Bahama Pundit: National Geographic Publicity on Bahamian Blue Holes to Exceed Miss Universe Exposure

by Larry Smith

When National Geographic breaks its magazine cover story, television documentary and online coverage of the Bahamian blue holes expedition next summer, the impact is likely to surpass this year's Miss Universe spectacle in terms of promotional value for the Bahamas - and at virtually no cost to the public treasury.

In contrast, the Miss Universe pageant has cost the Bahamas big-time. Although the exact breakdown has not been forthcoming, those costs include a hosting fee (said to be under $6 million) paid to the Miss Universe Organisation, a $2.9 million contribution by the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board in cash, goods and services, plus government spending on road paving and other fix-ups.

There are, of course, undeniable benefits from the 13 pageant events that were held here last month. The Miss Universe telecast included some nine minutes of footage of the Bahamas that amounted to a prime time commercial aired in at least 85 countries. Almost six million Americans tuned in, and the Ministry of Tourism's website received a big traffic boost before, during and after the pageant.

Officials say the long-term benefits will far outweigh the immediate direct returns, such as the booking of 3,000 extra room nights during a slow period, or the injection of a couple million dollars in cash for local firms that worked on pageant events.

"We had thousands of positive media reports from around the world during the pageant," Bahamas Hotel Association Executive Director Frank Comito told me. "You just can't buy that stuff. The cachet from this event will be parlayed into future business, and especially group business at Atlantis. This puts us on a whole new level."

But National Geographic could have a similar impact. The TV documentary (which is being co-produced with PBS' top-rated Nova science series) will reach over 270 million households in 166 countries. Some 12 million people will read the magazine article, and millions of students will be exposed to Bahamas-related school materials. The Society's high-traffic website will feature linked coverage of the Bahamas expedition.

So what's the point? Well, almost no-one in the Bahamas knows what the hell National Geographic is up to - including the Ministry of Tourism and just about everyone I spoke to for this article.

They do, however, appreciate the significance when it is explained to them, as this email response from Tourism Minister Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace confirms:

“When speaking about beautiful women, there is no better partner for The Bahamas than the recently held Miss Universe event. When speaking about the bounty that nature has bestowed on The Bahamas, there is no better, more respected and credible global authority than National Geographic”.

According to one tourism official we questioned, the challenge will be to capitalise on the "halo of interest" that National Geographic will produce. He said the Ministry would approach the Society "to see how we can assist with the promotion of the telecast and activity across other media platforms. For example, placing commercials in the telecast, linking from bahamas.com to the blue hole feature on their site, e-mail blasts, etc."

And just what, you may ask, is National Geographic up to? Well, it is sponsoring a high-powered team of scientists, divers and filmmakers on an expedition around the islands aimed at unlocking the secrets of Bahamian blue holes. These geological features have been described as one of the final frontiers for human exploration on the planet. It's the stuff that great documentaries are made of.

"We pitched the project to National Geographic early this year with material gathered during scouting trips last year," expedition leader Dr Kenny Broad, an ecological anthropologist at the University of Miami, told me recently. "And we actually came out as the top project among those that received significant financing. When you include in-kind contributions, the total expedition funding is about $750,000."

Those in-kind contributions included vehicle use, office space, dockage, hotel rooms and other forms of assistance from individuals, businesses, and groups on several islands. Among the Bahamian organisations that have helped are the Andros Conservancy, Abaco Friends of the Environment, the Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation, and the College of the Bahamas.

"We did an eight-day social science survey of Andros in June with 20 students from the COB," Broad said. "Also participating were three Bahamian experts - Jessica Minnis, a social scientist at COB; Michael Pateman, an archaeologist with the AMMC; and Nikita Shiel-Rolle, who is studying marine biology at the University of Miami."

Broad has been coming to the Bahamas for years, conducting research on how people interact with the natural environment. He is a leader in the design of marine reserve networks, and has participated in and led scientific and film expeditions around the globe, including the exploration of one of the world's deepest caves in Mexico.

He was joined by other top researchers like Dr David Steadman, curator of birds at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville; Jennifer Lynn Macalady, an astrobiologist from Penn State University who studies the origin of life; and Dr Tom Iliffe, a marine biologist from Texas A & M in Galveston whose work has led to the discovery of more than 250 new species in submerged caves around the world.

These scientists were accompanied by a top-drawer film crew led by Wes Skiles; veteran cave diver Brian Kakuk, who operates a Bahamian-owned adventure diving and training facility in Abaco; and Nancy Albury, project coordinator for the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation.

They lived aboard the 63-foot Key West-based research vessel, Tiburon, criss-crossing the Bahamas over six weeks from early June to mid-August exploring submerged caverns, conducting original research and producing spectacular videos and stills for print, broadcast, online and educational applications.

