Hubris
July 8, 2009
I just received this image of Great Guana Cay taken at 24,000 feet. It is the best image yet explaining the unbelievable hubris of Discovery Land Company and the University of Miami scientists who, in their EIA for the development, wrote, "The Developers believe that good environmental stewardship will add value to the community, as well as protect property from storm damage and erosion. The Project is compatible with the
pattern of development of second homes and vacation homes throughout the cays and mainland of Abaco."
For those of you who are not that familiar with Great Guana Cay's development issue, let me explain a few things. The orientation of this image is not exactly north to south. You can visit my Guana Cay map to compare.
In the upper edge of this photo is the Atlantic Ocean. Hugging the Atlantic side of the ocean is the Guana Cay coral reef, which is part of the Abaco Barrier Reef. The swollen end of the island is where you can see a golf course and home lots being constructed. This area is where the Guana Cay coral reef is its most magnificent, and may be the best or second best reef - in terms of sheer diversity, coral sizes and overall reef size, that exists in the Abacos.
The rest of the denuded areas are the rest of Baker's Bay Club; more home lots and the marina itself. This marina was dug from porous limestone. Pollutants from the marina will have a quick path to the reef.
The sedimentation, nutrient, pollutant and silting issues being created by this development are very clear by the scope and size of land removal occuring at a fast pace. It is in the interest of global conservation and the preservation of reef ecosystems to have construction at Baker's Bay halted as soon as possible. Today is Day 2 in the Privy Council court. Godspeed, reef defenders.
Day 1 Privy Council: Notes on Golf Courses and Marinas
July 7, 2009
Today is the first day of court in the Privy Council for the residents of Great Guana Cay versus Discovery Land Company and the Bahamian government. I thought this would be a good time to review some of the primary concerns about the golf course and the marina. First, however, I just received this photograph which shows the construction of lots on the Sea of Abaco side of the island. Note that palms are being used between the tiny lots. The sheer amount of denuded land is incredible: silting and sedimentation are ground one for reef destruction, and the photos coming in are revealing an entire island side that has been stripped of vegetation.
Baker's Bay Club Golf Course
The main environmental concerns for the golf course are stressors to coral reefs and other elements of the marine environment adjacent to the project from (1) sedimentation from construction activities during the major reworking of the landscape required to construct the golf course, and (2) runoff of pollutants into the groundwater or the adjacent sea water areas on either side of the golf course during the initial seeding of the golf course and the subsequent maintenance of the golf course if it is completed. These pollutants include fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and nutrients from waste water treated to “irrigation” standards. The Baker's Bay Club development highlights its championship quality “Tom Fazio” brand name golf course, so one would presume that a high priority would be placed on keeping the grass on that course very green and free from weeds.
Page 90 0f the EIA acknowledges these concerns as follows:
“The location of golf courses near the coastline causes concern about nonpoint source (NPS) pollution effects on the water quality of surrounding marine and wetland environments. Of particular interest is the impact of herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers on groundwater quality. Golf courses are intensive production systems, and the frequent mowing and application of fertilizers or pesticides requires careful management to avoid damage to the surrounding environment. Nitrogen, phosphorus and many pesticides are potential pollutants of groundwater, and monitoring of their movement from turf grass areas to receiving waters is needed.”
The developer’s Frequently Asked Questions document states the following regarding the golf course concerns:
“The course will be grassed with Seashore Paspalum, a grass variety requiring little or no fertilizer and more tolerant to brackish and re-use water. The design intent is to limit the amount of irrigated turfgrass in favor of non-irrigated native plants. Further, the golf course grading plans are designed to slope into the island’s interior into lined man-made wetlands, which act as a natural water filtration system. The drainage water is then re-circulated into the irrigation system, as opposed to running off into the ocean. A secondary safeguard is an area of native vegetation between the golf course and the ocean.”
The developer has stressed the planned use of paspalum grass to minimize the need for fertilizers.Our friends at the Winding Bay golf course on mainland Abaco also reports that the salinity of the water used on that golf course minimizes or eliminates the need for herbicides. Although the developer speaks of minimal amounts of fertilizers, and pesticides, no scientist or conservationist has been able to obtain estimates from the developer of the actual amounts planned for use even during the construction phase of the project.
Nutrients, especially nitrogen, reaching coral reefs have the potential to increase the growth of algae, which in turn can smother live coral. The fertilizers used on golf courses contain nitrogen and phosphorous, among other chemicals. Waste water treated to “irrigation” standards also contains nitrogen. So, while it may be true that “minimal” amounts of chemical fertilizers might be applied, the waste water used for irrigation is another form of fertilizer.
The developer states that Seashore Paspalum requires “little or no fertilizer.” The EIA does not contain any quantitative statement as to the amount of fertilizer they plan to use. We have been unable so far to obtain such estimates from other sources. According to an article published by the University of Florida, however, Seashore Paspalum is described as having “minimal fertility requirements,” and “excellent tolerance to saline or recycled water,” as well as “good insect and disease resistance.” So, we would agree that this appears to be a good choice of grass for the golf course. We are left with the question, however, as to what “minimal” amounts of fertilizers really means, and how much of a threat they pose to the marine environment, coral reefs especially, given the close proximity of the golf course to the reefs.
NUTRIENTS FROM WASTE WATER IRRIGATION
The use of waste water for irrigating the golf course is a key element of the developer’s proposal. The waste water would be treated to “irrigation” standards, which the chart on Page 65 of the EIA describes as “nutrient rich water for irrigation.” Although in many places the EIA mentions the need for detailed water quality monitoring, no parameters are provided regarding the expected water quality, nitrogen content in particular, of the waste water effluent to be applied to the golf course.
PESTICIDES (INCLUDING FUNGICIDES) AND HERBICIDES
The following statement EIA on Page 137 acknowledges that pesticides can impact coral reefs:
“Therefore, coral colonies may be particularly susceptible to pesticides (Rawlins BG et al. 1998) and heavy metals (Morgan MB et al. 2001). Chemical pollutants may have negative impacts at the population level since coral reproduction and recruitment are chemically mediated processes sensitive to coastal pollution and changes in water quality (Richmond RH 1993).”
The EIA mentions the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers on Page 99, along with recommendations for their use and encouragement of minimal usage. As noted previously, the statements are recommendations of actions that should be taken, but there are no listings of the expected types and quantities of the chemicals that will be applied.
“5. Advanced technology/monitoring equipment should be used to insure minimal application of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.
6. Use of the slow-release, less soluble, and least mobile chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides available is encouraged. These products should be used at the smallest rates of active ingredient to accomplish the desired result.”
The golf course will be primarily irrigated with water from a reverse osmosis desalinization plant. The EIA on page 65 indicates that effluent from the plant would be at 10 parts per thousand saline content. This may act to reduce the need for pesticides and herbicides, as has been the experience cited for Winding Bay, but the EIA provides no quantitative basis for that assumption.
In his study Dr. Risk noted that:
“It is, however, impossible to grow grass without water, and impossible to grow golf course grass without fertilizer. No matter how well the use of these two is monitored, some will inevitably escape to the sea. The use of organic fertilizers will delay but not halt the nutrient release.”
He reached the overall conclusion that:
“Because of the extraordinarily high porosity and permeability of the carbonate sands on the island, any runoff from the golf course will be transmitted rapidly down the length of the island. At the site of the proposed golf course, there are excellent reefs a few 10's of metres from the shore-this is a situation not found in many areas. Nutrient effects on reefs have been traced for more than 15 km. Runoff from the golf course will likely be a death sentence to the adjacent reefs, and a threat to reefs the length of the Cay”.
Baker's Bay Club Marina: SEDIMENTATION FROM CONSTRUCTION PHASE AND POST-CONSTRUCTION MAINTENANCE DREDGING
Dredging would take place during the construction of the marina, posing hazards to the coral reefs and bonefish flats due to siltation. If the marina is constructed, the “second channel” will also require periodic dredging, with attendant risks to the reefs
IMPACTS FROM OCCUPANTS OF MARINA AND ASSOCIATED MARINA OPERATIONS
Whether or not the Baker's Bay Club marina would ever be occupied at the ambitious levels of the current plan, there will be numerous threats to the marine environment from any yachts berthed in the marina, from the occupants of the vessels, and from the operations of the marina. Pollutants from the vessels include toxic chemicals used as anti-fouling paint, as well as the more obvious sources of pollutants from fuels, lubricants, materials washed from the decks, and various items of trash.
Here are some observations regarding the Environmental Management Plan as described in the EIA.
