FOREIGN ISLES B Y P H O T O S
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The tug of a sunset, a Caribbean steel band and a harbour plugged with sailboats has drawn us to this beach-side bar on the tiny Caribbean island of Bequia.At the Franginpani Restaurant & Bar, dozens of people have claimed white wooden deck chairs and Happy-Hour rum punches and are strategically positioned to watch the imminent demise of a sunset the color of a Bloody Mary. Tonight the peaceful, sheltered harbour of Port Elizabeth, Bequia (pronounced BECK-WAY) is a floating United Nations,with flapping flags from all over the world competing for attention.
FREE AS THE WIND IN THE
The ship I will sleep on tonight, the Wind Surf, is sitting out in Port Elizabeth’s harbour, gleaming in the light of the setting sun, a
SOUTH ERN CARIBBEAN
four-masted vision in white,hovering behind the smaller sail boats. The Southern Caribbean itinerary with Windstar Cruises, the masters of elegant small-ship cruising, has taken us from Bridgetown, Barbados to Tobago Cays and Tobago, then a day at sea, and now Bequia. Next is the French island of Martinique, then St. Lucia, and back to the home port of Barbados. In Bequia,we had started the day off with a shore excursion which included a day cruise around the island on the Passion,a bright white 60-foot catamaran.The stereo played lively steel band,and the crew set up fishing lines.“Indie”the dog barked each time the line jerks. “He loves to eat fish”explained Marty,the Passion’scaptain and owner.
A MARTINIQUE WOMAN IS DRESSED TO THE NINES; A LAID -BACK CATAMARAN CRUISE IN BEQUIA (RIGHT); BREEZIN’ ALONG IN BARBADOS (OPPOSITE).
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As we departed the boat, Marty offered to show us the island by cab. This turned out to be, in true Caribbean style, a pickup truck with bench seats in the bed, a makeshift roof and open sides. We drove through a landscape of plums, grapefruit, limes, guava, paw-paw (papaya) and mango. The hilly roads were lined with hibiscus, almond trees, cashew, six-foot wide steroid-fed, fiery red poinsettias, “flamboyant” trees and, of course, franginpani. Marty also took us to the workshop of Augustine Pollard, chief model boat builder at the Sargent Model Boat Shop. He and his fellow craftsmen carve beautiful model sailing ships from gum tree wood, with a minutiae of detail that is nothing less than mind-numbing: it can take six to eight weeks to finish a model which will then sell for us , to collectors. For a hundred years, Bequia’s main industry was whale hunting; the local white cedar trees were cut and bent to form the ribs of hundreds of sailing ships and whaling boats. These days, lobster diving, tourism and fishing provide income for most Bequians. “I won’t go whaling, man, I don’t have enough heart,” says our young cab driver, tapping his chest for emphasis. This lush seven square-mile island was populated in the s when a Frenchman, Joseph Olivierre, was granted acres of land at an area called La Pompe. Like many visitors, we paid a visit-cumpilgrimage to Athenal, one of Olivierre’s direct descendants, in the sparse little whaling “museum” housed in what was once the living room of a modest home. On the floor of Athneal’s museum was a large piece of whale bone – the infamous bone was embellished with a delicate painting of a famous local whaling boat called Why Ask. Another wall of the dim green room featured a dramatic oil painting entitled Athneal Done Cut De Boat Free which depicts Athneal, still in his whaling boat, being tugged down into the deep green ocean by a giant whale, porpoises swimming nearby as he struggles to avoid a watery grave. The painting is not all fantasy... Bequia is the only Caribbean island to have the right to harpoon two whales a year using the ancient fishing methods. Harpoons were secured to a barrel on the boat but if the harpooner did not kill the mammal, the whale often dove and took the boat down with him – and someone had to cut the rope to free the boat and whaler from the whale. As I left I noticed a signed photo of actor Tom Cruise on the wall. “To Athneal,” the photo is inscribed.