Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
Oh how I want to go home!
Thanks Jeannieb.
These pictures have brought back so many memories of my childhood days.

Some of those rocks along the path going toward the bluff has name,starting from the Great Bay beach, names are (first rock,second rock ,congo eel cornner,high rock ,su-su point, button wood ,saddle back ,bad rock, bumbo sweat,turin cover,point,coxson hole),i know i did\nt get them in order and may have missing a few names,the fisher uses these names to tell each other where the are bitting . Great photos .

thanks!!

Thanks for sharing, Jeannieb. It brings back so much memories of growing up and visiting Great Bay to buy fish or just to swim with my friends.

Let try to keep it natural and clean.We've got some of the best !

Beautiful pictures. It's such a waste of beauty. Wonder why this place isn't developed.

Curious 2: How can natural beauty be "wasted"? Do you see beauty only in terms of how it can be developed, built upon, "used" by man?

Well said LAN.

Hear! Hear! LAN. Neatly said.

And "fisherman" wonderful to hear all those names of the various fishing places along the Bluff. I hope someone will record them for posterity. I have only once ever gone along to the Bluff end and I have to say it was not an easy scramble. Maybe that is why it is only inhabited by goats and john crows!

Not at all a "waste of beauty." It's gorgeous and, if possible, should be left unspoilt. {edited by TNET}

Well said, Too many developments going on in treasure beach and we are loosing most of the natural beauty.

It isn't developed because the owners of the land are not greedy and don't see the need or have the desire to destroy something that is already perfect. And by the way, if it was developed do you think you would be able to step foot on there again...unless of course you bought into the development. Thank God for the Gilpin family who insist on keeping Back Seaside and the Bluff in it's spectacularly natural state.

I'm with you there LAN. I was in San Francisco recently, and took a trip out to see the cliffs. The whole area is preserved for hiking etc., and what a treat it was. Last night I looked at these pics with my wife, and made favorable comparisons (of course there are obvious differencies). The Bluff is private property, but I pray the owners will always have it in them to leave things just as they are: beautiful.

Completely beautiful as it is...I am grateful it is in its natural state.

We also need to remind each other and our children that leaving bottle, cans, candy wrappers and such makes the beautiful place look disrespected and uncared for -- it is also not healthy for the water we love to swim in and the fish we love to eat. Lets not spoil what we have.

I was there this past May and took back bags of garbage and was pretty bummed out at how much trash there was.

Lets all help keep the places we love beautiful.

One Love.

Nicole - not to mention the scandal bags which are eaten by the sea turtles, causing them to die.

Alright!
Now we are talking!
Keep the turtles conversations and the turtles alive! Knowledge is contageous! Pass it on!

So True - about the turtles and the scandal bags.

Can garbage cans be put on the beach and have a community beach clean up every so often? there really needs to be some education for the everyone, but especially the youth so they stop littering.

When I come down (1-2 times a year) my husband and I always pick up bags and bags of trash off the beach -- honestly it baffles us and really bums us out.

Most beaches in the states have garbage cans conviniently located. Not true in Jamaica. But even if there were garbage cans, my fear is they would just get full and stay that way.

We have regular beach clean up in treasure beach over the years but the trash collect faster than we can collect it. More education in the schools and regular clean up is necessary. Please people stop use scandal bag it killing the fish and turtle.

What are scandal bags?

Scandal bags are our black grocery sacks. Long story on the name,but Jamaicans no like anybody see weh dem buy a shop so the bag is black and tied up by the grocery bagger. Only the more well off ever buy garbage bags, so scandal bags are re-used for taking out the trash.

This means that scandal bags are actually one of the items most recycled in Jamaica! Without the scandal bags, most people would not have any bag for their rubbish to carry to the nearest rubbish bin on the road for pickup.

Most would be forced to fling into a pile in the yard until time to burn it.

Scandal bags are not the problem, it is the system of rubbish removal that is is the issue. What good are rubbish bins if they are not dumped frequently enough?

There needs to be more rubbish bins on the beaches which are regularly dumped. There needs to be more public education and clean up days for sure. It is a bit embarrassing to mostly see non-residents coming from abroad to clean up after us on our own beaches but a so it go right now.

Scandal bags are not all recycled much as we'd like them to be. They're also pretty tiny, so they could only be used as a liner for something the size of a small bathroom trash bin. If people brought their own cloth or canvas bags to the grocery there would be hardly any need for non-biodegradable plastic bags.

If there are no rubbish bins on the beach that is no excuse for tossing trash. It's easier to carry home empty bottles than it was to get the full ones there in the first place. Will we need to have rubbish bins every 10 meters so people won't have to trouble themselves to walk too far?