- There is no public monitoring phase of the EMP being implemented as described in the EIA. The Great Guana Cay Foundation website supposedly established to provide “transparent” reporting, but there is no pre-construction data relating to coral reefs, fish, and related marine species.
Regarding the REA for the marine environment, including the coral reefs, Dr. Risk commented:
- “The EIA is strangely lacking in detail on the marine environment. There are species lists of the fish seen during surveys conducted using the Roving Diver Technique, RDT (www.reef.org), and a species list of corals. I was provided with no information as to sites, site selection, methods for coral ID.”
- “There are plans in the EIA for progressive monitoring of groundwater (this section of the EIA is quite good), and the innovative use of on-site web-cams. There seems to be no process-response model, no system of checks and balances via which construction may be halted should part of the system break down. In fact, there is a statement in the EIA to the effect that the worst environmental damage would be done if this project were not completed. This seems like a veiled threat, and carries the implication that, once begun, the process cannot be stopped. Given this situation, it is absolutely essential that research-grade baseline monitoring of the reef resources be undertaken, before the project commences.”
No research-grade baseline assessment or monitoring of the reef resources has been performed under the auspices of the EMP as of now.
The International Year of the Reef website summarizes marinas and reefs this way; "Sensitive habitats can be destroyed or disturbed by dredging activities to make deep-water channels or marinas, and through the dumping of waste materials. Where land development alters the natural flow of water, greater amounts of fresh water, nutrients and sediment can reach the reefs causing further degradation. Within the last 20 years, once prolific mangrove forests, which absorb massive amounts of nutrients and sediment from runoff caused by farming and construction, have been destroyed. Nutrient-rich water causes fleshy algae and phytoplankton to thrive in coastal areas in suffocating amounts known as algal blooms. Coral reefs are biological assemblages adapted to waters with low nutrient content, and the addition of nutrients favours species that disrupt the balance of the reef communities."
Baker's Bay Club and Environmental Reporting
July 4, 2009
In an earlier post, we discussed how all of the local's concerns about Baker's Bay Club's harm to the local environment, culture and economy have begun to actually happen. As the Guana Cay residents are only a few days away from their court date at Privy Council, I thought we should take a look at Discovery Land Company's early promises of environmental monitoring and reporting. Have they followed through with monitoring and reporting as established by early promises and references in the EIA? Was the promise of environmental monitoring and reporting a sham? Read on and decide for yourself.
What is Environmental Monitoring and Reporting?
Environmental monitoring is the act of having an independent team of scientists monitor the quality of an environment; ultimately the review and publication of monitoring results is to satisfy some objective. When a developer who is engaged in practices that could harm a local environment is required or volunteers to have their practices monitored, the idea is that this monitoring and reporting serves to make the affected community aware of potential incidents, to keep them involved in the development process, and ultimately, to provide a check and balance, a motivator, to keep the developer's development practices in check.
What were the Guana Cay Locals Promised?
According to the developer's EIA, this quote summarizes what Discovery Land Company promised:
With the Great Guana Cay Foundation, the Environmental management team will work to develop strategies and scope of work for implementing:
• Educational outreach programs and training programs
• Clear management and project communications and reporting
• Independent reporting and verification
The course of development, the results of the monitoring programs and any incidental occurrences will be documented on a regular basis. Information gained and processed will be reported directly to all necessary government agencies and stakeholders. A defined liaison will be identified with this responsibility.
Unfortuantely, none of the above has happened. If there was a monitoring team on site, there no longer is. Kathleen Sealey, who was once in charge of the project, is no longer involved, and Earthwatch, which once helped with environmental monitoring, has not visited the island since about 2006.
Locals have been denied any reporting whatsoever. Guana Cay residents have never seen any incident reporting, and they have been denied all the monitoring and reporting activities the developer promised.
Shenique Albury
Discovery Land Company stated that a Ms. Shenique Albury was the representative between Discovery Land Company and the locals, but few people know who this person is, and she has not been on Great Guana Cay since 2005, at which time she left to complete her studies.
Great Guana Cay Foundation was Developer's Invention
Discovery Land Company created a website that was designed to look like the developer was gearing up for an extensive monitoring and reporting function. Non-functioning links to environmental reports and web cams would allow all affected parties the opportunity to be involved and notified of construction practices and their consequences onsite. The website was designed to look independent of the developer themselves, as if a third party was responsible for independent monitoring. The website, which has not been updated since November 24, 2005, or almost four years ago, was a complete sham, designed as marketing tool to make it look like Discovery Land Company intended to provide incident monitoring and reporting to the local community.
WebCam as Example
Kathleen Sealey writes in the developer's EIA, "THE MOST CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY TO BE USED ON THIS PROJECT IS ON-SITE “WEB-CAM”, USED TO MONITOR VARIOUS PHASES OF CONSTRUCTION. Real time web-camera will help prevent problems from occurring as well as help guide restoration of “errors”.
Of course, the web-cam has not been implemented. There is a WEBCAM tab at the Great Guana Cay Foundation website, but it is not functional. Locals were led to believe that the University of Miami monitoring team would allow transparent access to all construction activities. In fact, construction activities are so secretive that local's are often kept off public beaches near the development.
Without Monitoring
Without monitoring, it is all but certain that Baker's Bay is covering up oil spills, driving over sea turtle nesting grounds, planting exotic plant species, dumping pesticides into the coral reef and so forth. It is a shame, but hopefully the lesson will serve other local groups throughout the Caribbean basin that promises are often just tools to make megadevelopments more palatable. All too often, when the developer is unethical, monitoring and reporting promises are just gateways to getting the development approved by required authorities.
Learn More
Read the University of Miami EIA here.
Read the University of Miami EMP here.
A Primer on Her Majesty's Most Honoutrable Privy Council
July 1, 2009
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| Benjamin Franklin appears before the Privy Council in 1774. |
In one week from today, Save Guana Cay Reef will appear as the appelant at Privy Council in London. This 'court of last resorts' is the highest court in the Bahamian judicial system. SGCR will argue that the government and developers pursued a deliberate policy of non-consultation with the residents of Great Guana Cay, in order to fast-track a development that would harm the island's ecosystem, culture and environment.
Her Majesty's Honourable Privy Counil began in the year 895, when King Alfred's group of advisor's were known as the King's Privy Council. Historically, the King and Queen heard final appeals, but since they could not take on every appeal, the Privy Council took on a role similar to the United States' Supreme Court.
 As the United Kingdom expanded its empire across the globe, the Privy Council began taking on cases throughout the Kingdom. Through the last several hundreds of years of history, the Privy Council became the court which heard final appeals from people in India, Africa, the Far East and the Americas.
Today, the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom, and performs judicial functions for British Overseas Territories, Sovereign Base Areas, Crown Dependencies, and some of the Commonwealth countries. In small countries like the Bahamas, where judges are, by the sheer smallness of the government, are often too close to the government-in-power to truly be impartial. For the Bahamas, whose government corruption is well known and documented, the Privy Council acts as a final check to a court system which has inherent weaknesses of partiality.
When SGCR is heard before the Privy Council, they will in fact be making an appeal to the Queen of England, who refers her judgment to the the Privy Council, which meets on Downing Street.
These areas all hear cases at Privy Council:
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Belize
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands
Brunei
Cayman Islands
Cook Islands
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Dominica
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar
Grenada
Isle of Man.
Jamaica
Mauritius
Montserrat |
Niue
Pitcairn Islands.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus. |
St. Helena and dependencies
The Crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu |
As the SGCR case against Baker's Bay Club and the Government of the Bahamas has proceeded through the Bahamian legal system, it has met before Privy Council on two occasions. On both occasions, the Privy Council offered a favorable result to the residents of Guana Cay. At one point in 2006, the Privy Council halted construction at Baker's Bay Club until a decision was made by the Bahamian Courts. This construction halt lasted six months, and according to Baker's Bay Club, cost them millions of dollars.
Read more:
"Constitutional Rights at Stake" Freeport Tribune, June 25, 2009
"10 Issues Cited in Guana Cay's Privy Counil Legal Appeal" June 24, 2009
 I recommend The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, for a Belize environmental case which ends up at Privy Council. Although the result was unfavorable to the appellants, the case was the first of its kind in Privy Council, and the SGCR case is much stronger.
A quote from the New York Times review of the book: "You may think you’ve heard this tale before: the tree/bird/fish huggers against the land-raping multinationals. But few parts of Barcott’s story are what they appear: what’s local is global, insiders are outsiders (and vice versa) and scientists transform themselves, with the signing of nondisclosure agreements, into “biostitutes” for hire. Matola herself is a complicated hero — “strange and sometimes aggravating.”
