Daily Archives: March 29, 2017

Assistant Commissioner of Police Ealan Powell yesterday said that the scheduled deportation from The Bahamas of alleged Klansman gangster Tesha Miller was delayed.

Powell didnt give a new date for the deportation, neither did he say what caused the postponement.

News surfaced yesterday that Miller, for whom the Jamaican police have been searching since last year, was being deported yesterday from Nassau, the capital of the archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean between Cuba and Florida.

It was not clear when he was captured in The Bahamas, but his pending expulsion from that country comes almost a year after he was deported from the United States where he spent two years in prison on a charge of illegal entry.

Shortly after his deportation he was listed as a person of interest by Jamaicas Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch and was asked to report to the police following a spike in murders in the St Catherine North Division, where the Klansman Gang is engaged in criminal activities.

The police theorised that Miller could assist in their investigation of several of the murders in Spanish Town and sections of Portmore during the first quarter of 2016.

However, he did not turn himself in as requested and there were no more calls for him to make himself available to the police.

The police are unable to say when and how Miller left Jamaica.

Read more from the original source:

Tesha Miller caught in The Bahamas - Jamaica Observer

When you're short on time, squeezing in a satisfying escape can feel like a tall order. Happily, however, we've found a selection of weekend cruises leaving from several Floridian and Californian portseach of which gets you on board by Friday afternoon, but back home in time for that Monday morning meeting. (Bonus: These mini-voyages are great options for new cruisers looking to get their feet wet.)

Miami touts the most weekend sailing options, each on offer year-round. Norwegian Cruise Line runs three-night itineraries to the Bahamas aboard the 2,004-passenger Norwegian Sky . The ship embarks at 5 p.m. on Fridays, docks in Nassau on Saturdays, and then visits the line's private isle Great Stirrup Cay on Sundays, before returning to Miami at 7 a.m. on Monday mornings. (Enhancements to Great Stirrup Cay include a soon-to-debut lagoon enclave, featuring 22 private villas and a Mandara Spa.) The Norwegian Sky with its 11 bars, two swimming pools, and ten dining venuesis the sole Norwegian ship to offer all-inclusive beverage pricing, a concept that debuted in early 2016, which extends to complimentary and unlimited beer, wine, and premium spirits.

Look to Carnival , meanwhile, for weekend Bahamas sailings that embark from Miami aboard the 2,758-passenger Carnival Victory, featuring "Fun Ship" amenities like a 214-foot-long waterslide, Seuss at Sea kids' programming, more than a dozen bars, a comedy club, and more. The cruises pull out of port at 4 p.m. on Fridays, with an overnight stay in Nassau (arriving 10 a.m. Saturday, leaving 7 a.m. on Sunday), before returning to Miami at 8 a.m. on Monday morning.

Royal Caribbean also runs three-night cruises to the Bahamas from Miami, aboard the 2,252-guest Enchantment of the Seas : look for the line's signature active ship diversions like a rock-climbing wall, bungee trampolines, and a trio of pools. Embarking Fridays at 4 p.m. and returning back to port by 7 a.m. Monday morning, the ship calls on the line's private isle, CocoCay, for a full day on Saturday, and on Nassau for another full day's visit on Sunday.

Royal Caribbean makes similar three-night year-round runs to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral (leaving at 4 p.m. on Fridays and returning at 7 a.m. on Mondays), aboard the 2,350-passenger Majesty of the Seas (also offering a rock-climbing wall, and popular spots like a water park, and a basketball court). Guests get an extra-long call in Nassau on Saturday, with the ship arriving at noon but not pulling out of port till midnight; plus, a day to play in CocoCay.

A family favorite, Disney Cruise Line 's 4,000-passenger Disney Dream (with offerings like an AquaDuck "water coaster" and a fireworks-at-sea spectacular) likewise makes three-night runs to the Bahamas on select dates year-round. Embarking at 3:45 p.m. on Fridays, and returning at 7:30 a.m. on Monday mornings, itineraries include a full-day stop at Nassau on Saturday, in addition to a Sunday call at the line's private Bahamian isle, Castaway Cay.

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Sure beats your usual weekend brunch spot.

