Lighthouse Point: Change is coming

The rocky bluffs along Lighthouse Beach are stunning.

With weather settling down after another front passed through, we sailed southeast to Lighthouse Point, a remote anchorage located on the very southern tip of Eleuthera. We had the place to ourselves for a while, and it was one of the most spectacular places that we have seen yet on our Bahamas voyages.

View from the lighthouse, looking south towards Exumas Sound.

Not easy to reach by land (we had attempted to get here with a rental car a few days before and the road narrowed down to a deeply rutted single lane path), the old lighthouse perches atop a high bluff that overlooks Exuma Sound, surrounded by pristine white sand beaches and rocky bluffs.

The ruins of the old lighthouse included this cook house. 

The old and the new.
Ruins of the original lighthouse, with a more recent navigation beacon installed.

Wreckage of an old sailing vessel along the beach.

As we walked across this beautiful and pristine landscape, our thoughts turned to recent discussions that we had with local Bahamians about the future of the site. Disney recently purchased the area, with plans for a new cruise ship destination. Hard to imagine thousands of cruise ship passengers on the beaches, with all of the required infrastructure for the intensive use that wraps around cruise ship activities.

Lighthouse Point has two magnificent beaches, with numerous coral reefs just offshore.

The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and many other environmental advocates groups tried to intervene to protect Lighthouse Point, but the government's National Economic Council recently approved the project. In speaking to local Bahamians, they generally had a positive attitude about Disney's plans, due to the promise of more local jobs and a boost to their economy, which is understandable.

The ruins of the old lighthouse include this stone pier.
S/V Pandion rests at anchor in background.

Unfortunately our experience with intensive coastal development in Florida over 30 years has been a hard lesson. Projects like these, located in such pristine places, are unsustainable.  BNT has proposed more sustainable plans for the site, including designation as a National Park with research, education and ecotourism programs that would generate more local jobs than Disney envisions; but it appears that Disney has won.

Lighthouse Point's second beach, facing Exuma Sound. In our opinion, one of the Bahama's most pristine sites.

Perhaps there is an opportunity for BNT and Disney to work together to forge a new model that steps back from intensive use and the impacts that come with it, and creates a more sustainable future for Lighthouse Point. We hope so. But in the meantime, we were happy to have seen it when we did.

The foot trail back to our anchorage, with S/V Pandion waiting for us.

Royal Bahamas Defence Force on patrol.

On a side note, we encountered two uniformed officers from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force at our anchorage. They were patrolling the area, and asked us to contact them on VHF Channel 16 if we observed any suspicious sailing vessels in the area. We were not sure what prompted that request, but the next day we read about a refugee sailboat from Haiti that had landed in the Abacos, to the north of us. It reminded us of the Cuban refugees that we saw at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park two years before.

Brenda caught this beautiful Nassau Grouper at Lighthouse Point,
which we promptly returned to the ocean. Groupers have been over harvested and are in decline.

We are grateful for the chance to have seen Lighthouse Point in pristine condition.
Hopefully Bahamians and private sector will find a sustainable future for this amazing place.