New Tribune Article, "Constitutional Rights at Stake"
June 26, 2009
Neil Hartnell, Tribune business editor, has a new article on the SGCR legal case. It is an essential read.
Guana Cay Roundup
Two Weeks to Privy Council, Guana Residents Reflect on Save Guana Cay Reef Triumphs
June 26, 2009
Readers have asked for a summary of where everything stands on the Great Guana Cay environmental battle as the final Privy Council court date looms less than two weeks away.
New readers should read Eyes of the West Indies to learn more about the issues. You can also check in at Save Guana Cay Reef to learn more about the issues and donate to the locals who are fighting Baker's Bay Club.
The locals of Great Guana Cay have recently spoken about their plight at the United Nations (read more here).
You should download this article (Link to PDF) to learn about the court case. Also, I have created a press packet of articles, which you can feel free to download here.
In 2004, then Prime MInister of the Bahamas Perry Christie actively promoted his road to economic success for the Bahamas: entice large-scale developers to Bahamas' quiet out-islands, give them incentives to build massive developments, and these developments will in turn seed the quiet economies into flourishing tourism industries.
The small island of Great Guana Cay was to become one of these anchor developments. Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club would be a luxurious golf and marina development, catering to U.S. west coast mega-rich, superstars and aging golfers.
Discovery Land Company, the Baker's Bay developer, signed into a Heads of Agreement with the Perry Christie Administration. The document gave them unprecedented access, rights and privileges. The Bahamian central government even offered to hand over Great Guana Cay's public land to the developer. In the Bahamas, this public land is called Treasury Land and Crown Land, and is designed to be held in perpetuity by Bahamians. On Great Guana Cay, which is only six miles long and a quarter mile wide, the crown and treasury lands were the island's only remaining public land. This land, in fact, was where the islanders foraged for land crabs; a 200 year old tradition in the Abaco Islands, of which Great Guana Cay is a very small part.
The only problem was, the Bahamian residents of Great Guana Cay were never consulted. Nobody ever bothered to ask them if this is what they wanted.
Suddenly, a distant government had decided that their island would become a golf course. That their way of life would be gone forever. That their children would be raised adjacent to a gated community of California-style megadevelopment buildings, rising in all its pink splendor high up in the air, populated by fast-talking foreigners with poodles and big opinions on marlin hooks and golf gadgets.
What's worse, some locals were beginning to sense that such a large development: a massive contoured golf course, a 240 slip marina, hundreds of mansions, a hotel, tennis courts, restaurants, entertainment centers, could pose a threat to their island's treasured natural resources - one of the best remaining examples of a Northern Bahamas coral reef, a wildlife-rich mangrove, orchid and bromeliad coppice forests, refuge for numerous endangered species, and an aquamarine bay filled with endangered sea turtles, scattered starfish and conch, bottom-feeding sharks.
Quickly the Bahamian residents joined with hundreds of homeowners and formed an association called Save Guana Cay Reef.
Now, so far, this was all expected. Golf developments are used to locals forming opposition to their developments. The threats that golf courses pose to local communities and environments are well known, and so developers are prepared for any possible action a local community may take against them. Discovery Land Company, one of the most cunning and successful luxury golf developers, was more than prepared for even the most vicious opposition to their development. No problem, all was accounted for.
In the end, the developer has more resources. No local group lasts more than a few years.
Except that on Great Guana Cay, the impossible happened.
For some reason, the locals continued to fight. All of the analysts and lawyers and consultants from the Bahamian government had no idea what was coming.
The locals of Great Guana Cay agreed to fight Discvery Land Company indefinitely.
The locals found a lawyer who was willing to take on their cause pro bono. Attorney Fred Smith took Save Guana Cay Reef through four years of the Bahamian courts, fighting both the Discovery Land Company and the Bahamian government. After four years of legal fights and many losses within the Bahamian court system, the case will now be heard by Privy Council in London. Since the beginning, the locals have raised the point that the Perry Christie Anchor Development project was bound for failure. We now know these early concerns to be prescient. I compiled the current status of all of the anchor developments here.
Lets look back at why the Great Guana Cay locals initially decided to oppose Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Development:
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 Construction is killing off the Guana Cay reef. A barrier reef encloses one of the Bahamas' most spectacular, most bio-diverse and most critically important Bahamian natural heritage sites in existence. The reef is enduring run-off, pollution and nutrient overload during construction of the massive development. Rich coral communities lie only 45 feet from the 13th fairway. Coral ecologist Dr. Mike Risk has stated this activity will destroy the coral reef within a matter of two to three years.
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 The mangroves ecosystem has been uprooted and replaced by a marina for megayachts. Mangroves are critical to small islands for several reasons. They filter the nutrients from land, which is vital for coral reef health. They are also the fisheries for many of the seagrass bed and coral reef fish. Lastly, they are a natural bulwark against hurricanes. Islands that develop their mangroves areas away often face increasing erosion problems in the future. The mangroves area of Great Guana Cay also held species of flowering plants such as orchids and bromeliads.
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 Bird migration routes permanently disrupted. The northern end of Great Guana Cay was first land for migrating warblers and other birds migrating on the Atlantic flyway. This habitat was unique in the Abacos but now has been lost. Warblers need landfall after a lengthy sea route from the Atlantic states to the Caribbean en route on their continental journeys. Great Guana Cay was a unique habitat because of the Baker's Bay property - thick in diverse terrain that no longer exists elsewhere in first landfall.
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 Sea turtle nesting grounds disrupted. Since Baker's Bay Club began construction, sea turtle nesting grounds on the island have diminished. Traditionally, green turtles, loggerhead turtles and hawksbill turtles all nested on the beaches of the Baker's Bay property. These threatened and endangered species face fewer undeveloped beaches to nest, and the Baker's Bay beaches are another property lost to overdevelopment.
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 Traditional crabbing grounds lost. Crown and Treasury Lands are public lands to be used for the benefit of Bahamians, in many ways like American national park land. But the Bahamian government offered Great Guana Cay's public land to the gated Baker's Bay Club. For 200 years, Guana Cay residents used this mangrove-rich land as for crabbing; literally, for subsistence hunting of the island's land crabs. This land is now under construction. These losses, possibly illegal, constitute a component of the legal battle.
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Locals believe that they should have a say in their own future. As somebody who grew up with a strong belief in ideas like local rights, individual rights, community rights and the rights in general of smaller units to more efficiently determine the health and success of their community, I concur with the locals of Great Guana Cay that they too should have political rights to determine the fate of their grandchildren.
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 Gated golf communities are a subculture in and of themselves, and do not necessarily attract the highest quality people in the world. Such a megadevelopment would alter the makeup of the island. Guana Cay’s rich culture of native Bahamians and respectful cottage tourists would be forever altered by a golf community. Guana’s successful economy works well largely because it is a place for people to escape the kind of place that Baker’s Bay would become.
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 Endangered species. Developments built today have a higher standard to pass than developments built in say, the 1950s or 1960s, when we did not understand the consequences of development in sensitive areas. Today, the Bahamas and Caribbean are one of the ‘hotspots’ for major diversity problems. Guana’s north end is a unique habitat that scarcely exists anymore in the Northern Bahamas. Three species of sea turtle will be affected by this development, endangered elkhorn and staghorn corals will be affected by this development. Migrating Atlantic flyway bird species (already in decline) will be affected by the destruction of their habitat here, which is important because the N. Abacos are first land after hundreds of miles of Atlantic flight. Although the EIA didn’t spend much time on the threat of the development to passerines, I am more convinced that this is significant as well.
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 Erosion danger. The destruction of mangroves and coppice at the Baker's Bay property is significant. The right hurricane could significantly alter the island; split it in two. In general, however, the erosion, silting, pollution, and sedimentation created by the clearing of native habitat will have spiraling significance in threatening the coral, the island’s makeup, the beaches, and more. Remember that Baker’s Bay is terraforming the northern end of Guana. This is completely, 100% unacceptable in such an area. The environmental consequences of such actions are considerable.
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 Danger to Island's Economy. While the developer believes that this development will improve the economy of the island, many locals on Great Guana Cay disagree, and many believe that the development will harm their economy. There are several indications that Baker's Bay is doing very bad; letting their Central American workers go, falling behind on payments, and seeing very slow purchase rates on their lots. Guana had 100% employment. It is a model of a successful economy. But I know for a fact that many people are turned off to Guana because the development represents that the island is losing its charm which made it so successful for so many years. It is not up to a foreign developer to claim what is good for a place. It is up to the people who live there. I talked to economists about this issue, and they were not convinced that Baker’s Bay was so good to the local economy. And also, in terms of community rights, it doesn’t matter what the development will do to the Abaco economy. It matters what it will do to the economy of the place that it affects.
