The
Barge pulled in and the word was out that a breakwater was being built
that would destroy the surf in Cane Garden Bay. This naturally had the
surfers upset!
Then the environmentalists got upset
when they
began to think of the coral and the beach and what damages this would
do to the once pristine Cane Garden Bay. They became concerned.
Then
Save the Waves Coalition put our the notice to SAVE THE BAY and government got an avalanche of letters, emails and faxes!
Finally
the government came clean and claimed that it was only a fuel, water
and waste dock. It's supposed to be part of their initiative
to
improve the infrastructure of the BVI. Well that is certainly an
understatement of the year! However, the government or somebody
took it upon themselves to fill in part of the bay with more land, land
they call "reclaimed". Well it's NOT reclaimed, it is man man,
man built and the slightest earthquake could liquefy that land in a matter of minutes.
Given
the rough northerly seas that can invade Cane Garden Bay, and the
propensity for hurricane related damages, it does seem like a silly
place to be putting up a fuel dock! (Do we smell yet
another fuel spill on the horizon, in our once beautiful waters?)
Can;t
you see yourself in rough seas trying to fuel up while your boat bangs
repeatedly against the dock? How will this dock survive without a
breakwater? But now, supposedly, we have the Chief Ministers word
that no breakwater will be built.
The infrastructure
in the BVI has been
dicey for decades and the tiny islands were ill prepared to take on
massive tourism such as Cruise Ships and huge resorts which the
government is seeking to attract. I am dumb founded, wondering
why
the government wants to overcrowd the BVI.
Before
the massive onslaught of mass visitors from Cruise Ships, the BVI
enjoyed upscale tourists who spent plenty. Now those folks are being
chased off and replaced with massive crowds of cheap day trippers. How
does this benefit the BVI other than lining the pockets of the
government and the taxi drivers?
Running
off upscale overnight tourists has left many vacation villas and
hotels empty or underbooked since the arrival of these day trippers.
Locals complain they no longer has access to quiet beaches, on
cruise ship days. Many locals are now braving the awful road to
go to Smugglers Cove Beach which is now pretty crowded but at least
still unspoiled, but not for long!
Land belonging to Bob
Denniston, is being sold off for a huge development. It was Bob's dream
over the years, as he collected land along the beach, that it be held
for the beauty, like a National Park, but apparently his heirs are on a
different page.
I wish we could somehow get a petition
together to coerce the wealthy BVI government to rethink these issues
and buy up the Smugglers Cove land and make it into a National Park,
forever protected, so that Tortolians would have ONE unspoiled
beach to do some serious limin' at.
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