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SCIENCE
Environment / Env. protection
Water
Climate
Agriculture & Fisheries
Animals, Zoo, Parks, Plants
Field stations/ trips
Geology
Archaeology - Bimini Archaeology
Biology / Marine Biology
Geography
other scientific topics
reef protection
mammals general, whales, sharks, manatees, jellyfish
dolphins, dolphin therapy
Weather general - Severe weather conditions (hurricane season)
on separate pages: History & Society, Ethnology, Language, Humour

Environment / Env. protection

see here for Field stations
see here for Economy, Industry, Development
see here for Water, freshwater resources

Ecosystems of the Bahamas http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/BahamasWeb/VisitingTheBahamas.nsf/Subjects/Ecosystems+Of+The+Bahamas
Endangered Species of the Bahamas see here

BERC Bahamas Environmental Research Center http://www.bahamasresearchcenter.com/
BERC, Margo Blackwell, The Director of the BERC on Andros http://www.4ecoed.org/berc.html

BERC on COB website http://www.cob.edu.bs/Research/BERC.php
BEST Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission http://www.best.bs
BMA Bahamas Maritime Authority http://www.bahamasmaritime.com/
+++Article 22.01.04 "Ship register an 'open book'" Nassau Guardian
BSA Bahamas Shipowner Association http://www.bahamasmaritime.com/BSA.html
Bahamas Marine Institute http://www.bminst.org/
BNT Bahamas National Trust http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/bahamasweb/visitingthebahamas.nsf/subjects/national+trust/
ANCAT Andros Conservancy and Trust http://www.ancat.org/
Bahamas Serve as Test Case for Marine Protected Areas http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=6431
Abaco Friends of the Environment http://www.friendsoftheenvironment.org/

SIRC Press release about flag audit report see here
IMO International Maritime Organisation see here

Basel Convention on Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes http://www.basel.int/
BCRF Bahama Cave Research Foundation http://www.bahamacaves.com/pages/686289/index.htm
Caribbean Invasive Species Threats (Cabi) http://www.cabi-bioscience.org/Html/Feedback.pdf
CCC Clean Caribbean Cooperative http://www.cleancaribbean.org/index.html
CEHI Caribbean Environment Health Institute http://www.cehi.org.lc/bahamas.htm
CITES Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species http://www.cites.org/
CITES Country report http://www.cites.org/common/prog/hbt/country_report/Bahamas.pdf
Coral Health and Monitoring Program of NOAA http://www.coral.noaa.gov/
CSC Commonwealth Science Council (biodiversity, environment, water etc.) http://www.comsci.org/
CSDA Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas http://www.csdanet.org/
Environmental Education for Sustainable Development (List of Websites re ...) http://www.nepa.gov.jm/neecweb/websites/websites.htm
GEF Global Environment Facility (> UNEP), List of Projects http://www.gefonline.org/home.cfm > enter Country=Bahamas
GEO Global Environment Outlook http://www.unep.org/GEO/index.htm
+++Article: 30.01.04 "Bahamas to get $20,000 to prepare environmental report" Nassau Guardian
ICM Integrated Coastal Management http://icm.noaa.gov/country/Bahamas.html
ICEF 5th International Conference on Environmental Future (23-27th March 2003 in Zurich) http://www.icef.eawag.ch/index.html
for 5th and other ICEF see also http://www.ncl.ac.uk/icef/
RAMSAR The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of international importance (1 site in the Bahamas) http://www.ramsar.org/profiles_bahamas.htm
UN Biological Diversity Report Bahamas http://www.biodiv.org/doc/world/bs/bs-nr-02-en.pdf
YRE "Young reporters for the environment", Oct 2002: "Caribbean ecosystems, local threats and global risks from impact of climate change" http://www.ac-grenoble.fr/yre/agency/events/missbahamas/report.htm

+++Articles
16.08.04 "Handwringing over wetlands destruction - Govt seeks public assistance to formulate cut and dried policy" Nassau Guardian
25.08.04 "Wetlands Policy may be too late for Bimini - Renewed call for intervention comes in face of further Bimini Bay encroachment" Nassau Guardian
04.02.05 "'Blue Flag' standards now being applied in Bahamas" Freeport News

Environmentalists fighting the LNG pipeline http://www.stopthepipeline.com/route/
+++Articles
26.11.03 "Fiery questions posed at LNG town meeting" Nassau Guardian
02.12.03 "Gas pipeline consultations ongoing" Nassau Guardian
28.01.04 "Govt weighing 'economic' benefits of LNG proposals " Nassau Guardian
19.04.04 "AES would not accept rejection from Bahamas govt" Nassau Guardian
22.04.04 "PM speaks out on LNG pipelines" Nassau Guardian
03.06.04 "LNG company says it would patiently wait on govt's decision" Nassau Guardian
25.01.05 "LNG: Challenges Facing The Bahamas" Bahama Journal

14.02.05 "LNG pipeline to go below seabed - Following protests from Florida residents " Nassau Guardian

Clifton - CHA Clifton Heritage Authority etc. http://www.cliftonbahamas.com - http://216.121.162.240/cbm/index.html
Clifton Beach - Bahamas, Development vs. Clifton Conservation Area http://www.cccturtle.org/clifton/
+++Articles
15.01.04 "Govt' To Move On Clifton" Bahama Journal via B2B
23.01.04 "Clifton Bill could 'gated community' fight" Nassau Guardian
02.02.04 "Mother Pratt: CHA could enhance nation's integrity " Nassau Guardian
02.02.04 "Debate continues on Clifton Authority"Nassau Guardian
02.20.04 "Prime Minister fought for Clifton" Nassau Guardian
22.04.04 "Turnquest gives 'facts' on Clifton" Nassau Guardian
14.07.04 "Government to recreate history at Clifton Cay, says PM" Nassau Guardian

Agriculture & Fisheries & Forestry

UWI St Augustine Campus (Trinidad & Tobago) - Faculty of Science & Agriulture http://www.staugustine.uwi.edu/fsa/

FAO Agricultural Census 1994 http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/ESS/census/wcares/Bahamas_1994.pdf
IICA Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture http://www.iica.int/home.asp
CAFP Caribbean Agriculture and Fisheries Programme (+other agricultural programmes) http://www.cafpro.org
SAQS [EU] Strengthening Agricultural Quarantine Services Project http://www.cafpro.org/saqs.html
EU Inspection Report (Aug 2002) on conditions of production of fishery products http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/inspections/vi/reports/bahamas/vi_rep_baha_8617-2002_en.pdf

SCC Goodfellow Farms http://www.goodfellowfarms.com/pages/357008/index.htm
+++Article 10.02.04 "Goodfellow Farms" Nassau Guardian

! Search the Abaco Journal (1998 onward) for "Gardening"
MacAlister report for BREEF: Nassau Grouper and Queen Conch in the Bahamas http://www.macalister-elliott.com/reports/1651R02C.pdf

see here for pet import

gtz/FAO Forest resources http://www.gtz.de/capacity_building/english/countries/land3.htm

+++Articles
01.03.00 "Agricultural sector is ripe for growth" Washington Times
31.01.03 "Invasive Species Workshop" by [UK] National Invasive Species Strategy (NISS) Nassau Guardian via B2B
02.10.03 "Atlantic's greatest diversity of fish found between Florida and The Bahamas" Nassau Guardian
04.10.03 "Cracking the Conch Crisis" Nassau Guardian
27.10.03 "Farmer of the Year 2003" Nassau Guardian
05.11.03 "Where have all the big fish gone?" Nassau Guardian
19.11.03 "Possible cultural impact of BREEF " Nassau Guardian
08.12.03 "Professor tells how to shore up fish supplies" Nassau Guardian
18.12.03 "Fishermen upset over grouper ban" Nassau Guardian
20.01.04 "Gray- Fishermen need patience on grouper ban" Nassau Guardian
02.02.04 "Lift on Grouper ban leaves sellers still boiling mad" Nassau Guardian
03.02.04 "Grouper ban ducked?" Nassau Guardian
01.03.04 "Abaco dairy farm project not yet approved by NEC " Nassau Guardian
03.08.04 "Crawfish season opens" Nassau Guardian
17.08.04 "Finding Molluscs - Interns exploring conch harvesting restrictions" Nassau Guardian
18.10.04 "Farmers honoured for World Food day" Nassau Guardian
09.11.04 "Could the queen disappear?" Nassau Guardian
16.12.04 "Grouper ban begins today" Nassau Guardian
11.01.05 "Quarantine !Abaco under Canker quarantine Agriculture officials checking extent of outbreak " Nassau Guardian
20.01.05 "Gov’t Taking Legal Action Against Citrus Investors" Bahama Journal
21.01.05 "[Citrus] Farm Owner Denies Abandoning Operation" Bahama Journal
01.02.05 "Florida learns hurricanes cause citrus canker spread" Freeport News
08.02.05 "Citrus Canker plants finally being destroyed" Nassau Guardian
10.02.05 "Abaco entrepreneurs hired to destroy canker-infested citrus plants" Freeport News

