Standards are slipping

October 21, 2005

Dear Sir,

As a frequent visitor to Bermuda for more than 20 years, I have always stressed to potential visitors how the island stands out as a holiday destination among subtropical and tropical islands of the world. Yes, the weather can be unpredictable, the cost of living is very high and the land is densely populated but one could proudly point to its stunning natural and man-made beauty, friendly law-abiding people and, not least of all, its cleanliness. It saddens me to note, however, that the exemplary standards maintained over decades are slipping.

I have just returned to England after a fortnight?s stay.

On my last day, after visiting the splendid Naval Dockyard development, I decided to explore beaches in the area which I had not laid on eyes on for years. As I got off the bike in the car park at Warwick Long Bay, I overhead a couple with a picnic basket muttering that they could not possibly have their lunch on such a beach. Yet I could see it was empty on what was a perfect sunny October day. On closer inspection, a couple of minutes later, it suddenly hit me why they felt compelled to go elsewhere: without footwear, one could walk not walk even a yard because of the countless pieces of broken glass which has been ground into the sand along its entire length.

How could this be allowed to happen in a Bermuda national park and how many other beaches have been defiled in this way and clearly neglected over a long period of time?