National Geographic Traveler article

[patw]

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/extras/destinationwatch/outislands0609.html

[AbacoPeach]

Why don't they get it???!!! People go to the Abaco/Out Islands for something different! Heck, it is lot easier to get to Florida than it is to get to Abaco (Out Islands)! Why go to Abaco (Out Islands) when you can get all that in Florida? I think they are cutting their noses off to spite their faces!!!

[South Pause]

Progress just keeps marching along. Can't stop it. It's sad. Eventually there will be no place left with any personality. Everything will be Disney-ized.
Florida, 40 years ago, was like the Bahamas is now. The Keys were amazing as few as 20 years ago. All gone. Now, the final frontier, the little, beautiful, special islands.....enjoy while the magic is still there and hope the progress is very very slow.

[Luff'em]

I hear a lot of "I got mine you get yours... just get it somewhere else" Why don't people bash the "progress" so far? It started long ago it's part of living/ vactioning in any desirable area. You want to live/ vaction in a place that won't see progress try, but I think you'll end up in an undesirable place.

[SamFamAustin]

I'll be back on MOW this winter for my visit but let me say something about my home Island in TX and you see if some of this fits.

The Island authorities and Chamber of Commerce have hired several hundred-thousand dollar PR firms to market South Padre Island. Developers have visions of 30-story condo hotels, true "resorts." It is a free world but many of us hate that and want to keep the Island a secret, special place. A comprehensive plan is being developed to manage the growth on the Island and the "vision statement" meetings almost caused a riot. Naturally, the developers wanted to pave the entire place like Disneyland and the locals wanted none of it.

I hate to say it, but some locals are almost praying for a "real estate bubble" so that many of the planned developments would fail. Please forgive me for having a bad attitude.

Nope, what we wanted was some smoothing of the tourist traffic so we didn't dry up in the slow season. We wanted more "shoulder season" visitors especially in the fall and early winter. Here, the month of November is so slow you could eat a three course dinner in the middle of our 5-lane boulevard and never see a single vehicle (summer population abt 75,000).

So we wonder about all these rich folks who buy as investors or who only come for two weeks a year, as second home owners. About a quarter of the new construction is "see through" dwellings because they're not even furnished. Is that what we wanted? It sure made the developer and bank happy but we scratch our heads, wondering when all this growth will translate into more money for us locals. We're making about the same as five years ago but have more expenses now. By "locals" I mean everyone from the umbrella vendor to the shopkeeper to the Island clinic doctor.

Respectfully submitted,
Sam

[Bo]

Hey SamFam, I don't think worrying about the quality of life where you live can be viewed as having a bad attitude.Second homes are a luxury and an investment. With investing comes risk such as real estate bubbles. I'm sure you know this and are just being polite but your community has every right to protect their quality of life. I think I"ve heard this somewhere before.

[Abacobrad]

Ruining the Abacos. Hopefully sooner than later. The bubble does appear to be hitting the Abacos with high prices and few sales. We've seen ridiculous inflation and some Amercian Florida Style development on GTC too and it is truly sad and very out of place. Perhaps we need BEC to maintain their occasional power issues and for the Castro brothers to give way to capitalism. Then Cuba can entertain these mega developers and leave the Abacos alone!

[SamFamAustin]

Interesting hypothesis about Cuba - my folks visited there and LOVED it. Please don't tell the State Department!

Earler I posted something about maybe a slow-down in the second home real estate market. It is true is has really tanked lately. If I were DLC or a developer in the Abacos I wouldn't want to try to market in this situation, since sales are so slow and the market is "mushy."

Call it a correction instead of a bubble, it is still a slow-down. That is good but we all know there are these incredibly rich people that don't have much sense and are impervious to these little market signals. It is a shame. It used to be if you made over 150K per year and saved wisely, you could afford a second cotttage in the Abacos.

Now us little pawns are pretty much out of the game. We rent, we have fun, we cry deep inside. /Sammy

[trubahamian]

Ruining the Abacos. Hopefully sooner than later. The bubble does appear to be hitting the Abacos with high prices and few sales. We've seen ridiculous inflation and some Amercian Florida Style development on GTC too and it is truly sad and very out of place. Perhaps we need BEC to maintain their occasional power issues and for the Castro brothers to give way to capitalism. Then Cuba can entertain these mega developers and leave the Abacos alone!
We locals know wen Cuba opens up to the US dollar,our economy will be flushed down the toilet. Ya'll can romanticise all about Abaco this n' that,but wen it comes down to the oppurtunity to buy beautiful land with all da infrastructure there,"including big airports" US investors will head fa Cuba.We need tu eat today and erryday,we need ya'll to invest as much as possible here before Cuba opens up,in da hope a sense of financial responsibility will keep our economy viable to a level of sustainence for ourselves. Most of us agree;Bakers Bay may be harmful to Guana,but not paying our bills,rent or kid's school fees is a bigger problem,that faces us all here erryday. Please rememba...dis is a Bahamian issue and we have bigger problems here then u suspect. Just look at the rise in public mischief,while all dem construction workers been laid off for one.:)

[DrRalph]

Even if Cuba opens, I think Abaco will always be a major draw because of its proximity to the US. It's a convenient destination for boaters, and a short flight from Central Florida. And I don't think there are better people in the world than you Abaconians. I think your problem will be growth, not abandonment.

[SamFamAustin]

I completely agree ... I still put the opening of Cuba in the "speculation department" and that could be years from now if anything happens. Even in spite of a constricted real estate market coastal properties are still booming, maybe not exactly thundering but the inertia is there and growth will not stop. It has become such an issue that some coastal communities have had to rally to save historical things such as the old fishing quays and settlements.

Perhaps the Abacos is too much of a frontier to run into these issues yet, but when land gets to $200 a square foot for condos, something has to give. What is interesting about the Abacos is that whole islands are being developed at once, as opposed to small beach houses being sold individually. I can't think of a similar thing anywhere ...

Well OK, the Sheik El Dubai actually built some islands for his recreational pleasure, which is different no matter how you "Sheik" it! :D

[BahamaAngie]

My hat off to you Sam. You say it like a real true kind person.

[BahamaAngie]

Do you think Cuba will really open up????? I just finished a book based in Cuba. Really scary for us Americans. It would take a long time to feel safe there. Think I will stick with Abaco.

[trubahamian]

Do you think Cuba will really open up????? I just finished a book based in Cuba. Really scary for us Americans. It would take a long time to feel safe there. Think I will stick with Abaco.
Tu jokie! U musse nbe readin' something published by real right wing Republicans or even Cuban American expats. I been Cuba plenty times,seen many Americans "especially American boaters" and noone is treated better than da one that carries US dollars.I een neva seen any victim type crime there. Trust me dos Cubans jus waitin' fa dos Franklins. I tell U tru gurl!;)

[peterodgers]

hey TruB,

what's the route (nassau to havana?) and airline and fare for going to Cuba?

i take it that we don't take our US passport, just our greenbacks, eh?

[trubahamian]

hey TruB,

what's the route (nassau to havana?) and airline and fare for going to Cuba?

i take it that we don't take our US passport, just our greenbacks, eh?U need a npassport man! Unless ting has changed...You need tu leave frum Nassau and return thru da Bahamas "if u american" then go home. I caution u.....americans need tu sat dey een spend any US money there,if u leave here wit Bahamian money,maybe that is ok.