FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida -- Bahamian student Marie Irene Ajero presents an artistic hand painted aviation chock to President of Florida Air Museum, John Burton at the recent Sun N Fun Aviation Show, Lakeland, FL.  

Ajero, a 12th grade student at St. Francis de Sales School, Abaco, was the overall winner of the annual Bahamas Out Island students artistic chocks competition sponsored by the aviation department of The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation. 

The Signature Chocks program is a public relations initiative of BMOTA’s aviation department and serves as a means of exposing Out Island students to the aviation business while simultaneously using these winning students as young Bahamian ambassadors exposing pilots to the beauty and diversity of The Islands of The Bahamas.  

Over the years winners of the competition have attended aviation trade shows with BMOTA staff to assist in promoting the beauty and ease of flying to the Bahamas.  The young people are given the opportunity to present the unique, artistic chocks to key aviation executives as a premium give-away item. This year, the student winner, while sharing about The Bahamas, her island and her school, presented chocks to the President and CEO of the Florida Air Museum as well as to Mr. John Leenhouts, President & CEO. of Sun N Fun Aviation Show.

GREAT GUANA CAY, Abaco -- Stakeholders in the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival Adjudications are pictured with Great Guana Cay School students and Principal Ms. Dianne Williams, on April 16, 2012, during a visit to encourage the small school in the Abaco Cays to participate in the Festival.  (BIS Photo / Eric Rose)

SCHOONER BAY, Abaco -- The community of Schooner Bay will be holding 'Spring Fest on the Harbour' May 19th with something for everyone to enjoy.  Planned events include an Arts & Crafts Expo, Farmer's Market, Junkanoo Rush-out, Kayak Races, Kids Games, a 5K & 10K run/walk, and live music to name a few.  See poster below or click HERE to view the PDF version.

ABACO, The Bahamas -- The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) recently facilitated an Eco Diver training course in Abaco for seven (7) certified Scuba Divers to assist in monitoring Abaco Marine Protected Areas.  The BNT is implementing a grant project entitled “Development and Effective Management of Marine Protected Areas in the Abaco’s”.  The project which is being implemented by the BNT will develop management plans for the six marine protected areas in Abaco, build capacity for the use of GIS Technology, provide training for protected area managers (BNT, Department of Marine Resources (DMR)), improve community involvement, and increase local capacity to assist with evaluation and monitoring.  

The Eco Diver training course was the first step in increasing local capacity to assist in monitoring Abaco’s marine protected areas. Participants were trained in coral reef monitoring protocols that are recognized internationally and facilitated by the Reef Check Foundation.  The Reef Check Foundation is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of specific ecosystems including tropical coral reefs.

Participants in the course held in Abaco included representatives from Bahamas Customs, Department of Marine Resources, Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organization, Dive Guana and BNT Staff from the Abaco and New Providence Offices.  The training course included classroom lectures, written exams and practical field dives, followed by Reef Check Surveys at The Pillars and Grouper Alley reefs located within the new Fowl Cays National Park.

MARSH HARBOUR, Abaco --- The Government of The Bahamas’s decision to “invest heavily” in major upgrades to the infrastructure of Marsh Harbour will pay dividends “of a hundred fold” to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in the future, South Abaco Member of Parliament Edison Key said Tuesday.

Mr. Key said the construction of a new, state-of-the-art community hospital in Marsh Harbour, along with the Administrative Complex (also in Marsh Harbour), and the new 60,000 square foot, state-of-the-art airport terminal and control tower, augurs well for the future socio-economic growth of Abaco and the Commonwealth, as an extension.

Mr. Key joined Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham; Minister of Health, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis; Minister of Public Works and Utilities, the Hon. Neko Grant and senior officials from the National Insurance Board, Ministry of Health and the Department of Public Health, for the Official Contract Signing and Ground-Breaking Ceremony for the new Community Hospital which will be constructed just off the S.C. Bootle Highway in Marsh Harbour.

“The record will clearly show that we are a hard-working, industrious community spread out over a mini-archipelago,” Mr. Key said. “As a dynamo in the national economy, we make a substantial contribution to the public treasury, so it is no more than right that we are considered for a badly needed upgrade of our public facilities.

“This is especially the case when taking into consideration the fact that – besides our ever-increasing resident population – we play host to hundreds of thousands of tourists and second home owners every year.

MARSH HARBOUR, Abaco --- Officials of the National Insurance Board and Coastline Construction Tuesday signed a contract for $12 million for the construction of a new community hospital in Marsh Harbour.  

Scheduled to be completed within 60 weeks, the signing and groundbreaking ceremony for the facility came almost 25 years after NIB completed its first Community Clinic at Marsh Harbour in 1988.  At that time, NIB embarked upon a mission to assist with the development and extension of healthcare infrastructure in The Bahamas. They were able to accomplish their goal by “putting aside funds for the construction and equipping of medical facilities that would make quality healthcare more accessible and affordable for Bahamian residents.”  The Marsh Harbour Clinic was the first of its kind.  

Minister of Health, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis, said the construction of the community hospital will replace the existing primary healthcare facility (clinic) in Marsh Harbour.  “Through the Public Hospitals Authority, the facility will provide improvements and advancements in tele-medicine and tele-radiology for this area; it will allow for the rotation of specialists in New Providence to Marsh Harbour, while also allowing for the bridging and expansion of electronic medical records, numerous outpatient surgical procedures and expanded ante-natal care delivery.  

“All residents of Abaco, including those who presently access private health services will benefit from the new and expanded services this facility will provide,” Dr. Minnis added.