February 2017 |Business View Caribbean

58 59 Valentines Residences Resort & Marina plants. Dunmore Town, the island’s only city, once served as the first capital of the Bahamas. It was named after John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore, who served as governor from 1786 to 1798. The town is a unique blend of New En- gland architecture and Caribbean color. Valentines is Harbour Island’s newest luxury resort. Its Vice President and Managing Director is Dean Spychalla,who took over the property in 2012.“Valentines has been here for quite a num- ber of years in various iterations,”he says.“There was a total rebuild in 2004 through 2006. It’s basically a brand-new property.Historically,Valen- tines has been an integral part of the social fabricof Harbour Island.We’re near the downtown area so it’s about a five to sevenminutewalk to the shops and the restaurants.We’re about a sevenminutewalk from the beach,as we are on the harbor side of the island,but we’re centrally located,and there is quite a lot of activitynear or about the resort area.” Of course, a lot of that activity on Harbour Island is water-related.Valentines offers some of the best deep-sea fishing, bone fishing, sport fishing, and big game fishing in the world, drawing pleasure boats and yachts from hundreds of miles away. In fact,Valentines has become known as the Sport Fishing Center of the Bahamas. Record catches of tuna,wahoo, and marlin have been caught and the resort holds prestigious fishing tournaments annually.Valentine’s marina is the largest and most complete marina on Harbour Island, and one of the largest in Eleuthera. That’s why so