KAYAK - YEA members kayaking through Gold Rock Creek guided by nature guides Susan Krupica, Dwayne Marshall and Mario Neely.

Students enrolled in the groundbreaking Youth Environmental Ambassadors (YEA) program enjoyed a unique opportunity to become fully immersed in the local flora and fauna during a guided tour of the Lucayan National Park on Grand Bahama. 

The highlight was a kayak excursion though Gold Rock Creek, surrounded by miles of majestic mangrove forests teeming with precious – and in many cases rare – forms of indigenous life.

The young environmentalist were hosted by Grand Bahama Nature Tours and the company’s president, veteran conservationist Erika Gates, kicked off the day with an enlightening presentation to on the natural history of Grand Bahama Island.

“My company has been conducting nature-based activities for visitors and residents alike for the past 25 years,” said Gates, who is the author of a preeminent study of the island’s birds and vegetation. “We are sharing our beautiful environment with our customers through interpretation of the diverse terrestrial ecosystems by our professional nature guides.

“Our staff members also give of their time and expertise to participate in educational programs such as the Youth Environmental Ambassadors project, as it is especially important to us to introduce young Grand Bahamians to our natural treasures in order to open their eyes to the importance of conserving these.

FINISH LINE – First group completes the kayak portion of the excursion, guided by Michael Flowers. 

The award-winning sustainable tourism expert added: “We also like for these youngsters to understand the career opportunities available to them in the field of nature-based tourism. We are delighted that, on Saturday, we were able to contribute to your worthwhile program.”

YEA is the flagship educational program of Save The Bays (STB), the fast-growing social and environmental movement that has taken The Bahamas by storm since its launch around two years ago.

STB education director Joseph Darville said: "It was heartwarming, exhilarating and definitely satisfying to witness and enjoy with our Youth Ambassador leadership group the glory and magnificence of our life-teaming Lucaya National Park. Guided by professional and expert guides, all of us seemed united in one glorious and ecstatic moment, which actually took twice the time the tour usually does.

“Mrs. Gates’ passionate lecture held all of us spellbound as she methodically introduced all of our precious terrestrial ecosystems.”

Nestled between the lecture and the kayak tour was a nature tour which allowed each YEA participant to see, smell and feel the multitude of fauna which adorn the uniquely beautiful islands of The Bahamas.

This was led by parks manager for Grand Bahama National Trust, Lakeshia Anderson, and Darville thanked both her as well as the Trust itself, for allowing the students to visit the park free of charge.

“All the guides were absolutely extraordinary in their kind and gracious manner as they patiently, with joy and excitement in their eyes, guided our group through every aspect of each ecosystem,” said Darville. “What was most admirable was the fact that they willingly gave up their free day to be entirely dedicated to bringing meaningful knowledge and excitement to our budding conservationists.

TOUR GUIDES – (l-r): Michael Flowers, Susan Krupica, Dwayne Marshall, Tony Newbold, Mario Neely, STB education director Darville, Bradley Rutherford, Ricardo Clarke, Rashema Ingraham, STB. 

“Each one of them admitted to me that they could not imaging a more enjoyable experience than working with our young people. This day will forever be etched in the hearts and minds of our ambassadors as, little by little, they gain all that is needed to become the present and future stewards of our abundantly blessed Bahamaland.”

YEA aims to train the next generation of conservationists to the way in protecting the natural resources of The Bahamas for the benefit of future generations. In addition to bi-monthly lectures, tours and excursions, a leadership component aims to help participants become authoritative voices for positive change in their communities. Already, YEA has touched the lives of more than 2,500 young Bahamians.

On this particular excursion, even the YEA program facilitators learned a great deal. Javan Hunt, said: “This past Saturday was one of the most amazing experiences I have had to date with Save The Bays. I learned so much from the very informative presentation by Ericka Gates and had an amazing kayaking and nature experience gliding through the mangroves and seeing my native flora and fauna at its finest.

“I commend Mrs. Gates and her team for a very well prepared and amazing experience and thank Save The Bays for helping me learn about my Bahamas and for making me a part of this amazing opportunity.”

Another program facilitator, Jensen Farquharson, said Gates’ presentation “showed us how extensive and important our ecosystems are to our lives. A lesson for us is that we all need to pay more attention to our ecosystems. The kayaking tour through the Grand Bahama Lucayan National Park mangroves will be a pleasant life memory for the YEA group as kayaking was a first for most of them.

“Save The Bays has taken on a mission that is positively impacting our youth and will definitely pay dividends for future protection, and preservation our fragile beautiful environment.”

 

CREEK – Crossing Gold Rock Creek on “Tom Sawyer’s Raft”.

 

ABOUT: Founded two years ago, Save The Bays began as a grassroots effort to protect ecologically significant areas of The Bahamas from unregulated development. It has quickly grown into a broad-based coalition calling for comprehensive environmental protections, oil spill legislation and greater transparency in government. With more than 17,200 followers on Facebook, STB is the fastest growing, most popular non-profit, non-government organization in Bahamas history on social media. The group’s petition calling on the government to enact an Environmental Protection Act, a Freedom of Information Act, stop unregulated development and end to oil pollution is climbing in numbers, with around 6,500 signatures so far. To get involved, sign the petition or learn more, visit www.savethebays.bs.