New Marinas Overseas

For those of you unfamiliar with The Bahamas, let me paint a picture for you, before describing the latest marina to receive planning approval in this wonderful part of the world. The Bahamas is composed of approximately 700 emerald green islands and cays, scattered over 100,000 square miles of the most beautiful crystal clear and absurdly blue sea, and the sands vary in colur from almost pure white to a beautiful and delicate shade of coral pink, reminding one of a sparkling glass of pink champagne. Most of the beaches stretch for miles and on many of the keys and reefs it is hundreds of yards before you are even up to your waist in water. It is a diving and sailing paradise, and if you prefer not to pay tax, then it provides the perfect location.

At the heart of the islands lie New Providence with its capital Nassau and Grand Bahama, and the remaining islands are loosely grouped together as the Out Islands. Some of these are already favourites for boating, fishing and diving such as the Abacos, Eleuthera and the Exumas. Others are less well known and one of these is Lond Island which stretches South East from the tip of the Exuma Cays, and is the latest island in the region to be granted full government approval for the development of an exciting golf course and residential development, complete with a 200 plus slip marina.

The final approval was only granted on June 20th 2008 for the development of Port St George, and details at this stage are a little sketchy, but having seen the plans briefly I can confirm that there will be a championship golf course ( 18 holes ofcourse), a new system of canal waterways providing the oportunity to purchase property with boat mooings alongside, a full service marina with 200 + slips, some for yachts in excess of 100 ft, a yacht club, and a mixture of residential and commmercial units along with several hotels. As I understand from the developer, property buyers will have the right to buy into the proposed marina as part of the purchase contract and apartments are currently budgeted at $500,000 dollars which would enable overseas buyers to apply for foreign residency - a bonus in itself! I am waiting for further details which I will post here as soon as they are available so please check back, and if you would like further details at this stage please just drop me a line via the comments.

If you are looking for the ideal tax haven, in a wonderful part of the world and don’d mind waiting a few years ( I believe completion will be 3-4 years ) then this could be the one for you!!

At times it is difficult to keep abreast of new marinas in the Caribbean, as they seem to spring up almost on a daily basis. The latest island to join the explosion of new marinas, is the tiny Caribbean island of Anguilla. For those of you who have never visited, the island lies at the Northern end of the Leeward Islands, with St Martin and St Barthelemy as it’s nearest neighbours. The name Anguilla has been derived from the Spanish word for eel, which describes the shape of the island which is long and thin. Indeed the whole island is only 16 miles long and 3 miles from shore to shore at its widest point, is extremely flat, and rises a mere 200 feet above sea level at its highest point. It is hardly an attractive place, with much of the island covered in scrub, and yet it has some of the Caribean’s most sumptous and spectacular beaches formed with powder soft sand which is almost white, giving the sea a dazzling clarity and sparkle, rarley seen anywhere else in the world. It has always been a quiet and secluded island and has typically catered for the camera shy from the world of films, tv and finance, specialising in low key but high luxury. The island remains a British Overseas Territory with very low crime rates, and an extremely slow place of life, truly a place to kick back and relax! Geting to the island can be a little more stressful, as the tiny Wallblake airport is too small for direct international flights, with most visitors making connections via Antigua, St Martin or San Juan.

Being small, has not held back the island’s development as it now plans to enter the big league with a new 5 star marina, planned for completion by the end of 2009. Building work is already well underway prompted by the demand, and consequent lackof berths for the mega yachts of the rich and famous, a phenomenen seen in many other parts of the world. Despite the current global economic problems around the world, the demand for larger yachts seems to be increasing all the time with the consequent pressure on berths. Indeed we see this every day ourselves, as an inernational marine broker providing marine mortgages and yacht leasing finance.

The marina is a combined project between the Altamer Resort and Island Global Yachting and has been the brainchild and vision of Altamers’ owners Rebecca and Michael Eggleton. The marina will provide berthing for mega yachts up to 300 feet in length, and will be an official port of entry to the island, with a total of 101 berths when complete. The resort will include a luxury resort hotel along with retail units quayside, and 164 exclusive luxury residential villas. Each villa has been designed to allow the owner to include a staff of ten, including butler and concierge service, two housekeepers and staff, grounds person and the option of a private chef. All the villas will have marble bathrooms with jacuzzi bathtubs, fitness centres, tennis courts, swimming pools, and ofcourse a state of the art cinema and games room.

As I said, this is a 5 star development in every sense of the word, but if you have a mega yacht and are looking for the ideal place to be based in the winter months, then this marina and resort has probably got the lot, right down to the digital sound system in every room!