14.02.05 "Who let the cows out? [Letter to the Editor]" Nassau Guardian
20.11.07 "Call for egg subsidies" Nassau Guardian

"The government must look at subsidizing the two remaining egg producers in order to keep them from following on the heels of his own operation, now out of business, said Chris Lowe. "The best thing the government can do now is look at subsidizing the remaining farms because it's too late for us," said Lowe, whose family has owned and operated Nassau's Sunshine Farms since the mid 1950. That legacy came to an abrupt end last spring, leaving only two other egg producers in The Bahamas. The closure also deprives consumers of the 700 to 800 cases of eggs the operation produced each week. Their absence is now being felt as Bahamian retailers complain of shortages across the country. The government appears to have now answered their concerns allowing for the temporary import of eggs to make up for the shortfall. Under the current price control mechanism, Bahamian farmers are ostensibly offered an exclusive market in this country. Imports are, however, allowed if they qualify as speciality product. Lowe and others in the once self-sufficient industry have, in the past, argued that that qualification has been breached, with ordinary Grade-A eggs from the U.S. landing with a thud in stores across the country. That unsanctioned competition along with escalating feed costs across the globe contributed to Sunshine's decision to end its half-century production run. Lowe is now advocating for those who remain — Rainbow Farms on New Providence and Sunshine Farms on Grand Bahama, the nation's largest producer. "The Caribbean actually laughs at us because we can't even feed ourselves with food we produce," he told Guardian Business Monday. "The fact is every country subsidizes its farmers — the U.S., Canada., everyone except us. ""I'm fighting for the industry because if you don't watch it, it will be lost." Lowe is suggesting a simple cash subsidy may be the best option, with government granting a farming operation 10 percent of what it sells. It currently offers the industry some considerations in exchange for limiting its wholesale price to $1.55 per cartoon. That helping hand includes duty exemptions of brooding hens and other essential components. Extending subsidies in the direct proffered by Lowe would likely run counter to any World Trade Organization rules The Bahamas would need to agree to in order to win membership. Joining that organization seems increasingly likely as the country faces looming international trade deals and the decision of whether or not to sign onto them. Still, it does have the power to expressly protect some key industries from the vagaries of a free market. Egg production — once acknowledged as only farming sector able to feed The Bahamas without reliance on imports — may be a likely candidate for that kind of protection, argue Lowe and others. "The government needs to step up and ask itself, if they really want to keep the industry and local production, in general, alive, or don't they," he said."

see here for articles about "Korean Fishing Venture"

Water & Climate

+++Articles
12.07.03 "Consumers second look at water amd sanitation" Nassau Guardian
see here for 16.08.04 Article about wetland destruction
14.12.04 "Govt. dishes out $600,000 to acquire Treasure Cay water supply" Nassau Guardian
17.01.05 "Cabinet invites bids to construct reverse osmosis water plant - Water shortage continues; Titus barge still not repaired " Nassau Guardian
17.02.05 "Water relief - Reverse Osmosis contract awarded, water supply improving [Nassau - should totally eliminate the barging of water from Andros] " Nassau Guardian

17.07.07 "No Water in Bimini" Nassau Guardian

A faulty pipeline at the Water and Sewerage plant in Bimini left hotel owners there in an uproar earlier this week as the entire island was without water for nearly three days. Assistant General Manager for Family Islands and Marine Operations Robert Deal said, however, that as of noon Wednesday, "high quality and high pressure water" was restored to homes and businesses. He explained that a busted pump made for almost a 72-hour stint without running water for the residents. "We had a problem with our feed water pump at our plant in North Bimini," he said. "But we keep water in storage so whenever the plant goes down we have water in storage. However, we did have low storage levels and we had to rotate the water." He explained that during a water shortage, the plant only supplies water to the island during the morning and evening peak hours; during the other parts of the day there was either low pressure or no running water at all, he said. One Bimini resort owner told The Guardian that an American couple had already packed up their belongings and were on their way out. "I had to literally run them down and explain the situation," she said. "They were very upset, but thankfully I was able to calm them down and convince them to stay a while longer." Another hotel owner on the island said his business has been "extremely affected" by the water shortage, claiming that he has had to beg and plead with his hotel guests to bear with him. "I had to explain to them that it really wasn't our fault and that there was nothing I could do," he said. "But there wasn't much I could tell people who (are) spending almost $200 a night and can't flush their toilets, brush their teeth, take a shower or even wash their hands. We had to make some concessions to the prices and this is very bad for business." He said that even though he did have water at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, the pressure was still low and water barely trickled out of the faucets. He added that a lot of the residents on the island are blaming the Bimini Bay Hotel development for "using up all the water." He said when he asked guests of the resort if they were having problems with their water supply they said, "No." The hotel owner said this isn't the first time the mega development has been blamed for "taking all of the island's water supply." But workers at the resort said they cannot be blamed for the water shortage when they too have had a lack of water for the past three days. Deal noted, however, that the corporation purchases desalinated water from a company that's a part of a joint venture involving Aqua Design Bahamas and "another company that owns the Bimini Bay Resort." While some residents and businesses said they used their outside pumps and other water sources hooked up to their buildings and didn't have to go without water for long, others on the island said life for them for the past three days was "complete torture." "The city water has been shut off for the past three days now and it has been hectic," one resident said. "I think the whole island was out of water because everywhere I went I heard people complaining about either low, low water pressure or some of them had absolutely no water for the full three days." The resident who did not want to be named said Bimini residents were "buying them five gallon water like crazy," in a bid to carry out daily household and hygiene routines. "There was absolutely nothing I could do," one Alice Town resident said. "I just had to buy a few five gallon bottles and sit here and wait until it came back on. That was worse than going without electricity for three days." Today Bimini is known as the big game-fishing capital of the world, attracting thousands of tourists each year.

drinking / potable water, see comment here

see also Earth Trend Country Profile > water

New Providence (& Family Islands)
WSC Bahamas Water & Sewerage Corporation http://www.wsc.com.bs/ e.g. "Use of RO, Reverse Osmosis, in the Family Islands" http://www.wsc.com.bs/rev_osm.html
Wastewater Treatment and Disposal in the Bahamas http://www.cep.unep.org/pubs/techreports/tr43en/Bahamas.htm

Grand Bahama
GBPO Grand Bahama Port Authority about "Grand Bahama Utility Company Ltd" http://www.gbpa.com/infrastructure.lasso

Florida-Aquastore - Grand Bahama Wastewater project http://www.florida-aquastore.com/new/PDF/GBHUCL.pdf?16,15
Florida-Acquastore - various projects in the Bahamas http://www.florida-aquastore.com/bahamas.html

The Grand Bahama Utility Company, a subsidiary of the Port Group of Companies, provides unlimited fresh water from an elaborate water table to the Freeport/Lucaya City. Water supply for the outlying settlements is provided by the government owned Ministry of Works and Utilities via smaller systems. Additional water for the settlements is purchased from the Grand Bahama Utility Company. Source: GB Chamber of Commerce

(Dated and original source?) Water is yet another fundamental in respect of which Grand Bahama is particularly fortunate. Most islands in the Caribbean area suffer from inadequate fresh water resources to accommodate substantial populations, not to mention the needs of tourists for irrigated golf courses, swimming pools, and ornamental water features. Grand Bahama Island, on the other hand, lies atop a vast natural aquifer with fresh water lenses up to 60 feet in depth. It is estimated that there is enough fresh water throughout the island to supply a population of about 400,000. Within developed areas, water is distributed by Grand Bahama Utility Company, Ltd., another affiliate of DEVCO, at very reasonable rates. source: http://www.jmtravel.com/grand.htm

Family Islands
WSC Family Island Water History http://www.wsc.com.bs/fi_water_hist.htm
Bimini situation & plans (Bradely B Roberts Speech of Nov 2002) http://www.bahamasissues.com/showthread.php?p=203#post203
Long Island situation & plans http://www.znsbahamas.com/news.php?module=article_show&art_id=227
"Work in Progress" by Prefabbicati Zecca of Milan http://www.zecca.com/ita/press_bahamas.htm
EBR Holding, Emerald Bay Resort, Exuma, reverse osmosis water treatment http://www.emeraldbayresort.com/viewpress.asp?ID=27

Freshwater resources (freshwater lenses, groundwater lenses etc.)
Ghyben-Hertzberg Lenses http://www.wsc.com.bs/ghy_hertz.htm
Bahamas National Report on IWCAM Integrated Management of Watersheds and Coastal Areas in SIDS of the Caribbean http://www.cehi.org.lc/water_resources/projects/iwcam/national_reports/bahamas/bahamas_national_report.pdf
UNEP "Sourcebook of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augumentation in Small Island Developing States" http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Publications/TechPublications/TechPub-8d/methodology.asp
The unique, underground waterworlds of Bahamiam blue holes
http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/FieldCourses99/MarineEcologyArticles/Final.Theuniqueundergroun.html
Karst development on carbonate island http://genet-server.ibtm.tuwien.ac.at/speleo/art/Sg2/SG2_artId21.pdf
Protection of quality and supply of freshwater resources (UN, Agenda 21) http://www.un.org/esa/earthsummit/baham-cp.htm#chap18

Planet Ark, search for Bahamas http://www.planetark.org/index.cfm
Desalination Links http://www.desline.com/
2003 IDA World Congress on Desalination and Water Reuse, PI Bahamas http://www.ida.bm/PDFS/Conferences/Bahamas/CallforPapers.pdf
IDA International Desalination Association (and more about 2003 conference) http://www.idadesal.org/

What are aquifiers?

