Guana Island is an island of the

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(BVI) in the Caribbean. One of the few remaining privately owned islands in its part of the world, Guana has seven white powder-sand beaches and of tropical forest, mountains, hills, and valleys. The island is mostly natural preserve and has a small resort.

History

In the 18th century, two Quaker families came to Guana as part of what was called " the Quaker Experiment" which lasted for about forty-five years in the BVI. They used African slaves and cultivated

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

. When they were recalled to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, they left behind two

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s still on Guana today. Archaeologists have extensively studied the Quaker ruins and have also unearthed older artifacts that give insight into Guana's earlier

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

history. Beth and Louis Bigelow of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

purchased Guana in 1934. With the help of local men they built six stone cottages and developed a reputation as creative pioneers. Their guests - professionals, intellectuals and world travelers - came for months at a time, attracted to the simple but rich life.

Current

Henry and Gloria Jarecki bought Guana in 1975 and began improving accommodations and other facilities with the goal of maintaining the island's historic style and ambiance. An interest in conservation led them to establish a long-term restoration program to protect the island's flora and fauna and bring back once-common species..

Flora and fauna

Scientists say that Guana has more flora and fauna than any island of its size yet studied in the Caribbean and possibly the world.Guana Island , Nature , Flora & Fauna
The island provides habitat for the Puerto Rican racer ('' Alsophis portoricensis''), the common Puerto Rican ameiva (''Ameiva exsul''), the crested anole (''Anolis cristatellus wileyae''), the

sharp-mouthed lizard ''Anolis pulchellus'', the Puerto Rican bush anole, snake anole, or Puerto Rican anole, is a small anole lizard of the family Dactyloidae. The species is among the most common lizards in Puerto Rico, and also native to Vieques, Culebra, and the ...

(''Anolis pulchellus''), barred anole ('' Anolis stratulus''), green iguana ('' Iguana iguana''),

big-scaled least gecko There are two species of gecko named big-scaled least gecko: * '' Sphaerodactylus macrolepis'', distributed in Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean * '' Sphaerodactylus grandisquamis'', ...

(''Sphaerodactylus macrolepis macrolepis''), and the

Richard's worm snake Richard's worm snake (''Antillotyphlops richardi'') is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. Etymology The specific name, ''richardi'', is in honor of either of two French Botanists, Louis Claude Marie Richard or his son Achille Richar ...

(''Typhlops richardi''). The restoration program has brought extirpated species back to Guana and other

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...

. The stout iguana had survived only on

Anegada Anegada is the northernmost of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It lies approximately north of Virgin Gorda. Anegada is the only inhabited British Virgin Island for ...

but now flourishes on Guana and lives on other islands as well. Other plant and animal species that have been restored and protected include the red-legged tortoise, the

bridled quail-dove The bridled quail-dove (''Geotrygon mystacea'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found from Saint Lucia in the Lesser Antilles north and west to Puerto Rico.Boal, C. W. (2020). Bridled Quail-Dove (''Geotrygon mystacea''), ve ...

, the

Caribbean flamingo The American flamingo (''Phoenicopterus ruber'') is a large species of flamingo closely related to the greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo native to the Neotropics. It was formerly considered conspecific with the greater flamingo, but that tre ...

, the

white-crowned pigeon The white-crowned pigeon (''Patagioenas leucocephala'') is a fruit and seed-eating species of bird in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. It is found primarily in the Caribbean. John James Audubon painted these pigeons, including the waterco ...

, Eggers' mallow tree, the Virgin Islands euphorb, Hohenberg's ground bromeliad, and a unique bromeliad found nowhere else. Guana also has three

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...

areas. White Bay is a set of parallel patch reefs in shallow water, where there are no strong waves or currents. The reefs are home to about 100 tropical reef fishes, waving gorgonians called fan corals, and the various species of hard

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

s. Muskmelon Bay is a deep bay with reefs at 60 to . Large, oceanic fishes like

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max len ...

and

king mackerel The king mackerel (''Scomberomorus cavalla'') or kingfish, is a migratory species of mackerel of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. It is an important species to both the commercial and recreational fishing industries. Description Th ...

may be seen there. North Bay is a windward, rough-water bay with deep reefs and wrecks.

References

External links

Guana Island resort
{{Authority control Private islands of the British Virgin Islands