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Tribune Article Explains Save Guana Cay Privy Case
June 24, 2009
Just received this article from the Freeport Tribune, explaining the Guana Cay legal case.
Link to PDF
State of Bahamas Anchor Developments Today
June 24, 2009
I'll be adding the status of all Anchor Developments throughout the next 48 hours.
BIMINI BAY RESORT AND CASINO
Developer: RAV Bahamas, a subsidiary olf Miami-based Capo Group
Acres: 700
Features: 2,100 Housing Units, a 250 Room hotel managed by Conrad Hilton, a 20,000 square foot casino, small convention center, and 18 hole golf course
Status: Locals successfully RESTRICTED expansion of development.
GINN SUR MER
Location: West End, Grand Bahama
Developer: The Ginn Co. of Celebration
Acres: 700
Projected Investment $4.9 billion
Features: 4,000 condominium and hotel units, 1,800 single family homes sites, two golf courses, marinas, a casino and airplane runway with customs and immigration
Status: Failed
ABACO CLUB AT WINDING BAY
Location: Cherokee, Abacos
Developer: Peter de Savary
Acres: 528
Projected Investment:
Features: Cottages, Villas, golf course, spa, pools
Status: Not selling units, slashing prices. Lack of interest in isolated area.
BAKER'S BAY GOLF AND OCEAN CLUB
Location: Great Guana Cay, The Abacos
Developer: Discovery Land Co. of Scottsdale, Arizona
Acres: 600
Projected Investment: $500 million
Features: Tennis courts, a golf course designed by Tom Fazio, a 185-slip marina, beach cottages and mangrove bungalows
Status: Not selling units, being brought before highest court in commonwealth, letting workers go.
ATLANTIS
Location: Paradise Island
Developer: Kerzner International of Paradise Island
Acres: 171
Projected Investment: $1 billion
Features: 2,317 room resort, 7 acre lagoon within a 78 acre "waterscape", a large casino and 63 slip marina
Status: Just laid off 800 workers.
EMERALD BAY RESORT
Location: Great Exuma
Developer: EBR Holding Ltd. of Great Exuma
Acres: 470
Projected Investment: $150
Features: 183 room Four Seasons hotel, crescent-shaped beach, golf course designed by Greg NOrman, and 150 slip marina able to handle boats up to 200 feet long
Status: In receivership - cant find a buyer - they just laid off 500 workers
RUM CAY RESORT MARINA
Location: Rum Cay
Developer: Montana Holdings of Nassau
Acres: 900
Projected Investment: $700 million
Features: New Airport Terminal, and hangar, 80 slip marina, hotel and marina village
Status: Failed
MAYAGUANA
Location: Mayaguana
Developer: Bahamian Government and "I Group" of Boston
Acres: 10,000
Projected Investment: $1.8 billion
Features: Plans include expansion of the former U.S. Air Force base at Abraham's Bay to include "the world's longest runway" and a trust fund put aside by the developer to finance infrastructure and public services in the Bahamian-occupied portions of the island
Status: Failed
ROYAL ISLAND
Features: Golf course development
Status: Failed
Download Articles
June 23, 2009
Research the Great Guana Cay Baker's Bay issue. Press and other interested parties can download articles on Great Guana Cay's Baker's Bay Fight here.
Privy Council in 3 Weeks, New Images Reveal Details of Baker's Bay Construction Site
June 15, 2009
Save Guana Cay Reef's legal case against Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club and the Bahamian government now moves to Privy Council, the highest court in commonwealth countries. This court acts as a 'Supreme Court' for commonwealth countries like the Bahamas.
Privy Council will hear the arguments between July 7 and July 9 in London.
Meanwhile, back on Great Guana Cay, details of the construction site reveal that many of the promises the developer boasted of are simply not being followed. And project deadlines are slipping off track.
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The developer advertised that Baker's Bay Club was environmentally sound, in part, because the homes would be built far from the coastal dunes and that a strict coastal buffer zone would be enforced. The image above shows the first home site in construction. It is the only home being built as of June 16, 2009.
The EIA stated the existence of coastal buffer zones as if they were facts; but here, with the very first home site, the developer has already thrown out some of their simplest environmental promises. Read the EIA
Here is a screenshot of the developer's own EIA, criticizing development too close to the shore.
Coastal buffer zones are crucial for the health of nearshore environments, as construction adjacent to beaches creates erosion and pollutants. While the settlement in Guana Cay also has buildings built near the coast, this settlement has existed for 200 years, long before the age of environmental awareness; and it is the sheer size of Baker's Bay which makes coastal buffer zones critical. In addition, the Baker's Bay property is the only property adjacent to the largest and most important part of the coral reef.
This home is being constructed nearly hanging over the coastal dune, precisely in the area where endangered sea turtles are known to nest.
Here is some information on coastal setback distances according to the EIA. The home above is located on the Atlantic side, which is categorized by the EIA as "High Energy Beach and Dune System."
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| This image depicts erosion inside the marina. |
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| This image shows that in order to build the marina channels, large sections of mangroves had to be removed. |
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| Although the marina is now officially open, many details are incomplete. The marina opened six months late, in April 2009. |
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| This image depicts unfinished golf course details adjacent to the marina. |
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| An image of the marina village. Visitors have stated shock at the marina's lackluster visual appeal. One visitor writes, "I expected something luxurious, but Baker's Bay is ordinary...very ordinary. I never thought Treasure Cay Marina was all that exciting, but now that I see Baker's Bay, I am really disturbed. This is such a nice area, and they have turned it into that cookie-cutter look. What a shame! There are so many areas in the Abacos with class, and this is not one of them." |
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| Detail from the marina. |
Baker's Bay Memo Reveals Speeding Issues
May 28, 2009
Over the years, I've been reporting (and have witnessed firsthand) the reckless driving of Baker's Bay employees at the settlement in Great Guana Cay. I have always argued that you judge a development by how they fit in with and assit the local community - this memo confirms the disregard that many Baker's Bay employees have for the local community at Great Guana Cay:
Another Massive Golf Anchor Development, Four Seasons at Emerald Bay Fails. 500 Bahamians lose their job as a result.
May 21, 2009
The Exumas are being hit heavily as the Four Seasons at Emerald Bay shuts down within two weeks. Employees were given little notice of the impending collapse of this massive anchor project with a Greg Normal golf course. Notes from the Road has made the case for years that the anchor development projects of the Christie Administration made no sense for the Bahamas, that golf developments are not sustainable, and that megadevelopments are quickly falling out of favor with tourists, and should not be built.
Now, in 2009, we watch as nearly all the big anchor projects are either failing, in dire straits, or closing shop for good. In the case of Bimini Bay, the locals have successfully limited its scope; a historic move in the Bahamas that should set a precedent for local environmental fights in the future.
The question remains, is Baker's Bay next? Sales are extremely slow at Baker's Bay. Only 57 lots are reported as being sold (the developer claims they have sold 67.) But the developers had said as early as 2005 that they expected the project to sell out quickly. Construction has slowed down considerably, and only a paltry 60 workers are at the site now - a sign that Baker's Bay may be operating on a shoestring budget in preparation for more bad news.
It is a tragedy for the Bahamas how many families have been affected by the rise and fall of these megadevelopments, which in almost every case, exact huge tolls on local environments. Notes from the Road has argued a different path for Bahamas tourism: promote Bahamian-ownership of smaller developments. Promote the Bahamian wilderness, eco-developments, small-scale tourism, second-home ownership.
Captain Laments Baker's Bay Changes
May 8, 2009
This is a guest essay from a sailboat Captain who frequents the Abacos.
Fifteen years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to travel through the Abacos with my parents on their sailboat. I spent the entire three weeks of my college Christmas break exploring the Bahamas, sailing from island to island and getting to know the Bahamas for the first time. Something about that trip hooked me for good, the remainder of my days sitting in class were spent daydreaming of the islands and their magical waters.
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| Photo SGCR |
During that particular trip I had sailed with them to Eleuthera where we spent a week or so before heading to the Abacos where I spent the rest of my vacation. The Bahamas at that time had a feeling of being detached from the rest of the world. The people who called these islands home and the few visitors who made the trek here were rewarded with some of the most unspoiled and pristine ocean ecosystems on Earth. It was this natural beauty that lured me into fantasizing about returning to these islands on my own boat and with more time.
