The latest Caribbean Moment takes you to the glorious turquoise waters of the Bimini archipelago of The Bahamas, just 50 miles off the coast of Florida.
It’s a serene, tranquil oasis, home to some of the most stunning natural scenery anywhere in The Bahamas.
The twin-island federation of St Kitts and Nevis is the latest Caribbean country to implement aggressive measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
St Kitts and Nevis, which just confirmed its first cases of coronavirus, said it was closing its borders until April 7 “to protect our borders, citizens and residents.”
The border shutdown, which was set to take effect on March 25 at 11:59 PM, closes borders to all commercial airline flights until April 7.
That impacts both St Kitts’ Robert L Bradshaw International Airport and Nevis’ Vance W. Amory International Airport.
The move permits international air cargo and cargo by seafaring vessels to “maintain connectivity that enables the Federation to import needed commodities such as food, fuel, medical supplies and equipment,” according to a statement.
St Kitts and Nevis’ Immigration, Customs, Coast Guard and the Royal St Christopher and Nevis Police Force will be enforcing all border controls.
St Kitts and Nevis nationals and residents living overseas unable to return by the deadline “will need to remain offshore until the border closing is lifted,” the country’s government said.
St Kitts and Nevis is the latest in a series of Caribbean destinations to shut down their borders for a period of time in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The country has also launched a massive economic stimulus program to help the country get through the coronavirus effort.
“We look forward to welcoming everyone to our twin-island destination once again when this time of uncertainty is behind us,” the St Kitts Tourism Authority said in a message. “In the meantime, we ask all persons to stay informed about the latest news and developments relating to COVID-19 and to take all recommended precautions including everyday preventative actions to help stem the spread of the virus, including frequent handwashing and practicing social distancing.”
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Against this backdrop, Puerto Rico has 39 confirmed cases … Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 18, 2020 … people — Puerto Ricans and groups like Power 4 Puerto Rico are keeping … bus. Puerto Rico already experienced that firsthand. So Puerto Ricans need to …
Ever since Ursula Andress took her sensuous stroll out of the surf at Dunn’s River Falls in 1962’s Dr. No, there’s been a love affair between the James Bond movies and the Caribbean.
And the sultry relationship continues right through the latest in the 25-film franchise, 2020’s No Time to Die, which like the original takes place party in Jamaica. (It’s slated for a premiere in November).
The pairing of a sleek British agent with a “license to kill,” and the laid-back tropics may seem incongruous at first glance. But Ian Fleming, the former intelligence officer who penned 14 James Bond books, had a home in Jamaica, and often featured the islands in his books, which inevitably made their way into the film adaptations, as well.
007 has a broad reach in the Caribbean — and you can travel to all of these destinations just by watching a Bond film right now.
The Goldeney resort.
Jamaica: The most 007 address in Jamaica is Goldeneye, Ian Fleming’s former home in Oracabessa that’s now a beautiful boutique hotel, part of Chris Blackwell’s Island Outpost group. Among the lodging options is the Fleming Villa, designed by the author himself and where he wrote all of his James Bond books — four of which were set at least in part in Jamaica. GoldenEye, by the way, was named after one of Fleming’s wartime intelligence missions.
Dr. No introduced the world to Sean Connery as 007 and Andress as an iconic Sixties sex symbol, clad in an unforgettable belted white bikini complete with diving knife as she met James Bond on the fictional Crab Key — in reality, Dunn’s River Falls and Laughing Waters Beach.
In fact, most of the movie was set and filmed in Jamaica, with many locations still recognizable more than half a century later, including the Bauxite terminal in Ocho Rios, Kingston, the Blue Mountains, the White River, Montego Bay, the Morgan’s Harbor Hotel in Port Royal (now the Grand Port Royal Hotel), and the former San Souci resort, now Couples San Souci (Roger Moore’s room was D20).
Couples Sans Souci in Jamaica.
Sans Souci’s lobby, gift shop, hibiscus cottage, spa terrace, main beach and entrance all have cameos in Live and Let Die. And even the underground lair of the title character in Dr. No —where Bond destroys to prevent an attack on an American space capsule — is located in Jamaica in the story.
Another villainous hideout, that of Mr. Kananga in 1973’s film version of Live and Let Die, also has Jamaican roots: scenes were filmed in the Green Grotto Caves in Runaway Bay. A villa (Cottage 10) at Half Moon (then the Half Moon Bay Club) was James Bond’s (Roger Moore’s) hotel room during his visit to the fictional island of San Monique in Live and Let Die, where 007 confronted snakes, a villainous waiter, and a beautiful double agent — as well as spending the night with Rosie Carver. Cottage 10 remains at the Founder’s Cove section of Half Moon and can be reserved by guests.
