Build It And They Will Come To The Cable Beach Eco Reef!
Guest Blog by David Holland (Scuba Instructor and Photographer)
Beneath the clear Caribbean waters off Cable Beach in Nassau, Bahamas you will find the Cable Beach eco reef ….
Behind the newly created breakwater ….
just off the beautiful sandy beach ….
visible from the expansive new wooden pier ….
a surprise awaits you underwater at the Cable Beach Eco Reef!
The Baha Mar has been creating a new marine environment in front of the new resort since 2014, installing more than 300 (55 pound) eco-friendly coral antlers ….
encircled by almost 50 reef balls ….
to create an eco-reef experience!
You can swim or snorkel (or even scuba dive) …
around the rocks of the breakwater ….
and the new evolving man-made eco-reef, to find varied fish life frolicking in their new habitat!
And if you look closely you too may see starfish, conch, barracuda, lionfish, peacock founders, dozens of four-eyed butterfly fish, parrot fish (both juvenile and adult), needlefish and many other colourful Bahamian reef fish species.
We know there is at least one turtle swimming in the water by the pier and we also saw a large (about 2 metres across) Spotted Eagle Ray circling around the pier, drawing guests out with their cameras!
Having snorkelled this beach for over 10 years ….
the changes in the underwater life are noticeable.
As natural reefs are being damaged and even destroyed, it is wonderful to see a private company being good underwater environmental stewards by creating an exciting eco-reef.
The new Baha Mar resort is changing the skyline of Cable Beach but the excitement is not all above ground! They are demonstrating to all that if you build it, the fish will come!
Not The Only Eco Reef In Nassau
Another great underwater eco-reef site demonstrating Resilience-Based Ecosystem Stewardship to visit when in Nassau is the Bahamas Reef Environment Education Foundation (BREEF), Sir Nicholas Nuttall Coral Reef Sculpture Garden, with access to the water through Clifton Heritage Park. There snorkelers can be amazed by the “Ocean Atlas” underwater sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor.
Did you snorkel the Cable Beach Eco Reef in Nassau, Bahamas? Did you find another?
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