Egg Island is an

uninhabited island A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotyp ...

, officially an

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

, comprising in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. It is thought to be named because of the supposed chickens owned by residents of other nearby islands who travel here to collect the eggs; however, there are no chickens on Egg Island. Another theory is that local sea bird eggs were often collected here by the first settlers, these were then wiped out by the introduction of goats to the island a long time ago. The island has a crescent shaped beach that is protected by a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

that protects the entire beach. The water behind the reef is generally less than deep making it a good place to swim or watch the sea life. Since the water is so shallow and well protected, it tends to be warmer than the surrounding sea. Egg Island gained some fame in the 1980s when Arne Molander claimed that this was the first island where

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

landed in his 1492 voyage to the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. Off the island is the wreck of the ''Arimoroa''. Recently, Egg Island has gained international recognition after Disney Cruise Lines started exploring the area for possible development of a cruise ship port. This project would have entailed dredging the sea bed to make way for a cruise ship port, drilling into and destroying coral reefs. Residents of nearby Spanish Wells and north Eleuthera were extremely concerned at the implications and started a petition to have the sale of Egg Island to Disney halted. The primary concern is that Egg Island is a natural nursery for sea turtles, juvenile fish including snapper and grouper, crawfish (lobster), conch, stingrays, sea birds and other wild sealife, and any disturbance to the delicate eco-system would prove fatal to these animals and by default, detrimental to the local fishing industry. After the petition was signed by thousands and much agitation, Disney announced that due to the environmental impact, they would not proceed with the project. Joseph Darville spoke on behalf of local environmental organisation Save the Bays and Waterkeepers Bahamas, stating in a public release, "“The corporate entity, Disney Cruise Lines, demonstrated responsibility and made the right choice. The community got together and spoke in a voice that could not be ignored about an activity that would have changed their way of life and could have destroyed much of the fish population on which they depend for their livelihood because the reefs and the mangroves around Egg Island are important fish, conch and crawfish nurseries and habitats. And the

environmental impact assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

did what it was created for. Based on science, not emotion, it showed that there would have been damage and destruction of the marine environment.” A comment on the Disney blog placed the blame for the situation on the Bahamian government, stating that If Bahamians want to protect their lands they should focus efforts on their own government. Government officials allowed Disney to evaluate the potential of Egg Island as a cruise destination."

References

External links

Project Eleuthera's history and images of Egg Island

YouTube video of a 2010 dive on the wreck of the Arimoroa

Facebook video showing aerial footage of Egg Island

Picture of Egg Island Lighthouse

cruiselawnews.com

disneycruiselineblog.com

thebahamasweekly.com
{{Portal bar, Caribbean, Engineering Islands of the Bahamas Uninhabited islands of the Bahamas