Island of Bryan
Island of Bryan is an HGTV Canada reality television series of renovation, home life, and business activities, premiering in Spring 2019. The show is similar to "House of Bryan" and "Bryan Inc.", two previous shows starring builder Bryan Baeumler, his wife Sarah, and their children; along with Bryan's apprentice Adam. The Baeumler family is renovating and restoring a tropical island beachfront resort, to operate as their own, that the Baeumler couple has bought by leveraging everything they have, and their financial safety net. In its first season the series ranked third of all specialty television programs  in Canada and became the highest rated show on HGTV Canada in over a decade. The series was renewed for a second season, to continue the renovations and bring the resort to its opening. The series has been renewed for a 13 episode third season which was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Premise. The Baeumlers have bought Emerald Palms, a beachfront resort on South Andros island, the largest and least developed of the Bahamas islands. They have moved their entire family to the resort to live while they rebuild it, and hope to open within six months or lose it , without its cashflow. Emerald Palms has not operated for a decade. Production. In 2017, the Baeumlers vacationed on South Andros in the Bahamas. They found the abandoned resort, Emerald Palms, the original half-century old 18-room hotel and clubhouse; plus 22 villas, spa and beach bar added later, on a property; that had been renovated a few times since. The resort had closed down in 2011. When weather socked them in, they found the resort for sale on the internet. The resort is located 20 minutes from Nassau and an hour from Fort Lauderdale. They bought the resort, and  starting living on a boat initially, and then moved into one of the 500-sqft. villas while renovating it. The couple left a management team back home to manage their businesses, while they work on the resort project. They originally planned to open the resort in May 2019. They started renovation work on the resort in March 2018. HGTV greenlit the TV series in 2017, succeeding the second season of Bryan Inc., with the same production company, Si Entertainment. Filming started in 2018 for the 2019 premiere. Island of Bryan premiered on 7 April 2019, in a 60-minute timeslot  on HGTV Canada, to start a season of 13 episodes. The TV show marks the first time a HGTV Canada show renovated a site that was open for the public to visit. The Royal Bank of Canada has integrated into the series, with custom commercials advertising its products with the series stars in the commercial breaks. In May 2019, it was announced that the series would return for a second season in the Winter, and cover the six months needed to complete renovations to the remaining portion of the resort, ending the series. Season two would be eight episodes filling  a 60-minute timeslot starting Winter 2020. The second season premiered on 23 February 2020 and ended on 12 April 2020. The show was renewed for a third season by distributor Corus. The third season, consisting of ten hour-long episodes, aired from 18 April 2021 to 25 July 2021. It began amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued renovations to the resort that were not part of Phase I or were not completed in time for the grand opening; it also covered the operations of the resort. The season consisted of an initial five episodes, airing from 18 April 2021  to 16 May 2021, followed by the remaining five episodes, airing from 27 June 2021 to 25 July 2021. On 26 July 2021, Bryan Baeumler confirmed, on social media, that a fourth season was in the process of being filmed. Season 4 and season 5 were greenlit for Fall 2022 and Fall 2023, with 8 hour-long episodes each. The seasons will cover further Bahamas resort stuff, and renovations to their Florida taxiway house. Cast. The shows two main cast are Bryan Baeumler and Sarah Baeumler along with their family. The show also has other cast such as contractors and  hotel staff. Episodes. Season 4 (2022). This season functions as House of Bryan: Florida; a season 5 for that older show. Broadcast. Following its success in Canada, the series was picked up by HGTV U.S. and premiered on 7 June 2020, under the title Renovation Island. HGTV U.S. has chosen to air only edited episodes from the Canadian Island by Bryan series. HGTV U.S. has licensed the Canadian series "Bryan, Inc." as "Renovation, Inc.", for the U.S. channel. The "Bryan, Inc." series preceded "Island by Bryan" on HGTV Canada. Reception. The first season ranked third in Canada for specialty television  programming, and was the highest rated show on HGTV Canada in over a decade. Caerula Mar Club. Caerula Mar Club is an island resort located in Andros, Bahamas; on South Andros. The resort was named "Caerula Mar" in reference to the cerulean-coloured sea (deep blue sea). Its stated philosophy is to have barefoot luxury for guests. As a luxury resort, initial pricing was between $350 and US$1100 per night. This is with the saga of seeing, acquiring, Phase 1 renovations, and Phase 1 grand opening occurring over a two-year period. The resort has been designed around  eco-friendliness, fair-trading, sourcing from sustainable farming producers. The resort is located near Drigg's Hill, where the Drigg's Hill Dock, the local harbour is located. The local airport is Congo Town International Airport. Resort history. The resort previously called "Las Palmas Hotel", then "Ritz Beach", then "Emerald Beach Club", then "Emerald Palms". It was built in the 1960s, and last operated eight years before production on the show began. It contained a central hotel of 18 rooms and 22 villas. The oldest building, the hotel block, was completed in 1969, for the resort's original opening. Construction  materials are shipped in to the local harbour, Drigg's Hill Dock. At the time the resort last operated, the resort had room intercoms but not outside lines for rooms, marble floors and private decks with palm lined individual gardens. During the show "Island of Bryan", the Baeumlers turn the abandoned resort into Caerula Mar Club, which was initially planned to be completed in mid-May 2019, and opened in June 2019. The business established by the Baeumlers by the end of the season is Caerula Mar Club resort. Its first season of business was to start in Summer 2019 , originally anticipated as a mid-May opening. With the unanticipated delays and travails, opening was pushed, for a summer soft opening and a Phase I grand opening in fall 2019. The planned grand opening was 1 November 2019. It opens with a snackbar, bar, and restaurant; a spa and massage services. At the time of the December 2019 Phase I grand opening, there were 18 hotel suites available, and six villas, in operation on the property, with four dining areas, both fine and casual. The opening represented the first new resort on the island in two decades. The Robb Report  reported it as one of the 12 best hotels in the Caribbean. It was later named to the "2020 Hot List" of new hotels for Condé Nast Traveler. In March 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resort had to close down. The resort reopened for business in October 2020. As a COVID mitigation measure, Caerula Mar started to offer a full resort reservation, to buy out the entire resort, when it reopened. The resort, as other Bahamian resorts did, started to offer on-site COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 testing to guests in 2021.