I agree rubbish removal is a problem. I agree there needs to be more education. Most of all, people need to take pride in how their community looks.

The argument of cleaning up beaches while a Valid one, needs to be examined with further analysis.

While I agree that there is a lot of waste in Government, the suggestions of improving and making more frequent garbage pickups, will cost more money. Every service costs money regardless of who pays the bill.

So then, what are our solutions?
a: We used to use and recycle bottles, plastics are not recycled. The bottled drinks are more expensive than plastic bottled drinks. It is more disposable. Where do we dispose of it and how do we remove it? That is the question of the year.

b: If the government or private entities have to remove our garbage from the beach, then it will be at a cost. Who absorbs this cost. Charge for usage of the beach maybe??

c: Best solution. Bring your scandal bag to the beach with you, take your garbage back home with you as you leave. Simple enough? Then why dont we do this?

d: The reason foreigners clean up our beach, is because at one time their beaches looked like ours, but now there are times you cannot even go into the water in Florida, because the bacteria levels are so high.

The final analysis is, keep your beach as clean as you keep your yard (hopefully we all take good care of our yard) and not depend on people to remove your trash, Government or Private. Because if we have someone remove our trash for us, it has to be paid for somehow at the expense of using the beaches at no cost. This is only an opinion and should be treated as such.

One final suggestion: Hire a crew to patrol the beaches, their pay would come from the heavy fines we would impose on those that we find littering the beaches and perhaps have some money left over to provide adequate disposal containers. Littering should be a crime and punishable under the law. Respect for publicly used facilities needs to be enforced if the discipline is not present.

Maurice, where do you get your knowledge on d:
I think this is wrong...very wrong

Maurice said:
d: The reason foreigners clean up our beach, is because at one time their beaches looked like ours, but now there are times you cannot even go into the water in Florida, because the bacteria levels are so high.

This is absurd. Most everything else you said made sense, but this comment took away the validity of your total comment. At least it did for me. I really want this opinion on your comment to be posted, so I will just leave it at that.

I have written 2 times respectfully, and neither has been posted, nor edited. So I will try one more time...
Written above by Maurice Harrison:
(d: The reason foreigners clean up our beach, is because at one time their beaches looked like ours, but now there are times you cannot even go into the water in Florida, because the bacteria levels are so high.)
This is wrong, untrue, and a very offensive statement.

Maurice's comment about Florida is true. He said "there are times". That's a fact. I live in Florida, and "there are times" we are warned by the media not to go into the water because of excessive bacteria levels. Where's the offense?

I live in Florida. They have closed Ft. Lauderdale beach on several occasions and also Miami Beach. They do re-open them, but they flag the water unsafe at times because the Bacteria levels are higher than the allowable amounts.

Many beaches, not only in Florida or in the US, are polluted with bacteria. Jamaican beaches are not immune to this, but there is less testing done. Unsightly litter on the beach, assuming it is not from something such as cow manure, is not considered a pollutant.

I believe many people who care about Treasure Beach work at cleaning up our beaches. But I also believe it is a profound embarrassment to the people of Treasure Beach to somehow think it is fine for paying tourists - people who do their best to help keep the community economically stable - to feel as if they have to clean up the beaches. Can you imagine going on vacation to London and feeling like you had to sweep the streets? The person who said it's about pride had it right.

I found this information about the pollution of the beaches in FL. I remember hearing about beach closings due to pollution a few years ago. This is dated 2003 but still interesting. Storm run off and raw sewage were thought to be the main factors of the bacteria pollution.

http://www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org/content/disp_article.php?f=newsclips/beach_0 8-05-04_nbc6.html

and this article is dated 2006

https://www.nrdc.org/media/pressReleases/060803_fl.asp

The cause of the FL beach closings as it says here, is from storm water runoff and untreated sewage.
My point is, tourist cleaning up the beach would not solve this problem. The FL issue is a problem with the system, not the people who use it. People in FL could pick up garbage on the beach until they are blue in the face, and the outcome would have been the same. With that said,
I doubt many tourist pick up garbage thinking to themselves, that they are trying to prevent what can happen in FL. I personally pick up broken glass off of the beach in TB all the time. And it has nothing to do with FL. I have been on the beaches of St. Petersburg, Miami Beach and Sanibel the past year. And they all have a system to remove or prevent garbage on the beaches. Garbage cans are located conveniently. With all due respect, the clean up and prevention efforts in FL are way ahead of the ones in Jamaica.