Groundwater is water that is found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock. Groundwater is stored in, and moves slowly through, layers of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers. Aquifers consist of gravel, sand, sandstone, and fractured rock. These materials are permeable because they have large connected spaces that allow water to flow through. source http://groundwater.articleinsider.com/60626_groundwater.html

Climate (Climate Change)
see also weather
see also Earth Trend Country Profile > Climate

Climate Change Impacts - Islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/overviewislands.htm- see also ch11
CSDA Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas Climate Change Glossary http://www.csdanet.org/English/publications/glossary.htm

Animals, Zoo, Parks, Plants

see here for Marine Biology, dolphins, sharks, manatee, jelly fish etc.
see here for Agriculture
see here for insects etc. (No-seeums, noseeums, no-see-ums, sand flies, sand gnats, midges, mosquitos)

+++Article
16.02.05 "Plea to protect rare bird [the Bahama Nuthatch - a rare bird found only on Grand Bahama]" Freeport News

Endangered Species of the Bahamas http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/BahamasWeb/VisitingTheBahamas.nsf/Subjects/Endangered+Species+&+Eco
CBSG Conservation Breeding Specialist Group / San Salvador Field Station - Paper about: Protected Areas Management Strategies: Bahamian terrestrial vertebrates: iguanas and seabirds http://www.cbsg.org/reports/reports/exec_sum/bahama_iguana_camp.pdf
Animalinfo - endangered species http://www.animalinfo.org/country/bahamas.htm with Glossary

!!Bahamas Wildlife (private website) http://www.bahamaswildlife.fsnet.co.uk/start.htm
Abaco Wild Horses http://www.arkwild.org/
Sea Turtle Survival League-Caribbean Conservation - incl Clifton Cay Bahamas http://www.cccturtle.org/ccctmp.htm - see also here
The hutia (by SI) http://www.mnh.si.edu/livingfossils/hutia.htm
Bimini Boa http://www.kingsnake.com/biminiboas/

Society of Caribbean Ornithology SCSCB http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/SCSCB/index.html
Ardastra Gardens, Zoo and Conservation Centre http://www.ardastra.com
Ardastra Gardens, Mr Norman Solomon http://www.caciqueawards.com/Lifetime/1998_Lifetime.htm
Garden of the Groves, Grand Bahama http://www.gardenofthegroves.com/wildlife.html
Peterson Cay National Park (GBI) http://www.geographia.com/grandbahama/peterson.htm
Inagua National Park (description of RAMSAR/wetlands.org) http://www.wetlands.org/RDB/Ramsar_Dir/Bahamas/BS001D02.htm or all docs
Inagua National Park, James “Jimmy” Nixon http://www.caciqueawards.com/Lifetime/1997_Lifetime.htm

Conference paper (2002): Challenges of Animal Protection on Island Nations: with special emphasis on dogs and cats http://files.hsus.org/web-files/HSI/E_Library_PDFs/eng_challenges_island_nations.pdf
HSI Human Society International, animal care, Bahamas initiatives http://www.hsus2.org/international/bahamas.html
see here for Bimini Love Program (doc clinic)

The Kirtland's Warbler http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Cottage/8090/Kirtland.html (it's a bird, not Kirland or Kirkland; many dates-in-history-websites jut list "1879 Kirland Warbler discovered on Andros Island in Bahamas")
A Tale of Two Habitats: Fire and the Kirtland's Warbler http://tncfire.org/vol8no1.html
The Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Team http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hmnf/pdf_files/bahamas/KWRT-Bahamas2002.pdf

Conserving the (Abaco) Bahama Amazon (a parrot) http://www.realmacaw.com/pages/bahama.html

Parks - short descriptions http://www.interknowledge.com/bahamas/bseco02.htm
List of parks (Bahamas Handbook 1995) http://www.bahamasnet.com/w.ecoparks.html
Parks on Grand Bahama http://www.interknowledge.com/grandbahama/nature.htm

SCC Horse riding Equitation Pinetree Stables, Freeport, Bahamas http://thebahamian.com/pinetree/
SCC Happy Trails Stables, Nassau, http://www.bahamasvacationguide.com/happyt.html - short comment/review here
see comment here (mainly about Freeport)

2003 World Parks Congress http://www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/wpc2003/index.htm
+++Article 8.10.03 "Bahamas National Parks highlighted at World Parks Congress" Nassau Guardian

Photos of Bahamian Birds and Butterflies http://www.odolep.com/midatlanticbirds/bahamas/bahamas.htm

Catesby Mark, The Natural History of Florida, Carolina and the Bahama Islands (1731-1743) !on-line see here
+++Article 05.11.04 "Wild berries and eats out da bush" Nassau Guardian

Field stations, field trips

Field Stations Overview
For a short description of all the Field Stations go to http://www.obfs.org/Members/search.php > search by [country] > search text [Bahamas]

see below under topics for
- Forfar Field Station on Andros (Biology, Marine Biology)
- Gerace Research Center San Salvador (Marine Biology, Geology, Archaeology) - the GERACE website
- Sharklab Research Station on Bimini (Shark Research)
- Caribbean Marine Research Center (CMRC) Exumas

Geology

The Bahamas are fairly simple geologically and visitors often make the mistake of thinking the islands are volcanic in origin. They are really composed of Tertiary limestone deposits formed approximately one to two million years ago. The cays themselves are low lying with few hills over 100 feet high. (source)

see also Water

Geology (Smith Coll.) Field Trip (reef pictures) http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Geology/Bahamas/fieldphotos.html
Geology (Brigham Young Uni) Field Trip (reef and satellite pict !) http://geologyindy.byu.edu/ftrips/bahamas/Default.htm
Geology (Uni of South Carolina) - Stratigraphy of the Neogene of the Western Bahamas http://strata.geol.sc.edu/exerices/seismic/exercise4-bahamas-objectives.html
Geology (Carleton) Field Trip http://www.acad.carleton.edu/curricular/GEOL/RelatedPrograms/bahamas/index.html
Geology - Thesis, C. Schneider on Subsurface Lithology & Faunal Description, San Salvador http://www.cschneider.com/academics/defense.html
Dr. Steven K Boss (1994), Geological investigation on Northern Great Bahama Bank http://comp.uark.edu/~sboss/ngbb.htm
ODP Ocean Drilling Project Bahamas (GBB) http://odp.pangaea.de/publications/166IR/CHAP_03.PDF
Bathymetric map of the Caribbean Basin http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/caribgeol/batha.gif (Colors scale: from dark blue - 6000 feet below sea level
to light brown +4000 feet above sea level)
Bahamas Bathymetry http://physics.umbc.edu/~mcmillan/PROJECTS/CAMEX3/Andros/bahamas_map_large.jpeg
NOAA/NGDC links to "Global Seafloor Topography from Satellite Altimetry", e.g. http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/2minsurface/45N090W.html
Origin of the Bahamas Platform http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/users/menke/bahamas/bahamas.pdf
Seafloor Topography http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/walter/AtlCarib.jpg
Characterizing scale-dependence of hydraulic conductivity in carbonates: evidence from the Bahamas Whitaker/Smart http://www.cas.astate.edu/geochemistry/hydro/whitaker_smart_week11.pdf
FIU Draper: Caribbean geology and tehtonics, links, maps etc. http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/caribgeol/
TU Freiberg The Caribbean plate and the question of its formation http://www.geo.tu-freiberg.de/~merkel/vorlesung/OS2001/bachmann_raik.pdf

