A telling British documentary on the water sports industry in The Bahamas is again placing fire under the government to bring to parliament a bill governing the popular tourist pastime.
In chilling accounts, Package Holiday Undercover warns British tourists going on holiday to Paradise Island that they were being put at risk of death or injury by “rogue beach front water operators” described by one interviewee as “a pack of hounds”.
“This is officially paradise. The luxury resort of the Paradise Island resort in The Bahamas is a major draw for British holidaymakers. More than 70,000 of us go there every year,” says the show’s host, Jonathan Maitland.
“But in the crystal clear waters in a place they call paradise, lurk dangers that can turn holidays into living hell.”
That was the case for Paul and Andrea Gallagher, a British couple who were only into the third day of their two-week vacation at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort back in August 2002 when the unthinkable happened.
The family was relaxing on the beach when a powerboat pulling a banana boat went out of control, ploughing through the water and mounting the beach at 30 miles per hour.
Reports indicate that two-year-old Paul Gallagher was sleeping in his pushchair when he was hit by the boat’s propeller.
The toddler died five days later. He never regained consciousness.
“When you know that something should never have happened, then someone should do something,” the little boy’s still grief-stricken mother says during the interview that aired in Britain just over a month ago.
“But they don’t-.It just makes me feel so angry that my little boy’s life to them is so cheap and easy to brush aside and that they can just be allowed to carry on, earning as much money, carrying on doing what they’re doing illegally with the Bahamian government and authorities knowing that they are acting illegally and doing nothing about it. It’s as if to say our little boy’s life was worth nothing at all. And it is just so wrong, so unjust.”
According to the documentary, investigations last year showed that the speedboat was not registered, not licensed and not insured.
Following their own investigations into the accident, Holiday Package Undercover claimed that Sea & Ski Ocean Sports, the owners of the speedboat, had a history of serious and fatal accidents.
At last report, the Gallaghers were pushing to have The Bahamas expelled from the Commonwealth, claiming that they were receiving no help from Bahamian authorities or the Atlantis Resort.
But Transport & Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin maintains the matter has been thoroughly investigated and that The Bahamas has told both the British High Commissioner and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Britain about all its efforts to address the issue.
But the Gallagher’s misfortune was not the only harsh reality the more than 10-minute documentary pointed to.
It claimed that while Bahamian law states that one has to be 16 to rent a jet ski, last year, a water sports vendor rented one of the power vehicles to a 13-year-old girl.
She lost control and crashed into another jet ski, killing its rider, it was reported.
The documentary, which was recently shown to tourism stakeholders, police authorities and officials from the Ministry ofﾠTransport and Aviation attending last week’s Bahamas Visitor Safety and Security Workshop, also pointed out that such problems are not just restricted to jet skis, banana or powerboats.
According to internationally-recognized water sports expert, Dave Garvey, who investigated the water sports industry in The Bahamas, a vendor, who described himself as “the main man on the beach for parasailing” produced a tight contract for visitors to sign, but did not seem “too keen” in them spending time reading it.ﾠﾠ
As Mr. Garvey tells it, the vendor told the tourists that they were covered by insurance, but the contract reportedly said otherwise.
“It explicitly states that we were flying at our own risks and that neither the vendor or the company was liable for any injuries,” he reported.
“From what I have seen, I am not surprised that there have been accidents here at this resort. There does not appear to be any culture about regulations being enforced.”
But that is exactly what officials are hoping to change.
“It was a telling experience to see the video,” said Archie Nairn, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism. “It was also very revealing, as it showed up any number of loopholes in the system. Most of it however centres around a lack of enforcement and the coordination of activities particularly on Cabbage Beach. It tells us also that as a [Port] Department, there is a lot to do in terms of making these operations safer and to ensure that we do what we are required to do under the law.
“It also highlights the fact that there is aﾠneed for amendments to existing legislation that we would obviously have to pursue.”
According to Mr. Nairn, an ad-hoc committee was appointed several months ago to examine the initial draft for what is being called an Act to Provide for the Regulation and Control of Recreational Watercraft (and all matters connected).
He said the committee has submitted the draft to the Office of the Attorney General.
He said not long ago, the Ministry of Transport received the draft bill, but officials there felt the proposed legislation needed to be fine-tuned.
“There were matters in the draft bill that upon reading we thought had to be more firm in terms of what was stated about zoning,” Mr. Nairn said.
“We were particularly concerned about powers of personnel, who would eventually be responsible for enforcing this law. We also looked further at other areas, particularly in the Family Islands.
“Now that you are having corporate individuals moving into the
Family Islands, we want to ensure that as much as practical, things are dealt with effectively as it relates to the law and that we do it the right way so that there would be no repercussions at the end of the day.”
Mr. Nairn also assured that the matter would be given priority.
“The Minister will take it to Cabinet as soon as we receive it from the AG’s office and so I am hoping that in a week’s time or shortly thereafter, we would be able to put the matter before Cabinet and subsequently on the agenda of the House of Assembly,” he said.
“We are striving to meet the October 5 deadline, (when the House of Assembly is scheduled to resume).”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
