Monthly Archives: September 2020

A year ago this month, nature was less than kind to one of its paradises, when the Bahamas experienced one of its worst-ever natural disasters.

Category 5 Hurricane Dorian struck the Abaco Islands on 1 September, before sweeping west to Grand Bahama. It was not only the severity of the storm that proved so tragic and affecting, but the amount of time up to 48 hours in parts that the surge lingered over land.

These prolonged and intense storm conditions destroyed thousands of homes in the northern regions of the Bahamas. There were sustained winds of 185mph, gusts of 220mph, and waves in excess of 20ft. At least 74 people died and hundreds reported missing. The country was left with a $3.4bn (2.6bn) bill the costliest disaster in its history.

Six months later just prior to the further blow of Covid-19 I visited the archipelago to find out how tourism, its biggest economy accounting for half of the countrys GDP, had been recovering. I travelled to the capital Nassau, then to Exuma, two areas that largely escaped the hurricane, but suffered indirectly.

Dorian meant visitor numbers dropped and Covid means they have disappeared almost entirely. Yet the Government wants people to know that most of its islands emerged from the hurricane largely unscathed; to rebuild those that suffered, tourism is a necessity.

On the first anniversary of the disaster, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism moved to encourage visitors back. As we mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Dorians landfall we are reminded of the resilient nation that still stands, and the spirited people that continue to rebuild and move forward, read a statement.

For a nation so reliant on tourism, Covid is another barrier to navigate, with quarantine restrictions and curfews in place. But flights have resumed and hotels are re-opening. Though we are currently experiencing a different type of crisis I am confident that our beloved nation and our tourism economy will come back stronger than ever, Joy Jibrilu, the director general of the Ministry of Tourism, said of the pandemic. Onward and upward.

It was halfway through my first day in the Bahamas that a tsunami warning flashed up on Google Alerts. An earthquake had hit below the sea just south of Cuba, with reverberations felt hundreds of miles away our spot included, if only slightly. Cuba and the Cayman Islands looked in a perilous position. Miami beaches had been evacuated. We continued our tour of Nassau, keeping an eye on updates.

By chance we were on the islands highest point, visiting Graycliffe, the celebrity-favoured hotel with views second only to the Governors residence nearby. Built by a pirate as his mansion in the late 1700s, its recent guests had included Jay-Z and Beyonc. In the wine cellar, the third-largest private collection in the world, we admired a 200,000 half-bottle of German wine, as old as the house. Something not dissimilar to a riesling, perhaps. Back outside among the colourful shop fronts and cafs, where rum punch is stirred and conch fritters fried, there was no alarm among locals. The town was busy and all was relatively calm. And then, a few hours later, the emergency was all but over. No tsunami came.

After a few days in Nassau, we travelled by plane to the Exumas, brought to the worlds attention most recently not by Dorian, but by the fraudulent Fyre Festival that left hundreds of wealthy Instagrammers stranded with nothing to eat but anaemic-looking sandwiches.

Arriving at the airport, sun out and birds singing, I could see why so many people were hooked by the opportunity to party here.We were staying at Sandals Emerald Bay, which radiates from an enormous pool and stretches out along a private beach. There are swings subtly submerged in the waves, jerk chicken cooked on fire pits nearby, long strips of lush grass, and, a little dubiously, an English-style pub the resort owner is a fan and brings back artefacts from trips to the UK. After that first night on Exuma, the Bahamas unleashed its most enchanting finery on me. We travelled out of Grand Exuma by boat and sailed past a multitude of cays, each as beautiful as the last, green-blue waters encircling the sand.

After an hour, passing houses owned by the rich and famous as well as rickety shacks, we stopped to snorkel and were led into a grotto full of fish. Later, we stopped to paddle with nurse sharks and met a band of beady-eyed chameleons on land. At the much-photographed Pig Beach on Big Major Cay, a brash, unwanted guest too reluctant with his bread was bitten on the bum by a large hog called Dumpling. Around 20 swine live on the cay and draw a steady stream of tourists each day. I appreciated the pigs penchant for swimming it cannot be easy with hooves.

Lunch was idyllic, marrying Caribbean cooking with a little southern American influence. The macncheese was baked and covered in Louisiana Hot Sauce; the peas and rice garlic-strewn and fragrant, tomatoes providing a rich sweetness.Another lunch at ChatnChill, a buzzing bar set up by former London financier KB, came close. There, I tried a huge plate of pork ribs with peas and rice and coleslaw. Lime juice and tomatoes were added, bringing freshness, and an altogether punchier hot sauce, made on site, was bold against the fat of the charred pork.

