Leonardo DiCaprio to “Heal” Blackadore Caye in Belize? Seriously?

I love Leo DiCaprio, I really do.   He’s a fantastic actor (LOVE his sexy accent in “Blood Diamond”), an enthusiastic activist for the environment and provides endless juicy tabloid fodder with his love of beautiful women and bad facial hair.

Love him.  And the idea of him and 45 of his friends being in close proximity is quite exciting BUT….

…the announcement in yesterday’s New York Times, while thrilling, begs some questions.

Like…what exactly is altruistic capitalism, how is the developer of two wellness condominiums in NYC going to translate that to an island in BELIZE and…

did they hire the recently unemployed architect of Google Glass to design this resort?

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And let me get this straight…just in my head…how is building a resort on an untouched caye going to “improve the ecosystem of an entire island in his latest crusade as an environmental activist”?

Even if it is going to be called “Blackadore Caye:  A Restorative Island”.

Here are some of the photos from the New York Times of this island, our neighbor to the west, “in crisis”.

Blackadore-Caye-Peninsula

Of the horrifying erosion.  Or what those in Belize like to call low tide.

Blackadore-Caye-Coastal-Erosion

Or this fallen coconut palm.  Distressing.

Blackadore-Caye-Palm-Tree

 

THE. TREE. FELL. OVER!

Leonardo bought the caye, unpopulated, in 2005 for $1.75 million USD.  And there have been rumors over the years of development…the name Four Seasons Resorts was always bandied about…but the first official announcement was made yesterday and now it is all over the internet in all sorts of publications.

This article says:  “The island, called Blackadore Caye, suffered for years from overfishing, a diminishing coast line and deforestation. DiCaprio is hoping that by working closely with ecologists and conservationists to minimize environmental impact, his project will restore some of the island’s natural splendor.”

With Vitamin C infused showers, dawn stimulation lighting, supermodels, artificial reefs and revamped manatee habitats?

This all…sounds…great.  But really?  Building this resort with opulent villas and infinity pools is going to help the caye?  How could that possibly be.

Here’s what the area to the west of Ambergris Caye – where Blackadore Caye lies – now.  You can see Leo’s island behind us…

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Here’s a map to show you Blackadore’s location.

dive-map-ambergris-caye-belizeWouldn’t just leaving it untouched be the most healing?  What do I know?  I’ll just wait for the excitement of Leo visiting with Bar…or Rihanna…or whoever he is dating now.  And hope that this isn’t a project that is started and never completed…leaving Belize with the mess.

In the meantime, let the healing begin!

 

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