The Tribune

By NEILL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bimini dive and water tours operator yesterday revealed it fears losing up to 40 percent of monthly revenues, and having to terminate staff, amid a dispute with a rival over dock access that is critical for picking up tourists.

Neal Watson, principal of Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Centre, accused Bimini Blue Adventures of employing “bullying” tactics in a bid to “hog” all the island’s cruise passenger-related water activities business by both restricting access to its own docking facilities as well as slips located 100 yards away in the Fisherman’s Village area.

He told Tribune Business that he was forced to cancel yesterday’s afternoon tour schedule for Royal Caribbean passengers, and will likely have to do this again “in the future”, after dock masters and management intervened to prevent him from operating from the Fisherman’s Village docks. This was despite Bimini Scuba Centre having been given written authorisation to use one of the slips by its private owner.

Mr Watson asserted that Bimini Blue Adventures is using anti-competitive and unfair practices to “hurt” its business, which he alleged started after Bimini Scuba Centre secured tour contracts with Royal Caribbean and its high-end Celebrity Cruises affiliate. This brought it into direct competition with its rival, which had previously enjoyed the same business.

He added that the Fisherman’s Village docks are directly connected to, and affiliated with, Bimini Blue Adventures through their ownership and control by the original Resorts World Bimini developer, RAV Bahamas, and its principal, Gerardo Capo. Mr Watson said Bimini Blue Adventures’ president, Arthur Hernandez, is Mr Capo’s son-in-law, and this newspaper found online postings describing him as the Capo Group’s vice-president and one of RAV Bahamas’ directors for Resorts World Bimini.

However, Mr Hernandez countered by giving Tribune Business a sharply different version of events. He accused Mr Watson and Bimini Scuba Centre of violating the two sides’ previous agreement that they would only have access to use the former’s dock on days when the Virgin Voyages cruise line made scheduled calls.

Vehemently rejecting the claims of anti-competitive behaviour, he alleged that Mr Watson and his company have unduly exploited this deal by using Bimini Blue Adventures’ own dock on days when Virgin’s vessels did not call on Bimini, resulting in his company’s business “dropping drastically”.

And he explained that, unless Bimini Scuba Centre obtained “management approval” stating otherwise, commercial operations such as Mr Watson’s are forbidden from using the docks at Fisherman’s Village - hence yesterday’s intervention by the dock masters and security.

Mr Hernandez and Bimini Blue Adventures, in a July 18, 2026, letter to Bimini Scuba Centre that has been obtained by Tribune Business, demanded that the latter, its employees and agents “immediately cease and desist from using any docking facilities owned, leased, operated or otherwise controlled by Bimini Blue Adventures”.

With “effect immediately”, the only exception to this was “scheduled Virgin Voyages operating days, and solely for the purpose of facilitating approved Virgin Voyages excursion operations”. Bimini Blue Adventures further warned: “Any use of the dock outside of Virgin Voyages operating days must receive prior written authorisation from Bimini Blue Adventures.

“Any unauthorised use of the dock after receipt of this notice may be considered trespassing, and may result in Bimini Blue Adventures taking the necessary steps to restrict access and protect its property and operational interests.” It added that the letter was sent “to clearly establish the permitted conditions of access, and to avoid any further misunderstanding” regarding the dock’s use.

Mr Watson yesterday said the letter referred to Bimini Blue Adventures’ own floating dock, and that this facility may have been “sub-leased” by Virgin Voyages, for whom Bimini Scuba Centre provides tour and other water activities to its passengers, for use on the days when its vessels call on the island.

However, he argued that the two sides’ differences - and the consequences for his business and its 30-strong staff - have escalated after Bimini Scuba Centre was yesterday blocked from using alternative dock slips to embark and offload its Royal Caribbean passengers. Mr Watson also questioned how Bimini Blue Adventures is seemingly foreign-owned and able to operate in a sector exclusively reserved for 100 percent Bahamian ownership by the National Investment Policy.

“Today was Royal Caribbean, and we have a contract for them,” he explained. “There was another alternative set of docks 100 yards down the road at Fisherman’s Village. We were renting a slip there, would walk the people there and pick them up.

