Dear Sir:
We would like to express our growing concern about the harm being done to the beautiful beaches in Anguilla including Rendezvous Bay and Maunday’s Bay. These are just two of the beaches where the tourists from St. Maarten, on catamaran boats and other watercraft, anchor off for some glorious beach time. But sadly, in the past couple of years, we have noticed a marked increase in the broken glass bottles and empty beer cans under the water that are left behind by boaters.
After the large tourist boats and catamarans drop anchor, we have observed beer cans being thrown overboard for their passengers who are in the water, as well as drinks being served from floating serving trays. We are snorkelers and we have seen the increase in the number of empty beer cans in the deeper water, and we often taken upon ourselves to retrieve large amounts of dangerous shards of glass from broken beer bottles near the shoreline where swimmers are most often wading.
Most recently, on two occasions, a catamaran arrived at Maunday’s Bay and sailed directly into the shallow area in front of the main reception building at Cap Juluca where there were many swimmers in the water. We were shocked when they threw their anchor up into the (dry) sand on the beach so their passengers could get off and walk ashore. Normally, these cat boats anchor off the beaches and passengers either swim near the boat or swim ashore. While we do understand that the beaches in Anguilla are public, we felt this was very disrespectful to both the local swimmers and the hotel itself. Driving such huge catamarans literally up on the beach is certainly an intrusion on the swimming space of everyone on the beach, let alone the safety of those who are snorkeling close to shore.
Our concerns are for the effect that these negative practices are having on the beauty, serenity and safety of the beaches on the island.
With respect,
Concerned return guests
