NASSAU, Bahamas -- A high-ranking naval officer and author of several scholarly publications is calling for the majestic waters of The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos to be named the Lucayan Sea, declaring that the name not only pays fitting tribute to the islands’ original inhabitants but reflects the nature of Bahamians as a people of peace.
Captain Tellis A. Bethel, Acting Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, makes a strong and thorough argument for the naming of yet-anonymous waters in his new book, The Lucayan Sea, Birthplace of the Modern Americas (Outskirts Press.com). The book, available in hard copy and online for Kindle, takes the reader on a 90-page journey from the time the Lucayans welcomed Christopher Columbus to the New World to the continuing absence of a name for either the territorial waters extending up to 12 miles or the exclusive economic zone that extends up to 200 miles offshore. Waters to the north and east, he explains, are the Atlantic Ocean, to the south, the Caribbean Sea. But the waters immediately around The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos have never officially been named.