That time came a few years later when I made the commitment to a vessel of my own and a commitment to explore the Bahamas without time constraints. I invited my girlfriend, now wife to join me and after a yard sale she flew down with a one way ticket. I picked her up in Marsh Harbour, Abaco and for the next two months we slowly made circles around all the islands of the Abacos. We lit the famous lighthouse in Hope Town on Elbow Cay, walked the quaint streets of Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay, bought a used snorkel from Troy at Dive Guana on Great Guana Cay, and spent countless days snorkeling the barrier reef that lies just offshore all the islands.
Since we were on a shoestring budget with a focus on making our experience last as long as possible we got most of our food from the sea. I had some fishing experience, but after going hungry too many times I discovered getting in the water and spearfishing was a much more effective and proficient form of providing protein. This experience also made both of us somewhat of marine biologist of a sort. Jeannette did not carry a spear, but she was a quick learner and would help me spot prime fish or the telltale antenna of a lobster hiding under a ledge. With more and more time spent in the water we were soon able to quickly discern what certain ecosystems held as far as fish, lobster, conch, and the health of the reef. On this trip we ended up spending seven months sailing through the Bahamas all the way down to Staniel Cay in the Exumas covering roughly five hundred miles within the Bahamas and fifteen islands.
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| Photo by Whitney G |
Since then my wife and I have sailed an additional 10,000 miles through the Bahamas and once to the Leeward and Windward islands of the Eastern Caribbean. We have first hand witnessed the difference between a thriving reef and one that more resembles a desert graveyard. With each returning trip to the Abacos we have seen the changes both on land and below the surface.
On Great Guana Cay we remember anchoring in Bakers Bay by ourselves, walking our dog through the ruins of the Disney cruise ship depot. Even though they were ruins, the style and motif was that of the islands, somewhat of a Robinson Crousoe theme. Thatch roof buildings that blended with the landscape. Small boardwalks and dirt paths weaved among the casuarinas and palm groves. We would pack a lunch and enjoy the shade of the woods and marvel at how fast nature could reclaim its lost property. It was also a prime location to access the reefs just around on the ocean side. A short dingy ride from the anchorage around the north end of the island lay some of the most prolific reef in the Caribbean. Magnificent staghorn coral gardens, elkhorn coral, and giant brain coral make the reef an astonishing labyrinth of underwater habitat.
Coral formations that are scattered across the sugar sand bottom in thirty feet of water and reach to within feet of the surface provide an beautifully balanced ecosystem for a plethora of fish. With water so clear spotting fish on the bottom thirty feet below allows you so observe the wonders of this underwater world in incredible detail. Returning to the miles of beach that make up the shore at the Bakers Bay anchorage after a day of snorkeling the reefs we clean the fish and start a fire as the sun begins to settle in the late afternoon. As other sailors would share this paradise, potluck dinners would form on the beach of Bakers Bay. As the rum and stories flowed into the night around a small fire on the beach friendships were formed in a setting that makes you love life the way you wish everyone could. It was all so simple and free where if you took the time to find the spot you could experience nature at its best.
After years of finding these amazing anchorages and falling in love with all that is provided for us on this beautiful planet we have come to realize how rare these areas are. Not only are these magical destinations far and few between, but they are also very delicate and complex. What makes the Bakers Bay area the ideal tropical paradise with its miles of pristine beach, lush palm groves, and world class reefs are the lure for commercial development. The last time we sailed past Bakers Bay we nearly cried at the destruction of this piece of paradise. Although you can still legally anchor in Bakers Bay it is no longer a place where one would care to spend much time.
With their private dock and ferry service shuttling high paying guests to their resort the once ideal anchorage has been bought out by visitors striving to experience the Bakers Bay area how it once was. It's odd how in the attempt to develop and exploit this area for the natural attractions that were the lure in the beginning they are now destroying their most valuable resource. The argument that they are bringing jobs and money to the local population is turning a blind eye to the fact that without preserving the resources already in place, they are taking jobs from the local fishermen, destroying the dive industry as the reefs are being killed from the golf course runoff, and ultimately leaving an ugly scar on the land and in the eye of the locals. Great Guana Cay where Bakers Bay is, is too small of an island to support this scale of development and the ecosystem and locals will be the ones to pay the price.
Captain Brian Pucella
Great Guana Cay Golf Course Opposition inspires British Virgin Islands Fight
April 27, 2009
I am posting this full article from Caribbean Net News.
A landmark environmental case in the British Virgin Islands, that was inspired in part by the Save the Guana Cay Reef action in the Bahamas, will be heard in the British Virgin Islands High Court from 27th - 29th April 2009.
The case, Virgin Islands Environmental Council v Attorney General and Another, sets a precedent in the BVI as the first environmental and public-interest challenge to a government decision. It involves judicial review of the former NDP Government’s planning approval for a five-star hotel, marina and golf course that would destroy the scientifically documented biologically important Hans Creek Fisheries Protected Area in Beef Island, British Virgin Islands.
Legal issues in the case center around the irrationality of the decision in light of an over-arching “Development Agreement” which pre-approved many of the project components, and the illegality of project approval in blatant contravention of the Fisheries Law prohibiting development that would adversely impact a fisheries protected area.
The case is being fought by the Virgin Islands Environmental Council (VIEC), a coalition of local fishermen, concerned residents, scientists and environmental activists. The politically charged issue came to a head during an election year.
When local lawyers refused to assist, the group reached out to Fred Smith, Freeport attorney for Save Guana Cay Reef, who was the first attorney to give the group a legal opinion on the merits of their case. His timely encouragement and advice enabled VIEC to file their claim against the decision within the six-month time limit for bringing judicial review.
Great Guana Cay Blog Roundup
Updated April 23, 2009
The Court Case
Save Guana Cay Reef continues legal action against Baker's Bay Club and the government of the Bahamas. Despite losses in the Bahamian court system, the case is expected to move to Privy Council in early 2009.
 Local Resolve on Great Guana Cay and Abaco
75 of the 91 Bahamians on Great Guana Cay continue to fiercely oppose the Baker's Bay Club. Opposition is also strong among visitors to the Abacos. Opposition is increasing as more see what the fast-pace of construction is yielding: cookie-cutter Arizona-style megadevelopments closely packed together.
The Big Picture
The islanders of Great Guana Cay live at the very northern periphery of the West Indies; south of them are literally hundreds of similar stories. The locals are one of the first groups to fight against unsustainable overdevelopment on their island in a sustained, all-out front. But other groups around  the Bahamas and the Caribbean are learning from Great Guana Cay - and there is good news. Beef Island is also taking a golf and marina megadeveloper to court, and Sir Richard Branson has just signed on to support the legal costs to take the developer to task. At ecologically-critical Pear Tree Bottom in Jamaica, local's won to preserve the island's ecosystem against a golf development.
From Mangroves to "Disney Main Street"
Abaconians and other residents of the Northern Bahamas are beginning to question the Baker's Bay Club from a cultural perspective, as members of Save Guana Cay Reef have since the beginning. This image from November 2008 shows the marina village, which is built on a terraformed landscape which was formerly the island's last remaining mangrove habitat. Locals and visitors, seeing the construction for themselves, are beginning to say, That doesn't look Bahamian and It look's like Disney's Main Street. And I had no idea it was going to be so tightly packed together.
The Marina site in 2007. The marina is dangerously close to the coral reef. Since the island is made of porous limestone, the nutrient overloads and pollutants seep directly into the reef - the classic combination of toxic death for coral reefs.
In 2008, I photographed massive silting from the construction site. In addition to the nutrient overload caused by this development, this silting kills corals.
Aerial Photos Reveal State of Development at Baker's Bay
March 15, 2009
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| March 2009: an image of the golf course, which is being constructed feet away from the coral reef. |
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| March 2009: the marina, which was supposed to have opened in November 2008, appears underwhelming in comparison to the watercolors depicting it. More imortantly, the marina butts directly up against the island's coral reef - a recipe for ecological disaster. |
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| March 2009: the marina with a view of the deepwater channel. By cutting the island in half, critics worry that without the protective mangroves that existed here before, a strong hurricane could rip the island in two. |
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| March 2009: image reveals massive terraforming of native habitat. |
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 Travel & Leisure Golf Folds
March 15, 2009
Travel + Leisure Golf just announced it will be folding. This news comes amid a series of critically bad news for golf destination developments around the world.
Travel + Leisure Golf Folds
Baker's Bay Fails to Donate Full Sum to Bahamas National Trust
March 9, 2009
In 2007, controversial megadevelopment golf developer Discovery Land Company offered $1.2 million to Bahamas National Trust.
Bahamas National Trust is the only private environmental organization in the world that is also charged with the country's primary environmental challenges by the government itself. It is an unusual relationship, and while the federal government of the Bahamas only offers the organization a pittance, Bahamas National Trust needs to rely on outside donors.
