Here's a story for those of you who have been entertained in the past by Laura's encounters with wildlife:
During our cruise last week, Laura and I decided to go to Coral World, a park/aquarium on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. When we arrived at the park, the first order of business was to get some lunch, so we bought our tickets and immediately went to the small food stand located on a deck at the front of the park.
Laura stood in front of the stand and began studying the posted menu. I began studying the seven or so iguanas that were lying around the deck. At first, I wondered if they were statues because they were being so still, but one eventually turned his head and looked at me. I thought, "Uh oh."
Laura was studying the menu. Because she wasn't screaming, I could tell that she hadn't spotted the iguanas yet and I still had time to avoid an embarrassing scene. I walked over to her, put my arm around her shoulder, and very calmly and carefully said, "Laura, there's something you need to know: We are surrounded by iguanas."
She thought about it, then scanned the deck slowly, her eyes getting bigger by the second. I have to say, I'm proud of her; she didn't scream. There were only a few panicked oh-my-god's. I tried to calm her down by telling her that the iguanas wouldn't hurt her. (To be honest, at the time, I really wasn't sure that was true. I'd never encountered a "wild" iguana.) The woman operating the food stand tried to help out by telling us that they wouldn't bite, but "just don't feed them." She gave us our food and didn't explain why we shouldn't feed them, so it didn't really help the situation.
Laura calmed down enough to order some pizza, though I don't think she ever took her eyes off of the iguanas. We took our food and sat down at a table that was a comfortable distance from them. I started eating; Laura started deducting the cost of the pizza from the budget. Deducting is a long process for Laura, and as a result, I was nearly done with my pizza before Laura got started with hers. She had quite a bit of pizza left when the iguanas began closing in our table, hungry for peperoni.
I stomped my feet to try to scare the iguanas away, but it didn't do much good. It wasn't long before they were under the table, and Laura threw her pizza down on her plate and ran away. One iguana tried to climb onto the table to claim the food, but I shooed him away. A guy from a neighboring table told us that you could just kick the iguanas, and he kindly demonstrated the technique. Once I was satisfied that a person could kick an iguana without any unfortunate side-effects, I thanked the man and started kicking the iguanas away from the table. (For the record, these were gentle kicks. No iguanas were seriously harmed.)
After a few kicks, the iguanas finally started showing me some respect. I gave Laura her pizza back, and she stood away from the table eating it nervously. The iguanas kept their eye on the pizza, but they mostly behaved as long as I was around. I took a few pictures (see below) and cleaned up the table.
At one point, I took the trash from the table to the waste bin. The iguanas realized their prey (Laura) was unprotected and all started to move in. Laura said later that it reminded her of the Velociraptors hunting in Jurassic Park. I got back before they overtook her, and they backed off. Laura finally finished her pizza, reclaimed her purse, and we were able to move on.
As a park or aquarium, Coral World was kind of disappointing. I guess we've been spoiled by Sea World and the Atlanta Aquarium. I have to say though, I don't have any recollection of my lunches at Sea World or the Atlanta Aquarium, whereas I doubt I'll ever forget the "iguana lunch" at Coral World.
Here are some pictures:
The snack bar
The abandoned table
The iguanas
Laura eating her pizza
Laura's impression of the situation