Of course, Bahamanian assets do not stop at cuisine. We dived and we visited galleries to see the works of talented artists. We also met schoolchildren, some of whom were orphaned by Dorian and had to move south; now, they are partially supported by hotel donations.

Such a dependence is underscoring of the inadequacies of the world, not least while tourist dollars are suspended by the pandemic. The fact remains that when boats stop coming in, the islands economy suffers. Visitors will be needed more than ever when restrictions allow.

Kenneth KB Bowe, owner of Chat n Chill:

When going fishing, never leave behind the ingredients for a conch salad: tomatoes, onions, sweet green pepper, goat pepper for spice, lime and sea salt. After prepping your fresh catch with lime, sea salt and hot pepper,add it to a foil pouch along with a drizzle of oil, pat of butter and half a cup of water. Close tightly, place over the fire and poach until it steams. When finished, add a fresh squeeze of lime and enjoy!

The Foreign Office currently advises against all non-essential travel to the Bahamas. Emergency visitor restrictions include mandatory testing and quarantine.

British Airways flies from Heathrow to Nassau, with flights due to resume in October (BA).

Sandals offers five nights at the Royal Bahamian Spa Resort in Nassau and five nights at the Emerald Bay Golf, Tennis and Spa Resort in Great Exuma from 3,909, all-inclusive, with flights from Heathrow (sandals.co.uk).

Read this article:

A year after Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas, the islands are eager to welcome back visitors - iNews

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE Pan American Health Organisation has raised alarm about countries in the region returning to near normal social and public life, despite the fact a COVID-19 vaccine is not around the corner.

One PAHO official said the recent spike in cases in The Bahamas and other countries in the region can be tied to the reopening of economies, which is a cause for concern.

Dr Ciro Ugarte, director of health emergencies at PAHO, spoke at the weekly Zoom webinar organized by PAHO where he assessed The Bahamas COVID-19 trends from March until now.

The number of cases that we are seeing in The Bahamas and other Caribbean countries has increased because of the opening of the economy and is a source of concern, Dr Ugarte said.

The large number of cases in New Providence and ongoing detection is one source of optimism, however, in terms of the capacity of the health system to rapidly detect the cases.

I would say that the public health measures must be strictly followed in the county to reduce the transmission and at the same time considering the relevance of new cases that are a source of concern. We need to know that these measures must be implemented and at the same time we have to put in balance the opening of the economy and access to other essential health services. .

PAHO earlier commended The Bahamas on the actions of its COVID-19 contact tracing task force which, it said, was vital in the fight against the spread of the disease.

Dr Urgarte said The Bahamas has proven that public health strategies can work to reduce transmission and bring a balance to opening the economy.

In the first part of this pandemic, from March until June, The Bahamas did very well, he continued.

Since July, some of the cases were identified on Family Islands and most of the cases in the last few weeks have been recorded in Grand Bahama and New Providence. The number of cases have remained, kind of the same in Grand Bahama, but the process is slower in New Providence where 75 percent of the population resides.

So the health authorities are still faced with a challenge there, in particular the high rate of infection with the healthcare workers and the capacity of the laboratory. So we are following this very closely and we are in coordination with the Ministry of Health and health authorities there.

Speaking on a regional level, Dr Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO and World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for the Americas, said the uptick in COVID cases shows the region remains vulnerable.

Within the Caribbean, many large islands like Jamaica, The Bahamas and the Dominican Republic are witnessing drastic spikes in cases, she noted. Death rates are also climbing. This is a stark reminder that countless people in our region remain vulnerable to infection, especially large populations that have not yet been exposed.

Although the entire world is racing to develop new tools to prevent and cure COVID-19, a safe and effective vaccine that can be manufactured and delivered is not around the corner. And yet, our region has started to resume near normal social and public life at a time when COVID-19 still requires major control interventions. The reasons for doing so are understandable children need to learn, families need money to eat and live and global commerce cannot be restricted forever.

She said it must be clear that opening up too early gives this virus more room to spread and puts populations at greater risk.

In August, Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, PAHOs deputy director, attributed the alarming numbers of COVID-19 cases here to the opening of borders to non-essential travels and Bahamians travelling to destinations where the virus rates were skyrocketing.

View original post here:

PAHO: Vaccine not around the corner - Bahamas Tribune

NASSAU, BAHAMAS John Watlings Distillery said yesterday that export sales for its rums continues to grow as the US begins to reopen its economy, with its co-founder noting that local sales have also increased as restaurants and liquor stores reopen.

Pepin Argamasilla, co-founder of John Watlings Distillery, said: Export sales for John Watlings rums continue to grow as the United States reopens its economy. In The Bahamas, we have noticed an increase in rum and vodka sales as restaurants reopen for outdoor dining and liquor stores for curbside sales.

