Fred Smith and Guana Cay
Travel Photography West Indies Caribbean
St. Lucia Pitons
 
  Travel Photography > West Indies >

Bakers Bay

Here in the Bahamas, the type of plant that creates the densely tangled subaquatic forests is the red mangrove tree. The complex interlocking root system that dips in the saltwater forms an environment - though detested by tropical developers - that is one of Earth's most essential ecosystems. Only in the last 10 years, with catastrophes like the Boxer Day Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, have nations begun to take seriously these strange forests that have literally evolved into a platform as the bulwark of land against sea; and at the same time, protectors of the sea.

Blue Chromis
ArrowBlue chromis on a delicate coral off of Great Guana Cay

The mangrove forest protects small islands from devastation in violent storms, but also filters out nutrients from land to sea - their existence is vital as nursery and liver to the coral reef.
The Joe's Creek outflow creates a shallow whitewater lagoon; full-sized bonefish parade this water. Great Guana Cay is not a bonefisherman's destination, but for years casual bonefishers would fly their lines in the water. According to a local, "Earlier today, a pair motored up to the Joe's Creek flats. A Bakers Bay boat appeared, circled them, and commanded them to leave. This water is public property, no construction is taking place anywhere near Joe's Creek."

I said, "That doesn't sound legal."

"There are no police here, Bakers Bay can do as they please. They act like they own the island."

The Joe's Creek area, which sits on Crown and Treasury Land, will be saved the bulldozer. But the total mangrove acreage preserved is absurdly small; the majority of the mangrove forest has been gutted in the rush of opening up the new marina by later this year. Continuation of construction of the marina, and the further destruction of the mangroves, is one ingredient in the recipe for the coral reef's demise.

In 2005, Bakers Bay Club was producing pamphlets that stated, "Contrary to prevalent rumors, Joe's Creek, the mangroves and the Guana Cay bonefish flats will all be preserved and not altered by development." Guana locals were enraged, because as Bakers Bay was distributing this material to prospective clients, they were tearing down mangroves.

I was asking myself, how can this be? How can they say that? It was one of my first lessons about the aggressive marketing tactics of golf developers. I would soon learn that words and money could indeed erase facts.

ArrowA closer look reveals that Bakers Bay Club is not using silt curtains at all, but rather just oil booms, which float on the surface but do not protect from silt passing under.
 

Next

123456789101112131415161718

Explore more in the West Indies:
Chapman Swifts Driving to Sandy Point Eyes of the West Indies Eyes of the West Indies
Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas Abaco Islands Bakers Bay Guana Cay Reef
Chapman Swifts Botanical History Chapman Swifts Plastic Pirate Ships
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Soufriere, St. Lucia Abaco Reef Big Red Boat
  Chapman Swifts Chapman Swifts  
Chub Rock Elbow Cay, Bahamas  

West Indies Special Content
Maps
Guana Cay Map
St. Lucia Map
West Indies Map

Moleskine Journals
Bahamas Moleskine Journal
St. Lucia Moleskine Journal

Related
Guana Cay Blog



Follow Notes from the Road

 

Nearctic Regions

Desert Southwest
Great Plains
Great Basin
Pacific Northwest
Desert Mexico
Sierra Range
Atlantic Seaboard

Palearctic Regions

The Dry World
Iberian Peninsula
Northern Seas
Gaul

Oceania

Neotropic Regions

Isthmus
Amazon Basin
Andean Slopes
West Indies

More

Online Travel Journal
Guana Cay Blog
About Erik Gauger
Contact Erik
Bird Life List

©2013 . All text, photographs, illustrations and web design created by the author