2nd February, 2017

Rescue in the Marina

February 2, 2017

Iguanas run everywhere. They climb the trees, jump in the pool, even get on our boats. I think they’re kind of cute and relatively harmless or at least, the young ones. Recently, I’ve become brave enough to pick them up which came in handy last Monday.

We were on our way to La Cruz and were just stepping off our boat when two of the hotel gardeners were yelling to us, trying to get our attention. They were working on the property that sits behind our slip when an iguana (He has since been named Diego.) fell off the palapa he was perched on, hit the iron gate, and then dropped into the water. The gardeners didn’t have a key to the gate and thus were unable to help him.

Iguanas use their tales to swim, but for some reason, Diego was unable to move it. The poor thing was stunned and hurt and could barely keep his head above water. Jay quickly got the boat hook. Diego grabbed on, but then slipped off. Jay was able to get him close enough to the dock and then I was able to grab his tail and pull him up onto the dock.
He was alive, barely. We just stood there, staring, not sure what to do next. We sort of felt good about saving him. I mean, his eyes were open, but he wasn’t moving and his front leg was distorted like it was broken. Now what?

News travels fast in our marina. We told Richelle who told Linda. Both have a huge heart for animals and Richelle knew Linda had a car and could take Diego to the vet. Which she did.

Diego’s shoulder was broken, but it was his body temperature that was threatening his life. It was way too low and the vet couldn’t find his heartbeat. He kept him on a heating pad for thirty minutes and slowly he started coming back around. The vet kept him overnight and only charged 200 pesos ($10.00)!

Diego came home Tuesday morning and is now being nursed back to health on Linda’s boat. I went to visit him. His eyes were much more alert and he began moving. Yesterday, he started eating and drinking water. Soon, he will be back in the trees where he belongs. Sweet!