Back in April, the company announced the productionofa hand-sanitizer for The Bahamas.

Argamasillasaid that aftera flood of import hand sanitizer into the market sales have now stabilized.

The 8 oz bottles have been discontinued and we have launched a 16oz with spray tops and one gallon bottles, Argamasilla continued.

What is very concerning is the amount of non-alcohol hand sanitizer in the market. Much of this hand sanitizer is anti-bacterial but not anti-viral. It is important that consumers understand that in order to combat COVID-19. The hand sanitizer must be anti-viral, which according to the CDC, the sanitizer must have a minimum of 60 percent of iso or ethyl alcohol. Our sanitizer is made from ethyl alcohol.

Read this article:

Distillery sales return as US and local economy reopens - EyeWitness News

There is often talk about trying to get The Bahamas to emulate Singapore as a financial success story but for those dreaming of such things, the words of Gregory Pepin, of Deltec Bank & Trust, are an awakening. A rude one at that.

He dismisses such talk as being as ridiculous as dreaming of becoming a Manchester United in English football terms when in reality you are a Dover Athletic. Who are they? Well, thats the point. We are not anywhere close to the big league, says Mr Pepin.

Its hard to argue with him with the ease of doing business in The Bahamas having long been an obstacle, and the difficulty of trying to generate investment.

He also pointedly refers to the major service providers BPL, Cable Bahamas and BTC as a joke for their unreliable or costly services.

Some will bridle at such criticisms, but we know our own problems. Its not as if we have been able to count on reliable electricity as a constant, for example. At the weekend, there were two major power outages in New Providence, one of them island-wide.

You cant appeal to major investors and say come and build your empire here and then say oh, but our power supply is unreliable.

Time and again, we hear stories of investors finding it difficult to cut through red tape. Where is the investor culture to help people start businesses? Where is the information exchange between fellow entrepreneurs to help develop a different outlook, and to learn from one another to help everyone grow?

Where, for that matter, is the money being put down by the government to encourage financial training, development of essential skills and more? That money is like planting a seed, in the hope it will grow and bring new life to the economy. Instead? We cant even give out student loan money because previous students havent paid theirs back.

So its a harsh truth we hear from Mr Pepin but its a truth nonetheless. If we want to play in the big leagues, we have to make changes.

FAMOUSLY, the phrase Theres a sucker born every minute is associated with one of the greatest showmen of all time, PT Barnum. Ironically enough, he never did actually say those words.

For those who do prey on suckers, however, or the gullible or worse, those in desperate need, there is never a shortage of schemes that can be used.

The Securities Commission has warned, yet again, of the danger of Ponzi and pyramid schemes. What are they? Theyre schemes that promise a big payout for a small investment. They generally require people to recruit two others (or more) to join the scheme. Thats why they call it a pyramid because starting at the person at the top, the base keeps getting wider, and the money flows from those below to those above. The trouble is, there reaches a point where you cannot get enough people to expand the base even if you had the whole planet investing. Thats when the money runs out, tempers get frayed, promises get broken and the whole scheme falls apart.

Such schemes rearing their very ugly head again at a time when so many are short of money is even worse. These schemes capitalise on peoples desperation. When you have only $200 to feed your family and someone tells you how you can turn that into $2,400, of course people at the sharp end are going to hold onto hope that it works out for them.

Sadly, the truth is that these schemes always end with more out of pocket. They end friendships. They cause fights.

Theres an old saying and it holds as much truth in it today as it ever did if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Dont be a sucker, and dont fall for these scams.

Excerpt from:

EDITORIAL: Are we out of our league? - Bahamas Tribune

NASSAU, BAHAMAS For the third consecutive day, the Ministry of Health reported another death was being investigated to determine whether the cause was COVID-19-related.

Health officials are now investigating 12 deaths.

On Tuesday, another death was recorded and being investigated.

On Monday, an 83-year-old man was confirmed to have died from COVID-19 on September 11.

That day, a death was recorded that was under investigation and another death was determined as non-COVID-related, meaning the death was related to another illness.

The death toll now stands at 69.

There have been nine non-COVID-related deaths.

Health officials confirmed an additional 55 cases of COVID in The Bahamas yesterday.

Of the new cases, there were 51 in New Providence, three in Abaco, and one with a pending location.

There have been 3,087 confirmed cases, of which 1,464 cases remain active.

A total of 1,533 cases have recovered an increase of 51 over the previous day.

According to the data, 189 people have recorded since Sunday.

Hospitalized cases also increased from 66 to 74.

