Cayos de Albuquerque
The Cayos de Albuquerque, also known as the Cayos de Alburquerque and the Cayos del Sur-suroeste, are an atoll in the Caribbean Sea belonging to the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina">San Andrés (island)">San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina of Colombia. It is situated southwest of San Andrés and east of Nicaragua.
Characteristics
The atoll is the only island of the archipelago to have a circular shape, its diameter in the east-west direction being approximately 8 km. In the same direction, it consists of a windward pre-reef terrace, a lagoon, a lagoon terrace and a leeward pre-reef terrace.Albuquerque has two islands formed by accumulations of sediments on the lagoon terrace. The largest is called the North Cay and currently serves as a military post for the Colombian Navy. The dominant kinds of vegetation on the island are coconut palms, some species of rubber trees, and low shrubs ; bordering the leeward coast there is a meadow of marine phanerogams largely dominated by Thalassia testudinum. The South Cay island is separated from the north by a shallow channel around 400 meters wide and is densely vegetated by rubber trees.
The Caribbean Current is the predominant, and the surrounding waters are transparent oceanic with low nutrient inputs and constant salinity. The average temperature and salinity in the area is and 36.35 % respectively.