St. Vincent and Its Boat Boys

Many mountainsides have terraced gardens.

The cave at Kearton's Bay was a filming sight for The Black Pearl.
 

     
        During last season’s trip down island we took a pass on St. Vincent after hearing about incidents of theft and assaults on cruisers. Marijuana is the biggest cash crop on the island, although it is indeed illegal there, and that added an element of danger. There are so many beautiful, safe anchorages in the Caribbean making it an easy choice to skip those with security issues.  However, for more than a year, not a single report was made to detour us any longer, so there we went to enjoy the deep bays, exquisite and lively reefs, lush vegetation and the tropical fruits of St. Vincent.
        We walked to a nearby waterfall and ate our fill of luscious rose apples in the adjoining garden. Another day, we took a bus ride into the capitol city of Kingstown.  There we toured the Botanical Garden and learned more about tropical plants species from our knowledgeable guide, Sammy.  Alone in the anchorage of Petit Byahaut, we hiked the deserted ruins of a once popular resort and harvested a huge bag of mangos. Fishing is how many earn a living on St. Vincent and we marveled at the varied methods they used near dawn and dusk daily in Kearton’s, Barrouallie, and Buccament Bays.  We snorkeled often around the rocky shoreline that suddenly dropped off to dark depths and were rewarded with a splendid display of wide-ranging corals and sea creatures.

This one's for Lilly- The Cannonball Tree flowers exude
 a rose sent before its huge "cannonball" inedible fruits form.

Under one of St. Vincent's many waterfalls
 

     
















       What we did NOT enjoy were the numerous boat boys in select bays who would not take our polite “No, thank you” for an answer.  Walliabou Bay is one such location and, unfortunately,  it is the bay we chose to clear into customs and immigration. Walliabou is one of the filming sites used in the film Pirates of the Caribbean, so many boats stop there.  It seems the boat boys think that anyone who cruises must certainly be rich and able to buy whatever they are selling. Quite the contrary is true, of course. We know that most cruisers are a frugal lot and some, in fact, are down right cheap.  We sailed into St. Vincent knowing that the island was hurting for tourist dollars and decided to spend some money while there.  But we aimed to spend it on tangible items like goods and services.

Another filming location just outside of Walliabou Bay;
three corpses hung from this rock in the movie.

This movie set also houses memorabilia from Pirates of the Caribbean.

     
      We did pay for one man to help secure our stern to a piling, but all the others who were merely touching the boat thought they should also get a tip.  We promised one boat boy named Julian (who balanced a crate of fruit on an old surf board as he paddled) that we’d buy some fruit when we needed it in a few days, but three others continued to hound us.  We bought fresh tuna from Ronald who cleaned it and gave us tips on fishing around the island.  One afternoon a man rowed up to the boat and asked the Captain for rice- we gave him half of what we had on board.  Another day, a fisherman paused at the stern and asked for a soft drink which we gave him.


The boat boys were momentarily distracted away from our boat...

Ronald, a pleasant boat boy and a darn good fisherman!

        But one afternoon we were returning from town and a young boy stopped his bike at the dock where we were unlocking our dinghy.  When I smiled at him and said hello, he said, “You tip me?”
        I thought I misheard him and asked, “What?”
       He repeated his request.  I said, “Tip you for what?  What did you do?”
       He hesitated momentarily, then said, “For going to school.”
       WELL- the teacher in me politely let him have it- “Going to school is YOUR JOB. You’re supposed to do that and do it well.  I hope you keep going to school and grow up to be an intelligent man.”
     “What intelligent?” he queried.
     “Smart,” I said as we left the dock. “Smart enough to get a job and support your family when you grow up.”