Coldwell Banker Islands Blog

Climb aboard the Reef Peepers glass bottom catamaran with Captain Santo, enjoy a fresh Conch salad and have dance lessons on the boat.

Amanda Quesnelle did this summer and can’t say enough good things about the Reef Peeping crew. The trip included a half day snorkel trip on the boat, plus a lesson on how to catch and prepare a fresh Conch Salad lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent snorkeling and at the beach. The morning trip takes you to Iguana Island which is not too far from the eastern tip of Provo.

For more information visit their website at www.reefpeepers.com

St. Kitts golfers will once again represent the Federation in the annual prestigious East Caribbean Golf Championships to be held in Barbados on October 2-4.

Team participants in the Men’s Division are Anand Harridyal, Adrian Norford, Ezekiel Percival, Charles (Rocky) Blake and Trevor (Jimmy) Levine. St. Kitts men have won this division nine consecutive years, while Norford has won the individual men’s title in 2007 and 2008.

Senior players are represented by William (Chassie) Thompson, Steven Liburd and Ricky Skerritt. In the Super Seniors, Vince Morton and Vernon Veira complete the 10 member team. Unfortunately a ladies team will not be competing this year. Thompson was the recent winner in the Malcolm Callender Independence Tournament played in Nevis on Sunday 20th September.

Nine players were selected for the men’s team, after competing in qualifying rounds early this month, and the Club’s Executive selected one additional player - Trevor Levine. Trevor is the OECS’s outstanding golfer, having won more individual titles throughout the Caribbean than any other golfer.

We wish the team good luck in the tournament!

Coldwell Banker St Kitts-Nevis Realty is one of the main sponsors of the Nevis Sport Fishing Tournament, held at Oualie Beach. 25 boats from all over the Caribbean participated last year. Approximately 30 boats from St Kitts, Montserrat, Antigua, St Maarten, Nevis, St Croix, Tortola, and Saba expected this year.

Registration Friday, Oct 2 is at 15:00 hours, briefing at 18:00 hours, and fun music at 20:00 hours.

Saturday, lines in at 05:00 hours, weigh in at 15:30 hours, prize awards at 18:00 hours.

Accommodations provided by Oualie Beach Resort, Oualie Bay, Nevis, email reservations@oualie.com. The resort is offering a special rate for competitors and their partners.

Visit the web site for details, or email info@nevisyachtclub.com. We expect another competitive event with impressive catches! Along with a Carib Beer party, giveaways, steel band, hosted awards ceremony and great friends - join us for the fun!

Through a unique combination of geology and geography, the British Virgin Islands boast some of the best sailing grounds in the world with steady trade winds, averaging 10-15 mph from the northeast, with insignificant currents and tidal range. There are almost 60 islands and cays (also pronounced keys) in the Virgin Islands. You are always in sight of land and safe harbour.

These islands offer protection from ocean swells and provide hundreds of protected coves and anchorages for swimming, snorkeling, diving, going ashore, or just lounging on the boat. The islands are mostly volcanic in origin and are great for hiking with dramatic landscapes and vistas.

Sailing with Terry offers this list of Why the Virgin Islands is among the world’s best sailing areas:

• Perfect sailing trade winds and protected anchorages
• Natural beauty on the islands and below the water
• A vibrant modern culture with a unique Caribbean history
• Privacy or partying, you decide
• Always in sight of land
• Easy to fly to and safe to visit

A Caribbean sailing vacation should include the natural world of the British Virgin Islands. In addition to the sailing adventure, the clarity of the water and the shallow depth of many of the reefs provides world class snorkeling and scuba diving.

Take advantage of the low travel packages available now and come visit the British Virgin Islands.

(resource: Travel.2.Adventure.com)

Through a unique combination of geology and geography, the British Virgin Islands boast some of the best sailing grounds in the world with steady trade winds, averaging 10-15 mph from the northeast, with insignificant currents and tidal range. There are almost 60 islands and cays (also pronounced keys) in the Virgin Islands. You are always in sight of land and safe harbour.

These islands offer protection from ocean swells and provide hundreds of protected coves and anchorages for swimming, snorkeling, diving, going ashore, or just lounging on the boat. The islands are mostly volcanic in origin and are great for hiking with dramatic landscapes and vistas.

