The Prickly Pear Cays, sometimes spelt as Prickley Pear Cays, are a small pair of uninhabited islands about six miles from Road Bay,

Anguilla Anguilla is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Sa ...

, in the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. They are divided by a narrow boat channel between Prickly Pear East and Prickly Pear West. Prickly Pear Cays were classified as 'wildlands' by the "Eastern Caribbean Natural Area Management Programme" (ECNAMP). In addition, Prickly Pear Cays are one of six

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

s of Anguilla.

Geography

Along with

Dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

, Scrub, Little Scrub,

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

, and Sombrero islets, the Prickly Pear Cays are located on the drowned Anguilla Bank. The cays are characterized by

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

reefal limestone positioned upon Eocene-Oligocene volcanic rocks. These form a section of the active volcanic arc of the Lesser Antilles. The two cays are located close to each other at . They are accessible from Road Bay, Anguilla ( to its north) and Saint Martin either by

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

or sail boat. West Cay is longer than East Cay. North Cay, a rock outcrop, is situated north of East Cay. There is also a rock outcrop between Prickly Pear Cays and another cay known as Bush Cay, which is separated by a waterway. Another rocky protrusion, known as Flirt Rocks, is situated north of Prickly Pear Cays. Dog Island Channel separates Dog Island from the Prickly Pear Cays. West Cay is narrow, about long and rugged. Its western bay is covered with brush which rises to a height of . With rocky coral reefs, it has no easy boat landing facility. East Cay is about long and wide. It has sparse vegetation and a sandy shoreline. The east cay also has salt ponds. Prickly Pear Cays have been designated as a marine park with permanent moorings. There is total ban on coral extraction or shells from underwater and spear fishing is not allowed. The sea is generally calm. Prickly Pear Reef is an underwater canyon with ledges and caves whose depth varies from to and includes an underwater, chimney-like formation.

Geology

The geological formation in both the cays is of laminated calcareous sandstone. The layered stratigraphic formation is inferred to be due to "successive deposits by the tides or overflows from a troubled sea." Over a long period of exposure, these formations have developed a laminated condition with the lamination beds of to thickness. The strata are disturbed in several sections. They have been assessed as suitable for use in pavements in view of their compact formation. At West Cay, an old quarry near a good harbour was used for exporting sandstone slabs.

Flora and fauna

Along with certain sections of mainland Anguilla, Prickly Pear Cays were classified as 'wildlands' by ECNAMP in 1980. Many types of plants, birds and reptiles have been recorded in both the cays. Uncontrolled grazing by livestock is permitted in all the vegetation areas.

Plants

Both cays are covered by

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

. The vegetation is dictated by the thin soil mantle and the presence of limestone cavities. Prickly pear, pope's head cactus and sea grape are the dominant plants. Other common plants are mauby bark, milky thorn, lignum vitae, sage cop, loblolly, nicker tree (only on Prickly Pear East), cockspur and balsam bush.

Animals

Nesting birds are a common sight along the rocky coast line. The two cays have been identified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because of their breeding

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s. These include red-billed tropicbirds, brown pelicans, brown boobies,

laughing gull The laughing seagull (''Leucophaeus atricilla'') is a medium-sized gull of North America, North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic ...

s and least terns. Brown noddies and bridled terns also occur. Resident landbirds include Caribbean elaenias and yellow warblers. Numerous reptile species, such as Anguilla Bank anole and Anguilla Bank ameiva (on East Cay), are seen.

Sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...

s also frequent the shores of the cays. Marine fauna in the reef area include schooling

goatfish The goatfishes are ray-finned fish of the family Mullidae, the only family in the suborder Mulloidei of the order Syngnathiformes. The family is also sometimes referred to as the red mullets, which also refers more narrowly to the genus '' Mul ...

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...

, angelfish,

grouper Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

squirrelfish Holocentrinae is a subfamily of Holocentridae containing 40 recognized species and one proposed species. Its members are typically known as squirrelfish and all are nocturnal. All three genera in the subfamily are found in the Atlantic and ''Ho ...

butterflyfish The butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical ocean, marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae; the bannerfish and coralfish are also included in this group. The approximately 129 species in 12 genera are found mostly on the reefs of the ...

, tarpon, mangrove snapper and grunts.

Nurse shark The nurse shark (''Ginglymostoma cirratum'') is an Elasmobranchii, elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae. The conservation status of the nurse shark is globally assessed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, IUCN L ...

s are also seen resting at the sandy bottom under the ledges of the caverns.

Tourism

The islands are popular with

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

due to the abundant marine and bird life. There are two restaurants and a bar which are serviced by staff who come in each day from the mainland of Anguilla. Thatch roofed structures provide the ambience for the vistas of the turquoise blue seas which attract visitors to the cays. The East Cay has a landing area which requires careful manoeuvring. Snorkelling and diving are possible in the East Cay amidst the coral reefs, with several sunken ships in the area.

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Official website
Uninhabited islands of Anguilla Tourist attractions in Anguilla Marine reserves Important Bird Areas of Anguilla Seabird colonies