My daughter at one time attended a Marine Science Magnet School in Ft. Lauderdale. Part of their curriculum would be to on weekends, the Marine Science students would clean up beaches and everglades. The disposed garbage that washed onshore and those that were just littered, despite the trash cans and frequent pick ups by the city's waste management.

What have always amazed me is that even with the adequate garbage containers that were strategically placed for disposing of our garbage, and the schedule pickups that were done, we still managed somehow to litter our beaches here in Ft. Lauderdale.

Bags and bags of garbage would be picked up by my daughter and other classmates on regular weekend schedules.

The lack of respect for our environment and beaches occur every where. Without the high penalties and fines to stop the irresponsible from littering, we will still have a battle even with adequate disposal.

If you litter, and get caught, you should be fined and fined heavily.

I am sorry I offended some, by my Florida beaches remark and I could have perhaps stated it a little differently, it was not meant to be offensive and I am sorry for that statement. I was only trying to say that because we see what disposal of Garbage on beaches abroad have done to our beaches (increased cost, so now almost all beaches in Broward and Dade County costs for admission), most parks by the beaches closes at dusk, Garbage floating and comming ashore, especially in Dania Beach, (where I go when I am in the area) we may be trying to prevent the same in an area where we travel for some beautiful clean beaches meaning the Treasure Beach area.

A couple of ideas:
1: Education is key - Start with our children in the schools near the beaches, cleaning up beaches while educating them on the consequences of littering (Plastics and turtles as an example)

2: Instituting laws and fines for people littering.

3: Adopt a bring your items, but take your garbage home with you campaign.

There are many ways that we can pro-actively attack this issue, because no matter what differences of opinions exist, I believe that we all have the beaches that we enjoy both in Jamaica and abroad.

What does Treasure Beach garbage has to do with Florida? we dont have to compare only if it is a solution .

HELLO FOX,

I do not think you got the real understanding of what Maurice was trying to get across in regards to keeping the beaches clean............Treasure Beach or Florida.

He made all the sense in the world.
I will say this, apart from the Friendly people the delicious food the beautiful weather the only other thing that would attract people to visit Treasure Beach would be the beaches, sooooooooooo pleale keep them clean.

So jeannieb.........the pictures are awesome. Please send us some more. Thanks.

What is in our storm water runoff?

Where does our sewage go?

The eyes see plastic bags. What does the unseen do?

I join Mr Gore with more Inconvenient Questions in service to Livity.

More pictures of the plants we came across up on the bluff.

Holy smoke (yes) jeanneb, you did it again! Aloes, pople head, that beautiful yellow flowered shrub, and that little cave that I think I'm familiar with, and.......isn't nature amazing? In the midst of rocks and bramble, and casha macka afoot, there lies medicine and flowers, and perhaps scents perfuming the air (hopefully that ram goat was not around). Thanks for taking me home.

Hello everybody, I want to say a few things about garbage management and recycling.

(1) Jamaica's recycling facilities are in their infancy due mainly to the cost of transporting the recyclables and lack of govt support.
(2) The GOJ implemented an environmental levy in roughly 2005, which was supposed to part fund recycling programmes. I don't think this was ever done.
(3) Plastic or scandal bags are not reycled here. They ARE a big problem - and many countries and cities in the world are banning them or requiring shops to sell them - not give them away.
(4) It is true that trash collection is less effective in Ja than it needs to be, but it is also true that we generate far too much waste for a small island with inadequate waste handling infrastructure and we are far too careless with waste disposal
(5) It is true that beaches in Florida and many other parts of the world are closed periodically because of pollution of various kinds, mostly sewage. This should probably be done in Jamaica too - but we don't have adequate routine water quality testing programmes.
(6) Although it is not easy for an individual Jamaican to affect larger issues like how sewage is treated, there is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for any Jamaican to litter. We should not burn our waste either.

Diana from JET

I don't know if this is being done, but would it help if environmental studies/practices were made part of the school curriculum in Jamaica? I mean, considering how small the rock is, and how vulnerable it is, environmental stewardship should be just as important as Math and English.

I think JET offers a program in schools.

We do offer a program in schools - nearly all of its funding was cut this year, however. And even when fully funded, it only reached one third of Jamaican schools. But the environment IS part of the school curriculum - it's just that many teachers do not feel comfortable teaching it.

And there's very little education for adults, so we find that even kids who have benefited from an environmental program in school forget about it once they leave the school gates, because they see totally different practice in the wider community.

Diana from JET

No $, no new curriculum. From turtles to sewage.