Archaeology

see also history
San Salvador GIS Database http://www.newhaven.edu/sansalvador/gis/about.htm
San Salvador Island GERACE (Archaeology, Field Station etc.) http://sansalvadorbahamas.com/AugSSsite/gerace2.htm
Caribbean Archaeology (Florida Museum of Natural History) http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/anthro/caribarch/default.htm
Caribbean Archaeology (Florida Museum of Natural History) Inagua http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/anthro/caribarch/inagua.htm
BERC Bahamas Environmental Research Center Andros http://www.ncc.gmu.edu/cfs/Andros/androsframes.htm
Wylly, plantation, archaeological settlement on New Providence, see here

+Books:
Caribbean Archaeology - book list http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/anthro/caribarch/bullenbib.htm
Farnsworth Paul, Island Lives (Historical archaeologies of the Caribbean incl. Clifton Plantation and New Providence)
Keegan William F, Bahamian Archaeology
Keegan William F, The People Who Discovered Columbus

Bimini Archaeology

Bimini Road, Road to Atlantis
Skeptical Inquirer Jan/Feb 2004 "A Geologist's Adventures with Bimini Beachrock and Atlantis True Believers" http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-01/geologists-adventures.html
Bimini Undersea http://www.biminiundersea.com/atlantis.htm
Pseudoarchaeology (Atlantis)? Back to Bimini (1998) - archeological mysteries of Bimini, William Donato http://www.atlantisrising.com/issue14/ar14bimini.html
The Bimini Hoax? - Good-bye to the Bimini Wall and Road? http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf004/sf004p02.htm
Atlantis "Discovery" Gets Sunk (Drs. Du Val and Pettennude discuss the authenticity of the Bimini Road) http://www.parascope.com/articles/0997/atlantis.htm

HOG WASH Source: Paul E. Pettennude, thanks to Coreen Kutchak / As an underwater archaeologist dealing with indigenous America, I can state categorically that nothing has been found in the Bahamas. I can say this for several reasons:
-- The first reason surfaced several weeks ago when I was asked to inquire about a newly-discovered artifact off Bimini. I did so with the largest dive operator on the island. It seems someone found a large granite block with a pyramid carved on it. It had only been in the water for a month because no soft corals were growing on it and it hadn't really started sinking into the substrate, which is 15 feet deep in that area. It was hauled out and taken over to Bimini for display.
-- Bimini is not the lost world. It is a very, very popular resort destination and thousands of divers visit it every year. Every available reef is dived frequently and nothing else has turned up.
-- The HARBOR BRANCH OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE of Melbourne, Florida (a very prestigious) research center is currently harvested a species of sponge at all levels of depth down to at least 3,000 feet. This sponge contains enzymes which retard the growth of a number of cancers. The work is being conducted under NSF grants with Bahamian cooperation. My wife is one of the researchers from the UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI MEDICAL SCHOOL. The ROSENTEIL SCHOOL OF OCEANOGRAPHY at the UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI is also involved. The equipment is very sophisticated and there is nothing but known wrecks being found.
-- In 1986, NASA had the Navy scour everything north of Cuba to north of North Carolina looking for pieces of the exploded Challenger shuttle. Every square foot of bottom down to 6,000 feet was examined and every piece of the wreck larger than a dinner plate was recovered.
-- The U.S. Navy maintains a submarine nuclear training facility in the Bahamas and every square yard of the bottom has been sonically mapped down to bedrock. The AUTEC buoy off the Bahamas is connected to the bottom by a huge cable and is used to resupply American ICBM submarines. This is near the location known as the "Tongue of the Ocean."
-- The U.S. Navy maintains a system called SOSUS which cost $16 billion to secure the ocean floor from foreign subs. It paints a picture of everything from the bottom up.
The so-called "Bimini Road" is a natural reef formation made of limestone. I first started looking at it in 1968 when one of my professors at the UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, J. Manson Valentine, found it. It is not a road, nor a wall but just a limestone reef about a quarter of a mile long. It has stress points which appear to be seams of blocks, but under careful examination you can tell it is entirely natural. We have also analyzed samples and found them to be coral rock produced by a reef.
The reefs off Bimini from 300 feet up to the surface are less than 14,000 years old. This is the level to which the water rose at the end of the last ice age. There could not be a sunken city because the Bahama Islands are not shrinking but actually growing inches per year. This would have made any ancient city unstable.
Divers could not have found a city below 250 feet without special diving gases. We use a Trimix blend made from helium, oxygen and nitrogen for all dives below 200 feet down to around 800 feet. From 800 feet to 1500 feet we use blends of neon and oxygen. There are only a handful of people in the world trained and certified to dive these research blends. I am one of them and the group is a close knit family. No one has any knowledge nor has been asked to find an ancient city.
I could add another page or two, but at this point I think my answer is already overkill.
---Paul E. Pettennude
{An aside from Kwint:) Paul Pettennude, Ph. D. IS an underwater archaeologist. Some reports on his work can be found at: [link broken] He is director of an underwater research project in a region known as El Tigre, Campeche, Mexico. His association is with the Maya Underwater Research Center. [link broken]. He is also quoted several times on other topics here: [link broken]
Source: http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/1997/aug/m11-004.shtml

Fountain of Youth
Progress report "Florida's Fountain of Youth" http://www.progress.org/fountain.htm

The Fountain of Youth: The Fountain of Youth was an imaginary spring. Many legends were told about it in both Europe and America. Its waters were supposed to make old people young. Early Spanish settlers in the Caribbean region believed that the fountain was located on an island called Bimini. In 1513, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon set out to find Bimini. During his voyage, he discovered Florida, which since then has been linked to the imaginary fountain. (source)

Biology / Marine Biology

see below for reef/reef protection, mammals, whales, sharks, manatees, jellyfish, dolphins, dolphin therapy

Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbeanhttp://amlc.uvi.edu/
Forfar Field Station (IFS) Andros http://www.intlfieldstudies.com/ - !! Tripadvisor reviews
see here for history of Forfar Field Station
Bimini Biological Field Station (Miami Uni) http://www.miami.edu/sharklab/ (old site http://hem.passagen.se/frogboy/bbfs/bbfs.htm)

MacGillivray Freeman's Coral Reef Adventure see here
CMRC Caribbean Marine Research Center (NOAA), Lee Stocking Island/Exumas http://www.cmrc.org/
CMRC/NURCs description (2002) by NOAA http://www.oar.noaa.gov/organization/programs/nurcs.html
Studying Nassau grouper spawning aggregations (CMRC) http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_spawn.html
Marine Reserve Research to Protect Fisheries in the Caribbean http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_cmrc.html
NURP/CMRC technical dive training for Scientists (CMRC) http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_trimix.html
Research aboard "Explorer of the Sea" http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/rccl/ and http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_explorer.html
Bahamas Marine Mammal Stranding (March 2000) http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/overview/Interim_Bahamas_Report.pdf
Marine Habitat Classification http://islands.bio.miami.edu/Classifications/Docs/Marine.doc

(Miami Uni) Mark R. Boardman, Dept. of Geology, pictures of various field trips in 2003 to San Salvador & Andros http://typhoon.wcp.muohio.edu/boardman/photostills/Bah2003/TOC.html
(Samford Uni)- Field Trip Andros http://www.samford.edu/schools/artsci/biology/bahamas/
(Gannon Uni)- Field Trip Andros (2003) http://www.gannon.edu/RESOURCE/DEPT/biology/bahamas.html
(Hartwick Coll.) - Field Trip San Salvador http://info.hartwick.edu/biology/opportunities/SanSalPics/index.html
(Emporia Uni) Field Trip San Salvador - Photos http://academic.emporia.edu/mooredwi/bahamas/
San Salvador Field Trips (packed website...) http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/html/tropecoimages.html#anchor938502
(Truman Uni) "Study Abroad" http://www2.truman.edu/~nsanders/studyabroad/navframes.html > Bahamas
Expedition "Living Fossils of the Deep" http://www.mnh.si.edu/livingfossils/defaulthome.htm

The Island School, Eleuthera http://www.islandschool.org/
SCC The Island Expedition http://www.islandexpedition.com/IslandExpeditionHome.html

Geography

see also under History, Environment, Society, Ethnologue, Biology, Geologyetc.

For facts & figures go to The Bahamas CIA World Factbook > Geography
Caribbean Sportlight, Geography of the Caribbean (short overview) http://www.caribbean-spotlight.com/geography.html

+Book: Sealey Neil, E, Bahamian Landscapes: An introduction to the Geography of the Bahamas (1995)
see also here (study made in 1987) Caribbean Islands, a country study > search for Bahamas

Where are the Bahamas - geographically, technically?