Sailing with Terry offers this list of Why the Virgin Islands is among the world’s best sailing areas:

• Perfect sailing trade winds and protected anchorages
• Natural beauty on the islands and below the water
• A vibrant modern culture with a unique Caribbean history
• Privacy or partying, you decide
• Always in sight of land
• Easy to fly to and safe to visit

A Caribbean sailing vacation should include the natural world of the British Virgin Islands. In addition to the sailing adventure, the clarity of the water and the shallow depth of many of the reefs provides world class snorkeling and scuba diving.

Take advantage of the low travel packages available now and come visit the British Virgin Islands.

(resource: Travel.2.Adventure.com)

LIME, the Caribbean’s largest full service telecommunications provider, and H. Lavity Stoutt Community College today announced the joint-partnership to promote cultural initatives to offer a wide range of excellent musical presentations within the British Virgin Islands.

“LIME is proud to be able to assist in providing an environment where world-reknowned artists enriches the minds of the BVI community through performing arts,” said Mr. Joel Abdinoor, LIME EVP Offshore Centres. “The performing arts programme at HLSCC is a welcomed venue to showcase artistic and cultural activities from around the globe.”

Of particular interest is the new free OutReach programme which will be offered to BVI students of all levels. The purpose of the programmes is to enable exposure to students, through the performing arts series, to a number of entertainers and music genres. Students can attend performances by the likes of Arturo Tappin – Caribbean Jazz Artist, Soweto Gospel Choir, Nai Ni chen and many more. Teachers and principals are asked to register in advance for the free programmes.

(resource: BVIPlatinum)

DAVID Moncur, a former senior insurance executive and Rotary Club president, has joined the Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty sales powerhouse.
David has a solid background in the financial services, having climbed to a high level position in Family Guardian.
A Freemason and Rotarian, he’s also well known in the sporting area, both as a marathon runner and a keen tennis player.
“David is perfect for real estate ,” said Mike Lightbourn, president of Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty in the Bahamas . “He is extremely well qualified and has an impressive track record. He brings a considerable level of expertise to the table.”
Before joining the insurance industry, David held numerous managerial positions in banking and commerce in Grand Bahama and Nassau. He also spent a period in real estate, having become a licensed realtor in 1997.
“I’ve always been interested in real estate and I’m looking forward to the new challenge,” he said.
David spent more than 20 years in insurance, starting at American Life Insurance and moving on to British American Insurance and Global Life Assurance.
He joined Family Guardian in 2002 and retired in 2008 as Vice President of Home Service Marketing.
David is a multi qualifier of the Million Dollar Round Table, an honour achieved by a very small percentage of life insurance and financial services advisors worldwide.
His career has been built on hard work. Having passed the London Institute of Bankers exam in English, economics and general principles of English law, he went on to earn a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami.
He is a Registered Financial Consultant and a Chartered Management Consultant, and has lectured in business management part time at the College of the Bahamas in Freeport.
What does this go-getter do for fun?
For starters, he runs.
Between 1980 and 1991, David participated in all the major marathons, running the 26+ miles in London, Boston, New York, Chicago, Miami, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and Washington.
He’s a past president of the Grand Bahama Tennis and Squash Club and the Grand Bahama Road Runners Club, past president of the Rotary Club of South East Nassau and the past president of the Rotary Club of Lucaya, Freeport. He’s also served as past district governor’s representative of the Rotary Clubs in Grand Bahama.
David is an avid Freemason, having served as a past master and a substitute district grand master of the District Grand Lodge of the Bahamas under the Scottish Constitution.
He’s a former member of the London Institute of Bankers, Association of M.B.A. Executives and American Management Association.
Add to that, a term as director of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce and as chairman of the Local Government Hotel Licensing Board in Freeport.
David and his wife, Florazel, have two children, Drenaurd and Darice.
David loves the outdoors, especially playing with his four grandchildren on the beach, and visiting the islands.