Carnival runs three-night weekend cruises out of Long Beach, California, to Baja, Mexico (at Ensenada) year-round. Hop aboard the 2,052-guest Carnival Inspiration at 4 p.m. on Friday, spend Saturday at sea, have a full day in Ensenada on Sunday, before disembarking back in Long Beach at 8 a.m. Monday morning. The Inspiration is fresh off a major renovation that brought on a slew of new food-and-drink venues like Guys Burger Joint, Alchemy Bar, and the RedFrog Rum Bar/BlueIguana Tequila Bar.

For a really short and sweet escape, look to Disney's two-night Baja cruises from San Diego , aboard the 2,713-passenger Disney Wonder , with popular onboard spots like the Twist n Spout water slide, Dorys Reef splash zone, and the Wide World of Sports deck. Leaving at 4 p.m. on Fridays, and coming back by 7:45 a.m. on Sundays (embarking on select dates in May, September, and October in 2017), this sailing brings guests for a full Saturday of exploration in Ensenada. Bonus: Their cruises embarking in September and October also put forth a fun "Halloween on the High Seas" theme.

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Weekend Cruises to Mexico and the Bahamas - Cond Nast Traveler - Cond Nast Traveler

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

HAITI this month joined Jamaica to become the second country in CARICOM to become a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

The convention sets rules for the conferral and non-withdrawal of citizenship, in an effort to combat statelessness.

The rules include granting nationality to people born in territories who would otherwise be stateless.

Haitis decision does not affect The Bahamas, which is not a signatory to the convention.

However, in a statement yesterday, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration spokesman said this country already has mechanisms in its laws to deal with statelessness.

The policy and the law of the Bahamas is that one obtains citizenship by descent, which means through your parents, the ministrys spokesman, Al Dillete, said. There are no plans to change that. The ministry further observes that there are existing mechanisms in Bahamian law to deal with statelessness. In the case of individuals born in the Bahamas of foreign parentage, including those born to Haitian parentage; those persons are not stateless at birth nor thereafter.

The Bahamas government has maintained that based on Haitian law, no matter where they are born, children of Haitian descent are Haitian at birth. According to existing policy, such people would require a Haitian passport and a residence permit to be in The Bahamas.

Nonetheless, activists and scholars have said for years that there are thousands of de facto stateless people born to Haitian parents living in the Bahamas, people with no ties to Haiti. Advocates for constitutional reform of citizenship provisions have argued that the Bahamas citizenship laws contravene various international conventions that relate to statelessness.

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Ministry: Haiti signing convention on statelessness will not affect ... - Bahamas Tribune

Producer Thymaya Payne, during an initial phone call about our film Live Cargo, cut to the chase: Were shooting on the island of Bimini. Its 700 feet wide and has a population of 1,800. There are no fully paved roads and we havent yet figured out how to transport the gear.

Well be shooting on boats and underwater, during the height of hurricane season. Are you down?

I soon realized that the Bahamas, what I assumed would be a dream location, would be a tough uphill logistical battleduring which everyone involved would grow tremendously.

With Live Cargo, Director Logan Sandler was intent on creating a hypnotic, eerie and mystical film which would accurately capture the timeless, almost surreal atmosphere of the Bahamas. I see the film as a poetic thriller dedicated to that location. Logan wanted to share with his audience a complex and authentic version of this special place, presenting it as more than just a carefree getaway. One way in which we explored this paradox was by shooting Live Cargo in black and white.

We began prep during the beginning of storm season, living in a marina in Fort Lauderdale with Thymaya, Logan and our other producer Lauren Brady. Visual references for the film were drawn from 1960s photojournalism, cinema verit and French and Italian New Wave, as well as German Expressionism and classic film noir. After our prep, we loaded a boat with crew and gear, setting sail for the Bahamian island of Biminia mile-long stretch of land, where we spent the next four weeks living and filming Live Cargo. The exciting reality of my debut feature began to sink in.

Dree Hemingway in Live Cargo

We voyaged with our gear and crew from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini via sea plane and cargo ship. Bimini is made up of a north and a south island and the only way to travel between the islands is by water taxi. Each island has only one main road, which is narrow and unpaved in large portions. This dictated working with a small crew (including a second unit team with Nico Navia and Jordan Gzesh, and an additional photography team with Eric Koretz) and minimal lighting package.

