Bahamas Chatter: Petition to BTC
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Bahamas Chatter: Petition to BTC
Petition to BTC
Posted: 01 Aug 2016 10:41 AM PDT
The Communication Breakdown team is hoping you will be able to support our cause in petitioning BTC to do better in the Out Islands.
The introduction and petition identify the cause. Please join us in making the Central Exumas a safer place to live, visit and cruise. If you would kindly distribute and or post this movement to your readers and site, we would be grateful, as will they! Thanks in advance for your consideration.
Dear Residents, Visitors, Cruisers, Business Owners and all those connected to the Central Exumas,
BTC is failing the people of the Central Exumas and it is time to speak out!
Data and cellular based services are failing all of us yet we continue to be billed for services that are not rendered. We can no longer accept these failures as “a way of life” in the Family Islands.
PLEASE SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/communication-breakdown-btc-customers-of-the
You should not hesitate to SIGN THIS PETITION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and FORWARD this message and / or the PETITION LINK on through your social media outlets and to every one of your contacts who have been or may soon be effected by these Communication Breakdowns. Your family and friends both here and afar, past and future guests, networks such as cruising and pilot forums, island owners and operators, property owners, businesses and their suppliers, employees, travel agents, etc. DO NOT ASSUME we have reached your contacts through ours, PASS IT ON.
THE KEY TECHNICALITIES:
Data via WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is not new technology. It is proven throughout the Caribbean and the world and serves to effectively connect citizens in remote areas where there is limited infrastructure. You are not receiving the bandwidth that you purchase as part of your communications package! You have been lead to believe or you accept that this technology functions here as best it can.
Voice via CELLULAR or GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and “landlines” are not new technology and fail equally. Connectivity fails throughout the system. From the extreme, no signal to dropped calls. A multitude of message notifications are applied that inaccurately inform you why you cannot reach the party you are calling. How many times have you heard the message “we are sorry, the person you are calling has not set up their mailbox or the mailbox is full”? It has been proven that this message is BTC’s way of telling you we couldn’t connect you and it is not our fault. Your landlines likely don’t function at all. In most instances, mobile phones cannot be connected to land lines!
Outdated equipment and increased growth are the assumed primary reasons for these technicalities. These failures effect all of us on a personal level and those who provide goods and services in the area, it effects your business!
Hard copy signatures will be collected in the area throughout the week of 1-AUG and, along with your electronic signatures will be forwarded via direct courier and electronically to BTC. Our goal to petition is the second week of August. PLEASE SIGN now! PLEASE spread the word.
Staniel Cay, Great Guana Cay, Farmers Cay and the surrounding cays make up a community of citizens, visitors and business owners that live and love a life of extraordinary measure. Each of us here deserve and should settle for no less than functional and effective communications systems, “EVERYDAY”.
Sincerely and with hope for a better connection.
The COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN Petition Team.
Gage Parrot
Little Majors
+1 242 357 0012
+1 954 914 9879
Comments from Cruisers (5)
In reply to Brian.
First the proper term is “Special Anchorage” and according to the law an anchor light isn’t required. From looking at the chart the actual area is a bit on the small side and if you were outside the designated limits a light would be required. One other point, the Cruisers Net chart for this area shows three anchorages – only the one next to the canal is a “Special Anchorage”.
My own thought regarding this anchorage is that I would use an anchor light any way just to be safe.
§ 110.1 General.
(a) The areas described in subpart A of this part are designated as special anchorage areas for the purposes of rule 30 (33 CFR 83.30) and rule 35 (33 CFR 83.35) of the Inland Navigation Rules, 33 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter E. Vessels of less than 20 meters in length; and barges, canal boats, scows, or other nondescript craft, are not required to sound signals required by rule 35 of the Inland Navigation Rules. Vessels of less than 20 meters are not required to exhibit anchor lights or shapes required by rule 30 of the Inland Navigation Rules.
(b) The anchorage grounds for vessels described in Subpart B of this part are established, and the rules and regulations in relation thereto adopted, pursuant to the authority contained in section 7 of the act of March 4, 1915, as amended (38 Stat. 1053; 33 U.S.C. 471).
(c) All bearings in the part are referred to true meridian.
(d) Geographic coordinates expressed in terms of latitude or longitude, or both, are not intended for plotting on maps or charts whose reference horizontal datum is the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83), unless such geographic coordinates are expressly labeled NAD 83. Geographic coordinates without the NAD 83 reference may be plotted on maps or charts referenced to NAD 83 only after application of the appropriate corrections that are published on the particular map or chart being used.
Jim Davis
Thank you very much! Your assistance is appreciated. Stay safe!
The anchorage NE of marker 11 is NOT a designated special anchorage. It is merely an anchorage, plain and simple, and there for anchor lights and day shapes are required.
There is a designated special anchorage a little further east. It extends across the small cove between Snead Island Boat Works and the Bradenton Yacht Club. This anchorage is very small and shallows quickly and is thus nearly unusable by larger cruising vessels. We’ve stayed there and we had the whole place to ourselves; most cruisers prefer the anchorage you mentioned (the one with the abandoned fishing trawler in it. Again, that anchorage is *not* designated and does not enjoy any special exemption for lights and day shapes.
Thank you Sean! I appreciate your help! Stay safe!
Better to err on the side of safety. Use the anchor light