Anyone Can Surf Barbados

"It was the kind of scene you'd expect to see on the north shore of Oahu or the Gold Coast of Australia: three surfers bobbing in the water as a 15ft swell rolled in. One of the surfers paddled into it, snapped to his feet and suddenly he was riding it – millions of gallons of the ocean's energy barrelling him forward. He turned, speeding left, flipping right, then crouched down and held the sides of his board, launching himself five feet off the crest. He flew, spinning into the air, dro

Only this wasn't Pipe, Indo or any other famous moniker the world's nomadic surfing community bestows on its favourite pilgrimage spots. This clean, perfect, enormous wave was rolling in to a little-known surf destination – the east coast of Barbados. And the only audience that these three surfers – professionals from Hawaii and Florida in town to shoot a documentary for Billabong – had was an empty, palm tree-lined beach..."

Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/features/Travel-Barbados.5989060.jp

Go Underwater With A Point and Shoot

"This shoot was taken while Danny was snorkeling in Barbados with some very friendly turtles. He ditched his snorkel and went down to between 3 and 6 feet below the surface. This picture was taken at F4 at 1/250th of a second.

Colors fade the deeper you go underwater, disappearing in light spectrum order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). Most underwater photos will have some amount of blue or gray tint. To get rid of the haze, you usually have to tinker with the white balance and saturat

On trips like this one, Danny and his fiancé want to keep post-production to a minimum to save time, so they use Picasa to organize and edit photos: "Because we were traveling, we didn't want to fuss around with photo adjustments such as white balance and contrast like we normally would. We also wanted to share pictures easily with our families...""

Click here for more on our forum.

It's Official ...

... Port Ferdinand of Arrogance on the way:

Click images to enlarge

Links:

King Ferdinand Of Arrogance Finds A Port In Barbados At Last

Ugh! Yet another Six Mens marina in the works

Merricks Gets More Bad Press

Barbados TravelAdvisor • View topic - Caribbean property investors fear for their deposits

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King Ferdinand Of Arrogance Finds A Port In Barbados At Last

Work in progress on the Port Ferdinand Marina at Retreat, St. Peter, Barbados

It has been several months since this blog visited the subject of the Six Mens/Retreat marina, but that's not because a lot has not gone or is going on with that project. Quietly a few months ago work started on the project but as the old Bajan proverb goes - "You can hide and by land but you can't hide and work it" - sure enough, word of the billion dollar St. Peter residential marina project has started leaking in the local media a few weeks ago and already a firestorm has been gathering. You know, for example, that there is a big environmental concern when the daily paper through which the government speaks to the country yesterday had to carry an article trumpeting the environmental procedures that were followed in getting the project off the ground. The article glossed over the fact that the last mangrove on the west coast has already been destroyed by this project, but that may only be the first of several controversies this new marina next door to the still controversial Port St. Charles may generate before it opens for business hopefully in 2012.

Port Ferdinand Marina Master Plan

The master plan calls for just 96 luxury condos to be constructed on the 13-acre site around a lagoon with the capability for berthing 120 yachts. It also involves the construction of a roundabout and a swing bridge to facilitate vehicular and boating traffic, and beach improvements in the area will be carried out.

No word yet on whether this latest west coast monstrosity is in fact named in honor of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

Links:

Club Bimshire: Protect historic sites!

Mullins Bay Blog: "This Is Monaco: Is This What We Want For Barbados?"

"Barbados in the year 2050 – The vision of some…" « Barbados Free Press

"Should Barbados Be The Next Monaco?" « Barbados Underground

Barbados Continues To Suffer From Poor Tourism Advertising

Potential visitors react to photo used to sell Barbados as a tourist destination.

Barbados TravelAdvisor • View topic - Barbados Tourism

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More Rumblings In Merricks

"During a public meeting at Bayley's Primary School Tuesday evening, St Philip residents received retails about the project and got a chance to air concerns about water distribution and access to the nearby beach.
Documents which the developer Harlequin Hotels & Resorts released at the three-hour meeting showed that more than 750 people would be employed during the construction phase and 1 500 will be needed to operate the complex that includes a five-star hotel.
In a presentation to the estimated 150 people, David Senior of architects Robertson Ward Associates Limited said the development would put a total of 1 242 beds on the market.
The tourist complex includes three hotel blocks, eight apartment blocks, 18 "plantation" houses, 42 one-bedroom cabanas, a 500-seat conference room, restaurants, shops and a spa village.
In an interview afterwards, Chairman of Harlequin, Dave Ames, told the DAILY NATION that the company is expected to spend between US$300 million and US$400 million on the Merricks project."

Click here for entire NationNews.com article

Merricks Back On CBC Radar

"Plans are well on stream for what is being described as the largest hotel resort in Barbados.
The project has been in the works for some time but is now nearer to reality.
The new billion dollar resort is to be built on 70 acres of oceanfront land in the area around Peat Bay.
The United Kingdom based developers, Harlequin Property, say it will comprise nearly one thousand hotel rooms including suites, apartments, custom homes and cabanas.
Merricks Barbados five star luxury spa resort will be made up of a five star hotel, about 10 villas and 600 apartments with over 12 hundred bedrooms..."

Click here for entire article.

What Happened To The Lakes?

Click image to enlarge

It is amazing what a change of government and a recession can do to some of the "big" tourism related developments around the island.  Ever wondered what happened to "The Lakes?"  Remember those huge billboards along the highways and byways a few years ago advertising what was to become a huge 500-villa health and wellness community in Mt. Brevitor, St. Peter?  Well, it seems they sold a lot fewer than 77 villas and apartments so they have downsized and changed the name from The Lakes to "VueMont."  "The Lakes" probably was too confusing to potential buyers who wouldn't know the development was supposed to sit on 180 acres of two former sugar plantations - Mt. Brevitor and Lakes.  They have also dropped the health and wellness/retirement theme and are going after anybody with at least US$400K who cannot find and/or afford beachfront property and don't mind a view from a hill mount.  Get it - VueMont?  

End Of The World: Lessons for those who would "Dubaify" Barbados

Proposed island north of Bridgetown Port

"England is deserted, Australia and New Zealand have merged, and the man who bought Ireland has killed himself.
They were designed to make Dubai the envy of the world: a series of paradise islands inhabited by celebrities and the super-rich reclaimed from the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf and shaped like a map of the Earth. It was called The World.
As millions of tonnes of rock were dumped into the sea for the foundations, timely leaks suggested that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were to buy Ethiopia, Sir Richard Branson was tipped to occupy England, while Rod Stewart would border him in Scotland.
Instead it has become the world’s most expensive shipping hazard, guarded by private security in fast boats and ringed by warning buoys to keep the curious away. A development that was meant to send Dubai’s star into the firmament of First World cities has been left to the mercy of the waves and the baking winds..."

Click here for entire Times Online article.

Meanwhile, we learned this week from The Nation:

"PRIME MINISTER DAVID THOMPSON is expected to take a four-nation trip shortly to meet with investors on several projects here that have been stalled.
Speaking at a Press conference at his Ilaro Court residence yesterday, Thompson said he would visit the Britain, Canada, United States and China.
He said there were more than 12 projects that had to be discussed, and he intended to sit down and see what concerns the investors had and what issues could be resolved.
Among those to be discussed are Four Seasons, Sam Lord's Castle, "some on the West Coast and one at Merricks in St Philips, some of which have groundwork to be done and some of which are almost ready and can proceed at a moments notice..."

- NationNews.com 9/16/09