Harbour Island, well known around the world for its breathtaking beaches, was recently ranked the best island in the Caribbean by Travel + Leisure magazine.

In its 10th annual poll, readers of the elite travel magazine rated Harbour Island number one in the region on its World’s Best Cities and Islands list. Among the islands of the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda, Harbour Island was named “Number One.”

Harbour Island, or “Briland” as it is affectionately called by long-term residents, is just three miles long with a breathtaking stretch of pink sand beach spanning one end to the next. Just recently, the beaches of Harbour Island were rated amongst of the top 10 in the world by Caribbean Travel & Life magazine.Earlier this year, Condé Nast Traveler magazine editor Dana Dickey gave special mention to the beaches of Harbour Island on ABC’s “The View.”

In the special segment dubbed “The Best Beaches in America,” the travel editor raved about the beaches of Briland. Harbour Island was the only international beach location featured during the segment.Briland’s win extends a hot streak for The Bahamas in some of the most widely read magazines on the globe.

Travel + Leisure’s (circ. 965,000) November 2004 cover asked: What’s Hot Now? Answer: The Bahamas. The Islands Of The Bahamas was named THE HOT ISLAND for 2004 by Condé Nast Traveler (circ. 780,000) in the magazine’s annual Hot List.

With the hottest islands in the world, The Bahamas were a perfect backdrop for the 2005 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Andros and Exuma appeared on the cover and across 11 pages of the issue perused annually by 59 million readers.

This is a letter by Joseph Darville Vice-President, Grand Bahama Human Rights Association. His views reflect his own and do not necessarily reflect those of TheBahamasGuide.com:

Even though presently serving as executive member of the YMCA Board in Grand Bahama, I speak not on behalf of that body, neither are my reflections indicative of the thinking of it's members. I speak purely from the level of a citizen of the Bahamas and resident of Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Soon after the devastation left by the two major hurricanes last fall, the Grand Bahama Port lavishly allocated millions of dollars to bring the city of Freeport, and other parts of the island, back a state of normalcy. In addition, the dearly departed Edward St. George and Sir Jack Hayward gave one million dollars of their personal money, with the stipulation for it to be allocated for specifics restorations in the communities throughout Grand Bahama, with particular emphasis on the repairs of seriously damaged schools, both private and public. They gave this money on behalf of no one but themselves and, thus, there was no reason to even suspect that there would have been any question with respect to it allocation per their wishes. They were further satisfied by the public acknowledgement of the Prime Minister of the Bahamas.

I, therefore, admired greatly the patience and forbearance of Sir Jack for waiting so long to question the appropriate use of the funds, when after ten months, no accounting had been made by Government in this regard. I further admire and congratulate him in his justifiable fury when he finally let loose on those who shamefully stymied his attempts to get some answers. Not knowing how to endure the sting of his appropriate remarks, the ensuing attempts by two good members of Government, also long-time friends of mine, to justify ten months of silence and no obvious stated application of the funds, left a seriously bitter taste in my mouth. To opine that funds given for such a cause is at the discretion of the government to dispense, or that some one million dollars had been spent on Grand Bahama, including some of the St.George/Sir Jack donation, was no more than a weak and baseless spin on words in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable.

I pen these words not to add further to the ignominy of government in this matter, but to actually congratulate it. For, not withstanding the late attempt and the motive behind it, the government, in it's second and more enlightened response, has invaded the YMCA with a cohort of Government experts to rectify the infrastructure of this facility and make it ready to operate programs again for the youth in the communities on Grand Bahama. Whatever its motives, I congratulate the Government. If Sir Jack were mean and vindictive, he could have demanded the full million be returned and given to the YMCA. It is indeed sad when our Government has to be shamed into doing the appropriate thing so often. We await desperately for a government which is proactive, rather than always reactive or operating on an adhoc basis.

So even now many are wondering whether this very late gesture at the "Y" is simply a show, in light of major threatening hurricanes, to dissuade those who have already avowed never to contribute another dime to Government's future efforts in this regard.

My hope, however, is that Government has learned its lesson and will act with transparency and expediency in all matters related to contributions made by individuals, corporate entities, organizations and outside donors. They need and should have an accounting of their donations and it should be done on a timely basis. Almost one year later and dead into another hurricane season, there is yet to be any public accounting for moneys collected. Even banks which deal with billion dollar accounting can provide correct accounting to thousands of individual customers on a monthly basis. Why, then, should it take Government, with a multitude of personnel and resources at hand, a year to account for a few million dollars?

Again, in concert with my good friend Fred Smith, I say that Grand Bahama can run its own affairs, and this is probably so for most of the major islands where local government agencies exist. The Grand Bahama branch of NEMA, once given its just and equitable share of restoration funds could have affected total repairs on Grand Bahama in five months or less. Currently, due to the inability or ineptitude of Central Government, there is a major amount of work yet to be done and hurricanes are again threatening. If, God forbid, we have a repeat of last year and the response is comparable, it will spell only doom and gloom again for thousands on this island and others.

Joseph Darville
Vice-President, Grand Bahama Human Rights Association

Happy Independence Day Bahamas!

A recent site check to Bonefish Pond National Park on the south central coast of New Providence revealed that a local contractor has continued to persist in illegal dumping and filling of this critical marine swamp. Mr. Eric Carey, Director of Parks for the BNT discovered the illegal action in February of this year and had the Department of Physical Planning issue a “Cease and Desist” order to the contractor which has apparently been ignored.

According to Mr. Michael Major, Director of Physical Planning, the contractor is in contravention of The Conservation of Physical Landscape Act and the Environmental Health Services Act.

Officers of The Bahamas National Trust held a press conference on Friday, 24 June, to bring the illegal action to the attention of the public and government agencies responsible for administering and enforcing the above mentioned Acts.

Bonefish Pond was one of 10 new National Parks which were added to the existing National Park System in 2002. It is an important marine nursery area for the island, providing a protective nutrient rich habitat for juvenile stocks of fish, crawfish and conch. The area also supports a wide variety of waterfowl and protects unique flora on the interior islands including several species of native orchids. The swamp itself provides critical protection from storm surges to residents along New Providence’s southern shore.

Bonefish Pond is important due to the relatively undeveloped nature of the tidal creek area, its accessibility to students and nature lovers and the fact that is the last “natural “tidal creek on New Providence.

The Trust hopes that agencies responsible for the enforcement of The Environmental Health Service Act and The Conservation of the Physical Landscape Act will assist the organization in halting the indiscriminate dumping at Bonefish Pond, but that the awareness will assist residents with similar problems to come forward and assist government in identifying violators of the laws and help stop the illegal practice of filling-in and destroying wetlands all over New Providence.