The move was vehemently criticized by environmental groups:
Mangrove Action Project Article on Donation
Freeport News on Baker's Bay 'Blatant Bribe'
Notes from the Road has held for several years that Baker's Bay Club does not hold up to the donations that it so publicly declares. Here is another example. Baker's Bay Club indeed donated to Bahamas National Trust, but only a quarter of what they said they would this year. Baker's Bay just announced they were donating $100K - a quarter of the publicized amount for the year.
Historic Win for Bimini Bay Mangrove Fight
January 26, 2009
Notes from the Road has been reporting on the Great Guana Cay development battle for years as well as its sister issue: the island of Bimini has been fighting the expansion of a Hilton golf project that would threaten the island's biodiversity. After years of fighting to protect their island, Bimini has achieved a dramatic and historic win.
The news was reported by the Washington Post on January 23. Here is a quote:
The reserve, which will be protected from most fishing and other "extractive activities," is home to endangered species such as the Nassau grouper and the Bimini boa, as well as a vibrant nursery for lemon sharks.
The decision -- approved by the Bahamas cabinet Dec. 29 but announced last week -- is a setback for the Bimini Bay Resort and Marina, which has been clearing some of the island's mangroves to build a hotel, a golf course, a casino and two marinas, some of which have already been constructed. Link to full article
I will be updating news on this historic win for Bahamian conservation with photos, illustrations and links to articles.
Read more at these links:
January 23 Washington Post Article
Restrict Bimini Bay Resort
Bimini Blog
Baker's Bay Club Marina Opening Delayed
January 14, 2009
According to the latest issue of The Abaconian, delays in Baker's Bay Club opening its marina continue. Although the marina was advertised with a November 2009 date, it has now been pushed back to April 2009. That is a six month delay on a flagship launch.
Abaco Study Discusses Sustainable Planning
January 14, 2009
Larry Smith of BahamasPundit wrote another interesting article on development and Abaco. Here I quote three paragraphs from the article. A study by Andrews University suggests that conventional resort developments are a bad model for Abaco; exactly what The Great Guana Cay Blog has been saying since 2005:
"Conventional resort development typically features large hotels, a closed environment, golf courses, and a utility infrastructure that demands high water use and distant power transmission," the proposal says. "This model typically relies on a cheap labor force, high numbers of visitors, and intense access to amenities such as beaches, marinas and nearby transportation (airports).
"When systems fail over time, projects can become difficult to maintain because the Bahamas does not provide a sophisticated maintenance industry to sustain such a scale of development. This can mean further reliance on imported labor or the gradual transformation of the project into an obsolete and unmanageable relic. (Such) projects are sometimes abandoned with devastating affects on the local job market and economy (eg: the Four Seasons Resort on Exuma) and irrevocable harm to natural ecosystems."
The Andrews proposal seeks to define which communities should be built in what sectors of the island based on the best Bahamian settlement traditions, improved for the 21st century. Special requirements such as green corridors for wildlife are also stipulated, while conventional resort development is discouraged.
Read the full article by Larry Smith.
More Bad News for Hedge Funds
January 14, 2009
According to CNBC, hedge funds have more bad news in store for.
"Blind-sided by a colossal market collapse and the widening Bernard Madoff scandal, hedge funds suffered their worst showing on record last year. And they're bracing for more pain in 2009. The industry's fall proves that even the quantitative brilliance and market wizardry of elite hedge funds are no magic bullet for investors during brutal times."
Baker's Bay Club is allegedly supported by a hedge fund called Farallon. Farallon has been especially hard hit by financial woes.
Blogosphere Negative on Baker's Bay Club
January 14, 2009
The cruising world has its share of bloggers and other online users. We track how the blogosphere responds to news about Great Guana Cay and particularly about the Baker's Bay Club. Repeatedly, we find almost unanimous disapproval of the Baker's Bay Club. A few recent examples:
1. Hockey star Gary Aldcorn, who played 226 games in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and Toronto Maple Leafs, is now part of the cruising community. In his lyrics, he laments the Baker's Bay Club.
South through the isles of Abaco
Manjack, Green Turtle – and away we go
The weather’s fine around the Whale
Hit the sea of Abaco – and away we sail
Visit Guana and Treasure Cay
Rue the day they sold Baker’s Bay
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2. A boating account of visiting Baker's Bay
Baker's Bay was a disappointment. It is now the playground of the rich and selfish and piggish. Two mega yachts anchored right in the channel depicted in Steve Dodges Cruising Guide to the Abacos - we sailed between them. They had all their boat toys out -- runabouts, wave runners, skidoos, etc and just being a nuisance.
link
Steel Wall of Secrecy Undermines Bahamas Resorts
January 6, 2008
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A Bahamian brings crustacean traps ashore. Locals are kept in the dark while
developments are constructed in their backyard. |
Bahamas B2B.com posted an excellent article on the awkward process that Bahamian government goes through in approving developments. Save Guana Cay Reef attorney Fred Smith is quoted:
"It pits communities against developers, and creates unnecessary friction through lack of participation and transparency. That is everything that the Save Guana Cay Reef Association has been complaining about. It is so important to begin the process in a community-friendly way, so that there can be a union between the locals and the developers."
The article also argues the importance of real environmental laws in the Bahamas.
Read the article here.
Bahamas National Trust on Bimini Bay Resort
Updated December 27, 2008
The Bahamas National Trust has issued a document on the Bimini Bay Golf Resort.
Here is a quote:
The Trust is deeply concerned that further development at Bimini Bay will lead inevitably to the loss of vital ecological functions that would be irrecoverable. It is our considered view that no second phase development should be approved without a further EIA undertaken by independent consultants. Based on our review of the first phase EIA, we agree with the finding by Black and Veatch that it impossible to accurately assess the potential impact of any part of phase 2.
The Trust has also identified a direct conflict between the golf course planned for Phase 2, and the government's proposed marine protected area for Bimini. The proposed boundaries of the MPA overlap and encompass most of the second phase area authorized under the heads of agreement.
It is our considered opinion that construction of a golf course would be at the expense of large areas of mangroves, and at the expense of the ecological integrity of the marine protected area. We strongly recommend that the golf course NOT be approved, and that the government move quickly to declare the promised MPA.
Notes from the Road in Vanity Fair, January 2009
December 4, 2008
Vanity Fair writer Punch Hutton erred in a November 2008 Vanity Fair article when he did a write-up touting the Baker's Bay Golf megadevelopment. He erroneously called Guana Cay's reef the third largest in the world. This was not a typo. The idea that the Abaco barrier reef is the world's third largest is a colloquial misbelief that gets passed around among tourists in the Northern Bahamas. How did this misnomer get passed on to Punch Hutton? Probably from the marketing material that was sent to him by the Baker's Bay Club. The marketing folks at the Baker's Bay Club are notorious for passing on fibs and mistruths to editors in an effort to make their golf megadevelopment sound better. I have also written to Southern Boating (see article here) and Links Magazine (see article here) correcting errors that were likely directly passed on from marketing material to press.
Why are travel sections of magazines so prone to errors?
 Why do consumers of travel journalism let travel writers get away with so much? In an age when so many developing country issues and so many environmental issues are directly tied to tourism, travel writers need to be held to a higher standard.
I am grateful to Vanity Fair for not only printing my letter to the editor, but for doing such a great job in fact-checking my own letter. The letters department graciously allowed me to prove all my claims by citing and allowing experts to explain my claims. But Vanity Fair left out the most important part - the fact that writer Punch Hutton made such a large editorial error. That's fine with me - letters' sections notoriously need to edit letters down in size. So I'll make the correction here:
Punch Hutton falsely claimed that Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club sits on the third largest reef in the world. This is far from the truth. Here are some that are much bigger: The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia is the largest in the world. The Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest in the world. The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is almost a thousand miles long. And the Andros Barrier Reef, in the Southern Bahamas, is considered the third largest reef in the world.
That doesn't take away from the Abaco barrier reef. It is quite large, and of extreme importance to the future of West Indies marine conservation. It is also stunningly beautiful. This reef's apex of diversity is off the edge of the tiny island of Great Guana Cay. Specifically, just off the shore from the Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club golf course.
Oh, you want to read my letter to the editor? Pick up January 2009 Vanity Fair.
Sir Richard Branson joins efforts against Virgin Islands Golf Course
November 27, 2008
Read this article in The Independent
In a case related to the Great Guana Cay Privy Council case, Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson backs the locals in a fight against an audacious golf megadevelopment nearly as dangerous to the environment as the Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club. This development dispute is on Beef Island in the Virgin Islands.