According to health officials, 15,840 tests have been performed.

New Providence continues to lead cases with 2,107, while Grand Bahama and Abaco follow with 601 cases and 104 cases respectively.

There were also 54 cases in Bimini, 15 cases in the Berry Islands, eight cases in Cat Island, 25 cases in Exuma, 18 in Inagua, 15 in Eleuthera, seven in Acklins, three in Andros, five in Crooked Island, 11 in Long Island, three in Mayaguana, and 111 cases with locations pending.

Although New Providence continues to see double-digit cases on a daily basis, the number of new infections last week compared to previous weeks were down.

There were 20 new cases in New Providence yesterday, 23 new infections Monday and 43 new cases on Sunday.

New cases in Grand Bahama have dropped from the low double-digits to single-digits over the last two weeks.

There were 375 new infections in The Bahamas in the last week, compared to the 440 new infections recorded the week before.

Several Family Islands such as the Berry Islands and Cat Island have not recorded new cases since August 21, while islands, including Ragged Island and San Salvador, have zero recorded cases.

Similarly, Crooked Island has only recorded three new cases in the last month.

View post:

Three days of suspected COVID deaths EyeWitness News - EyeWitness News

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The UK is set to be hotter than the Bahamas next week as tropical air pushes temperatures above 30C.

Over the weekend the mercury could hit 25C (77F) in southern England but it will continue to rise into next week.

In a north-south split, southern parts of the country will have a largely fine and dry weekend with long spells of autumn sunshine, while a weather warning has been issued for western Scotland where as much as 150mm of rain could fall in hilly areas.

Areas will be hit by torrential downpours that could bring almost a months worth of rain in just one day, with a yellow weather warning in place from 6pm on Saturday to Sunday evening.

Met Office forecaster Bonnie Diamond said the tropical continental air pushing up from a southerly direction in combination with light winds will see temperatures of up to 25C on Sunday and then 29C (84F) by Monday.

The top temperatures expected on Tuesday could hit 31C (88F) and remain into Wednesday, but there is the possibility of some thunderstorms mixed in. The Bahamas is expected to see temperatures of 30C on Tuesday.

People enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Durley and Alum Chine beaches in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Boscombe beach in Dorset

PA

People walk along the beach front on Boscombe beach

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Boscombe beach in Dorset

PA

Two paddle boarders in the sea off of Boscombe beach

PA

A RNLI lifeguard patrols the sea off of Boscombe beach

PA

People paddle board as they enjoy the sunny weather at the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

People are silhouetted as they enjoy the sunny weather at the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

People are silhouetted as they enjoy the sunny weather at the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

A beachgoer relaxes on the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

A beachgoer looks across at seagulls pecking on trash on the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

Stuart (no surname given) enjoy the hot weather outside a beach hut at Bournemouth beach

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach in Essex

PA

People enjoy the hot weather on Durley and Alum Chine beaches in Dorset

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Boscombe beach in Dorset

PA

People walk along the beach front on Boscombe beach

PA

People enjoy the hot weather at Boscombe beach in Dorset

PA

Two paddle boarders in the sea off of Boscombe beach

PA

A RNLI lifeguard patrols the sea off of Boscombe beach

PA

People paddle board as they enjoy the sunny weather at the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

People are silhouetted as they enjoy the sunny weather at the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

People are silhouetted as they enjoy the sunny weather at the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

A beachgoer relaxes on the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

A beachgoer looks across at seagulls pecking on trash on the beach in Brighton

REUTERS

Stuart (no surname given) enjoy the hot weather outside a beach hut at Bournemouth beach

PA

It definitely feels like one last blast of summer even though we are, meteorologically speaking, in autumn, she added.

The September heat follows on from an August heatwave which saw temperatures top out at 34C for six days running last month.

Additional reporting by PA Media

The rest is here:

UK weather forecast: Temperatures to be hotter than the Bahamas next week as mercury rises above 30C - Evening Standard

It was the response Strachan had hoped for. He wanted to confront the children with something alien to show that otherness is OK, and to inspire a curiosity about the world beyond. I think being an artist, to me, always had to do with disrupting some system or another, and just putting that piece of ice there was the most disruptive thing I thought I could have done, he said. It was the opening salvo in what became a long crusade to expose young people in the Bahamas (and elsewhere) to the forms of knowledge he wishes he had encountered as a child.

To that end, Strachan later established the Bahamas Air and Sea Exploration Center (B.A.S.E.C.), a community organization where children can perform experiments, conduct research and meet visiting artists and scientists. With a collapsing educational system and the distraction of tourism, a focus on developing an agency that allows its citizens to expand beyond its waters seems appropriate, Strachan wrote about B.A.S.E.C. This project, though difficult for me to summarize, comes down to the belief in the possibilities of what art can do and where it may take us. In 2011, Strachan launched B.A.S.E.C., which supports teaching programs in the Bahamas with a clothing line exclusively made by locals in collaboration with his mother.

