Bahama Pundit

On Travel

by Nicolette Bethel

You ever notice how, when certain people travel, they go wherever they please without a second thought? From Ethiopia to Tibet, from Vienna to Baton Rouge, from Moscow to Santiago, they step off the plane or train or whatever got them there, they look around, and they feel well, not exactly at home, but entitled to be treated with a measure of dignity? These are the people who rise up in indignation when they’re challenged at borders, when they run into snags or problems, when their dignity is not recognized.

On the other hand, you ever notice how, when certain other people travel, they pick where they want to go? They avoid certain places, they pick certain routes, they travel by specific forms of transport where security is the norm and not the exception, and when they step off the aeroplane, they prepare to be treated like immigrants or criminals or worse? These people may rise up in indignation when they’re challenged as well, but it’s not because they are shocked into that state. It’s because they’re all to familiar with their dignity not being recognized, and they’ve just become tired of it all.

Land, Lawyers and Developers on Rum Cay

by Larry Smith

PORT NELSON, Rum Cay: Taking the breeze on a verandah overlooking the blue-green waters of Wellington Bay recently, conversation slowly turned to the giant cable ship anchored just beyond the reef.

“Well, we don’t have piped water yet, but we are getting cell phones and high-speed Internet,” someone said.

The reference was to BTC’s $60 million submarine fibre-optic network that will be completed this summer. The cable ship lying offshore was “splicing” Rum Cay into the loop, the old heads said.

This dichotomy between the lack of a basic utility and the arrival of advanced telecoms, is characteristic of Rum Cay – a 30-square-mile outpost whose few dozen bored citizens are increasingly hemmed in by upscale residential and resort developments – some spurious, some real.

Interestingly, the biggest pending development on the island is led by a 61-year-old British telecoms engineer named John Mittens, who 10 years ago founded Europe’s largest fibre network – Interoute – which links 61 cities in 19 countries, including historic centres like Rome and London.

Rum Cay, Bahamas Faces Major Change

by Larry Smith

PORT NELSON, Rum Cay — The prime minister and other top officials were here recently for an event that could change Rum Cay forever.

A space was cleared at Cottonfield Point for Montana Holding's long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony. It marked the start of a $90 million residential/resort development, that could expand to a $700 million investment at full build-out.

Soon, a barge will arrive to house scores of construction workers, a 100-foot channel will be cut through the reef for a marina at Bay Pond, equipment and materials will pour in, and homes, condos and hotels will begin popping up all along Munroe Beach.

Of course, the 80 or so bored citizens of Port Nelson, the island’s last remaining settlement, have seen it all before over the past few decades. But many say the recent groundbreaking was a watershed.

Instead of an out-of-the-way refuge for a few well-off folks who live on the edge of a sleepy little village where nothing much ever happens, Rum Cay may soon become a playground for hordes of the very rich – pursuing their champagne and sportfishing dreams.

Cracked Conch, Grouper Fingers & Chicken in the Bag - Big Time!

by Larry Smith

Lil' Nassau was a sleepy place a half century ago, and Bay Street east of Mackey no more than a country road. The waterfront lapped the pavement in most places, punctuated by a few ‘fire truck docks’, which later turned into the bustling boat yards we know today.

One of those concrete piers became the marina for the Pilot House Club – a small hotel built by Bahamian sailing enthusiast Bobby Symonette in the 1950s, on the site of the harbour pilot’s residence. The ‘new’ Pilot House catered mostly to high-rolling visiting yachtsmen.

The Yacht Haven was the first marina on the East Bay strip. Construction began in 1949 according to Sir Durwood Knowles, who ran it, and the office building was added a decade later. It featured a small dive operation called Underwater Tours on the ground floor and a rough and ready snack bar upstairs overlooking the boat slips.

With a dozen small tables squeezed around the bar, the cafe served about 25 meals a day, from a menu with just three choices – grouper fingers, cracked conch and chicken in the bag. All three were priced at $3, and could be washed down with plenty of even cheaper beer and rum.

An Abaconian Story

by Larry Smith

“The Island of Abaco is blessed with a good harbour, and is well secured by nature...(abounding) with timber.” 1783 loyalist advertisement circulated in New York.

MARSH HARBOUR, Abaco - Back in his early 20’s, a hardship post at a remote Bahamian logging camp seemed just as attractive to Dave Ralph as gauging streams for the US Geological Survey in Central Florida.

“I’d spend weeks by myself in the wilderness measuring water flow on the Suwanee and other rivers,” Ralph recalled. “Then one day in Ocala someone offered me a job in the Bahamas.”

The son of a New England preacher, Ralph jumped at the chance to move to a place he didn’t even know existed. And he has been there ever since – living in a steamboat cabin, a railroad car, a company shack, and finally his own little piece of paradise overlooking Marsh Harbour.