From the article:
The case, which is to be heard in full next year, is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the protection of the fragile Caribbean environment. Sir Richard, head of the Virgin group of companies, has paid for a team of barristers, led by the former chairman of the Bar Stephen Hockman QC, to fly to the group of islands and seek to stop plans to build a marina, five-star hotel and golf course in the British overseas territory.
Sir Richard Branson's involvement in the Beef Island case resembles, and exceeds, celebrity involvement in the Caribbean environment cases.
The article continues:
A council spokesman said: "This is a landmark case that addresses a number of important issues which will impact on the future of environmental law and practice throughout the Caribbean. The outcome of this case will definitely impact the way other large projects currently under planning review are dealt with, leading to a more sustainable future for the BVI.
Some Indicators suggest Baker's Bay Club may not make it
Updated November 27, 2008
Lots Sold
Some Abaconians are beginning to wonder how the Baker's Bay Club is hanging, financially. Some factors suggest the development isn't selling very well. Through the course of several interviews from about 2006 through today, the developer has suggested about 80 lots have been reserved.
But on the Baker's Bay website residence locator, only 57 lots are shown as being reserved. This is bad news, because according to interviews, the Mike Meldman business philosophy is to flip the entire development within three years. It's now three and a half years later, and Baker's Bay has reserved less than ten percent of all lots.
Hedge Fund
It is our understanding that Discovery Land Company, the company behind Baker's Bay Club, is funded primarily by a hedge fund called Farallon. According to the Silcon Alley Insider on November 6, "Two funds at hedge fund giant Farallon are down nearly 25% this year, with the biggest losses coming in September and October, Bloomberg reports. It's unwinding equity positions to meet redemptions and buy distressed debt, which spells more pain for the stock market. Farallon is also pulling back $150 million it invested with outside hedge funds, some of which lost 40% this year.
According to MarketWatch, " Farallon Capital Management LLC's main hedge fund has lost almost 24% this year through October, leaving it on course for its first annual loss since opening 22 years ago..."
Golf Developments and Economic Slowdown
Before the recession became as severe as it today, Mike Meldman, the CEO of Discovery Land Company, downplayed the notion of a real estate bubble. Asked by Executive Golfer if the possibility of a real estate bubble is worrisome for him, Meldman replied,
“No,” he said smiling. “I think the theory is overblown."
Later in the article, Meldman says, “We also try to generate early demand in our projects through pricing. Prices in the first phases are set to leave room for the initial buyers to have upside. The people buying before anything is actually built are the ones truly committed to our projects and we want to try to reward them,” continued Mike.
But the properties at Baker's Bay Club are clearly not selling. Later in the Executive Golfer interview, Meldman explains how Discovery Land Company has been successful in the past:
“We have been fortunate with our last three or four projects—they have sold out so fast that we didn’t need to worry about the effect of a cycle. Another aspect of our projects that helps—none are so big that it would take ten years to sell out. We’re in and out of a deal within a time span of four to five years. This is a short enough time frame that we have the ability to gauge a market cycle.”
The Golf industry clearly disagrees with Meldman. In Golf Business Magazine, Ray Tennenbaum writes, "if the last few years of golf’s flattening growth and retention rates weren’t bad enough news for the industry, the residential real estate bubble burst this spring. With lenders’ purse strings tightening as the golf industry struggles to recover from course overbuilding during the 1990s, the tough times may be far from over."
No Sales Activity, Tent City is Ghost Town
Locals on mainland Abaco are reporting that sales visits on the Baker's Bay property are so slow, that 'tent city', the high end temporary housing structure for potential visiting is like a ghost town. Even staff, such as tent city masseuses, have closed shop and moved operations to Marsh Harbour, the mainland Abaco capital of the Abaco Islands.
Discovery Land Company's Newest Project Files for Bankruptcy
Discovery Land Company's newest project was a relationship with the exclusive ski and golf club - Yellowstone Club. But on November 10, 2008, the Yellowstone Club filed for bankruptcy, with a debt of $344 million.
Celebrities Flee from Baker's Bay Club
Part of Discovery Land Company's updated strategy was to use their affiliation with stars to attract clients. Names of potential buyers like Lance Armstrong, George Clooney and Cher were whispered in the vicinity of the Marsh Harbour Baker's Bay Club sales office. And indeed, the celebrities came. But what happened was not what the developer expected. Cher famously fleed the Baker's Bay Club on a seaplane. The exit was so public, locals wrote a letter asking the diva not to equate Great Guana Cay with her experience at the golf construction site. George Clooney reportedly sided with the locals' environmental position after visiting the mega-development.
Beef Island Locals Wins Another Appeal Against Golf Development in Court
November 15, 2008
Beef Island is a beautiful island in the British Virgin Islands. A golf and megayacht development was slated to consume environmentally integral portions of the island. According to an email from the locals opposing the development:
"The judges ruled in favor of VIEC stopping developers from turning Beef Island's Hans Creek, salt pond, and mangrove shore into a mega-yacht marina with cement shore, golf course lacking coastal setbacks and cabana-ed artificial beach."
According to the newsletter, the endangered Beef Island area was the island's "last pristine salt pond, creek and mangrove shore with coral reefs frequented by roseate flamingoes, endangered white-cheeked pigeons, turtles and fish."
Beef Island's development problems are far from over, but the news of another appeal is welcome news for the local's attempting to save their island's ecosystems.
External Links:
BVI Conservation Group
Rum Cay Development Fails
September 19, 2008
The Bahama Journal announced today that the Rum Cay project has failed. Quoting Bahama Journal, "According to Work on the much-touted $700 million Rum Cay Resort Marina supposedly being developed by Montana Holdings on remote Rum Cay in the southern Bahamas has stalled completely, leaving a gaping hole in the island’s economy, and leading to migration away from home once again for many who had returned in anticipation of work."
Rum Cay was a Baker's Bay style megadevelopment criticized by environmentalists for being dangerous to the local nearshore environment. Rum Cay's failure is another in a long string of collapses of the failed 'anchor megadavelopment policy' of the Christie Administration.
Guana Cay Granted Conditional Leave for Privy Council
Freeport Tribune reports | August 12, 2008
According to the Tribune, Save Guana Cay Reef has been granted leave for the Privy Council. Fred Smith is quoted in the article, "We believe we have a very strong case, and have been denied due process. The issue of the ability of the Prime Minister to bind the country as to Heads of Agreement will be determined at the highest level...for the future development of the Bahamas, these are matters which are of fundamental importance."
Open Letter to Megastar Cher from Great Guana Cay
After megastar escapes from 'Moonscape' Baker's Bay Club | August 12, 2008
Dear Cher,
We are the Bahamian citizens of Great Guana Cay, which you visited last month.
Our ancestors have lived on this island for 200 years. We are proud of our tiny island, with its smiling people, lovely visitors, its blue water, its white beaches.
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The decisions Hollywood celebrities make affects wildlife and small countries immensely. Megastar Cher, after visiting Baker's Bay Club, realized the development was an environmental catastrophe.
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We are proud of our old loyalist architecture, of our diverse and colorful settlement, the gardens we create, our lovely moon-shaped harbor. We are especially proud to have one of the Caribbean's most spectacular coral reefs - stunning elkhorn and staghorn structures which are home to brilliant angelfish, wily soldierfish, shimmering sardines in our networks of underwater caves. We are proud of our many species of sharks. We hold especially dear our three species of sea turtles that nest on our shores each year. Their offspring will travel the world by ocean current, but they will have been born here, and they will return here.
We are proud of our migrating birds – dozens of species of warbler, bright marsh birds feathered in green, blue and ochre, kestrels, bananaquits, even glossy ibises. We are proud, even, of our mangroves and our deep-rich forest, filled with delicate orchids and primeval bromeliads, and flowers found in few other places around the world. This jungly place produces plenty of mosquitoes, yes, but the mangroves that sustain mosquitoes are necessary as part of our unique ecosystem. Mangroves are the nursery of the coral reef, and mangroves also keep our island intact.
And, it takes a sort of unique person to like a place like Great Guana Cay. It's not for everyone, and we've understood that ever since our ancestors toiled for conch and sisal, and settled in this distant outpost of the western hemisphere. Small spaces, and particularly small islands, make for unique living conditions - it boxes some people in. We thrive here because we love our neighbors and because we see the ocean as part of our backyard, not as our limits.
We understand that you had a horrible time at the Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club development property, which is under construction on the northeastern end of our tiny island. We agree, what you described as a moonscape used to be our island’s mangroves before it was slated to become a golf course and marina to the rich and famous.
