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The United States ambassador in Nassau, Herschel Walker, starred in an official warning video urging American citizens to avoid renting jet skis in the Bahamas, an activity that the embassy deems a serious risk of injury, death, and sexual assault.
According to the embassy, since August 2024, six American citizens have been hospitalized following jet ski accidents in Bahamian territory, and three of them required medical evacuation back to the United States.
This is further compounded by numerous reports of sexual assaults committed by operators of these vessels against female tourists during 2024, 2025, and the early part of 2026, a pattern that the diplomatic mission had been monitoring before issuing the public warning.
As a direct consequence of these incidents, the U.S. government has already prohibited its own employees from renting or operating jet skis in Nassau and Paradise Island.
The alert identifies the areas of greatest risk: the zones adjacent to the cruise ship docks, Junkanoo Beach, Arawak Cay, and Paradise Island, places where informal operators directly approach tourists on the shore.
Walker urged travelers to "consider all risks" before participating in this activity and to contact the embassy if they need assistance during their visit.
The embassy also reminded that local regulations in the Bahamas prohibit renting jet skis to individuals under 16 years old, and that operators are not allowed to ride on the vessel along with the renters, rules that, according to the alert, are not always followed.
The security alert published on the official account of the U.S. Embassy in Nassau garnered over five million views in less than 48 hours, reflecting the massive reach of the message among travelers and English-speaking communities.
The warning generated an immediate reaction from the Bahamian water sports sector. According to a report from the Nassau Tribune242, operators fear a drop of up to 40% in their bookings during the peak tourist season.
Local operators described the alert as "inaccurate" and warned that it "threatens their livelihoods," according to the Bahamian media outlet OURNewsREV.
The sector requested the establishment of a formal working group and greater enforcement of the law, instead of a sweeping warning that, in their view, unjustly harms the entire industry.
Walker, appointed ambassador to the Bahamas by the Trump administration during its second term, is a public figure well-known in the United States for his career in professional football.
Her direct participation in the video gave the alert an unusual level of visibility for a consular warning of this kind.
The ban on U.S. government employees using jet skis in Nassau and Paradise Island suggests that the embassy documented the issue for months before deciding to make the warning public at this level of prominence.
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