Hey Chris,

Way back when Trump bought the 282' NABILA from the arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, he wanted to base it at his marina in Atlantic City... Problem was, that basin had to be dredged to accommodate her draft, and the necessary permitting process would have taken longer than he wanted to wait... So, he just went ahead and dredged the thing privately, and simply paid the massive fine he was assessed for doing so...

From the Explorer Chartbooks site:

An application to dredge into the sea bed at Bell Island in the Exuma Land and Sea Park has not even been granted as yet, and the developer is already cutting deep into a limestone hill to create a marina.

The island’s developer, The Aga Khan IV of the Aga Khan Development Network, has two grandiose luxury homes that sit on top of two picturesque hills surrounded by plush natural vegetation on Bell Island in the park. One home sits just below the helicopter pad, which is a clean, grassy area on another hill. It’s the landing pad of the 13-seat helicopter that has been the center of headline stories, as the press and the public seek answers and call for more transparency as it pertains to developments on Crown Land in The Bahamas.

Environment Minister Earl Deveaux, who received rides in the Aga Khan’s helicopte, has handed his resignation into Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Media officials and the public are anxious for the Prime Minister to respond to this embarrassing situation for his government that claims to operate on a ‘trust factor’.

The Aga Khan IV has an application before the Ministry of Environment which Minister Deveaux said he was ‘minded to’ approve. It will allow the Aga Khan to create a number of marina slips, dredging up to fifteen feet deep. The public has yet to be told how long and how wide the slips will be, leading out to the sea.

Although the application has not been approved, massive demolition of a portion of the hill has already begun.

Once a Crown Land lease is up in 47 years, Bahamian children who today aspire to achieve a lease must be afforded the opportunity. If leasing developers like Aga Khan make major detrimental changes to the landscape, it could destroy the sacred land that belongs to the people of the Bahamas that the Minister of the Environment and the Bahamas National Trust has failed to protect.

The Minister has publicly admitted to accepting rides in the luxury helicopter and said he would “do it again”, while it has been revealed that the managing director at BNT accepted a million-dollar grant from the Bell island developer last year.

http://chatter.explorercharts.com/?p=1373

When I passed by Bell Island 2 years ago, that massive scar that had been cut was quite a blight on the landscape... It's really a pity what is occurring in that part of the Exumas, the private ownership and development of so many of those pristine cays. The beautiful area around Pipe Creek, much of it's former beauty is gone, with the proliferation of massive private homes that appear to be occupied only a few weeks of the year... I recently learned that one of my alltime favorite marinas and small resorts - Sampson Cay - has been closed to the public, and is now the private playground of the telecom billionaire John Malone... Sampson Cay was one of the first Out Island marinas I ever visited about 25 years ago, it was a very special and unique place back then, really sad to see the way these places are being gobbled up in today's world...

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41586&Itemid=2

I've never stopped at Tarpum Bay, but have you ever been to Palmetto Point? I hung out there for a few days years ago, very nice little community... If you're in the mood for pizza or other local fare, Mate & Jenny's is pretty good... There's a marina a bit south of the town beach called Runaway Bay, which I went into to ride out some weather, and grab some wifi... The place was still being developed, they had no electric, and over a period of about 4 days, nobody ever came around to collect for dockage... There was a nice little restaurant overlooking the basin that had wifi, but the last I heard it was "Closed for Renovations", and we know what that's code for in the Bahamas, right? (grin) My guess is that the status of the marina is probably unchanged from when I was there several years ago...

Great to hear from you, good luck, and best regards,

Jon