It doesn’t take long, as you look at Google Earth, to get an idea of how close the Bahamas have come, and will come, to utter ruin.

Empty promises peddled by developer after developer after developer from island to island are visible in empty plot after empty plot. All these roads to nowhere and empty lots represent a small fraction of the efforts to parcel up and sell of the Bahamas.  Luckily, there aren’t enough buyers. At least for now.

I hope the next time someone comes to some little local government division there in the Bahamas and promises to make their little bit of paradise into the next South Beach, they look at this post and then go on to look at Google Earth and they decide not to sell.

Can you imagine if all those empty lots actually had houses on them?  What if all those houses had people in them?  What if all those people needed power and sewage and shopping?  Can you imagine if all those broken promises were actually kept?  It would utterly destroy the nature of the place, the ecology, the character, the beauty. I hope that it never, ever comes to pass.

(it would probably totally destroy the bonefishing too)

Here’s a glance at Grand Bahama…

GBI

Abaco…

Abaco

Exuma…

Exuma

Eleuthera…

Eleuthera

New Providence…

New Providence

Andros…

Andros

Thank god it is a lot harder to execute than it is to imagine.

Nice bone there!

Good job Glenn.

It isn’t a big place… but at $160K, it probably shouldn’t be.

Modest... very modest.

It sounds a bit tempting, really.

Just say’n.

Check this one out from Black Fly Outfitter…

I like it.

Oh Kalik, I could never be mad at you.

Yeah, I could have guessed that part, really.  I’d put it down as “Obvious” that bonefishing is important to the Bahamas… the number, $140M, is a pretty important part of the Bahamian economy, with a GDP of $7.23B US.

“…the Coastal Awareness Committee continues to stress the need for Bonefish protection in The Bahamas, pointing out that Bonefishing contributes more approximately $140 million to the economy.”

via thebahamasweekly.com – Bonefishing Important to the Bahamian Economy.

Bonefishing is important… that’s good folks are paying attention to that so they can keep the Bahamas beautiful for generations to come.

Bahamas... I miss you.

OK… not everyone fly fishes… I get that… so, if you have to go do some spin fishing, there are much, much worse places to do it than Andros Island.

The goodness that was FIBFest continues to give… this time, it gives another post from Michael Gracie on the Deneki Blog where he takes aim at a few bonefishing myths.

More Bonefishing Mythbusting

Last year I conveyed some myths about bonefishing in The Bahamas, and how those tall tales were nothing but. This time around I’m adding to the list, with more myth busting on guides, gear, and getting to the prime fishing spots.

via Bonefishing Myths Busted | Part Two from Michael Gracie.

Photo by Gracie

I didn’t start out too good.  The first success I had was with a guide that either didn’t know, or didn’t practice good C&R. The results were lots of grip & grin shots with the fish out of the water for way, way too long.

Since then, I’ve read, I’ve listened and I’ve learned. The general math looks like this… (- air exposure) + (- handling) = Good Release

Here’s me putting that into practice…

A nice shot from Cameron at FIBFest II with Andros South

Ok… so, not everyone has a professional photographer as totally awesome as Cameron hanging out with you all day, so, here are others.

Tom Larimer took this pic.

A pic I took down in Belize

Another pic from Belize with El Pescador.

A DIY Bone from Grand Bahama.

I found this little video about Grand Bahama Island’s Deep Water Cay.  I’ve never fished at the lodge, but I’ve fished the waters around DWC and I’ve been past the lodge.  I think the piece might overstate things a bit… the lodge certainly didn’t look like it was in “disrepair” when I went past it and I’ve talked to folks that have fished it in recent years.  The piece makes it sounds like the thing had vines growing on the buildings and rust overtaking anything metal.  They got a new owner who revamped things, but the place wasn’t a ghost town.

It has had its own landing strip for a long time… that’s not new.  I don’t think there’s any time in my life when I’ll be landing on that private landing strip… that’s not the tax bracket I’m in.

Still… it is a storied lodge in a place that is kind of awesome.

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I’ve been in touch with Johan for a little while… folks that love the same things tend to cluster.  Turns out my friend Shane met Johan in a bar out that way recently.  I just found this little vid on Vimeo from Johan.  Johan is Norwegian, which is a good thing to be.  1/4th of my genetic make-up comes from there and while I understand it to be beautiful country, I can only imagine my ancestors left for the same reason Johan was down in the Bahamas… there are no Norwegian Bonefish.

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