You are not alone. For three years, we, the Bahamian residents of this island, have been fighting the Baker's Bay Club on the grounds that it will devastate our sea turtle nesting grounds, our coral reef and our mangroves. Yes, we don't like mosquitoes either. But we'll take them over the devastation of our island, our way of life, our children’s future and our economy. If celebrities like you buy into the Baker’s Bay Club, our children will have no hope. The Sierra Club, the Mangrove Action Network, the Global Coral Reef Alliance, all Caribbean turtle conservation organizations, researchers from NOAA and marine institutions around the world, as well as Jean-Michel Cousteau, the world's most revered marine conservation figure, all support our efforts to save Guana Cay reef. You can learn more at saveguanacayreef.com
Please do not consider your time at Baker's Bay representative of the Bahamian experience, and particularly, of the Great Guana Cay experience.
Your fans in Great Guana Cay,
Save Guana Cay Reef Association LTD
General delivery
Great Guana Cay
Abaco, Bahamas
Bahamas Anchor Projects begin to Fail as Upscale Golf Developments across Western Hemisphere Flounder
Prime Minister courts Baker's Bay Club as other anchors go under | August 5, 2008
The previous Prime MInister of the Bahamas, Perry Christie, based his tenure on the idea of anchor developments - flood the small, quiet out-islands with big foreign money - casinos, golf courses, hideaways for the ultra-rich. Local communities balked and fought, but the administration fought on for what it believed to be the country's economic saviour. Last year, Hubert Ingraham, who had served as Prime Minister before Christie, beat him on a campaign that questioned the anchor development program.
But now, Ingraham is seeing the anchor developments faltering. The news is everywhere, and follows a trend that we are seeing throughout the west, as recession strikes. One example is Lake Las Vegas, a golf megadevelopment now in bankruptcy court. But here in the Bahamas, the anchor projects are crashing left and right. For example, the Nassau Guardian reports of the Rum Cay Project, "The development company behind a Rum Cay project the fate of which even the government has begun to question is conceding delays while maintaining its commitment to press on. "
BahamasB2B reports of the Ginn Project: "In a move that could have serious consequences for Grand Bahama, developers behind the Ginn Sur Mer project have announced that they will have to make "difficult decisions relating to the "management and oversight" of their property in West End after again missing a deadline set by their money lenders...Development companies affiliated with Bobby Ginn had been giv
en 30 days ... to work out a solution to their financial woes after defaulting on a loan repayment..."
Meanwhile, here in the Abacos, the Joe Cay Development learns from Baker's Bay mistakes.
Mangrove Loss and Climate Change—A Global Perspective
Article from World Rainforest Report mentions Great Guana Cay | August 5, 2008
Full article here:
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Guana Cay mangroves under threat |
Mangroves are the rainforests by the sea. Large stretches of the sub-tropical and tropical coastlines of Asia, Africa, Oceania, the Americas and the Caribbean are fringed by mangroves, once estimated to cover an area of over 32 million hectares. Now, less than 15 million hectares remain —less than half the original area.
The importance of the protective mangrove buffer zone cannot be overstated. In regions where these coastal fringe forests have been cleared, tremendous problems of erosion and siltation have arisen, and terrible losses to human life and property have occurred due to destructive hurricanes, storm surges and tsunamis.
Today there is a growing urgency to recognize the importance of conserving and restoring protective mangrove greenbelts to lessen the dangers from future catastrophes, because as sea levels rise so will the frequency and intensity of hurricanes and storm surges. Mangroves can buffer against the fury of such destructive storms, protecting those settlements located behind a healthy mangrove fringe.
Mangrove Action Project (MAP) is working with other organizations in the global South towards restoring degraded and cleared mangrove areas as a high priority. MAP is especially interested in restoring some of the 250,000 ha of abandoned shrimp farms located in former coastal wetland areas, especially in Asia and Latin America. But, even more importantly, MAP is working to help conserve and protect existing mangrove wetlands around the world.
Conserving existing mangroves and restoring the vast areas of degraded and cleared mangrove wetlands will serve as a partial solution to global warming. Our planet perhaps faces one of the greatest threats to life as we know it. This crisis is being fueled by human induced climate change. Because nearly half of humankind today lives in cities and settlements located along the now vulnerable coasts, global warming and consequent sea level rise cannot be ignored. Already evacuations of low-lying islands have begun in South Asia and the South Pacific Islands. It is expected mass evacuations of millions of coastal residents will occur within the next 50 years as sea level continues to rise as a result of the greenhouse effect caused by excessive carbon gas emissions.
Nevertheless, mangrove wetlands are often the first line of defense, helping to secure the coasts against erosion and storms. Mangroves are also one of nature’s best ways for combating global warming because of their high capacity for sequestering carbon. This is a characteristic of mangrove wetlands that now demands our most immediate and undivided attention. One of the greatest contributions that mangroves may have to offer is their great propensity to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and store this in their wetland substrate. According to the Feb. 2007 issue of National Geographic, “Mangroves are carbon factories… Measurements suggest that mangroves may have the highest net productivity of carbon of any natural ecosystem (about a hundred pounds per acre per day)…”
Mangroves have been seriously undervalued by those government agencies responsible for their protection and management, as is so clearly evidenced in the Caribbean, especially in the Bahamas where such travesties in shortsighted developments are now occurring at Guana Cay and Bimini Islands.
This combined lack of conservation ethic, shortsighted greed and weak law enforcement have allowed massive losses of these coastal wetlands, with one huge, hidden cost arising from the oxidation and release of stored mangrove carbon.
From a study performed by Dr. Ong of Universiti Sams in Malaysia, it was found that the layers of soil and peat composing the mangrove substrate have a high carbon content of 10% or more.. Each hectare of mangrove sediment might contain nearly 700 metric tons of carbon per meter depth. In building large numbers of shrimp farms or tourist complexes, the resultant clearing of mangroves and subsequent excavation of the mangrove substrate could result in the potential oxidation of 1,400 tons of carbon per hectare per year.
Again, according to Dr. Ong, “Assuming that only half of this will become oxidized over a period of 10 years, we are looking at the return of 70 tons of carbon per hectare per year for ten years to the atmosphere. This is some 50 times the sequestration rate. This means that by converting a mere 2 percent of mangroves, all of the advantages of mangroves as a sink of atmospheric carbon will be lost…”
According to the latest study by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the current rate of mangrove loss is around 1% per annum—or around 150,000 ha of new mangrove area loss per year. This translates to around 225,000 tons of carbon sequestration potential lost each year, with an additional release of approximately 11 million tons of carbon from disturbed mangrove soils each year.
Obviously, this is an immense problem requiring our concerted action. Not only are we losing the important potential for carbon sequestration offered by the mangroves, but we are also seeing the release of major quantities of polluting gases from the disturbed mangrove substrate itself. This continued clearing of mangroves for whatever reasons must now be perceived in an entirely new light…a light that illuminates far beyond the dark crevices of development for convenience and profit to a future for life and a sustainable living on this now endangered planet…this home we call our Earth.
By Alfredo Quarto, Executive Director, Mangrove Action Project
Megastar Cher Rescued from 'Moonscape' Baker's Bay Club
Miami Dolphins Seaplane makes daring maneuvers for Pop Queen | July 27, 2008
Dozens of eyewitnesses helped us piece together a sensational rescue from last week. Pop superstar Cher was invited to tour the Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club. The Baker's Bay staff rented a house for her to stay in the Orchid Bay development area, on the south end of the island.
But, according to local eyewitnesses, Cher complained about the Baker's Bay Club, citing that the place looked like a moonscape, without any trees. She was outraged by the mosquitoes, flies and other critters at Baker's Bay. Enraged at the environmentally irresponsible development, Cher demanded a hundred-and-fifty foot yacht rescue her from Great Guana Cay immediately. Getting such a yacht proved impossible for the Baker's Bay staff, who showed visible stress at Cher's demands.
Cher was livid. At Docksiders, a beautiful upscale restaurant overlooking the harbour, she refused food or drink. Apparently, her horrible experience at Baker's Bay had sent her into an understandable shock. As the Baker's Bay staff were unable to meet her request for a hundred-and-fifty foot yacht, the sea plane owned by the Miami dolphins owner made a dramatic entrance at Fisher's Bay. Cher was quickly rescued from Baker's Bay. The sea plane launched from the bay, and Cher was gone. She was taken to Harbour Island. Far to the south of the Abacos, Harbour Island is an established wealthy hideaway for stars. No mosquitoes there. And no environmentally irresponsible moonscape either.
The Cher incident is another in a growing list of celebrity mishaps and embarrassments at Baker's Bay.
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