The other day, Whitni Nelson was paddleboarding off Mexico’s Central Pacific Coast with her husband and dog when she spotted a strange-looking log in the distance. She noticed that the log appeared to have some kind of animal on it, so she decided to get closer and investigate.
“I was like, ‘What the heck is that?’” Nelson told The Dodo.
As Nelson got closer, she realized that the animal on the log was an iguana. She’d seen iguanas swimming in the ocean before, but never so far out to sea.
“[T]hey’re great swimmers, but it was very, very far out from shore, maybe a mile,” Nelson said. “And the current was very strong that day.”
There’s no way to know how the iguana ended up in such deep waters, but Nelson suspected that the lizard had ended up there by accident and needed help.
“[M]aybe it was asleep on the log when the tide came up and then it drifted out,” Nelson said. “Or maybe he … got tired and found the log and got on it.”
Nelson and her husband decided to try towing the iguana’s log back to shore. Her husband carefully approached the log and tried to tie it to his board, but the lizard got spooked and hopped in the water. As the reptile started swimming away, it became clear he was struggling.
“He swam and swam, and then he was getting tired,” Nelson said. “His body stopped. You could tell he was slowing down.”
Nelson decided to see if the iguana would want to hitch a ride on her paddleboard. She approached him cautiously, speaking in soft tones to set the reptile at ease.
“I got not too close — I wanted it to be his choice,” Nelson said. “He swam toward me … and he got on my board, no problem.”
The iguana stayed on Nelson’s board for a little while, then jumped back into the water. As Nelson paddled back to the beach, the iguana alternated between swimming and taking breaks on Nelson’s board.
“When I got to shore, he jumped off and he ran onto the rocks and laid down,” Nelson said. “He just sat there and rested.”
Nelson offered the lizard a drink of fresh water, then said goodbye to let him warm up in peace. But she’ll never forget the day she shared her paddleboard with an iguana.
“It was such a neat moment,” Nelson said. “I just felt really, really honored.”