That project is tied to Strachans training as a cosmonaut at Star City, a complex of Brutalist buildings about an hour east of Moscow. Being there was essential for Strachan, for whom the usual academic definitions of research are insufficient. I needed to go and experience it versus reading about it, he said. Every part of the trip was a challenge, from the stomach-churning effects of being strapped in a chair and spun upside down, to the more intangible ones: Its hairy being a Black man in Russia, he said. But physical and mental discomfort parallels nicely with the project of being an artist.

DURING THE EARLY stages of Strachans career, each piece became a strategic means of funding the next one. If he sold an artwork its not like he bought himself some shoes or whatever, said Hoover, who noted that he was impressed that Strachan didnt just want to do expensive things, but [that] he wanted to do these expensive things to invest in himself. In the case of the cosmonaut training, Strachan convinced Grand Arts, an erstwhile project space in Kansas City, Mo., founded by Margaret Silva (a Hallmark heiress), to underwrite the experience. The negotiation process felt familiar. Rewind back to RISD, rewind back to the meeting with the provost, he said. You ask 16 times, and the 17th time, you get it.

Strachans refusal to take no for an answer is inextricably tied to the life he left behind in the Bahamas. Seeking hard-to-reach places with no guarantee of success is what motivates him, and the uphill process of blasting through invisible barriers is as important to him as the physical objects that might result. I do imagine that these actions add up to something, but I think for me the joy of it is the pursuit, he said. And theres a certain pain-to-pleasure ratio in that pursuit, because its a super risky enterprise, its a risky set of problems that youre creating and inventing for yourself and its why I think most artists do what they do.

Most artists, though, do not train as astronauts to make work about space travel. Strachan sees artists like Titus Kaphar and Tala Madani painters who engage, in markedly different ways, with issues of representation and the Western canon as his immediate peers, but his scientific experiments, adventures to remote destinations and pure ambition set him apart. For Strachan, science is not just a subject but a medium, one that allows him to aim a floodlight at the shadowy reality that knowledge and truth do not just exist in the world but are actively created by society. Science is widely held to be an objective, authoritative discipline, but Strachans work reminds us that it is also a subjective, interpretive practice that exists within larger systems of control. A huge part of scientific narrative has to do with power, he said. Biology was for centuries used to legitimize racist eugenic theories and colonial oppression, and even now, science remains part of a capitalist structure, one that determines which types of research get funding and support.

Read more here:

The Artist Whose Medium Is Science - The New York Times

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Family Island hotels are exploring how they can "pool resources" to substantially lower the costs associated with testing staff, vendors and suppliers regularly for COVID-19.

Kerry Fountain, the Bahamas Out Island Promotion Boards (BOIPB) executive director, told Tribune Business that it was working out how its 30-plus member properties can exploit "economies of scale" by buying the rapid COVID-19 testing kits in bulk from the supplier.

Revealing that the Board has identified the BinaxNOW test produced by the healthcare firm, Abbott, as a potential candidate, Mr Fountain said The Bahamas' safe tourism re-opening from October 15 onwards depends on creating a "safe bubble" for the entire guest experience - not just the 'Vacation in Place' in the hotels.

This, he explained, meant it was critical to also test staff at dive, scuba and snorkel providers; fishing guides; excursion and transportation firms; and regular suppliers if the tourism re-opening benefits are to extend beyond the hotels and visitors enjoy the activities they "came to the destination for".

"The gold standard [PCR] test for COVID-19 is very expensive," Mr Fountain said. "But the minister said you are allowed to use the rapid test for hotel staff members. I want to, if I'm a hotel, to test staff members when they come back to create a safe bubble.

"Maybe not test every day, but you should do it randomly throughout the week. We've done our homework, and identified the Abbott rapid test, encouraging and informing our members that this is what we want to use to test staff members randomly, and any vendors such as the dive operator, fishing guide and tour operator. That will allow guests to participate in some of the activities they came to the destination for in the first place."

Mr Fountain continued: "How can we now pool our buying power to take advantage of any economies of scale? The whole idea is to get the unit cost as low as possible. How can we all buy from the same place to take advantage of economies of scale. These are the things we are talking about in terms of preparation.

"The trick is not just providing a safe bubble at your hotel, but a safe bubble throughout the entire stay."

More:

Out Island resorts eye COVID testing savings - Bahamas Tribune