The activity on this tiny island is simply staggering.
Last year I reported that development of Highway #2 to
Salt Whistle Bay seemed to be forgotten. Well, much to
my surprise, I arrived in December to find that development
was not only back on the table, but completed. Yes,
you can now take a fully-paved, properly-graded road from
Salt Whistle Bay to the village at the top of the
hill. All four restaurants will send a vehicle to pick you
up if you ask. It is possible to walk down the road
after dinner in darkness with a small flashlight in total safety. If the moon
is out, you don’t even need the light. So, you can
now anchor in Salt Whistle and have it all.
|
Highway 2 graded but
not paved
(December 2001)
|
Highway 2 paved
(December 2002) |
Last year, I had reported that the government was
re-grading Highway #1 from the village to Saline Bay.
That work is completed, as shown in the photo below.
Reconstruction of
Highway 1
(December 2001)
|
Reconstruction Completed
(December 2002) |
Finally, the island is slated to have electricity in
February 2003. They have been saying that for five
years. I will wait until the current is
actually on before believing this one, however there is
significant progress being made on the power plant.
Hydro poles have been installed, lines have been run into
homes, and the plant itself is near completion. I am
happy that my most recent guests aboard Suspects had
the opportunity to experience Mayreau before
electricity. It is such a charming island - it remains
to be seen how electricity will change the place. It
also remains to be seen if the new plant
will totally destroy Saline Bay as an anchorage - the noise and
diesel fumes may be too much, although the mega cruise ships
never did this anchorage any favors.
The ever-present Boat Boys
are always a major part of any visit to The
Grenadines. Each time I return, my relationship with
them gets better, and this year, probably more than
ever. Free Willy, Mr. Fabulous, and his
dog Serge helped me demolish a case of beer one sunny
afternoon and it was great. In all the time I have
visited The Grenadines, I had never met Mr. Fabulous
(Jean-Claude), although I knew of his existence. What
a great guy! He
hosts beach barbecues on Baradel and often overnights on
that old trimaran that is permanently anchored in the Cays.
The Boat Boys were all
complaining that the early part of the tourist season had
been particularly tough on them. Their yardstick for
measuring potential business is the number of charter
boats in any anchorage, as they are considered potential
targets. Long-term cruisers simply don’t buy from Boat
Boys and are considered to take up valuable space.
During the early part of our visit, there were only twelve
boats in the Tobago Cays, only two of them charter boats -
very slim pickings for the Boat Boys.
Salt Whistle Bay was totally dry. “It was not
going to be a great Christmas for the kids,” Yellow
Man complained.
You knew things were
particularly tough when the few Boat Boys who made it to the
Cays did not even bother approaching you, and if they did,
they had no perishable products (ice, bread) because they
did not want to get stuck with them. If you wanted
something, you had to flag somebody down and order it the
day before, or risk not having it. This was a
totally new experience! We ran out of ice one day
learning this lesson. Normally, you have to turn down
20 offers to buy ice on any given day.
We let Free Willy
demonstrate his new business, cooking lobsters, and we were
impressed. He delivered them on time, piping hot, and
grilled to perfection with a little garlic butter -
absolutely great. He was able to deliver the smaller
size lobsters, about three pounds each, unlike previous
experiences with other suppliers. I would recommend his
services any time when on the Cays.
Free Willy also has
the finest selection of sarongs in the entire
Grenadines. I’m not kidding. No trip to The
Grenadines should pass by without the ladies adding at least
one tropical-themed sarong to their collection. We had
three professional shoppers (former Olympic team members) on
board who dragged me through every single boutique on every
island as they tried on every single sarong in the West
Indies. The ones displayed by Free Willy
boatside were far superior to anything seen anywhere else.
Mr. Plat, of course,
was enjoying a thriving beach barbecue business on Petit
Bateau. He has vastly improved this operation over the past few
years, to a point where I very strongly recommend him as the
vendor of record. Plat was his usual charming
and entertaining
self, always the main attraction in the Tobago Cays.
Tyrone Sam (boat Spree)
was not as grumpy this time, and he was most impressed that
I remembered his name. He has some great local
jewelry, but his already inflated prices seem to have gone
into outer space. If this keeps up, he will need to
form a partnership with one of the local banks to provide
financing.
Yellow Man was in
fine form as usual. He delivered his usual grilled
lobster to the boat, and this time, I managed to buy three-pounders, not sevens!
We have had this problem in the
past, where we had $60 worth of leftovers. I told him
he could deliver whatever size he wanted, but we were only
paying for ten pounds. This seemed to work, and on
Christmas eve, we had Caribbean lobster.
Photo by Charlotte
Scott
I have no unfavorable Union
Island Boat Boy stories this year, and that is a bonus! Herman
(Parrot) broke his leg and has not been able to
harass anybody for several weeks. As I described earlier,
we took a slip at Anchorage Yacht Club and completely avoided the heavy-handed
Boat Boy tactics in the harbor. That worked out so
well, I plan to use Anchorage from now on.
Erika’s Marine Services
business
seems to be moving along quite nicely. I did not have the chance
to hear the “State of da Union” address from Heather Grant,
proprietor, as she was back in Canada, but Chille and Alex
filled me in on the latest developments - basically, nothing
to report.
We took a swing through Lambi’s
after dinner. A trip to Union is not
complete without visiting the Godfather himself. I
always liked that pan band and was hoping for some action -
that was always a great time when it was hopping.
Sadly, Lambi has not fared well through the tourist season
slump. He had vary few patrons that night, no buffet,
and the place seemed to lack the usual enthusiasm. The
word on the street is that Herman has damaged Lambi’s
reputation to a point where people are avoiding the
place. I hope he gets Herman under control before his
business goes under. That was always a great Caribbean
experience and it would be a shame to lose it forever.
