In the Bahamian Court of Appeal, the locals’ case had been thrown out, and four years of fight had then seemed hopeless.  Two heart attacks had come after the Court of Appeals announcement, and, unrelated to the case, a senior member of Save Guana Cay Reef passed away.  Although the Bahamas is so often associated with luxury and wealth, native Bahamians on islands like Great Guana Cay live modest lives, often as fishermen or home caretakers.  The reef defenders were by no means wealthy, and they relied on small donations from Bahamians and concerned homeowners to keep their resistance moving through the legal system.

A heavy fog had hung over this group of barefoot patriots, who believed that a golf mega-development on an island only a quarter-mile wide would effectively destroy their way of life.  This was, to them, the Bahamian equivalent of Red Dawn, and if they failed, everything they knew and loved would be lost.

That night back in 2008, the eyes of these Bahamians looked heavy, almost fearful of what was to come.  But then a cell phone rang, and one man excused himself.  When he came back, he announced that he had just received a call from their lawyer.

“That was Fred,” he said.

“We’re going to Privy Council.”

Looking out at Great Guana Cay, I remember that somber night, perched above Guana Cay’s har harbor.  To go forward with Privy Council, the locals would be turning up the heat on an issue which had already captivated attention around the Caribbean.

My family came back, and Jane, pulling out the peanut butter and pickles, said, “I saw a new bird in the sky.  It wasn’t something we’ve ever seen before.”

Jane will never admit it, but she’s developed that same dewey decimal system that helps her narrow in on the species.  Because we evolved to categorize plants and animals, just a fraction-of-a-second glance at something in the natural world can tell us all sorts of things about what it is we are looking at.    And what my glance is what Jane’s glance says.  And that’s the glance that says things need to be investigated further.

On July, 7, 2009, barristers representing the Bahamian government, Discovery Land Company and Save Guana Cay Reef assembled at the Privy Council in London.  Save Guana Cay Reef had fought their cases through every court in the Bahamas.  For a case to make it all the way to Privy Council is the equivalent of a case making it to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The difference is that Privy Council is the court of final appeal for overseas territories, Crown dependencies and Commonwealth nations such as the Bahamas who have yet to separate their legal system from the UK.

The Privy Council has played a role throughout history in the U.K.’s empire.  Even Benjamin Franklin had to appear before Privy Council.