My key grip, Tyler Winegar, devised a brilliant system of transporting gear in a chain of laundry baskets tied to the back of a golf cart. I minimized the size of my set-ups by shooting available light whenever possible, sometimes accenting with an Arri M18 as a way of separating the casts darker skin tones from the background. At night I lit using street lights, flashlights, fire and storms, augmenting with LEDs. Location interiors needed to remain authentic so we went with their pre-existing lighting, adding only a key onto the characters.

This shooting style created a stark and gritty aesthetic which aligned so perfectly with Logans vision for the film. Our black-and-white photography was the films way of taming the cheerful colors of the Bahamas and allowing the audience to focus fully on our characters. It allowed us to show the Caribbean in a fresh way, in which the muted colors heightened the films surreal effect. The footage was recorded in color which enabled us to isolate individual channels and change their brightness and sharpness during color correction.

Weather dictates your day in the Bahamas, especiallyduring the storm season, where the constantly changing weather becomes a big part of everyones life there. Thymaya became a burgeoning meteorologist by the end of our shoot, spending hours a day poring over radar maps and shuffling scenes and locations to keep up with the islands changing weather system. It was important the weather became apart of the films fabric. I was particularly inspired by this powerful atmosphere, which I wanted to work into the films visuals. My goal was to only capture elements that would not feel contrived. The brooding sultry sky was a perfect backdrop for our noir-ish thriller.

Director Logan Sandler and DP Daniella Nowitz on the set of Live Cargo

The storms proved most rewarding when shooting the climax of the filma violent stand-off between the characters Roy, Myron and Doughboy, played by Robert Wisdom, Sam Dillon and Leonard Earl Howze respectively. We shot the scene outside an abandoned building at the edge of a dock and lit it by rigging a gas fire into a metal container. While we were prepping the scene, I remember remarking to Logan how I wished we had the ability with our equipment to backlight the water so that we could feel the churning presence of the ocean at this critical moment in the film. The weather gods heard my wishes, and before we started filming, a storm began breaking over the horizon. As the storm came closer inland, dramatic strokes of lightning broke out in the sky, one after another, illuminating the water for a few seconds at a time. We shot the action chronologically so that as the scene became more dramatic, the lightning came closer and got brighter and more frenetic. When we reachedthe final shotan extreme wide of the dock withRobert Wisdoms character standing by the fire, coming to terms with what hed donethe rain broke out and began pouring down on the location. It was one of those lucky inescapable moments of natural symbolism, in which an unexplainable universal force made itself known to the characters in our films climax.

Live Cargoitself is a portrait of an island, and like all islands, it is defined by the sea around it almost more than by the land it contains. Water is a major theme in the film and it was important to Logan and me that the viewers feel as surrounded by water as the characters do. With this in mind, we spent three and half days shooting aboard a small fishing boat and countless other days wading in water and shooting next to the ocean. These were some of the most challenging moments of production. Boats tend to float adrift very quickly when not in motion, thus creating a lack of continuity in lighting direction and background while shooting a scene. After every couple takes we would need to reset the boat back in the same direction in order to maintain continuity. In addition, very few crew members could ride in the boat at one time. It was critical to always maintain an equal amount of weight at both ends of the vessel. Logan and I had devised long, handheld tracking shots as a way of accentuating Lewis (Lakeith Stanfield) discomfort on the sea. As my agile camera operator Julian Estrada deftly chased Lakeith from one side of the boat to another, the rest of us would run to the opposite side of the vessel, balancing out the weight of the camera move. Doing this for hours a day while glued to a small directors monitor is a sure recipe for sea sickness.

Fire was one natural element used to light the sets ofLive Cargo

The most exciting part of our water days was spent getting to know legendary underwater cinematographer Peter Zuccarini, a man who spends approximately 300 days a year underwater. There is a stunning sequence in the film in which Dree Hemingways character, Nadine, goes out spear fishing and has a darkly ominous encounter with a shark. Logan and I had created detailed storyboards of the scene with the help of talented storyboard artist Josema Roig, but we werent sure if the ocean would align with our visions of the uncontrollable forces of the ocean as our palette. Logan and Zuccarini coincidentally are both Miami natives, and Zuccarini subsequently has spent a lot of time in the waters around Bimini. He knows the reefs like the back of his hand and was able to take us to an area where we could swim with reef sharks, a breed of shark considered less dangerous than the infamous bull sharks which concentrated themselves off the docks of our hotel. We snorkeled behind Zuccarini and the stunt team as they dove deep down to the sharks eye level. Most of the shoot was uneventful with the sharks luckily ignoring our presence. But in a flash, a younger and bolder shark sped aggressively towards the team and as we held our groundthe perfect shotwas captured.

