Before Disney Cruise Line could build a pier for its second private Caribbean destination, it needed to relocate hundreds of coral.
The line also had to find new homes for human-sized sponges, figure out how to track birds' changing behaviors and find out where crabs were hiding on land.
In taking on the challenges of creating Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point on the southern tip of Eleuthera, Disney Cruise Line teamed up with biologists and built out its conservation management team in search of ways to minimize the impact on wildlife.
"Lighthouse Point is just an incredible gem of natural history for the Bahamas, and it's just this kind of collision of both land and sea, of biodiversity," said Andy Stamper, conservation science manager with the cruise line's animals, science and environment team who has been working on projects in the Bahamas since 2007. "It's going to be really good for the guests to be able to experience that, with the crystal-clear water and the birds and the cliffs."
While cruisers can expect parades with vibrant music and a kaleidoscope of colors on buildings and on the costumes that pay homage to the Bahamas' annual Junkanoo festival, the line also took detailed steps to remain sensitive to the wildlife that was there first -- and to their habitat.
Lookout Cay will occupy less than 16% of the 900 acres the line purchased on Eleuthera. The rest has been left in its natural state, with 25% of it donated to the Bahamian people, according to Disney Cruise Line.
Saving species on land and sea
The conservation efforts spanned land and sea. On the water, the line opted to build a trestle pier to act as a bridge above marine communities; the trestle style didn't require them to dig into the sea bed.
Left, Disney Cruise Line plans to build crossovers to protect the dunes at Lighthouse Point. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Disney Cruise Line
"We took a lot of time and effort to come up with a design so that we wouldn't have to dredge," said Stamper, who noted that the silt from the construction would have disrupted the sensitive coral already under stress due to rising water temperatures.
The line planned the pier for the location that would have the least impact on the reef, but that location still required the removal of 800 pieces of coral that were relocated to places where they would be able to thrive, Stamper said. The line also had to move barrel sponges, which are some of the world's largest and live on coral reefs in the Caribbean. These creatures are difficult to move due to their size, which can reach 6 feet across.
Photo Credit: Disney Cruise Line
Junkanoo, a Bahamian national festival, will be the centerpiece at Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.
To safely move them, the conservation team worked with the costuming department to construct what resembled a vertical tulle shoe rack with compartments. By slipping one barrel sponge into each section, the contraption made it possible to move five or six barrel sponges at once to a similar habitat, Stamper said.
"It was a really fun way for our costuming department to be part of conservation, and they really, really enjoyed it," he said.
Limestone rocks found on Eleuthera have also been strategically placed near the pier, providing a habitat for fish.
Bringing on the biologists.
To monitor the impact Lookout Cay has on wildlife, the cruise line sent biologists to Eleuthera periodically over four years to catalog the birds and other wildlife that frequent the site.
"We've been doing that since before building, and we've been doing it during building to understand how we're affecting the animals," Stamper said. This has included tagging birds with detection devices so the line can observe how their behavior changes once the destination is in operation, he said.
"That gives us a lot of information on if we're disturbing them and if we can make adjustments so that we're not disturbing the wildlife," Stamper said.
The line has fastened similar tags on crabs to see how they navigate the property and to provide insight into how their guests and crabs can coexist.
Conservation programs manager Bradley Watson holds a Kirtland’s warbler. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Disney Cruise Line
Stamper said similar wildlife studies will eventually begin at Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line's Bahamian private island destination. And the information the line is gathering will be shared with the Bahamian government and their biologists, "so that we can build capacity throughout the Bahamas," he said.
Disney hired two Bahamian conservation experts to lead efforts on the new beach destination. One of them, conservation programs manager Bradley Watson, sought out a space for a nature trail that will include signs offering guests information about the various animals living there.
"We wanted to take everything from our site that was beautiful from a natural history perspective, including the cliffs that you would walk past, on the nature trail," Watson said. "You're thinking about the curly-tailed lizards, you're thinking about the conchs, and we have signage that's going to tell you about those animals to give you a bit of a sense of place."
Kids will have an opportunity to learn while they play at Sebastian's Cove, an activity space at Lookout Cay. Disney has partnered with NatGeo Kids to teach kids about the land, sea and sky as well as about animals like land crabs and loggerhead sea turtles.