Dolphins

Dolphins Plus makes a play for Anguilla. Word has reached me that representatives of the Florida-based Dolphins Plus met with tourism officials last week to discuss opening a facility on Anguilla. The site of the jetty at Forest Bay was tentatively suggested to them. The Dolphins Plus representatives were so encouraged by this meeting that they are said to be planning a return trip in four weeks time to meet with government.

         Some of our shorter-than-normal-sighted tourism reps are pressing the tourism department for this type of entertainment to be introduced into Anguilla. Apparently, they want to attract more of the Disney World crowd to our shores. Our political representatives are being encouraged to whistle the same tune. They are desperate for any type of project that will bring a crowd, any crowd, to Anguilla. It would give them an opportunity to claim that they are bringing “employment” to Anguillians. This is a perfect example of Juvenal's bread and circuses.

         Anguilla used to be considered a five star resort destination.  That was before construction of the previous dolphin prison, now mercifully closed.  Regretfully, as the intelligence and quality level of our visitors has deteriorated, so has that of our tourism advisers. As we continue to scrape the bottom of the tourism barrel we are once again considering the construction of a prison circus for the entertainment of the more scruffy parts of our market.

         Dolphins Plus are headquartered in Key Largo, Florida. Their website claims that they come to the dolphin pen business with a "different" approach. They say they are more humane and educational. If you believe that, I have a tower in Paris I want to sell you. Here are some recently taken photos of their prison facility at Key Largo.

The only sight more depressing I can think of is San Quentin Prison.  I sure hope they do a better job of constructing a containment facility in Anguilla than they did in Key Largo.

         Has anyone smelled the excrement yet? If you have not, read up on the Dolphins Plus adventures a few years ago in Dominica and Tortola. This is a small example of what awaits us in Anguilla if this project is permitted.

         Fortunately, it does not have to happen.  Before this project can get off the ground, there are many obstacles that Dolphins Plus will have to overcome. A sample of them include:

         The shallow depth of the sea in the bay. There is no significant depth of sand that can be dredged. There is solid rock below and around the Forest Bay jetty. Dynamite will be needed to get the needed depth for dolphin pens. The cost alone would be prohibitive.  If they go any further out into the bay in search of depth, they will block the entrance to the harbour. How would the fishermen take that development?

         Has anyone considered what sort of breakwater will need to be constructed to attain the protection these sea mammals require when they are caged? The cost would make the project unaffordable.  And, what would constructing a breakwater do to the health of the Bay? Does anyone swim in nearby Marigot harbour since they constructed their breakwater?

         The requisite Environmental Impact Study will be interesting to read. What impact, if any, will the chemicals leaching from the Corito Landfill a half mile away have on the health of the dolphins? And what of the proposed nearby deep water harbour?

         Forest Bay Beach has its swimming devotees. The beach is a mere hundred yards down-current. There are Anguillians who regularly take their constitutional swim there, some in the mornings and others in the evenings. Will anyone still want to swim there after the dolphins are installed?

         Has anyone told Joyce or Dame Bernice about this proposal to place a five-star dolphin toilet pit in the front yard of their Conch Bay property? If not, please do so now. Let us see Dolphins Plus try to deal with a combination of those two ladies.

Mad as Hell

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Admiring the view from one of Anguilla’s most scenic drives. The dirt road from Anguilla Trading at South Hill Village to Long Bay Village passes through the old Hughes’ Estate. If you stop at the old sugar works, you can examine the remains of the smokehouse not twenty feet from the side of the road.

The old smokehouse designed for smoking fish and meat in the days before refrigeration

It is a delightful drive, so long as you take it slowly. The road surface is better than my driveway, so I really mean it is a delightful drive.

The old main road to Long Bay Village passing through the Hughes' Estate

From time to time, you get a view of Sandy Island and the Prickly Pears.

Pleasure sailing yacht coming in to Sandy Island

Every now and then you get a glimpse through the scrub of the boats in Road Bay, Sandy Ground.

View of the boats anchored in Road Bay, Sandy Ground

In the distance, you might spot a tug pulling a barge into port.

Delightful view of a barge being towed into port

Eventually, as you drive further west, you are able to look back East and see Sandy Ground itself in all its morning glory.

Romantic view of Road Bay, Sandy Ground

In the early morning, you get a good view of the boats anchored in the Bay.

Boats anchored in Sandy Ground Bay

There is really nothing to beat nature at its best. The view for anyone living on this road just serves to enhance the quality of their life.