Lakeith Stanfield in Live Cargo

We were blessed to be working with the talented colorist Marcy Robinson at Box Studios who graded the also black-and-white Frances Haand much of Annie Leibovitz black-and-white photography. Together we were able to isolate specific color channels in the film, brightening and darkening them selectively within the black-and-white image. The application of film grain gave Live Cargothe texture of our visual references, lending a timeless feel.MM

Camera: Arri Alexa Classic

Lenses: Zeiss Ultra Primes

Lighting: Fire light, lightning storms, flashlights. Grip shaping natural lighting augmented by occasional HMIs, LEDs and tungsten Fresnels

Color Grading: The Box Digital with Marcy Robinson

Live Cargo opens in theaters March 31, 2017, courtesy of Gunpowder & Sky Distribution. Preorder it on iTunes here.

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Eye Piece: How DP Daniella Nowitz of Live Cargo Captured a Surreal Bahamas in Black and White - MovieMaker Magazine

ATLANTIS RESORT, Paradise Island, Bahamas - Over the years, I have kissed a lot of things in my quest for a good story - Ireland's Blarney Stone; my luck goodbye in Las Vegas and shipboard casinos; terra firma after returning wobbly kneed from the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb. But nothing I've ever kissed in the line of duty has given me as much pleasure as smacking lips with Katrina, a 6-year-old dolphin at Atlantis Resort's Dolphin Cay.

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Katrina's name is an homage to her mother, one of 16 dolphins the resort rescued from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina demolished the building, sending its denizens into the Gulf of Mexico.

Today, Katrina and her mother, Sheree, are both part of the Dolphin Experience at Atlantis. Visitors, after a briefing on what is and isn't polite behavior around the aquatic mammals, can give them high fives, rub their bellies, and, yes, even kiss them.

The fabled island of Atlantis was first mentioned by Plato in an allegorical work describing its attack on Athens, the philosopher's ideal state. In the work Timaeus, the angry gods punished Atlantis for its hubris by submerging it in the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1998, the gods finally relented and Atlantis reemerged on the other side of the Atlantic in the form of an ocean-themed resort combining six hotels, 21 restaurants, 19 bars, 11 pools (plus miles of dazzling white beach), a casino, shopping, and an assortment of activities ranging from tubing on a man-made river to kissing Katrina and her kin.

All of this surrounds the piece de resistance - a 141-acre waterscape of pools and palms, lagoons and lush tropical foliage. It's safe to say that Atlantis, like its namesake island, has an identity like no other.

Perhaps the most spectacular feature of the resort is the Dig, an architectural rendering of the submerged Atlantis. Just off the main lobby of the Royal Tower, the Dig is a series of mazelike paths lined by glass-walled aquariums featuring marine life.

That marine life ranges from the fearsome (six-foot moray eels, piranhas, poisonous jellyfish) to the benign (starfish, seahorses, and clownfish), all showcased against a backdrop of reconstructed temple columns, cenotes, and colorful pottery and statues.

I found myself going there every day to see the shimmering aquaria and decided my favorite time was at night, when I frequently had it all to myself.

On my only previous visit to Atlantis a few years back, I was a bit of a daredevil - trying several of the thrill-a-minute water experiences - the most exciting of which was tubing through a dark cavern and ending up in a tank filled with hammerhead and Caribbean reef sharks. It really wasn't as dangerous as it sounds, because I was encased in a glass cylinder that prevented me from becoming chum for the circling sharks. Still, it is a bit unnerving to come out of inky blackness and see sharks and barracudas swimming just inches away.

This time, I decided on more sedentary pursuits. First up was a treatment at the resort's Mandara Spa. The spa building resembles a Balinese temple (not surprising, as the company was founded in Bali), with gorgeous water- and plant-filled public spaces and 32 treatment rooms.

