OLD BAHAMA BAY TO REOPEN TO 50% CAPACITY BY OCT 10TH
Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama Island is aiming “to re-open at 50 percent capacity within two weeks” after sustaining only minimal damage from Hurricane Dorian.
John MacDonald, who heads the property’s condo owners, said that despite not incurring sufficient damage to make a claim the property remains closed with Grand Bahama International Airport not open to international flights.
Writing in a September 20, 2019, letter, Mr MacDonald expressed gratitude to their landlord, Lubert Adler, that it had “temporarily forgiven” rental payments in the absence of any income coming in.
“We are hopeful to reopen at 50 percent capacity within two weeks, and slowly work up to 100 percent in the weeks to follow,” he wrote. “With regards to the resort, Old Bahama Bay was spared. We received minimal damage with no salt water intrusion into the condos.
“The majority of the damage occurred to the grounds and the foliage. No damage claims will be made with our insurance carrier as there simply is not enough damage to come close to our deductible. We view this as a very positive situation to be in.”
Mr MacDonald added that electricity supply had been restored already to Old Bahama Bay, with water set to follow “any day now”. He said: “Our staff have been the local heroes, working day and night to clean up the grounds and to provide supplies to the entire island.
“As of today, we are not open and cannot accept owners or guests. The Freeport airport remains closed for international flights. However, it is open for hurricane relief flights and domestic flights. They ask that the domestic flights be used for those who are seeking to move from one island to another for the purpose of relocation of hurricane clean-up.
“In addition, we are thankful that Lubert Adler has temporarily forgiven rent. This is a huge help as we have been closed, earning no income and yet paying our staff to perform clean-up and repairs. I would like to thank Lubert Adler for their support during these trying times.”
Mr MacDonald added that Old Bahama Bay and its condo owners had “pulled out all the stops” to help with Dorian relief, having prepared in advance of the storm and liaised in advance with the government over the bringing in of relief supplies duty-free once the storm had passed.
“This was a huge first step that I thank the Bahamian government for assisting in such an expedited manner. We continue to work with the Bahamian government on a daily basis,” he said.
“In the past 21 days we have accomplished nothing short of a miracle – 263 flights via both plane and helicopter (all donated); 193 boats; 19 containers – total weight we calculated at 623 tons. That does not include the supplies that good-hearted individuals purchased on their own and sent over via boat.
“These supplies were safely delivered to Old Bahama Bay, West End Grand Bahama for the West End and surrounding villages of Freeport, High Rock (east Grand Bahama), Walkers Cay, Scotland Cay, Marsh Harbour, Green Turtle Cay, Guana Cay and Treasure Cay.
“We are now dropping supplies in Nassau as many of the affected islands have been evacuated to Nassau, and we need to assist the Government in aiding the influx of Bahamians…. In 2016 with Hurricane Matthew we flew in 32 flights with 174,000 pounds of supplies and 32 boat trips with another 259,000 pounds, which was amazing.”
