Top: KB and Marina Gottlieb-Sarles Bottom: Derek Gape and Tim Tibbitts

When Save The Bays hosts its first Grand Bahama fun-raiser, Chillin’ by the Dock of the Bay, February 28, it will link five performers who have never before performed together but are united over a cause that each is passionate about – protecting the waters of The Bahamas.

Headlining the concert set for 4 pm on the waterfront at Flying Fish Seafood Restaurant is the top-selling musician Kirkland ‘KB’ Bodie.

“KB rose to fame with songs like ‘Bush Mechanic’ and ‘She Fat’ but in recent years he has lent his talent to social causes, penning numbers that point to political will, transparency and accountability,” said Save The Bays CEO Lindsey McCoy. “One of his latest songs, ‘Hold dey feet to da fire’ is among the country’s biggest hits.

“It is encouraging to see artists like the legendary KB (Kirkland ‘KB’ Bodie) share a stage with the talents of a jazzy Marina Gottlieb Sarles who is performing with master guitarist Steve Persaud in Bossa. We also have Tim Tibbitts who is one of those multi-talented individuals who can whip up a restaurant meal with the same pizzazz as he can stir a crowd’s enthusiasm. Tim, who is Bahamian, had a successful run in Canada and we’re just grateful he came back home and cares so much about the environment.

“And we have one of Grand Bahama’s local favourites, Derek Gape, who can take a simple tune and a guitar and turn it into a performance that rouses an audience and makes everyone in the crowd happy to be there.”

According to McCoy, ticket sales for the Save The Bays concert on the waterfront have been brisk and the event could very well be a sell-out, a result, she says, of the “great combination of cause and artists.”

For Gottlieb Sarles’, passion about environmental protection – and particularly the “turquoise seas so full of nature’s bounty” -- comes naturally. Her mother, Dr. Owanta Gottlieb is credited with starting the Save the Abaco Parrot movement and calling attention to the plight of the vanishing wild horses of Abaco believed to be descendants of the horses brought over by Christopher Columbus more than 500 years earlier.

“Every Bahamian should be aware how important preserving and protecting our marine environment and our vast marine resources is,” said Fred Smith, QC, Save The Bays Chairman. “It’s the beauty of our waters that makes The Bahamas the amazing place it is.”

At the same time, Save The Bays has a need, he says, to raise funds to keep up the campaign, enhancing educational efforts and legal cases holding environmental best practices violators accountable. Since its founding less than two years ago, the fast-growing Save The Bays organization has grown into a full-blown movement with the largest number of social media followers in Bahamian history. More than 17,200 persons Like Save The Bays on Facebook and nearly 6,000 have signed a petition calling for a freedom of information act, an environmental protection act and an end to unregulated development among other tenets.

Tickets for the event are $75 and are available at Flying Fish Restaurant or Barefoot Marketing. Free parking is available for ticket holders at the Lighthouse section of the Grand Lucayan, courtesy of the hotel.