Lignum Vitae Cay. Proposed by John Winslow in 1989.
Clues
Trans-Atlantic track
The first way to locate Guanahani is to follow the distances and directions Columbus gave in his log. This track leads to a point five nautical miles south of Watling Island/San Salvador. However, if ocean currents and winds are taken into account (as was attempted by Luis Marden for the National Geographic in 1986), the track leads to a point just south east of Samana Cay. If compass deviation is also taken into account, the track leads to a point south of Plana Cays, and east of Acklins Island.
The lights on the evening preceding the discovery
At 10 PM on October 11, Columbus noticed lights "like a little wax candle, rising and falling" at the horizon. He pointed them out to other people on board, some of whom were able to see the lights, while others didn't. The actual landfall was about 35 miles from the place Columbus saw the lights, so the lights could not have been from Guanahani, but must have been from another island. For the Plana Cays theory, this light would have been on Mayaguana. For Conception, it could have been on Cat Island, Watling/San Salvador or Rum Cay. For Caicos it could have been on Grand Turk. For Cat Island it could have been Watling/San Salvador and for Lignum Vitae Cay it could have been Eleuthera Island.
Description of Guanahani
Columbus calls the island very flat with many trees. This is true for all of the proposed islands. His next statement is more problematic. He says Guanahani has "muchas aguas y una laguna en medio muy grande". The word laguna creates many problems. It is uncertain whether it means lagoon or pond. In any case, most of the proposed islands have either a lagoon or pond; only East Caicos lacks one.
On October 14, Columbus made a boat trip to the eastern part of the island. Therefore he went the length of the island in a North-North-East direction. This is only possible on Plana Cays, Conception and Egg, and to a certain extend on Samana Cay. Columnus noticed a reef that completely surrounded the island. All proposed islands, exept Cat, have a reef, but the ones on Cat and Watling don't completely surround the island. Between the reef and the island was a harbor "large enough to store all ships of Christianity." Of course this is exagerration, but the harbor on Egg is definitely too small. Columbus went on land and saw "a piece of land, that looked like an island, but actually wasn't one." This is difficult to track, because it may have become a real island in the past 500 years.
Island or islands
A difficult problem about Guanahani is the question of whether Guanahani was one island or not. Evidence is contradictory. Colombus never says Guanahani consisted of several islands, someting which is surely worth noting. But on the map of Juan de la Cosa, who was with Columbus, Guanahani is shown as a string of islands.
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