DAVID Moncur, a former senior insurance executive and Rotary Club president, has joined the Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty sales powerhouse.
David has a solid background in the financial services, having climbed to a high level position in Family Guardian.
A Freemason and Rotarian, he’s also well known in the sporting area, both as a marathon runner and a keen tennis player.
“David is perfect for real estate ,” said Mike Lightbourn, president of Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty in the Bahamas . “He is extremely well qualified and has an impressive track record. He brings a considerable level of expertise to the table.”
Before joining the insurance industry, David held numerous managerial positions in banking and commerce in Grand Bahama and Nassau. He also spent a period in real estate, having become a licensed realtor in 1997.
“I’ve always been interested in real estate and I’m looking forward to the new challenge,” he said.
David spent more than 20 years in insurance, starting at American Life Insurance and moving on to British American Insurance and Global Life Assurance.
He joined Family Guardian in 2002 and retired in 2008 as Vice President of Home Service Marketing.
David is a multi qualifier of the Million Dollar Round Table, an honour achieved by a very small percentage of life insurance and financial services advisors worldwide.
His career has been built on hard work. Having passed the London Institute of Bankers exam in English, economics and general principles of English law, he went on to earn a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami.
He is a Registered Financial Consultant and a Chartered Management Consultant, and has lectured in business management part time at the College of the Bahamas in Freeport.
What does this go-getter do for fun?
For starters, he runs.
Between 1980 and 1991, David participated in all the major marathons, running the 26+ miles in London, Boston, New York, Chicago, Miami, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and Washington.
He’s a past president of the Grand Bahama Tennis and Squash Club and the Grand Bahama Road Runners Club, past president of the Rotary Club of South East Nassau and the past president of the Rotary Club of Lucaya, Freeport. He’s also served as past district governor’s representative of the Rotary Clubs in Grand Bahama.
David is an avid Freemason, having served as a past master and a substitute district grand master of the District Grand Lodge of the Bahamas under the Scottish Constitution.
He’s a former member of the London Institute of Bankers, Association of M.B.A. Executives and American Management Association.
Add to that, a term as director of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce and as chairman of the Local Government Hotel Licensing Board in Freeport.
David and his wife, Florazel, have two children, Drenaurd and Darice.
David loves the outdoors, especially playing with his four grandchildren on the beach, and visiting the islands.

JIm Reed, Managing director, Coldwell Banker Island Affiliates, was in the Cayman Islands for the weekend to give sales associates a seminar-training course. Held at Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman Resort, the subject of the training, geared to sales agents, managers and brokers, was “List, Sell, and Earn Commissions in a Challenging Marketplace.”

Jim said, “Learning and refreshing our tools and techniques is always a good thing…particularly in these difficult financial times. It is important to us at Coldwell Banker that we continue to take progressive steps to ensure our agents, managers and team members have all the newest and strongest techniques and tools at their disposal to enable them to continue to sell and list properties for our clients and customers.

“The team at Coldwell Banker Cayman Islands Realty is a superb group of real estate professionals and it was a pleasure to spend valuable time with them, particularly since they are so busy.”

17 associates and staff attended. Even one associate, away in Europe on family business, attended by way of Skype video phone link.

By all accounts, the training was a resounding success and much was learned by the attendees. We at Coldwell Banker Cayman Islands are ready to help with all of your real estate needs - stop by or contact us through our web site.

Coldwell Banker Island Affiliates is the regional provider of real estate services for the Coldwell Banker Brand with real estate offices in the region of the Atlantic and Caribbean Islands, stretching from Bermuda in the north to Aruba in the south, with 44 offices currently operating in the region.

The Cayman Department of Environment notes there have been more sightings of bottlenose dolphins than normal in North Sound recently. Anecdotally, bottlenose dolphins are not permanently resident in Grand Cayman. Several reports have been received of single dolphins and one report of four to five bottlenose dolphins seen together.

According to Timothy Austin, Deputy Director Research and Assessment with the Department of Environment, it’s difficult to confirm the number of animals present or how long they have been resident in Cayman waters, as there seems to have been at least several sightings of the same individual.

In July 2008, the DoE initiated a Marine Animal Sightings Database, asking members of the public to report sightings of dolphins, whales, manatees, sharks, manta rays, and other large marine animals. Since the database began, three sightings of pods of oceanic dolphins and seven sightings of bottlenose dolphins have been reported.

Mr. Austin explained that there are usually no coastal dolphins normally resident in the waters around Cayman possibly because Cayman’s coastal shelf area is so small. They are shallow water creatures and don’t tend to cross ocean channels. They are coastal mammals.

The Department of Environment has recently received Overseas Territories Environment Programme funding for a project with the Save Our Seas Foundation that intends to establish baseline surveys for marine mammals in the area. This is planned for November to December of this year. The public can report marine mammal sightings to the DoE marine mammal database by calling 949^8469 or by e^mailing DoE@gov.ky. Photos of sightings would also be welcomed.

(resource: CayCompass)