The Bahamas (that's with a capital "T") is one of the most geographically complicated nations of the Atlantic. (Frommers).
The Caribbean consists of the Antilles and the Bahamas and is part of North America. Antilles= islands of the Caribbean or West Indies, except the Bahamas. A distinction is made between the "Greater Antilles", including Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; and the "Lesser Antilles" (the remainder of the islands). Because of their linguistic similarities with spanish-speaking nations, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are also considered part of Latin America. Geographically speaking the Antilles are part of North America. (source)

Geographically, the Caribbean region is located south of Florida, North of Venezuela, and east of Central America. The Caribbean includes independent states as well as dependent territories or commonwealths of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Netherlands. The Caribbean Region technically includes the island nation of Cuba, and those states in the Caribbean Sea south to the north coastal areas of Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, and French Guyana. Technically Bermuda and The Bahamas are not part of the Caribbean Region. (source, 1995) - see also for list of Caribbean States and their Status

Geographically considered part of the Caribbean, the archipelago that encompasses the Islands of The Bahamas lies in the Atlantic Ocean. (source)

Caribbean? thoughts about "territory" http://www.findaircraft.com/services/insurance/territorial.html

Contrary to popular belief, the Bahamas are not in the Caribbean Sea. Because they're so close geographically and culturally to the Caribbean, they're often considered part of that region. However, it's the Atlantic Ocean that surrounds them. This northern locale means that, during winter months, the weather in the Bahamas is sometimes cooler than the always-warm Caribbean. (source)

! What Wikipedia says about Caribbean, also historical names/unions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean and Latin America

The Lucayan archipelago is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. source: Wikipedia

Other scientific topics

see here for land based animals etc.
see below for reef/reef protection, mammals, whales, sharks, manatees, jellyfish, dolphins, dolphin therapy

(Berkley) Dangerous Beaches Project http://geography.berkeley.edu:16080/ProjectsResources/DangerousBeaches/DangerousBeaches.html
(Berkley) Dangerous Beaches Project - Bahamas http://geography.berkeley.edu:16080/ProjectsResources/DangerousBeaches/Caribbean/Caribbean.html
Florida Current http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/atlantic/florida.html
NOAA Research Labs (atmosphere, climate, ocean) http://www.oar.noaa.gov/
AUTEC US Navy undersea warfare systems test complex on Andros
Lansing Cay Exuma (Elfritz, Formation Inc. - packed website...) http://elifritz.members.atlantic.net/lansing.htm
CPACC Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change http://www.cpacc.org/bahamas_pg.htm
(Thesis on Petrographic Analysis and Depositional History of an Open Carbonate Lagoon... and Man Head Cay Project) http://stubotics.onza.net/ > Master Thesis or > Man Head Cay Project
Cave Biology (Galveston Uni) http://www.tamug.tamu.edu/cavebiology/index2.html
Earthwatch Project http://neptune.atlantis-intl.com/dolphins/earthw.htm
Earthwatch Expedition Bahamas http://www.earthwatch.org/region/camerica.html
Am. Museum of Natural History, Biodiversity Conservation http://research.amnh.org/biodiversity/center/programs/marine.html
(Rutger Uni) Coastal Ocean Observation Lab (ocean temp etc.) http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/data.html
Nature Conservancy http://nature.org/wherewework/caribbean/bahamas/
Underwater wonders of the Bahamas, online tour http://www.bahamas.mall.bs/marina/underwater/default.htm
1998 International Year of the Ocean http://www.bahamasnet.com/iyo/index.html
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (of UNESCO) http://ioc.unesco.org/iocweb/default.htm

Reef, reef protection

BREEF Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation http://www.breef.org/

Discovery Channel "Life on the Reef", Bahamas 9.21.2000 http://www.discovery.com/exp/coralreef/today.html
Discovery- Reefs from space http://www.discovery.com/exp/coralreef/space.html
NOAA Bahamas coral reef info incl map http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/icg/baha0map.htm
GCRMN Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network http://www.coral.noaa.gov/
ICRI International Coral Reef Initiative (incl large list of related links) http://www.icriforum.org/
Reefball Foundation, projects in the Bahamas http://www.reefball.com/map/bahamas.htm
Remote sensing of coral reefs, satellite pictureshttp://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi/reefs.pl
National Geographic, Why Is Seaweed Killing Florida's Coral Reefs? (23.8.02) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0823_TVseaweed.html

MacGillivray Freeman's Coral Reef Adventure see here

Reefrelief (large reef protection related image archive)
GTC Green Turtle Cay Bahamas Project, Abacos http://www.reefrelief.org/programs/international.shtml#gtc
Captain Roberts Environmental Center, Abacos http://www.reefrelief.org/projects/international/bahamas/project_initiation.shtml
Coral Reef Photo Monitoring, Abacos images http://www.reefreliefimages.org/cgi-bin/ImageFolio31/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Bahamas

Mammals general, whales, sharks, Manatees, Jellyfish

Whales of the Bahamas http://www.rockisland.com/~orcasurv/bcruisgd.htm
Wikipedia about Whale watching http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_watching
Bahamas Marine Mammal Survey http://www.rockisland.com/~orcasurv/bahamas.htm
Bahamas Marine Mammal Survey, Tilloo Cay, Abaco Bahamas http://oii.net/ecology/eng/dolphin.html
Mote - Marine Mammals http://www.mote.org/research/cmmstr/mm/Welcome.phtml
Photos underwater, dolphins, whales etc. (copyright protected)
Dolphins and Whales in the World Mythology (POD People.Oceans.Dolphins) http://www.people-oceans-dolphins.com/Mythology/index.html
Oceanlight - lots of great photos of all kinds of marine mammals http://www.oceanlight.com

Sharks
Mark Carwardine/BBC about Shark Diving http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/95hap.shtml
see also reviews etc. about movie "Open Water" here
MML Mote Marine Laboratory - CRS Center of Shark Research http://www.mote.org/sharks/shark_research.html
Exploration of sharks and rays - course (Florida & Paradise Island) http://www.mote.org/~rhueter/sharks/sharkcrs.phtml
Mark Heithaus - FIU Florida Int University http://www.fiu.edu/~heithaus/ResearchMain.htm - e.g. "Large-Shark Hunting Habits Exposed by Crittercam" http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/innews/crittercam2004.html - National Geographic about Crittercam
Greenmarine Educational Shark Diving http://www.greenmarine.com/
Sharkproject Dr. Erich Ritter http://www.sharkproject.org/engl/index.html
BBFS Bimini Biological Field Station Sharklab Dr. Gruber (Miami Uni) http://www.miami.edu/sharklab/
Shark Attack, Puerto Rico, the 1st documented in the Americas, http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/anthro/caribarch/sharks.htm
+++Article 7.9.01 "Attack of the Shark Lobby" by William Saletan http://slate.msn.com/id/114958/
Peter Brueggeman Shark Diving in the Bahamas http://peterbrueggeman.com/bahama/
Enchanted Learning, Infosheets about sharks http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/sharks/classification/Pristiophoriformes.shtml
Oceanlight - lots of great shark photos http://www.oceanlight.com

Manatee
US Geological Survey/Sirenia Project - Florida Manatee Now Residing In The Bahamas http://www.sirenian.org/gina.html more about the manatee
Robert Attrill about manatees http://www.bahamaswildlife.fsnet.co.uk/manatee.htm
Save the [Florida] manatee - e.g. manatee facts http://www.savethemanatee.org/manfcts.htm
see also here "Buzzy" by Jack Lagan

MML Mote Marine Laboratory - Manatee Research - temporary pages, aceess via main menue http://www.mote.org/code/7/2/ - Captive Manatee Research
- TempPage1 - TempPage2
Oceanlight - Great Manatee photos http://www.oceanlight.com/html/west_indian_manatee.html and here

There's a sea cow at the bottom of my garden - Snorkelling with manatees in Florida’s Crystal River by Mark Carwardine
the story is not available anymore online, I picked it from the google-archive, (new) website of the author: http://www.markcarwardine.com/