The Jamaican Safari Village near Falmouth is where the scene where several bad guys are dispatched in a pool full of alligators (the attraction is now known as the J. Charles Swaby’s Black River Safari). And the grounds of the Rose Hall Great House also featured in several scenes in the movie, including a memorable chase through poppy fields.
The Rose Hall Great House in Montego Bay.
James Bond will return to Jamaica in 2020’s No Time to Die, which was partially filmed in Port Antonio, where the storyline has Bond (Daniel Craig) retiring after years of hard service in the British intelligence agency MI6. There’s also some speculation that the film may include the reincarnation of Dr. No, complete with his Jamaican hideout at “Crab Cay.”
The Bahamas: Nassau and several other Bahamas locations also have made repeat appearances in James Bond films over the years, and original James Bond actor Sean Connery is a longtime resident of Lyford Cay, a gated community on the western tip of New Providence Island, where Nassau is located.
As Bond, Connery visited the British Colonial Hilton in downtown Nassau in not one but two films: Thunderball and the off-brand Never Say Never Again. The unmissable yellow-walled beachfront hotel retains much of the colonial charm evident in the movie. (Some underwater scenes in Thunderball were also filmed in Exuma at the now-famous “Thunderball Grotto.”
Other instantly recognizable Nassau locations are all over Thunderball, which includes a Junkanoo parade on Bay Street. The original Cafe Martinique where Bond meets baddie Largo and Bond Girl Domino is long gone, but you can visit a reproduction in the Marina Village at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island. Nassau also makes an appearance in The Spy Who Loved Me — the dramatic final showdown was shot at Coral Harbor. Oddly, however, scenes in License to Kill that were supposedly set in Bimini were in fact shot in Key West.
Daniel Craig’s James Bond spends a lot of time on Paradise Island in 2006’s Casino Royale, which features scenes shot in the lobby of the then-One&Only Ocean Club (now the Four Seasons Ocean Club) as well as one of the resort’s beach villas (#108), where Bond seduces Solange, the girlfriend of movie villain Dimitrios. The poker game in the movie was filmed in the resort’s library. The neighboring Atlantis resort and the Nassau airport also appear in the film.
The Bahamas also served as a shooting location for the Roger Moore 007 film For Your Eyes Only (the memorable underwater speargun fight) and for The World is Not Enough (the underwater submarine scenes), which starred Pierce Brosnan.
And there’s even a rum distillery. Sort of. The opening scene of Casino Royale is set in Madagascar but actually filmed in The Bahamas, with the “Nambutu” Embassy scenes filmed at what is now the John Watling’s Distillery.
Puerto Rico: Pierce Brosnan’s Bond also pays a visit to Cuba in GoldenEye, where he fights an epic battle with a renegade “double O” agent played by Sean Bean (later Ned Stark in Game of Thrones), but it’s actually all filmed in Puerto Rico, in the massive radio telescope bowl at the Arecibo Observatory.
Haiti:Quantum of Solace, the 2008 Bond film starring Daniel Craig, includes a key sequence set in Haiti. However, it actually was filmed in Panama City.
Cuba: The 2002 Pierce Bronan Bond film Die Another Day also includes scenes set in Havana, Cuba, but filmed in Spain.
The Bahamas has put in a series of strong measures in a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Bahamas Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has put in a new “Emergency Order” effective through March 31 that will include a series of “preventative restrictions.”
Those include that no visitor will be allowed to enter and disembark for any reason in The Bahamas; all airports (including private airports and fixed-base operators) will be closed to incoming international flights unless granted written permission by the competent authority.
Most notably, all residents of The Bahamas will be under a 24-hour curfew and are to remain at home to avoid contact outside of their family, except for essential workers.
Residents can leave their home for essential travel, meaning doctor visits, grocery shopping, pharmacy visits or refueling, for example.
The country is also encouraging “proper social distancing guidelines” of six feet at all times.
The country has also closed all public beaches, public markets and docks, and no cars are permitted for any purpose, excepting the aforementioned essential business.
Before the Emergency Order was put in place, The Bahamas had been active in using screening measures for visitors and residents.
The Bahamas says it is conducting COVID-19 testing, launched a destination-wide education campaign to remind the public about important hygiene practices.
At the time of this report, there were 4 cases of coronavirus in the country, all in Nassau, all of whom were quarantined.
