Ocean Pew

The interior of Barbados's Nidhe Israel synagogue.

"Consider the irony: A foreign visitor celebrates his bar mitzvah on Shabbat Shekalim in a synagogue that was itself saved from the wrecking ball by a massive round of shekel-collecting; a synagogue, moreover, that is perched on an island at the easternmost edge of the Caribbean (no desert, but no Jerusalem, either) where the mere act of enumerating the Jewish population—800 Sephardim in 1750, 40 Ashkenazim in 2010, no Jews at all in 1930—reminds us of just how convoluted the history of our wandering people can be..."

Click here for entire Tablet Magazine article.

See also:  Speightstown’s Jewish Past

Yet Another Reason To Ditch The Barbados Tourism Authority

 There is growing dissatisfaction with the way in which tourism in Barbados is being run.  Other Caribbean destinations are already eating our lunch as our marketing efforts continue to fall short, and failure to address forthrightly some the glaring problems in the sector such as a lack of affordable hotels and beach erosion.  It has not helped also that a promised "Tourism Master Plan" is still more than two years in the making.  Join the discussion on our forum by clicking on the link below.

Barbados TravelAdvisor • View topic - Yet Another Reason To Ditch The Barbados Tourism Authority

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Pierhead Project Back From The Dead - In News Again

"FOUR MEMBERS of the board have parted company with the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTII).
Reports reaching THE NATION yesterday were that chairman Jerry Thorne, deputy chairman Mark Prescott, and members Paul Bernstein and Decourcey Headley have left the BTII. All of them have been on the board since 2008.

New appointments

It is understood that new appointments were made last month, and chartered accountant Andrew Marryshow was installed as the new chairman while businessman Chris deCaires is his deputy.
Several telephone calls to Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Darcy Boyce, and Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy for confirmation about this situation were not immediately returned. THE NATION was informed that both were attending meetings.

When contacted, Thorne, an orthopaedic surgeon, declined to comment, but deCaires confirmed that he was now on the BTII's board.
Reports indicated that the separation follows a disagreement over the $130 million Pierhead Development Project, which was switched from the Ministry of Tourism to the BTII in 2009.
That project, which has been in the works since 1988, includes plans for a marina, hotel, three blocks of condominiums, a retail and restaurant complex and a high-rise car park, as well as other services.
It was to transform the Pierhead and Lower Bay Street into a sophisticated shopping, entertainment and upscale accommodation area, and represent a partnership between Government, the private sector and foreign investors, with Government and the Barbados Shipping and Trading conglomerate as major landowners.
Last October, when asked about the project, chief executive officer of the BTII, Stuart Layne, said it was before Cabinet and he could not speak on the matter.
It is understood that a significant sum of money had already been spent by the former administration to conduct a study into the feasibility of this much-mooted project."

Source: http://www.nationnews.com/news/local/LEADbtii-resignations-FRONT-PAGE-LEAD

The Merricks :: "Recession 2010: When hotspots turn cold"

Palmetto Bay, Barbados (proposed site for The Merricks Resort)

"Some investors who bought off-plan units at The Merricks, Las Canas and other schemes believe that their money may have been used to complete Buccament Bay, in which they have no stake.

Harlequin instructs agents to make it clear to potential investors that revenues are used to market and develop all the resorts in the Caribbean. Harlequin says it is treating investors seeking refunds on uncompleted properties in The Merricks and Las Canas "sympathetically" but that often involves re-negotiating terms.

One woman was offered the chance to swap her unbuilt villas at Merricks for similar properties at Buccament Bay but she declined because she thought they were of lesser value. Others have been offered "discounts" of 10 per cent on their unstarted properties at Merricks..."

...continue reading - click link below:

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | Property :: Recession 2010: When hotspots turn cold

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Update On Barbados Tourism Mystery Plan

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