The Bahamas expedition is one of 9,000 research projects that National Geographic has funded around the world. This puts Bahamian blue holes in the same league as polar expeditions by Robert Peary, excavation of the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu, Louis and Mary Leakey's research into early hominids in East Africa, and underwater explorations by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard.

The expedition's roots go back to 2004 when Brian Kakuk discovered the complete skeleton of an extinct tortoise in a blue hole called Sawmill Sink in the pinelands of south-central Abaco. Later investigations in this undisturbed cave turned up a range of impressive fossils - the prehistoric reptiles, birds, and mammals that once roamed Abaco.

A few human bones were also found, and dated to about a thousand years ago. This is the earliest evidence so far for human occupation of the Bahamian archipelago.

"We spent a lot of time in the islands last year on scouting trips from Mayaguana to Grand Bahama looking for the best sites that give the most bang for the buck visually speaking," Broad told me. "It costs a lot to get scientists in here, but when you can go in one hole and pull out a lot of stuff, that makes it more feasible."

Both plant and animal fossils from Sawmill Sink are extremely well preserved, and they provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct ancient Bahamian environments. One of the most significant finds is an undisturbed 12,000-year-old owl roost where the remains of dozens of bird and mammal species have been identified. It is thought that these extinct owls may have given rise to the legend of the chick charnie in Andros.

But Sawmill Sink is only one of many blue holes around the country that the expedition is exploring. In one cave they investigated a fully articulated crocodile skeleton and its trail of petrified turds the size of a human baby. On Andros they recovered Lucayan remains from the Sanctuary blue hole. From Dan's Cave on Abaco they retrieved a 350,000-year-old mineral formation called a speleothem, which can help scientists reconstruct past climate change.

According to National Geographic producer Jill Heinerth, the expedition "will tell the story of the significance of Bahamian Blue Holes and, we hope, will create a public interest in their protection."

After the initial discoveries at Sawmill Sink a few years ago, responsibility for the research was assumed by the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation, with Marsh Harbour cave diver Nancy Albury appointed as the corporation's representative and project coordinator. She also took part in the Nat Geo expedition.

"Nancy provided formidable help in both the filming and the science aspects," said Broad. "Dr Keith Tinker of the AMMC saw the potential in all this and it is primarily because of him that this expedition is taking place. Friends of the Environment has also been a major supporter in terms of giving time and resources."

Friends provided logistical support to the National Geographic team, which used their facilities as a base while in Abaco. And according to Executive Director Kristin Williams, "We are working with AMMC, Bahamas Underground and the BNT to develop a proposal to protect a cave system in South Abaco that includes Sawmill Sink.

"The groundbreaking discoveries made on Abaco have only scratched the surface in terms of our knowledge of the ecological and geographical history of The Bahamas," she said. "It is important that we preserve the condition and health of our blue holes and caves as this research continues, and for the future."

In recognition of their support and participation, both Albury and Tinker have had newly-discovered species from Sawmill Sink named after them. An extinct tortoise has been dubbed alburi, while a living shrimp has been named tinkeri.

Wes Skiles, the expedition's director of photography, is a top Florida-based outdoor filmmaker whose credits include a PBS broadcast on the Everglades restoration, a feature film by Sony Pictures called The Cave, several National Geographic documentaries, as well as natural history shows for the History Channel, A&E, the BBC and the Discovery Channel.

"We've done Andros, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Exuma and New Providence, but Abaco has the perfect everything for what we want ," Skiles told me. "Deep complex labyrinths, fresh water and salt water caves that blow your mind with unusual lifeforms, The blue holes of Abaco are magically diverse and multi-dimensional. There's no place on Earth like it."

Skiles is a high school graduate who began exploring caves in the Bahamas in 1978 with the late Dennis Williams, an Apollo engineer stationed at NASA's downrange tracking station on Grand Bahama. It was Williams who explored the longest underwater cave system in the Bahamas - the six-mile-long Lucayan Cavern in the Lucayan National Park.

But interestingly, that record is about to be broken by an underwater cave system on Abaco. According to Brian Kakuk, the expedition will soon be able to finish their exploration and connect Dan's Cave with Ralph's Cave, making this system some 30 per cent longer than the Lucayan Cavern.

"I have worked everywhere in the Bahamas but Abaco is special," Kakuk said."And all of this research is designed to give people the big picture - why we should care about a hole in the ground. These blue holes are probably the last place on Earth you can physically go to explore. They are truly a final frontier, and our team is thoroughly documenting this frontier for the first time."

Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations, reaching more than 325 million people a month through its magazines, cable channel, books, websites and school publishing programmes.

The Miss Universe Pageant in August was essentially a one-shot deal - and the publicity it provided did not come without a hefty price tag. Our blue holes offer the other side of the Bahamian coin - the natural environment. And National Geographic is paying for the privilege of giving us exposure. It's a lesson that any environmentalist would point to with glee.