By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Cat Island business owners said Crystal Cruises was unable to select the island as a port-of-call during its seven-night Bahamas voyages because the water near the public dock was too shallow.

Alfred Moss, co-owner of Alvernia Foods Grocery Store & Car Rental, told Tribune Business that Crystal Cruises was “never going to work out” after it was discovered that the main government harbour was too shallow for its vessel to drop anchor and then transport passengers ashore.

“Crystal Cruises said that we didn’t have enough for them to work with. You have 12 miles from the port of Smith’s Bay to the drop off,” Mr Moss said. “The ship’s draught is 25 feet, and they need an additional 20 feet for insurance purposes. That’s 45 feet of water they have to be in, plus you are talking about 12 miles back to shore and away from shore and going back.”

Crystal Cruises, in an e-mailed response to Tribune Business questions, confirmed: “Out of concern regarding tender operations in Cat Island, including a distance requirement that may limit the number of guests who might potentially experience the island, we made the decision to not call there. We have added an overnight at Bimini followed by a sea day.”

Besides the distance between Smith’s Bay and the designated drop-off spot being too far to travel, the second private harbour at Hawk’s Nest did not allow Crystal Cruises to use their dock because it was too short notice.

“Hawk’s Nest is a private enterprise. That’s not a government enterprise and some of the winter residents didn’t want it there,” said Mr Moss. “Hawk’s Nest is miles away from any local areas and it wasn’t going to affect the locals in any way. Plus, the winter residents have a problem with things like the cruise ships. I heard them talking about it and all that stuff. They want the island to be the way it is, laid back.

“Hawk’s Nest wasn’t prepared to set up temporary toilets for cruise ship passengers either. Crystal Cruises wanted to set up 12 temporary toilets, but I wouldn’t want that on my property either.”

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation (above), provided a different explanation for the Hawk’s Nest situation. “What happened was we were going to use the landing point at Hawk’s Nest and, very tragically, weeks, days, months ago, the owner died,” he revealed.

“Subsequent to the owner dying, the general manager got electrocuted. The new owners wanted out. They didn’t want any operations being conducted on their property. We were going to use their marina as a landing point for the tenders coming off the Crystal Serenity but they really didn’t want any operations being conducted there.

“We said we would provide everything and do the security, but they were not interested and any other possible venue would have required too much distance to be travelled as they were visiting only for six to seven hours, and that made it untenable.”

Besides the docking and transportation issues, Mr Moss said many local businesses were also uncomfortable with obtaining the “liability insurance” that Crystal Cruises demanded.

“They said: ‘Hey, you want us to stop, then you have to pay the liability insurance’, which doesn’t make sense because the locals weren’t going to see the cruise ship if it pulled into Hawk’s Nest,” he added.

Margaret Cleare, owner/operator of the Orange Creek Inn, said Hawk’s Nest did no9t want Crystal Cruises to land at their harbour.

She further explained: “Crystal Cruises never came because Hawk’s Nest didn’t allow them to land, and they didn’t use the harbours at Smith’s Bay and Bennett’s Harbour because there is not the depth of water there for them to pull into the harbours.

“They just don’t have the facilities.”