Puerto Rico: Hunters flock to Isla Mona

ISLA MONA, Puerto Rico (AP) --Turning eyes and shotguns toward a rustling bush on this uninhabited Caribbean island, the hunters eagerly await the day's prey.

In a flash, a 4-foot iguana emerges.

"Darn iguanas!" growls the camouflaged Angel Luis Seda, lowering his weapon in disappointment. "They sound like goats."

Set in some of the Caribbean's roughest waters, Isla Mona offers rugged adventure for those looking to hunt, explore caves adorned with petroglyphs, snorkel a pristine coral reef, spot rare boobies, hunt for pirate treasure, or investigate a lighthouse designed by Eiffel.

For four months of the year, the 7-by-4-mile island between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic attracts hundreds of hunters from the U.S. Caribbean territory and mainland.

They can kill up to five goats a day and any number of pigs, which are rarely sighted.

In return, they help protect the island's threatened Rhinoceros Iguana, or cyclura cornuta stejnegeri.

"It's a win-win situation," said Robert Matos, director of natural reserves for Puerto Rico's Natural Resources Department.

Biologists estimate the island is home to more than 2,000 iguanas, threatened by pigs, goats and feral cats brought by farmers in the 18th century. The pigs devour iguana eggs. The cats prey on young lizards. And the goats feast on plants the iguanas eat.

In 1999, scientists began catching iguana hatchlings and raising them until they're capable of protecting themselves. About 40 adults have since been released, said biologist Alberto Alvarez, who directs the project.

"This is hostile land," says Seda, one of 75 hunters who came toward the end of the hunting season in March. It begins in December with a month devoted to hunting with bows and arrows.

Galapagos of the Caribbean
Dubbed the "Galapagos of the Caribbean" for its remoteness and wildlife, the island boasts red-footed boobies, more than 50 species of spiders, endangered hawksbill turtles and falcons.

Hunters come on a three-hour boat ride made nauseating by choppy water and strong currents, to experience a mixture of heaven and hell.

Temperatures can soar to 110 degrees in winter, two deadly types of scorpions are indigenous, and dense thorn bushes make Mona hard to navigate.

A teenage Boy Scout died of dehydration in 2001 after getting lost. The same year, a hunter died after his friend mistakenly shot him.

Although Seda and companion Victor Padilla know the island well, they carry a Global Positioning System and, if separated, whistle out before shooting.

"It's better to scare the animal away than to get shot," says Leoneides Morina, 45, a shirtless hunter with hands bloody from skinning a goat.

The island's wild beauty makes the challenges worthwhile.

Bleached bluffs buttress coral reefs that are a paradise for divers and snorkelers.

About 200 limestone caves await explorers, some with petroglyphs from Taino Indians who lived here before Ponce de Leon and his Spanish conquistadors arrived.

The caves, some large enough to hold a small cruise ship, once were used for mining guano. Carts and rail tracks still litter some of the larger ones, remnants of concessions granted to companies from Spain, Germany and Puerto Rico in the late 19th century.

Pirates, treasure
Isla Mona translates to "monkey island" in English, but there never were any monkeys here. It was named for a Taino chief called Amona.

Bands of pirates also stopped by, and legend has it that buried treasures abound.

The infamous Captain Kidd hid out here in 1699 while England sent word it wanted him executed. Kidd should have stayed. He left for New York, where he was captured and shipped to England for hanging.

On the east coast, a cast iron lighthouse in disrepair draws visitors because it was designed by the company of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, according to Ovidio Davila of Puerto Rico's Culture Institute.

The island was last inhabited in the early 1940s when the Civilian Conservation Corps sent hundreds of people to plant trees in a post-Depression era program to create jobs.

Illegal Dominican migrants trying to reach mainland Puerto Rico sometimes stop here when they encounter rough seas or engine trouble. A graveyard of a dozen or so mangled boats on the west end of the island bears testimony to unsuccessful attempts.

Today, Isla Mona is a remote outpost, visited by biologists, hunters and tourists who must get permits from the Department of Natural Resources. The only accommodation is a $4-a-night campsite with dinner, often a hearty goat stew cooked with cilantro and served with rice and beans.

Hunters ship the rest of their booty to the main island for sale.

"You alleviate stress with nature," said Padilla, a 32-year-old auto parts store manager. "This is the life."

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I studied in Puerto Rico back in the early '70's. I traveled to Mona Island many times as my best buddies father worked for the forest service as the head of Carribean forestry. Nobody went to Mona Island then except for a couple of Coast Guard guys that tended the lighthouse. There is also an old German guano processing plant that has been long since abandoned. Captain Kidd is said to have buried treasure there. The Mona Passage between PR and Mona makes for a ROUGH boat ride. The diving was good but there were LOTS of sharks.One time when I was there a freighter ran onto the reef surrounding the island at about 17 knots. Their hold was full of plantains. When we woke up the next morning, there was a 3 foot wall around the island of plantains. We left before they started to rot and stink. Still had to call a huge tug out of Jacksonville to pull the empty ship off the reef. A great place to camp and swim. If you get the chance, it's a place well worth discovering.

M1rage, that sounds like it could be worth looking in to.