I can tell you, a lot has benen done by Jet & NJCA in schools, everybody ( students and teachers )listens and understands, they start a programme in their schools and then, when they need more help to get their collected plastic bottles to Kingston, there are no funds and the started programme is over. I have seen it many times over the past few years.
Government should be pressured over and over, none stop, but so far, it falls on deaf ears.
I know Jet and NJCA are trying very hard to convince the government, but as we see,,,it falls on deaf ears.

Some sayings to consider:
1) Grab the bull by the horns.
2) If you want something done right, do it yourself.
3) Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

Amen to your suggestions Bob.Especially #3. If I could reach throught the computer I would shake your hand.

I would be happy to donate funds to something like an "Adopt a School" project to support the above.

Is there such a thing already in place and needs polishing?

I also would like to contribute towards the annual parish prizes for organic gardens and sustainable lifestyle projects. Yea, more than mout.

Not silver cups. Solar panels, scholarships, books and tools. No, not me one. Mi a suffa too! Remember that awe-full mantra in the 70's?

I see such projects and contests here in Canada and in other countries. The students created amazing houses that self charged and conserved heat in the winter and self cooled in the summer etc. I'd like to see the builders and the gardeners work together. I'd like to see Jamaica compete! Germany won last time.

Collection and recycling of wastes is the best start. The framework is in place. Then.....

The Alchemists of old attempted to convert lead to gold. Many lost their heads. To mercury vapours and axe.

Our Alchemy can be the conversion of gold to green.

The greener we are, the more gold, $, Yen etc will flow in.

I took the 'Power to the People' mantra to heart. This person nah wait on no smaddy.

Many ears are not deaf, their attention has been distracted by old dreams and the cacaphony of many voices and responsibilities.

If only there could be a JET office in TB. I would donate to that especially if they had a program in the schools.

Thanks for reminding us that we need to include environmental stewardship in our educational system Appreciate.

At some point, it seems that soil became dirt and dirty hands became a sign of backwardness.

What a fall when those that feed us are thought of as doing dirty work.

What a sweet rise it is to regain the enrichment of soil and soul as our intent.

Yes Wishing, I second inviting JET to have an office in TB.

Turey;

I have been following your posts (among others) for about 2 years now, and have to say I admire your way of thinking and your consistently positive and unconventional outlook on the various issues. I'd like to meet you one day to discuss areas of mutual interest. I'll be in TB in late November.

Your post yesterday contained a seed which, properly nurtured, could transform TB, Jamaica and eventually the world. It is so important that I would urge TB Net to open a new thread for it. The idea of sponsoring prizes for local competitions for organic and environmentally sound initiatives is inspired, and should be publicized. I'd be willing to help. Not only can something good come from Nazareth but potentially, from tiny TB could come wildly successful ideas in an area which the world desperately needs, and which could become an economic engine for TB and beyond.

The creativity of Jamaicans is legendary, the industry of Jamaicans is less widely known but certainly under the right circumstances Jamaicans have been known to demonstrate an indefatigable work ethic. What is needed is an opportunity for the requisite elements to come together and let the redemption begin. Let each reader ask himself what he can personally do to encourage that process. There is so much evident goodwill towards TB and Jamaica among the many regular contributors to this forum. I feel sure that, properly orchestrated, their various talents and gifts could easily create the environment for that transformation to begin.

Perhaps a start would be a little competition in the local schools. That might later be expanded to cover all of St. Bess, or all of Middlesex. Later, all of Jamaica. Perhaps the next phase would be a weekend-long environmental fair, with displays and competitions. A little press coverage and that could easily begin to draw overseas visitors, including (possibly) university students from technical institutes, who could compare notes with Jamaican university and other students. Ideas could feed upon ideas. A student at Munro might suggest a solution to a sticking point in a project at MIT, or vice versa. Of course, the vision need not evolve precisely as I have described it, and indeed might take another direction entirely, but I mention this just to show how such a concept might potentially take on a life of its own.

Thanks Andrew, it is doable.

I plan to be in Jamaica next year, in the meantime email me at: tainocacique2004@yahoo.com.

Best wishes.

I too have always wanted to meet Turey. He speaks very prophetically.Speaking of Turey and Nazareth and prophets....could Turey actually be....Naw...could he???

Mine yu mek dem set fi mi Bob ;-)

Nothing change after all eh!?

I tell you though. If the popular version of prophecy happens, from the sky or silently at night, whole heap of face gwine screw...hard! Including in so called very high places.

In the meantime, lots of good work to be done.

Gold to Green needs some Gold. I'm thinking Profitically first. The engine has to be primed.

Later will be greater.

(Beautiful photos)Just asking, can you take this trail to Back Seaside.

This is the trail out to the end of the bluff. This does not go to back seaside.