“There is one dock at Fisherman’s Village that is privately-owned - not owned by Resorts World or Capo. I got a text message giving me permission to use that slip, bit they brought security down there, the dock masters, and said it was not allowed. They said they would not allow me back. The son-in-law is now preventing me from renting a slip to have use of, and how is the son-in-law - who is not a Bahamian - involved in water sports?

“I had to cancel the afternoon tours and may have to cancel tours in the future. They said I cannot be there without written permission and said they would call the call the police. They are doing everything they can to hurt my business. I was born here, grew up here. This is a second generation dive and water tours business. The whole point of putting in that cruise pier was to benefit people like me, who are Bahamian, from here, so we can do these tours,” Mr Watson added.

“I have 30 people working for me here. I’ve never done anything to these guys. I don’t understand why they are being bullies. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not fair.” Mr Hernandez, though, denied that he or Bimini Blue Adventures are being obstructive to Bimini Scuba Centre and denying them access to passengers.

“If he wants to come here and pick up the passengers via taxi, he can continue to do that,” Mr Hernandez said of Mr Watson. “He can come in and pick up passengers via taxi and take them to his operation. I’m not denying him that. He can do that on non-Virgin ship days.”

Mr Watson said he secured the Virgin Voyages contract just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. He recalled that Bimini Blue Adventures was also formed around this time, and Resorts World Bimini’s website appears to try and direct tourists to use the company for water sports and related marine activities.

“Finally, after years, we got in with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises,” Mr Watson added, saying this occurred several months ago in April/May 2026. “It took a couple of months to set up,” he added. “We had maybe done eight to nine ships under the radar. We were using the same place where we were instructed to pick people up for Virgin. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean reached out to me. I didn’t go hard for this.”

Mr Watson said this was when tension with Bimini Blue Adventures first seemed to surface. “They are doing all they can to shut that down,” he told Tribune Business. “They are trying to hog it all themselves. It’s greedy, and they are not Bahamian. It’s just not right. They want it all for themselves. It’s wild. I don’t get it. How are they doing it? We are a real entity. We do real tourism. My father started in 1975. We are the real thing.”

Asked about the impact loss of dock access, or restricted access, will have for Bimini Scuba Centre, Mr Watson said: “We’ll have to lay people off. I’ll have to fire people. I bought a whole new boat just because I got this [Royal Caribbean] contract. This time of year, it could cost 30-40 percent of my monthly revenues. It’s a massive number. I will for sure have to let people go.

“All I want to do is rent a slip, pick people up and drop them off. That’s all I am trying to do. There’s plenty of opportunity. They [Bimini Blue Adventures] have contracts now with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. There’s a million tours they can offer. I don’t know why the need mine.

“Bimini Blue, if you don’t want me to use [your dock] I understand that, but to tell me I cannot rent a slip for a fee-based arrangement at a facility where there are a lot of empty slips, just to pick up and drop-off, it’s really going out of your way to hurt someone,” he added.

“Just let me rent a slip. There are so many empty slips over there. I’m going to try and figure out what I’m going to do. Unless I can find a way around it, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Instead of three to four days a week with ships, we will be down to one day a week.”

Mr Hernandez, though, told Tribune Business that Mr Watson and Bimini Scuba Centre had been abusing the arrangement to use Bimini Blue Adventures’ dock. And he argued that they did not have the necessary approvals and permits to use Fisherman’s Village for commercial operations.

“I don’t have a dispute with Neal Watson. I don’t know why he’s saying we have a dispute,” Mr Hernandez said. “I own a dock here in Bimini. It’s my dock, and Neal Watson has access to this dock on the days Virgin Voyages cruise ship comes in. On the days Virgin Voyages ships come in, he has full access to the dock.

“On the days with non-Virgin or no cruise ships, he doesn’t have access to the dock because he doesn’t own it. He took advantage of the situation. He was coming in on Virgin days and coming in whenever he wanted. I didn’t realise this until I saw my bookings had dropped drastically. I tried to figure out what was happening, and he was coming in whenever he wanted and that was not the agreement we had.”

As for Fisherman’s Village, Mr Hernandez said: “Here’s the thing. You cannot operate a commercial operation out of those docks without management approval, even if the dock is owned by an individual home owner. That home owner doesn’t have the lease that dock for commercial operations, and Neal Watson is a commercial operation.”

Mr Watson, meanwhile, said he has reached out to Randy Rolle, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, and also Bimini’s MP, for assistance and is waiting to hear back.