… and didn’t.  No harm done to the dinghy and “Mr. Iguana” was definitely unfazed.

I could hardly believe my eyes, when motoring along in St. Maarten’s heavily populated Simpson Lagoon, I spotted several large iguanas bobbing high in the spindly but leafy mangrove branches.  The smallest iguana I saw was about three feet, tip to tail; the largest spanned five feet.  Whether or not I get a better photo opportunity, it thrilling to share the experience of seeing these rare abd exotic reptiles in the “wild” with Wayne.