about the bahamas
Bahama Islands News, Articles and Information
Bahamas' marina demand rises on S. Florida boat-slip shortage
FREEPORT, Bahamas - South Florida boaters have long escaped to the Bahamas for its laid-back lifestyle -- remember the slogan, ``It's Better in the Bahamas''?But now some boaters are fleeing to the 700-island archipelago out of economic necessity. As condominium towers continue to rise where marinas used to be, local boaters are scrambling to find dock space, an increasingly expensive luxury that can cost as much as the boat itself.
Some believe the Bahamas could soon rival South Florida as a boating destination with new marinas promising lower prices, swank amenities -- everything from landing strips for private planes to 18-hole golf courses -- and lots of available slips.
''Florida is sold out,'' said Eddie Lauth, a developer who plans to build two marinas about 240 miles southeast of Miami, on the island of Eleuthera.
GB is calm before storm
Grand Bahamians appeared to be taking a relaxed approach to tropical storm Ernesto even as it closed down airports and threatened the safety of boaters.Although hurricane watches are still in effect for the North-West Bahamas and tropical storm Ernesto has backed up travel plans, many residents in Grand Bahama seemed not too take the possible hurricane too seriously.
Vice President of Development at the Grand Bahama Development Company (GBDC), Dillon Knowles, said that in his observation of houses in a typical neighbourhood, one would notice only around 10 per cent of these dwellings looked ready for hurricane weather on the outside.
"I think everyone took it more seriously 24 hours ago," said the executive. "I would not say people are procrastinating, but they are being cautious about boarding up."
Another GB source openly admitted to The Nassau Guardian that she was not taking the storm as seriously as she had taken others in the past.
GB family mourns loss of slain woman
Numb with grief, Veronica Smith's mother found it hard yesterday to bring the words out to describe her slain daughter as she sat in a love seat with her head tilted in her hand.Lorraine Thomas had only learned six days ago her daughter was missing after getting an uneasy feeling that something was terribly wrong.
Veronica, 26, was weighing heavily on her heart when she woke up that morning. She began to pray and decided to call her daughter at work.
Brianne, as she was affectionately called by her middle name, had grown up in Grand Bahama, graduated from St. Georges High and moved to New Providence about four years ago to further her education.
After completing two years of studies in chemistry at College of The Bahamas, she began working and had eventually moved in with a co-worker.
Land use manual urged
An environmentalist is calling on the government to introduce a land-use manual to protect the country's fragile environment, especially wetlands in Andros.Margo Blackwell, a guest on Sunday Conversations, an Island FM radio talk show, said that despite Andros being the largest island in The Bahamas its land must still be carefully used, and protected as necessary.
Mrs Blackwell heads the Bahamas Environmental Research Centre in Andros.
She said that, "Andros is huge and big and we all brag about it being the fourth largest island in the Caribbean...The bottom line is at least two thirds of Andros is wetlands connected from the east to the west, and so you don't have useable land. That's one of the issues that we have to be very careful about.
Bahamian teen makes GB history
Donnica Dunkley has much to be excited about these days, because as an outstanding student, she is now well on her way to begin classes at a leading United States university this fall.Dunkley, whose parents are both teachers in Grand Bahama, is the first local student to win her way into tertiary education after gaining the prestigious International Baccalaureate diploma.
She was one of five to graduate this summer from Lucaya International School's inaugural IB class. The school is one of only three offering the innovative course in the Bahamas and there are only two others in the Caribbean basin.
Donnica is beginning her course at Wells College in New York State. It is a prestigious institution with very close links to Cornell University and its famed medical school.
Joining Hands For Health: The Importance Of Child And Adult
(Editor's Note: When we consider the importance of immunization, most persons usually think about children. However, one would find out that adult immunization is just as important as childhood immunization. Each August is identified as the International Immunization Month, which is closely followed by the third (3rd) week in September as our National Immunization Week in The Bahamas. The Bahamas has been rated by international standards as having 92% coverage and eradication of the crippling and sometimes deadly communicable diseases. ) .FNM tours Atlantis
Hubert Ingraham moved briskly past cement mixers, bulldozers and tool-toting workmen as he and his party viewed construction on Phase Three of Kerzner International's Atlantis Resort. Not even chairman Sol Kerzner beamed more than the Opposition leader yesterday as he took in the ocean view from one of two presidential suites in the 600-room luxury wing."I hear lots of talk that lots of birds that are going to come," Mr Ingraham told reporters during a press conference following the tour. "This bird is in the hand. This bird has been delivered."
To be sure, Mr Ingraham was not really talking about birds. He was using the bird analogy to explain that Atlantis was a successful project his administration had helped to bring to The Bahamas. His mention of "birds that are going to come," was a reference to the billions of dollars in development that have been signed by the Christie administration but have yet to fly off the drawing board.
Bimini fears a paradise lost to builder
For decades, all it has taken to lure tourists to this Bahamian island 48 miles east of Florida has been clear water, world-class fishing and the lack of just about everything else.So Lloyd ''Duda'' Edgecombe, a Bimini district council member, questions the wisdom of Miami developers who want to build a 250-room hotel, 18-hole golf course, 550-slip marina and glitzy casino on a flattened strip of sand once thick with marshes and mangroves.
The project, the Bimini Bay Resort and Casino, is far from the largest development in the Bahamas, but it's massive by Bimini standards. It will ultimately cover a tenth of the island, and developers promise it will create jobs for the entire population of 1,700.
But some critics worry it's also an example of how such mega-projects threaten the environment and the traditional island lifestyle that beckons visitors to places like Bimini in the first place.
'Don't tip' The Bahamas – An inquiry into the economics of LNG
Well, the 'pros and cons' of the development of a Bahamian LNG industry are again being discussed. Such being the case, it is not unreasonable for one, who has already had much to say about this matter to make a further contribution to the contemporary debate.Now the position of the writer with regard to LNG, as revealed in former documents, is well known he holds tenaciously to the thesis that a well managed LNG industry, with the appropriate safeguards, can prove to be a source of tremendous economic benefit to the people of The Bahamas, without causing damage to the ecology and "the clean, green pristine" beauty of these Islands.
It is therefore, not necessary "to go over the ground already covered" in them. Then concentration will be upon the economic aspects, especially potential revenue to the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, recruitment, training and protection of Bahamian employees.