I’ve just found the perfect house. It’s hidden away on a bend of the Homosassa River, on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and has water on three sides. It has a swimming pool, naturally, and a beautiful wooden sun deck for lounging around in the Florida sunshine. But, best of all, it has manatees at the bottom of the garden.
A manatee is essentially an underwater cow. It spends most of its time munching aquatic plants, staring through the water into the middle distance, or just snoozing on the bottom. Imagine a finely-wrinkled, grey-brown seal that’s been pumped full of air to make it really big and rotund, then add a couple of spatulate flippers, a huge flattened tail, and the most extraordinary droopy upper lips that look as if they once belonged to a bloodhound - and that’s a manatee. There’s nothing else quite like it in the world.
Unfortunately, the perfect house wasn’t for sale. Its owners, Gwen and Jack, love the manatees at the bottom of their garden too much to contemplate moving. They are retired and spend their mornings, afternoons and evenings watching their aquatic neighbours. In fact, they can observe the manatees from every room in the house. Gwen has even persuaded Jack to fit an enormous mirror on the bedroom wall... so now they can lie in bed sipping coffee and watching the manatees swim past on their way to Homosassa Springs.
Manatees gather in Homosassa Springs because the water is warm. They don’t like the cold - and the cold doesn’t like them. Although they’re warm-blooded they lose body heat easily and, if they lose too much, become vulnerable to infection. So during the cold winter weather (cold by Florida standards, at least) they gather in the warm waters of natural artesian springs. It’s rather like spending the winter with all your family and friends in an enormous bath - with the hot water tap running constantly.
If a natural spring isn’t readily available, the manatees will happily gather in the warm water around a power plant instead. More than 300 manatees were once reported in Fort Myers, around a plant owned by the Florida Power & Light Company.
Although they declined the opportunity to sell me their house, Gwen and Jack kindly let me slip into the crystal-clear river at the bottom of their garden and then snorkel the short distance to Homosassa Springs.
As I approached the warmer water, staring through my mask at the underwater scene around me, I sensed a slight movement nearby and turned around. There, just a couple of feet away, was half a tonne of manatee observing me closely from behind. While manatees aren’t necessarily the most beautiful animals in the world, they are among the most friendly. They’re gentle mini-giants and seem to welcome human company as readily as they welcome the company of their own kind.
We stared at one another for a few moments, looking intently into each other’s eyes, as we floated quietly at the surface. It was impossible to imagine what was going on inside that manatee brain. Maybe nothing. Maybe it was thinking deep thoughts. But as I fiddled with my camera, it seemed to be genuinely interested in what I was doing. It posed beautifully for a few moments, took a breath by lifting its paired nostrils just a fraction of an inch above the surface, and sank down to the bottom. Then it promptly fell asleep.
Florida is home to about 2,000 manatees. They spend the winter huddled together at more than twenty different warm water sources up and down the State. But during the summer they separate and wander further afield.
A few years ago one intrepid male, nicknamed Chessie, boldly went where no manatee had gone before and wandered almost as far north as Washington DC. The biologists following his travels, with the help of a satellite transmitter, were so worried that he wouldn’t make it back to Florida before the cold winter weather arrived that they flew him back home in a specially-equipped plane. But Chessie had clearly enjoyed his pioneering explorations and, the following summer, swam all the way to Rhode Island.
One of the most popular manatee encounter sites is Crystal River, also on Florida’s Gulf Coast. A sprawling resort, just a few hours drive from Orlando, the town of Crystal River lies alongside the river of the same name. Home to the best known artesian spring in Florida, it is a popular gathering ground for manatees from January until March every year.
My visit happened to coincide with a particularly busy holiday weekend and everyone in town seemed determined to have a close encounter with one of the local celebrities - for which Crystal River is justly famous. On one particular day, there were several hundred people in the water searching for manatees. The hot spring resembled a crowded swimming pool.
Most of the snorkellers showed tremendous respect for the manatees and, of course, few really wanted to hurt them. But, inevitably, there were some idiots who kicked the animals with their fins or poked and chased them. Fortunately, there’s a manatee refuge. Manatees and people are allowed on the outside, which is marked by buoys and a rope, while only manatees are allowed on the inside. And there are volunteer wardens, in kayaks, and rangers from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in small motor boats, to keep an official eye on things. Anyone seen misbehaving is given a ticket and has to pay a hefty fine.
As one ranger commented, there’s really no difference between swimming with manatees and sitting in an eagle’s nest - so the encounter sites need to be carefully controlled. It was a sobering thought.
But the real threat to Florida’s manatees is boat traffic. With more and more people flocking to the Sunshine State, many of them with boats, the threat is increasing. There are no-go areas and speed restrictions but more than half of all the manatees in Crystal River alone have scars on their bodies caused by collisions with boats. Many of their tails have been badly mutilated by propellers, as well. Yet they are the lucky ones: many of their companions have already been killed.
Despite the crowds of people at Crystal River, I could hear high-pitched squeaking and chirping noises all around me. Manatees. At first, the water was a little too murky to see them, but as I approached the warm water spring I began to glimpse the occasional manatee shape floating past. Although they are rotund and rather ponderous animals, manatees are amazingly graceful and I paused on several occasions to watch them cruise effortlessly through the water.
Then I heard the most extraordinary sound. It was as if all the air in a balloon had been released underwater. I heard it again and swam towards the source. Sure enough, there was a manatee. To be more precise, there was a manatee... farting. Manatees have to eat huge quantities of underwater grass to survive and, since they are hindgut fermenters, produce copious amounts of methane gas. So they suffer from flatulence more than most other animals.
As I watched huge gas bubbles rising to the surface, I was bumped from behind. Manatees enjoy body contact, often rubbing and bumping one another, and seem to assume that human snorkellers enjoy the same kind of rumbustious exchange. In fact, they are so used to sharing their winter baths with people that they’ve come to expect the same level of body contact. After a few more bumbs, I gently rubbed the animal on its chin and it promptly rolled over in the water, eyes closed, just like a dog being scratched and tickled. Except this particular dog was more than ten feet long.
Later, I was photographing another manatee as it rested on the refuge rope, characteristically staring into the middle distance, when a third animal suddenly swam up to me and gave me a big manatee hug. It literally held me with its two flippers, as if we were about to launch into an underwater foxtrot. I squealed ‘Aaaagggghhh!’ through the snorkel. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t help myself. The manatee promptly let go and swam off to find a more willing dance partner.
I coughed and spluttered... and stood up. That’s one of the great advantages of snorkelling with manatees at Crystal River. You can stand up. The encounter is every bit as stimulating as, say, swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas or even cage-diving with great white sharks in South Africa. It’s up there with some of the best wildlife encounters the underwater world can offer. Yet it’s so safe and undemanding that all you need is an ability to snorkel and a penchant for big, friendly animals that merely want to dance with you rather than eat you.
Originally published in The Mail on Sunday - August 22, 1999

Jellyfish
Jellyfish http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/9608/jellyfish/
Paper about Jellyfish (Fieldtrip) http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/fieldcourses02/PapersMarineEcologyArticles/finalpaperandsourcesJelly.html
Jellyfish - Oceanlink "Ask a Scientist" http://oceanlink.island.net/ask/cnidaria.html#Anchor-21683
see also under WHO - acquit animals

Dolphins, dolphin therapy

organizers of dolphin encounters, dolphin swimm see here

<>Links to sites on Whales and Dolphins (general ) http://www.rockisland.com/~orcasurv/links.htm
David Hoffmann's website, infos about dolphins, links, sounds http://neptune.atlantis-intl.com/dolphins/index.html - his stay with Earthwatch

BEACH B.E.A.C.H. Bahamas Education Association for Cetacean Health http://www.dolphinswims.com/press3.html and http://www.dolphinswims.com/conserve.html
+++Articles
11.10.03 "Teachers win wandering whale treasure trunks" Nassau Guardian
16.02.05 "Sharks are focus of marine education poster contest" Nassau Guardian

DCP Dolphin Communication Projects - Bahamas http://www.dolphincommunicationproject.org/bahamas.asp
DCP Dolphin Communication Projects - Bimini http://www.dolphincommunicationproject.org/Bimini.asp
DCP Links to Dolphins http://www.dolphincommunicationproject.org/links.asp
The Wild Dolphin Project (Atlantic spotted dolphin) http://www.wilddolphinproject.com/
Dolphins and the Possibility of Interspecies Communication, by Denise L. Herzing (Wild Dolphin Project) http://www.firstscience.com/SITE/ARTICLES/aquatic.asp
Ocean 98, Dolphins http://www.ocean98.org/ency107d.htm
Dolphinproject http://dolphinproject.org/
Oceanlight - lots of great dolphin photos http://www.oceanlight.com

Sarasota Dolphin Research Program http://www.sarasotadolphin.org/

HSUS Human Society of the United States
about SWTD "swim with the dolphin" http://www.hsus.org/ace/11737
about "mammals in captivity" http://www.hsus.org/ace/11727

++Discussion
"Dolphins in captivity for money-making" started by Mellyz on 16.08.04 Fodors

