2nd private island

[Numtini]

Why can Disney not just develop other sides/more of Castaway Cay? When we've climbed the lookout tower, it looks like there's a lot of space there?????

Not without seriously damaging the island's ecology.

 

[cmwade77]

I still would like to see Disney add a private island somewhere in the Pacific, then we could have year around cruises out of California and they could go to a private island. I don't know of many, if any cruise lines that have a private island over here, so this could be a huge selling point for Disney.

 

[cmwade77]

Sadly, very few small, available islands on the west coast.

Actually there are quite a few available, some are even U.S. owned, it would be very doable.

 

[cmwade77]

My wife has been wanting to go to Catalina, and I keep trying to get her to take a cruise that stops there. The 4 day cruise costs less than one night on Catalina.

There are ways to get deals through the various deal sites, I have seen 3 nights on Catalina with a round trip ferry ride for two for as cheap as $150+tax.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Actually there are quite a few available, some are even U.S. owned, it would be very doable.

Where? I can find one in California (in the Delta, not very do-able for a cruiseline).

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

I think in the winter it would get too cold to cruise the California Coast or even to Mexico. On the water would be horrible. Also that is when California has the most of their wet weather. Most islands along the Cali coast are uninhabited and ecologically fragile or protected for wildlife.

 

[Numtini]

You also need a government willing to grant Disney the kind of control they're looking for. I suspect that's the big reason private islands have been limited to a very few places. IS there anyone other than the Bahamas and Haiti? In particular, Disney probably wants more than just a regular lease on space. They really take on powers that are generally granted to a government. There's virtually nowhere on earth where a corporation has the powers that WDW has, for example.

I agree though, I'd love to see a DCL island as part of a West Coast Mexico cruise. I imagine that would be a very hard sell for Mexico in particular.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I think in the winter it would get too cold to cruise the California Coast or even to Mexico. On the water would be horrible. Also that is when California has the most of their wet weather. Most islands along the Cali coast are uninhabited and ecologically fragile or protected for wildlife.

We cruised the Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta and back) between Christmas and New Years, and the weather was as nice as a Caribbean cruise during the same time frame.

 

[Shanti]

Why can Disney not just develop other sides/more of Castaway Cay? When we've climbed the lookout tower, it looks like there's a lot of space there?????

Among many other ecological reasons, they need to be able to draw most of the island's daytime mosquitos to another section of the island.

 

[vinotinto]

I love CC, but if they were to develop a second private destination, I would rather see them develop something in a different location other than a second Bahamas island. Perhaps developing a beach in the DR or somewhere in the western Caribbean would be more interesting.

This was my exact same thought. We've been to CC twice - February and April. Both times, the water was too cold to swim in it. Pretty to look at, but not warm enough. I wish that instead of looking at the Bahamas, they would look at the Caribbean. I grew up in the Caribbean and you can do water activities year-round. Plus, it would anchor itineraries differently.

 

[gsarmedic]

A little over a decade ago I spent 3 months on Eleuthera while working on a movie. (Let's be honest it was a B-Movie at best, and made no sense whatsoever, but a paycheck and 3 months on an island none the less.) The production company chose Eleuthera because the island was nearly empty all the time. (118 miles long with 119 churches/places of worship as the tourism minister informed us during the initial scouting trip.) But most of the island's population is congregated around the 4 main towns: Spanish Wells/Harbor Island (Northern most points of Eleuthera), Governor's Harbour (The island's capital in the middle of the land mass), and Rock Sound (Southern end of the island.) When we went out on the beaches at four separate locations, we would never see another human apart from our production crew for the entire day along the entire beach literally as far as you could see in both directions.

