A comfortable truth

“The amazing thing is,” says Mike, “that the cost of building Tiamo and doing business the right way turned out to be much less than doing it the traditional way.” Instead of bringing in bulldozers to level the mangroves and scrape the land clean, they cleared the building sites surgically, by hand, with machetes and chain saws.

“If we’d brought in big machines,” says Mike, “we’d have had to dredge the bight and build a massive pier, both of which would have damaged the beach and the snorkeling sites we have right out front.” Instead, they landed all the building materials by small boat, keeping a large local crew busy throughout the construction. Clearing by hand meant that they removed exactly the amount of trees and plants necessary to build the bungalows and the lodge, which were all cleverly sited so they’re invisible from the water. Even from just offshore, the only signs that there’s a resort here are the small dock and a few sailboats and kayaks on the sand. “And because we didn’t tear everything out,” says Petagay, “we didn’t have the expense of replanting.”

The first guest bungalow was actually built in Indiana at Mike’s dad’s place so they could measure the lumber needed to the inch and count supplies down to the nail before they began to buy and ship materials to Andros. The building designs look simple, but every element – the stilts, the wide covered porches that wrap around the bedrooms, the high ceilings and white roofs – was planned to minimize environmental impact and maximize cooling airflow.

“Our construction costs were six times less than they would have been if we’d done it the more destructive way,” says Mike. “And because we designed everything for maximum efficiency, we were able to realize one of our original goals and become the world’s first full-service resort to be 100 percent solar-powered – the rooms, the lodge, the business office, lights, ceiling fans, computers, even the restaurant and commercial kitchen, all solar.” By making the initial investment in photovoltaic panels and solar water heaters, Tiamo didn’t have to purchase big, greenhouse-gas-spewing generators, and now all their power is effectively free. “It’s sunny all the time down here,” says Mike. And just in case the Andros sun goes on vacation for more than three days, they have a small backup generator that runs on biodiesel.

Bob Friel A scene from the eco-friendly oasis

Every other system at the resort also works to protect the environment and the bottom line: Bulk purchasing minimizes packaging and waste, and using compost toilets eliminates both groundwater pollution and the cost of a sewage-treatment plant.

From the Bahamian government’s standpoint, Tiamo has been a boon to South Andros. Without having to run roads, power, water or sewer lines to the resort, the country has relatively little invested in the operation. In return, though, they get a thriving, tax-paying business with 34 people – all of whom, except for a handful, are local Bahamians – on its payroll. Tiamo has provided no-interest loans to fund a taxi operation and has helped five fishermen buy boats to start their own businesses as bonefish guides; each now earns $350 a day.

Tiamo excels in nearly every major index of the eco-friendly and sustainable-tourism world. “But we continue to struggle with food,” says Mike. “We’d love to be able to buy everything locally, but it’s just not possible yet.” The main reason is that they refuse to buy and serve grouper, lobster or conch because each has been seriously overfished in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, those species are still what the Andros fishermen are accustomed to going after. So instead, the other guests and I have been enjoying mahi-mahi, jerked lamb, crab cakes, oysters and seared tuna, all shipped or flown in from off island.

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