Many of you remember my article several months ago about the Save Lindbergh Bay initiative. This is a grass roots organization of people committed to keeping this beautiful Caribbean bay on St. Thomas from being the dumping site of the dredging material from Charlotte Amalie Harbor. The U.S. Virgin Islands signed a contract with the largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Sea, to call on the port of Charlotte Amalie. The cruise ship holds over 5,000 people that will greatly add to the tourist revenue of St. Thomas.   However, the agreement required Charlotte Amalie Harbor to create the ability for the Oasis of the Sea to dock which would require dredging the path of the ship into the harbor an additional 35 feet to the existing sea floor. The project was to take the 150,000 cubic yards of dredging material and deposit it into Lindbergh Bay. The GREAT NEWS is that Lindbergh Bay has been saved by Gov. deJongh, Jr. signing a degree to halt the dredging until a more suitable site can be found for the material.

The dredging has been opposed by not only the residents of the Virgin Islands, but by people concerned about environment issues around the world. Gov. deJongh said at a Government House press conference, “As this process proceeded, and mindful of the community’s concerns on the placement of the dredged spoils, yet the desire to ensure that Royal Caribbean maintains St. Thomas as a port of call for Oasis, I instructed my team to develop options in the event that a change of course was required.” So, after lengthy negotiations with government officials and the cruise lines, an agreement with Royal Caribbean has been reached. The contracts with the Port Authority needed to be honored, so some of the cruise ships that normally berth at Crown Bay will be shifted to Havensight on the days when Oasis of the Sea calls on Charlotte Amalie Harbor.

Now that Crown Bay will be the temporary docking site for Oasis by the Sea, Gov. deJongh, Jr. acknowledged, “Crown Bay is an interim solution. Quite frankly, it is not the ideal with respect to passenger experience — there will be issues of security screening, transportation, economic impact on passenger spending. However, it ensures that Charlotte Amalie Harbor is able to keep the ship as a port of call.” A BIG challenge with Crown Bay as the docking location for Oasis is how to move the passengers to the center of town where they all love to shop. How about creating a fleet of independent water taxis to finally serve the entire Charlotte Amalie Harbor?

Other comments about removing Lindbergh Bay from the dredge dumping came from:

• Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty is committed to increasing passenger presence in areas such as Market Square and Emancipation Garden, where staging points will be set up; “We’re working on the logistics now and definitely want to encourage shopping there, so that someone can go and get a question answered or just have a cultural experience.”
• Virgin Islands Conservation Society president, Jason Budsan; “I congratulate everyone who helped make this happen. Public pressure counts. The decision is significant because the Virgin Islands is looking at ways to solve problems, balancing the environment and the economy.”
• Senator Wayne James; “It’s a great triumph on our part. I was looking at the bay a couple days ago, and I wondered how anybody could compromise the beauty of this beach.”
• Environmentalist Helen Gjessing; “I’m really pleased that the Port Authority saw the writing on the wall, that this was really not a viable project. There’s no way it could restore the eco-system of Lindbergh Bay. A lot of credit goes to the many people who kept plugging away. I really appreciate that.”

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