BTW Princess Cay is not a separate island, it is just a port on the leeward/Western side of the island about 2.3 miles direct distance from Lighthouse Point. Their ships anchor off-shore and ferry the passengers to a smaller dock in the center. Look here on google earth: 24°38'11.54"N 76°10'28.34"W

If they are willing to spend the money, and if we take Castaway Cay as an example that Disney is willing to spend money, there is always a way to develop the land while preserving both Nature and History. In fact, the cultural education and archaeological excavations of the slave plantations at Bannermans Town (3.8 miles away) & Millars (4.9 miles) could be funded by Disney, use educational grants from US, Bahamian, and UK universities to provide competent scientific staff, and be made to allow tourism with passenger excursion fees similar to those that explore the Mayan ruins, or what the National Park Service has in Jamestown, Virginia.

(Found this Image on Google from the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Not mine)

Visitors can be granted limited access to the site and a cultural education center can be constructed and filled with the dig site findings to tell the stories of the history of the Bahamas. Therefore, Disney and the local Bahamian government can protect cultural and historical elements while generating funds to further research and learning. But you have to remember that these sites are not within the boundaries of the area Disney is looking to develop.

Another item listed on the websites who are against the idea, is the influx of ship passengers taking away beach access. While I admit it has been 11 years since my time on the island, but absolutely no one ever complained about too many people on the beach. Again, the production chose the island for it's deserted feel. Maybe more and more people have started visiting the island over the past decade, and I could be wrong in my opinion based on my past experience, but adding 2-4 days of people to an area for 6-10 hours is not going to affect the lives of the locals to the point where they won't find a place of secluded beauty for their day at the beach. I dove numerous locations around the island scouting for sites as I was doing the underwater cinematography for the movie. I don't remember one time over the 3 months ever seeing a local on the beach who wasn't working (fishing, dock work, etc.) I was looking for beautiful reef structures, abundant sea life congregations, etc. I found these all easily just within the area of Governor's Harbour (Cupids Cay) and off the coast of South Palmetto Point. In fact, nearly every where I stepped into the water, within a few yards I found something interesting to film.

As a scuba diver I do understand the desire to protect all reefs from destruction. No one wants to see anything like the dead sections of the Great Barrier Reef befall any other place on Earth. But what I do know is that scuba activities on Disney Cruises are one of the least booked activities. This is one of the only ways to get to the depths where the delicate underwater ecosystem would be affected. Surface swimmers and snorklers have extremely limited access to the depths of the reefs where significant damage could occur. Not many people can hold their breath for more than 45 seconds and dive below 12-15ft. Solution: Completely quarantine any access to Big Pond to protect the Stromatolites and limit the area of snorkeling and Scuba (if even offered) in the same way as Castaway Cay.

I can say this though, there were a bunch of other interesting things to do on the island besides sitting on the beach. There were caves that could be explored with bats and other creatures, there is an abandoned US Navy SOSUS base just north of Governor's Harbour that is pretty cool to check out, but kinda risky for Disney tours I would think. Deep sea fishing charters could be conducted as they are in other parts of the island. (On Fridays some of the locals that were working on the film and I would go out and free dive for conch. I took photos while they did the actual "fishing" since I believe it was illegal to retrieve sea life with scuba equipment. Every Friday night the entire town would come to the beach at Cupids Cay for a fish fry party.) There are a few spots that you can go cliff diving, some as low as 15-20ft, some as high as 80 ft. (We spent nearly an entire day launching a stuntman off the 80ft cliff. I think he did it like 30 times.) But access to all of these things is under developed. There are no safe walk ways. It is all raw untouched nature. The volcanic rock that makes up most of the reefs and shoreline would tear up you sandals and shoes, just imagine if it were your bare feet. Furthermore, the ability to get from the South side of the island to the North, let's say to explore the caves, would take 2-3 hours of driving. Most of the road system there was only two lanes, and while there is a "suggested" speed limit of I think 45MPH, driving at highway speeds is quite dangerous due to the conditions of the roads themselves. In reality you would need to take a bus to the Rock Sound "airport" and hop a puddle jumper flight in a single or twin prop driven plane to the North Eleuthera or Spanish Wells airports to get there and back before the ship sets sail.

