The story of Shamrock (written by Calvin)

(This story if from our honeymoon trip on the small island of Bonaire)

.......After having seen the many countless lizards around the dive site of Andrea I earlier in the day, we raced back to the hotel room to get out of our dive gear and return to the site with my camera. I had hoped to have a chance to photograph some of the lizards, if we were successful in finding them still.

Only having a little success in feeding some of the lizards by hand, as many of the larger ones
simply stole our big crackers and cookies and ran off hurriedly into the bushes, we were getting ready to leave. Sharon had started collecting shells while I started walking back. On the way, I saw a cute green lizard run across the hot sand towards a piece of cement. Unlike all of the other hundreds of lizards I had seen earlier, this one was flurorescent green with a green and black striped tail.

Very slowly, I grabbed my camera bag and took out the camera, hoping to find the lizard again. Thinking that the lizard had run somewhere on the other side of the block, I quietly sat beside the block hoping to spot it somewhere nearby. The cute lizard was nowhere to be seen, even though I was sure he hadn't gone far. Sitting quietly, I noticed a tiny lime-green object on the far edge of the cement block, no more than two feet away from me. It was motionless, and after a few minutes I had assumed that it must simply be a leaf resting up against the block. Inching up slowly, I moved forward slightly to have a better look. Was that a pair of red eyes on either side of that green? I couldn't believe that the lizard had been sitting there all along. Testing him, I took out various pieces of food that I had with me and threw small samples towards the lizard, hoping to lure him out. Nothing. No movement whatsoever.

Inching forward again, I could now see the lizard's head and the start of his wrinkled skin below his throat. His skin was creased with these perfect patterns, and his eyes were deeply contoured with mounds of skin, giving him an expression that could only be described as cute.

Now, having spent at least fifteen minutes with him, I was testing my luck by reaching out with food, hoping that he would try eating some from my hand like all of the other lizards I had seen in the past few days. At the point where I was touching the cracker to his lips, he didn't make the slightest of movements or show any interest in the food. I then tried a raisin, followed by a cheesepuff. Again, nothing. He simply sat, head outstretched to watch me, with no apparent interest in food.

At this point I had been sitting with "Shamrock" for half an hour, watching his cute smile and little red eyes, wondering why he was still with me. I had been stroking his back with my index finger and I could feel his quick heart pulsing beneath the smoothly textured skin. I had a hard time trying to understand what it was that made Shamrock stay, as I had figured that a truly wild lizard would have no interest in staying near a human being for anything other than food. I felt a special bond with Shamrock, and wondered what must be running through his mind. I came to the conclusion that he must simply be curious and somehow ignored his natural instincts to run for cover upon seeing a huge person approaching nearby. It also seemed as though he didn't want to eat anything so that it would be clear what his intentions were -- one of making a connection for the sake of curiosity, rather than one of convenience.

Eventually we had to leave Shamrock. As I stood up and started to go, he scurried a couple of feet along the sand and stopped so that I could take a few photos. Then, he ran upright across the beach until he was no longer visible.

Although it was a minor moment with a tiny reptile, I felt a special connection that won't bee soon forgotten. I only wish I understood what he thought as he sat for half an hour watching me sitting still, one foot from his tiny body.

We later found out that "Shamrock" was a baby iguana. But where was it's mom :( Maybe it wanted to be adopted by Calvin....hehe.