Robert's comment about wild dolphins

Source: Fodor's Travel Forum, Author: Robert Date: 02/28/2004
Dolphins are free-roaming wild mammals. The captive dolphin capatalistic ventures are for money-making enterprises only. They capture wild dolphins as more and more people pay money to see these wild creatures do things only to obtain food. Everything you see dolphins do for "entertainment" while under captivity, they do in the wild. That's right: leaping high into the air, doing several flips, then entering the water without a splash; walking backwards on their tails; hitting the water with their flippers; etc. The wild dolphin pod is a very complex social system, where baby dolphins must be with their mothers for at least 3 years before they totally understand the cooperative efforts to find food and to avoid shark attacks. Captive dolphins do not perform "tricks" for tourists to make them laugh; they perform only for food. Being higher-level cognitive processing mammals, like apes and dogs, they suffer from depression and live less longer than those living in the wild. By paying money to see captive dolphins, you are promoting the continued indiscriminate capture of adult dolphins, including mothers, leaving the babies and juveniles to somehow fend for themselves in the complex social pod structure and increasing their chances of becoming prey to sharks. Robert

Dolphin Therapy
+++Article 2.5.01 about "dolphin therapy" Kansas City Star
Dolphinkids Organisation http://www.dolphinkids.de/englisch/therapyE.html (also in German)
Dolphinorg, !! with links to other organizations http://www.dolphins.org/ > Dolphin Child Therapy
XX 15.4.04 broken Ocean Therapy http://www.oceantherapy.org/about.htm
CSI The Cetacean Studies Institute http://www.linknet.com.au/dolphin/DAT2.html

Weather General

see also weather calculators (temp conversion etc.) - storm intensity
see also here climate change impact

best time to go? some comments & opinions here

Current weather & forcast
!! Detailed weather of all islands, click on island for 5-day-forcast http://www.bahamas.com/bahamas/weather.aspx
Wonderground, 18 places, current & forecast, C and/or F http://www.wunderground.com/global/bs.html
! Barometer Bob (Weatherstation on Abaco) http://barometerbob.com/ (comment: http://oii.net/Journal/sep03/bob.shtml)
Bahamas Department of Meteorology http://www.bahamasweather.org.bs/

NOOA various links to real time weather data/images (SST, satellite, radar etc. mostly hurricane related) http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqI.html
Water temperature (coarse) Caribbean http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/mamkwasf.htm
Ocean Surface Winds chart (NOAA/OSDPD) http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/icg/baha0wind.htm
SST Current Sea Surface Temp chart (NOAA/OSDPD) http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/icg/baha0sst.htm
SST Animated map, last 4 weeks Sea surface temp (NOAA/CPC) http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/hurricane/12wksst.html - Map last 4 weeks - Map last week
SST (present months) Sea surface temp (Oceanweather Inc.) http://www.oceanweather.com/data/ > choose "Sea surface temp" and then "Caribbean sea" or "S.E. U.S." (or the other way around...)

Mean values (temperatures, humidity, wind, rainfall and SST)
Climate http://www.bahamas.co.uk/about-bahamas/travel-tips/climate.asp

Temp (in Fahrenheit), Humidity Wind and Rainfall http://www.bahamas-mon.com/weather_nf.html
Temp (in Fahrenheit), Humidity Wind and Rainfall, incl. temp. conversion http://www.bahamasvacationguide.com/weather.html

SST Sea surface temp - analysis (NOAA/NHC) http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsst.shtml scroll down to "Monthly Mean Climatology Fields (1971-2000)" > Atlantic > click on [Month]
XX Temp (in C) and Wind (search for new link)

Miscellaneous
NOAA Miami-South Florida Satellite Imagery http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mia/newpage/cgi-bin/master.pl?suite=satl

NOAA Photo Library - Picture of Waterspouts in the Bahamas Islands http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nws/wea00307.htm

!USA TODAY Weather SE US http://www.usatoday.com/weather/forecast/regional-southeast-temps.htm
Weather Channel SE US http://www.weather.com/maps/southeastus.html
Weather Channel satellites http://www.weather.com/maps/satelliteusnational.html
Satellite passes over Bermudas BBSR (shows also Bahamas) http://www.bbsr.edu/satellite/todaysimgs.html
CNN Weather http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/NAmerica/sat.html
Washington Post, Weather in Nassau http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/weather?intl=yes&area=CL;BA;NASSAU
University of Hawaii Meteorology http://lumahai.soest.hawaii.edu/cgi-bin/satgroup.cgi?thumbs=on&group=g08main
Intellicast - Weather Florida & Bahamas http://www.intellicast.com/Local/IntlLocalWide.asp?loc=mynn&seg=LocalWeather&prodgrp=Caribbean&product=IRSatellite&prodnav=none
Intellicast Mainpage http://www.intellicast.com/
Weather Routing, meteorological consulting, forecasts and route planning for commercial fleets and private yachts http://www.wriwx.com

Bahamas Weather Stations (use the station code to find info on the internet)
for all Bahamian ICAO-Codes see here
enter ICAO Code for local weather http://weather.hometownlocator.com/

Weather Stations (ID= ICAO code)
MYBS Alice Town, Bimini Bahamas 25-44N 079-18W 2
MYSM Cockburn Town, San Salvador Bahamas 24-03N 074-32W 3
MYGF Freeport, Grand Bahama Bahamas 26-33N 078-42W 2
MYEG George Town, Exuma Bahamas 23-30N 075-46W 2
MYIG Matthew Town, Inagua Bahamas 20-57N 073-41W 2
MYNN Nassau Airport Bahamas 25-03N 077-28W 3
MYGW West End, Grand Bahama Bahamas 26-42N 078-58W 2
MYRD Duncan Town, Ragged Island, 22.2° N 75.7° W
http://stormcarib.com/guide.htm (Abaco, see here)

Severe Conditions / Hurricane Season

Special page about Hurricanes Frances & Jeanne - Aug-Okt 2004

The Islands Of The Bahamas experience rain year-round; however, the months of May through October constitute the rainy season. The northern islands normally receive twice as much rain as the southern islands with heavy squalls or thundershowers which clear quickly.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30.Although hurricanes can form as early as late May and continue into December in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, the official Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1st and ends November 30th. The official season cover more than 99% of all tropical cyclones in any year. Hurricane season reaches its peak around mid-August through October. source: weather.com/weather.com.
The Bahamian archipelago extends longer than the entire length of Florida and storms in general do not impact all islands in The Bahamas.

see also weather calculators (temp conversion etc.) - storm intensity

NOAA Main http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
!! NOAA Satellite Imagery http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/satellite.shtml
e.g. GEOS Atlantic IR - GEOS Storm Floater 1 - Loop - Atlantic Views GOES-East West.Atl -Loop -

! Wunderground Tropical http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/ > go past the sponsor page > scroll down to North Atlantic
! NRL Monterey Marine Meteorology Division - Tropical Cyclone Page http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/
USA TODAY Weather - Hurricanes http://www.usatoday.com/weather/huricane/whur0.htm
USA Today Caribbean satellite picture http://www.usatoday.com/weather/satpic/wsatcar.htm
Caribbean Hurricane Page - Local Reports on Tropical Storms http://stormcarib.com/
Weather Channel - Storm Watch http://www.weather.com/newscenter/stormwatch/
Hurricanecity, covers "the most active storm/hurricane in the area", somewhat flashy, good statistical data http://www.hurricanecity.com
NASA Hurricane Science - Satellite pictures http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/Hurricane_Science.html

Tropical Storm / Hurricane Forecasts
! Colorado State Uni - Dr. Gray's Tropical Storm Forecast http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/
Benfield Hazard Research Centre - Seasonal Forecasts & Windstorms http://forecast.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/for_hurr.html

Hurricane Message Board and Reports
! Caribbean Hurricane Network Local Reports The Bahamas http://stormcarib.com/ - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002- 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010
Caribbean Hurricane Network - Bulletin Board http://stormcarib.com/help/ - Bahamas starting 14.9.04 - Bahamas before 14.9.04 (Frances and older)
Dabahamianting, during Frances: provided links to TV/radio stations and !news clips http://www.dabahamianting.com
see also Geographia/GBI board and the Out Island message boards (Eleuthera, Briland, Abaco)
damage reports for Abaco also on Hope Town Fire Rescue website, see here
Bahamian online http://bahamian.dynamohosting.net/forum/index.php > General Forum
XX not active in 2004) Bahamas-mon Hurricane Center (Message Board) http://bahamas-mon.com/bahamaforum/hurricane/index.html
(UN OCHA) Reliefweb docs pertaining to Bahamas http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/ByCountry/Bahamas?OpenDocument&StartKey=Bahamas&Expandview
(UN OCHA) Reliefweb Disaster response information on current natural disasters http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/vLND

National & regional desaster relief organizations

+++Articles
16.09.04 "Committee of bankers appointed to secure funds for disaster relief" Nassau Guardian
10.01.05 "Caribbean disaster agency in negotiations for regional early warning tsunami system" Nassau Guardian
18.01.05 "Are we prepared? [for a desaster]" Nassau Guardian