If anybody could develop the area responsibly it would be Disney. And if it were offered on my cruise itinerary I would get off the ship and enjoy it. I would travel the island just to reminisce. I think with the economic and supply infrastructure already set up on the island, the location may be even better than Castaway Cay.

 

[darnheather]

This was my exact same thought. We've been to CC twice - February and April. Both times, the water was too cold to swim in it. Pretty to look at, but not warm enough. I wish that instead of looking at the Bahamas, they would look at the Caribbean. I grew up in the Caribbean and you can do water activities year-round. Plus, it would anchor itineraries differently.

I'm not sure what kind of water temperatures you are used to but here are the CC water temps year round. 79 is plenty warm enough to swim and we certainly enjoyed swimming there in April.

 

[cscream13]

I'm not sure what kind of water temperatures you are used to but here are the CC water temps year round. 79 is plenty warm enough to swim and we certainly enjoyed swimming there in April.View attachment 349858

Awesome chart -- thanks for sharing!!

 

[darnheather]

Update and better map.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/20...-on-the-record-with-lighthouse-point-details/

Looks very attractive for cruisers and islanders alike. For sure the area could use the money and I believe DCL will take care of the environmental side. The only part I don't understand is

"will provide full access to the property for Bahamians"

How would that work exactly?

 

[Malestrom Troll]

If they are not going to dredge Lighthouse Point, that looks like it's going to be a long walk from the pier.

 

[Dug720]

If they are not going to dredge Lighthouse Point, that looks like it's going to be a long walk from the pier.

They may have shuttle golf carts for a small fee. Amber Cove has these. Not that I liked Amber Cove, but I have been there and they have golf carts usually driven by locals that people can opt to use.

 

[FSU Girl]

This was my exact same thought. We've been to CC twice - February and April. Both times, the water was too cold to swim in it. Pretty to look at, but not warm enough. I wish that instead of looking at the Bahamas, they would look at the Caribbean. I grew up in the Caribbean and you can do water activities year-round. Plus, it would anchor itineraries differently.

I think the water temperature depends on if Florida gets a cold front. First time I was there over Christmas and the water was warm and we stayed in it all day. Second time it was the beginning of December and Florida was having a cold front and the water was ice cold. I'm from Florida so I prefer warmer water to swim in.

 

[vinotinto]

I think the water temperature depends on if Florida gets a cold front. First time I was there over Christmas and the water was warm and we stayed in it all day. Second time it was the beginning of December and Florida was having a cold front and the water was ice cold. I'm from Florida so I prefer warmer water to swim in.

Exactly. I think the water in FL is too cold for a good portion of the year, and dependent on cold fronts, etc., whereas the Caribbean is much more stable in terms of water and air temperature. It's rare to see the outside temperature in coastal Caribbean areas dip below low 70's even in winter, even in the evening. I'm just saying, it would be nice for them to consider the Caribbean since it would be a guaranteed warm swimming weather year-round.

 

[dcassetta]

This was my exact same thought. We've been to CC twice - February and April. Both times, the water was too cold to swim in it. Pretty to look at, but not warm enough. I wish that instead of looking at the Bahamas, they would look at the Caribbean. I grew up in the Caribbean and you can do water activities year-round. Plus, it would anchor itineraries differently.

This is a valid concern. Eleuthera is more open to the Atlantic than Gorda Cay is.

 

[dcassetta]

Update and better map.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/20...-on-the-record-with-lighthouse-point-details/

Looks very attractive for cruisers and islanders alike. For sure the area could use the money and I believe DCL will take care of the environmental side. The only part I don't understand is

"will provide full access to the property for Bahamians"

How would that work exactly?

People who live in Eleuthera will be able to visit this area any time they like. I anticipate that Disney would have a full time crew there, just like at CC, which would help prevent any shenanigans!