Ep. 45 Solid Rock
05 December 2024 | n/c
Bill Bernaerts | Warming Up

https://youtu.be/FCz5CLmciAY?si=-U5JHrFD_ByFCW9E
We split the cost of a rental vehicle for a few days with Lynn and Larry so we've done some exploring around the island. We headed to the east end the other day and we're amazed at the damage from hurricane Dorian in 2019. Apparently that part of the island was hit with a 20' storm surge and the eastern part of the island was directly hit by the hurricane. The pine forest, which was prevalent across the island is now a landscape of bare tree trunks with no tops.
The winds were so strong that they snapped off the tree tops about 30' off the ground as the bulk of the trunks were under water at that time. So there are literally millions of trunk remnants across the eastern end of the island looking like a collection of haphazard utility poles. The western end of the island appears to be relatively unscathed, at least from the forest perspective by comparison.
We met a couple of guys in the hot tub from Holland and they turned out to be dredging barge workers for a project that Carnival Cruise Lines is putting in on the island. It's a $500,000,000 ( that's the correct number of zeros) project and they are here for the marine portion of the job. One of the guys was the captain of the dredger and they are working 12 hour shifts continuously for 6 weeks to complete their portion of the project. When all done it will have docking for 3 cruise ships and a shore based compound of attractions, restaurants and beaches. It will be a big boost for the island economy for sure.
Not sure when it started but this is a huge complex that is scheduled to open next year! (not likely given the video of the site posted 2 months ago) We did see a large staging site containing acres of construction material for pier construction when we went on our Grand Lucaya Waterway trip a couple of weeks ago so this is what it was all for. There is a lot of dredging to accommodate the deep draft of cruise ships as well as all of the lagoon construction for the finished water attractions. It's all solid rock and coral so not easy excavation. See before and after concept in the 2 clips below.
https://youtu.be/Xrr6-43jJ5k?si=WlDOMgBoFkYf0vV9
https://youtu.be/Kl6BGyLgdJs?si=7skVJspitxIZsEPG
Closer to Amaruq, a lot of excitement this week with the sighting of a shark in marina. In fact Sam saw it twice swim under out boat and it's pretty big! Several other people spotted it as well so anyone thinking about swimming here has since reconsidered. I was looking for it the next morning and didn't see it but did have a quick glance of a very large spotted eagle ray off the end of a finger dock! This thing was likely 5-6' across and just flapped its way along just under the surface. Our hull cleaning shrimp continue to feast on our under water buffet so it's a natural white noise machine which lulls you off to sleep. So there is lots going on just below the water, even here, if you take the time to look.
https://youtu.be/_7IITLEr5Nw?si=TLm0dtD6kDSWRBUb
A couple of mornings ago we hit the gym for some exercise. they have a couple of bikes, a stair climber and an elliptical machine along with a lot of free weights, a cable weight rack and a cross country ski arm developer of all things. There were also 4 big fans, an a/c unit and 2 TVs , none of which worked because there was no power. We searched high and low for switches and controls to no avail so it didn't take long to get pretty warm.
https://youtu.be/VEfIYZox1GM?si=58u2XFhpypTGQXY_
Eventually someone in the adjoining aerobics room came in and turned everything on. Oh well, this was the Bahamaian version of hot yoga!
Shot of the day: Sam making friends with the marina Land Shark! He claims: "I'm only a dolphin ma'am."