The name Mandara comes from an ancient legend about the gods' quest to find a special elixir that promises immortality and eternal youth. I'm not sure about the immortality part, but the spa's line of Elemis products and treatments that combine the techniques of Asia with natural fruits, spices, and minerals from the Bahamas go a long way to making one feel rejuvenated and youthful.

If there's one thing I love as much as a good spa treatment, it's a good meal, and that's easy to find at Atlantis. My first evening's dining adventure was at Bimini Road. This colorful, casual spot in the Marina Village is where, as they like to say, you can "savor the flavor of Caribbean life."

Seafood is the star attraction, and regardless of what else you order, try the island staple, conch chowder. (I would highly recommend the pineapple bread pudding, as well).

If I started out casual, I ended up classy - at Cafe Martinique. James Bond fans will recognize it from its cameo in the 1965 film Thunderball. The luxury and ambience remain, but international chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has put his own stamp on the restaurant. Diners enjoy the classic French menu in a setting that features a dramatic mahogany staircase and etched-glass windows.

During dinner, a parade of Junkanoo carnival dancers in elaborate attire wended their way past the large glass windows. Letting my imagination take flight, I decided the man in the black eyepatch bore more than a passing resemblance to Emilio Largo, Bond's Spectre nemesis.

As much as I enjoyed Bimini Road and Cafe Martinique, my favorite dining experience was at 77 West, the resort's newest fine-dining restaurant. The sophisticated setting and service may be reminiscent of Manhattan, but the menu is a compelling fusion of South American and Caribbean cuisine. Bahamian cracked lobster is a specialty of the house, as are duck and chorizo empanadas and, for dessert, dulce de leche cheesecake.

As for accommodations, many visitors opt for the Royal Tower because of its proximity to all the action - the Dig, casino, and arcade of shops and restaurants. However, if you are looking for something quieter and more exclusive, book a suite at the Cove.

From the open-air lobby cooled by island breezes to the stellar service to the adults-only stretch of beach, the Cove can be described only in superlatives.

With everything available at Atlantis, it's tempting not to stray off the property. However, it would be a shame not to spend at least a day in Nassau, just across the causeway.

If your time is limited, skip Bay Street. You will miss the rows of luxury and duty-free shops, but you will also miss the influx of cruise-ship passengers who make a leisurely stroll on the street next to impossible.

I started my day with an excursion to John Watling's, a craft distillery that provides an excellent way to learn about the production of rum, the Bahamas' signature spirit.

It's on the Buena Vista Estate, built for King George III's counsel to the Bahamas (although the distillery itself was named for a less savory character - John Watling was a notorious 18th-century British buccaneer).

The free daily tour takes in the production area, shop, and tavern, where visitors indulge in rum tastings and hear tales of two ghosts that allegedly roam the estate.

After fueling myself with a Goombay Smash, suggested by Shawn the barman, I took a short walk to Graycliff for a leisurely lunch. Nowhere is the romance of old Nassau as alive as it is there. Built in 1740 by a pirate (are you sensing a theme here - that piracy paid handsomely in the Bahamas?), it is today a combination boutique hotel and elegant restaurant, and it also has a chocolate shop, cigar bar, and museum on the premises.

I started with a tour of the impressive wine cellar, said to be the third-largest private collection in the world, with 275,000 bottles, 60 percent of which are French. One shelf alone contains wines from Burgundy and Bordeaux valued at more than $1 million. Just for the record, the cellar also holds the oldest-registered bottle of wine in the world (1727) - a German dessert wine.

I will say the aftereffects of my Goombay Smash made me more than usually cautious, as I didn't want to do any smashing of my own - not with wines priced at six and seven figures.

I opted for a considerably less pricey vintage to go with my excellent lunch of the ubiquitous conch chowder, Bahamian smothered grouper with rice and peas, and guava duff, a local specialty that resembles a jelly roll, served with rum sauce and whipped cream.

After a satisfying day, I was ready to head back to Atlantis, confident that it hadn't slipped back into the sea.

Published: March 25, 2017 11:30 AM EDT The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Kissing dolphins and other pleasures at Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas - Philly.com