Enhancing the quality of life along the old main road to Long Bay Village

Not to mention adding to the value of the properties alongside.

A final, admiring view of the roadside at the Hughes' Estate

Truly, a scene worth coming back for.

The public health authorities are to be congratulated by all of us on a job well done.

Kyoto

Minister announces in House of Commons that Anguilla is not a party to the UK ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. As every Anguillian schoolchild knows, the greenhouse gasses consist of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride.

The UK is obliged to report on its and its dependencies’ and territories’ emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and came into force on 16 February, 2005. This is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). It is an international treaty that was produced at the UN Conference on Environment and Development. The Earth Summit, as it is informally known, was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty is intended to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. That means caused by humans, mainly by burning coal, oil, and other inflammable material. As of 2008, 183 countries, including the UK on behalf of itself and its dependencies and territories, have ratified the protocol.

Someone has drawn to my attention that, in answer to a question asked in the House of Commons on 26 November 2008, Joan Ruddock, the Minister for Energy and Climate Change, has indicated that Anguilla is not included as a party to the UK ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar and Montserrat, for example, are there. But, not Anguilla. What reason, I wonder, could there be for that? [A search of wildlife and environment treaties indicates Kyoto is not the only one.]

Perhaps it is just as well. I might otherwise be overwhelmed by guilt about burning my light household garbage and garden cuttings, as I have religiously done every week for the past 26 years.

Landscapes

Teacher Helens’ Landscape Features. Anguillians of a certain age remember Teacher Helen. She used to teach geography at the High School. She was strong on landscape features. Recently, she was back on a visit. She remarked on Anguilla’s newest landscape features. I went out on Tuesday and took some photographs so you could see what she was talking about.

The above monument is what she was referring to. It shows one of the many new landscape features scattered along the roadsides around the island.

They are a major improvement on the old oil drums that used to be found outside every house. They can hold so much more garbage. But, if only they were collected more often. Or, if they were bigger, the better to hold the overflowing garbage. Do we have to drive along our highways and byways every week looking at these mounds of garbage around every corner?

Corito is the location of Anguilla’s landfill. It is the public dump. But, does unwanted garbage have to be dumped on the Corito road side? Why should Charlie Gumbs’ guests have to look at the above view every time they turn the corner to go down Charlie’s drive?

You drive along the road, and there are piles of rubbish just dumped on the side. You must have heard the tale. There was a land-fill expert visiting Anguilla. He asked a waitress in a restaurant, “What do you do with your garbage in Anguilla?” The reply was, “We do not have a problem with garbage. Visitors put it in rubbish bins; but, we Anguilllians just throw it out of our car window.” The photo above is the evidence.

Go down the Rendezvous Pond road. It is exactly opposite the Jeremiah Gumbs Highway in Blowing Point. At the end of the road, you will see where some of the good residents of Blowing Point throw their garbage. The Rendezvous Bay Pond is in the background of the photo above, with a pile of modern incidentals visible in the foreground. No doubt, some inhabitant of Blowing Point considered this would improve the view, or he would not have placed the pile there.

You do not have to go as far as the pond. The above photo was taken at the start of the road. It shows that it is OK to throw your garbage right in the middle of the village. Just in front of your neighbour’s house, if you want.

On the road to Cap Juluca Hotel, just as you leave the main road, there is a collection of garbage on the west of the road. It has been there for months. I have been checking each week to see if anyone will remove it. No, it just grows bigger and bigger.

Further down the Cap Juluca road, is the sight above. There is an even larger mound of garbage just off the eastern side of the road. It covers an area of about a quarter of an acre. It takes quite a lot of work to build up such a collection of garbage. It requires even more concentrated effort on the part of the relevant authorities to let this mountain of garbage grow from week to week, with no sign of a dent being made in it.

This is a different view of the same spot. It shows one of our premier locally-owned tourism destinations in the background. The owners have invested millions on this development. We have to hope that their guests do not come out of their rented accommodation and walk up the road. The above is the view they will be greeted with.

This is perhaps my favourite landscape feature. On the picturesque back road from South Hill to Long Bay, there is a magnificent view eastwards to Sandy Ground and Crocus Bay. As you can see, the scenery is livened up by bags of contemporary stuff artfully placed alongside the road by some of the more thoughtful residents of Long Bay. You are encouraged to stop for a moment and take a photo, as I did.

Send me your favourite photos of Anguilla's landscape features. Perhaps, we can do a follow up post?