March 18
Flamingo Cay, Jumentos Latitude 22_ 53.0N - Longitude 75_ 52.2W
Flamingo Cay had no flamingos (I hear they can be found on Great Inagua) but did have a drive-in cave with natural skylights, a salt pond, ruins of a house, and an old light beacon atop a hill along a coral strewn path. I am always amazed at just how rugged and dry these islands are. You need very tough shoes to walk on the knife-sharp points of the coral. Branches of bushes and the small trees crack off in your hand since they are so dry. The only life you see are lizards and flies and ants, although I have seen an occasional sea-bird roosting in the brush. A walk is generally not a leisurely affair, as you must negotiate rocks that are unstable, vining plants, scrub trees, and cactuses that have prickly “hitchhikers” (that are near impossible to pull off without gloves). Although inhospitable themselves, from afar the islands look beautiful against the indescribable colors of the sea.