BRCS Bahamas Red Cross Society http://www.bahamasredcross.org/
+++Articles
06.09.04 "Red Cross says 'We're still broke'" Nassau Guardian
16.09.04 "Promises, Promises - Red Cross: Some 'donors' balking" Nassau Guardian
24.09.04 "Red Cross more prepared for Jeanne" Nassau Guardian

Grand Bahama Red Cross Society, P.O.Box F- 42534, Freeport, Grand Bahama, phone # 1-262-352-7163

NEMA National Emergency Management Agency (no website yet)
+++Article 21.08.04 "U.S. and Bahamas join forces - Construction of a disaster centre set for next year" Nassau Guardian

Bahamas Hurricane Relief website http://www.bahamashurricanerelief.com/- some comments to it: Geographia/GBI Board

CDERA Caribbean Desaster Emergency Response Agency http://www.cdera.org/index.php (see also for RRM, CDRU)
CDERA Study: Impact of Severe Weather Events on Tourism in the Bahamas http://www.cdera.org/conf/20030724confcc/20030724confccbahamas.pdf
Pan American Disaster Response Unit (PADRU) http://www.padru.cruzroja.org/index.html (spanish only)
Florida Emergency Management Weather Page http://www.floridadisaster.org/weather_page.htm
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency (US) http://www.fema.gov/

... more hurricane related links
NOOA various links to real time weather data/images (SST, satellite, radar etc. mostly hurricane related) http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqI.html
NOAA Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/radiofax.shtml
The Disaster Center (various info and links, unofficial) http://www.disastercenter.com/
WRAL OnLine - Hurricane Tracking (local TV Station US Eastcoast) http://www.wral.com/hurricanes/
Central Florida Hurricane Center http://flhurricane.com/
Intellicast, Miami, Florida Radar Loop http://www.intellicast.com/Local/USLocalWide.asp?loc=kmia&seg=LocalWeather&prodgrp=RadarImagery&product=RadarLoop&prodnav=none
CAMEX3 (NASA) Andros Ground Site (1998) http://physics.umbc.edu/~mcmillan/PROJECTS/CAMEX3/Andros/ - CAMEX3 main - CAMEX official
Colorado State Uni - the Tropical Meteorology Project - Tropical Storm Forecast http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/

Cruise Ships - info about change of schedules due to storms http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/blog.aspx

Hurricane statistics and history

Past hurricanes with devastating impact on the Bahamas (1919-)
(this list is not complete)
02.10.1866 H4 nonamed, Nassau direct hit
08.09.1883 H2 nonamed, Nassau direct hit
08.09.1919 H2 Atlantic-Gulf Hurricane, Exumas Sun Sentinel
26.07.1926 H4 nonamed, Nassau direct hit
17.09.1926 H4 Great Miami Hurricane Sun Sentinel
09.1928 San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane ++Article "Florida's forgotten storm: The Hurricane of 1928" Sun Sentinel - and Sun Sentinel
09.1935 Florida Keys Labor Day Hurricane, Southern Bahamas Sun Sentinel
10.1954 Hurricane Hazel
09.1960 Hurricane Donna Sun Sentinel
09.1965 Hurricane Betsy Sun Sentinel
08.1992 Hurricane Andrew - Sun Sentinel - NOAA Report on Andrew http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1992andrew.html
09.1999 Hurricane Floyd
09.2004 Hurricane Frances - San Salvador, Eleuthera, Abaco, Freeport

Wikipedia map http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Global_tropical_cyclone_tracks-edit2.jpg "This map shows the tracks of all Tropical cyclones which formed worldwide from 1985 to 2005. The points show the locations of the storms at six-hourly intervals and use the color scheme shown to the right from Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale." - click on map to see higher resolution

Unisys weather, Atlantic Tropical Storm Tracking by Year (1851-) http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/
Terrapin Atlantic Hurricane Archive (1886-) http://weather.terrapin.com/hurricane/index.jsp > "Atlantic Storm per Year" and "Storms by Caribbean Location" Plot!
Weatheronline UK http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/storm_atl.htm - storm tracks, tables, graphs of past storms (2000-) etc.
Stormcarib, climatology Caribbean, past storms (1851-) http://stormcarib.com/climatology/BHMS_map_bathy.htm
Wunderground http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/ - map with all hurricanes in 1 year and path of each hurricane individually (1886-)

Hurricanecity, historical & statistical data http://www.hurricanecity.com/Rank.htm > search table for Bahamas, click on place for details
NOAA Graph: Mean occurence of named storms (1944 - 1997) http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/ns_mean.gif

NOAA Hurricane History (1900-) http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml
Sun Sentinel - South Florida's eight worst storms http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/sfl-aug2001hurricanehistory.gallery
Jay Barnes, Florida's Hurricane story (book excerpts, 1928, 1935) http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/hurricanes/fl_foreword.html

Basics about hurricanes
storm intensity scale see here

NASA Hurricane Science http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/Hurricane_Science.html
e.g. "Track Frances' path with animations from orbiting spacecraft." + GOES / + MODIS / + TRMM
! NASA Hurricane Science animation "where hurricanes are born / life span of Hurricane Isabel (2003)" - http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/64546main_Genesis_NASA%20WebV_1.mpg start page
"This image shows where hurricanes are born. Click image to see the life span of Hurricane Isabel. The animation follows 2003's Hurricane Isabel from its surprising birthplace in the Ethiopian Highlands of East Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean, and to the United States. Note how Isabel gains size and speed over the warm waters of the Atlantic."

NASA Turns Hurricane Ivan (Sept 2004) Inside Out http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/Ivan_inside_out.html
Hurricane Ivan's 'CAT' Scan ( 3-D look inside Hurricane Ivan, structure of rainfall inside the storm) http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/IVAN_TRMM_9.15.html

NOAA FAQ Hurricanes, Typhoons, Tropical Cyclones http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html
about EWRC Eyewall replacement circle http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D8.html
! A practical guide to .... hurricane tracking and plotting, conversion, scales, advisories' abbreviations etc. http://stormcarib.com/guide.htm
Hurricane basic information USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/weather/huricane/whbasics.htm
Hurricane Science Index USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/weather/huricane/whursci.htm
NOAA Blank tracking charts http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

NOAA/CPS about MJO (Madden-Julian Oscillation) or ISO (Intraseasonal Oscillation) http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/intraseasonal/intraseasonal_faq.html

Tropical rainfall exhibits strong variability on sub-seasonal time scales, often cycling over a period of 30-60 days. These cycles are called "intraseasonal oscillations", "Madden-Julian Oscillations", "MJO", "30-60 day oscillations" or "30-60 day waves". source: vikki.french

! Meteorology Education & Training - Hurricanes
Hurricane Science and Safety for Students - interactive, tests etc. http://meted.ucar.edu/hurrican/strike/
Full program http://www.meted.ucar.edu/topics_hurricane.php

Origin of hurricanes "Depending on the time of year, tropical storms and hurricanes develop in different areas of the tropical North Atlantic."
weather.com http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/tropical/origins.html
FEMA (map) http://www.fema.gov/kids/hu_orig.htm

deutsch

Hurrikane - allgemein http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrikan
Spiegel online - Video zur Entstehung von Hurricanes http://www.spiegel.de/video/video-20833.html
Spiegel online - Artikel zu obigen Video http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,503540,00.html 03.09.07 "Hurrikan Felix - Binnen Stunden zum Monstersturm"
ZAMG http://www.zamg.ac.at/wetter/sat_bilder/wirbelstuerme/ Kurzfilme mit Satellitenbildern ausgewählter Wirbelstürme (ZAMG Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Wien)
Hamburger Bildungsserver Entstehung und Zugweg eines Hurrikans ("Unterricht mit digitalen Medien") http://www.hamburger-bildungsserver.de/welcome.phtml?unten=/klima/klimafolgen/extreme/hurrikan/entstehung.html inkl.

Grafiken "Mittlere Zugbahnen atlantischer Hurrikane im Monat September" und (weltweite) "Verbreitung tropischer Wirbelstürme"
Lehrer Online http://www.lehrer-online.de/hurrikan.php?show_complete_article=1&sid=16495934340811513121915221522040
Naturgewalten - Hurrikane http://www.naturgewalten.de/hurr.htm (der Autor beschäftige sich privat und beruflich mit Naturgewalten)
Survival - Hurrikane http://survival.4u.org/katastrophen/hurrikan.htm private Seite, gute Zusammenfassung
RAOnline -Hurrikane http://www.raonline.ch/edu_hurrindex01.html (private Seite, als Unterrichtsmaterial gedacht)