Great Guana Cay
Coordinates: 26°40′41″N 77°07′44″W / 26.678°N 77.129°W
Great Guana Cay is an islet located in The Bahamas. It is a long but narrow islet which is 9 miles (14.5 km) in length. It is located in the centre of the Abaco Islands. It is located about 8 miles from Marsh Harbour.
There is a five and a half mile long beach on the ocean side of the island which is one of the longest in the Bahamas. There is a cove located on the island called Kidd's Cove named after the pirate William Kidd.
The island has a population of approximately 150 people who live on a settlement which stretches along the beach.
Great Guana Cay's settlement is known for its rich loyalist culture and architecture, as well as its lively social scene. Several traditional loyalist homes exist in the settlement, which wraps around a natural harbor.
Wildlife
Great Guana Cay is a unique Abaco barrier island in that it hosts both one of the healthiest surviving elkhorn and staghorn coral reefs in the West Indies and also contains a large amount of virgin forest, making it prime habitat for migrating birds and Abaco endemics. Loggerhead sea turtles, green sea turtles and hawksbill sea turtles all nest on the island's beaches. Both White-crowned Pigeons and White-tailed Tropicbirds nest on the island. Before removal of the crabbing-ground mangroves by a golf development, land crabs such as mountain crabs were common and were hunted for food by the native population.
Baker's Bay controversy
Great Guana Cay came to international attention in conservation circles when the residents of the island grouped together to form Save Guana Cay Reef, an organization designed to fight the large footprint of the Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club, located at Baker's Bay.
Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Global Coral Reef Alliance, Mangrove Action Network and other conservation groups are working with the native islanders in a battle against the golf resort, which they say will destroy the island's mangroves and coral reef.