“Why Ask?” I thought to myself – and so I didn’t. Less than a year later, Athneal Olivierre, the last of the island’s whalers, died (and his museum lives on). The second to last stop for the Wind Surf is at the island of Martinique. If someone had dropped FROM TOP, LEFT: WINDSTAR PASSENus off in lovely Fort de France and GERS SPEND THEIR FIRST SHORE DAY hadn’t mentioned this was a French LOLLING ON TOBAGO CAYS BEACH AS island, it would have taken less than THEIR SHIP WAITS OFFSHORE; A BEQUIA a minute to figure it out. Everyone speaks French and smokes profuseWATER TAXI IS CALLED I DON’T FRAID ly, the architecture is turn-of-the-cenTHAT; A CHEERFUL BARBADIAN RUM tury French, the Laffe Brasserie at SHOP PROMOTES ENGLISH BEER, rue Ernest Deproge sells kinds of REFLECTING THE ISLAND’S BRITISH TIES. rum and beer, including the local BREAKFAST ON THE WIND SURF COMES biere Lorraine, you’re forever being WITH A VIEW OF THE PORT OF THE DAY. rear-ended by baguettes on the
LA VIE EST UN FLEUVE TRANQUILLE
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Advertisers Directory narrow sidewalks and – proof positive – my companion remarks that the beautifully-dressed women have a distinctive European walk. At the local spice market, large women in bright cotton West Indian headscarves are selling curry, piment and coriander, carved wooden bowls, electrifying yellow hot sauces which induce instant paralysis of the tongue, and bottles of pure vanilla extract. Near the entrance, a flower seller sings to herself beneath massive bouquets of Bird of Paradise. Looking back down the pretty main street, I see the Wind Surf looming over the street, looking for all the world like E VEN THE WOODEN BOATS ARE a giant cat peering into a mouse hole. COLOURFUL IN BARBADOS It’s comforting to know our ship waits for us in the fierce afternoon sun, a cool white haven we can return to with relief at the end of the day. This is much better than switching hotel rooms each night: no unpacking, no stress, no check-out times; we just take the hotel with us (although two fellow passengers apparently forget about taking the ship with them and literally miss the boat in Martinique – perhaps they discovered those biere Lorraines). The last stop is at the island of St. Lucia, home to the famous twin volcanic Pitons. We choose a day trip aboard the Endless Summer catamaran where the huge nets at the front of the boat are quickly snatched up by sun-lovers. At a time when most of us would still be on our second Starbucks coffee, there’s already a run on rum punch at the bar – what possesses us when we escape to the Caribbean? The Endless Summer pauses for one of several divine snorkeling stops in the warm emerald waters (perfect for amateurs, and the Wind Surf lends out all the equipment at no extra cost). Later, the catamaran lets us off at the village of Soufriere and we take a quick tour to the volcanos, past vendors selling fruit and crafts into Soufriere’s town square, where the French once kept the town’s entertainment: the guillotine. Our van narrowly misses hitting a rooster. “Those are for cock fighting,” the guide explains. “It’s illegal, of course, but the officials are the first ones to bet their money.” Before we re-board the catamaran, we ask our friendly guide to help us find one of the huge round clay coal-pots and braziers we have seen around the village. Within minutes we have acquired a coal-pot of our own. None of our fellow passengers can believe their eyes when we stagger back with our bulky and fragile souvenir. Speeding back to the ship across a pea-green sea, with the wind in our hair and the sun in our eyes, I am reminded of an expression I found engraved into a municipal bench in Martinique: “La vie est un fleuve tranquille – life is a long tranquil river.” Here, on the glorious Caribbean Sea, I can only believe it is true. IHS
Curves for Women 2545 Musgrave St., Oak Bay, B.C. -- www.curvesoakbay.com + Curves for Women 2425 C Bevan Ave., Sidney, B.C. -- www.curvessidney.com Digital Cottage Video production, photography, writing, ad design & web design Victoria, B.C. -- www.digitalcottage.net The Elbers/Crawford Investment Group Eric Elbers & Tim Crawford (CIBC - Wood Gundy),Victoria, B.C. -- --- www.elberscrawford.com The Finished room 2101 Government St., Victoria, B.C. -- www.thefinishedroom.ca Hughes Clothing 564 Yates St., Victoria, B.C. -- www.hughesclothing.com InsideOut Homestore 1627 Store St., Victoria, B.C. -- www.insideoutvictoria.com
Island Window Coverings 3372 Tennyson Ave., Victoria, B.C. -- www.islandwindowcoverings.com Island Marine Construction Services Ltd. 2-156 Alder Ave. Salt Spring Island, B.C. -- www.islandmarine.ca Long Beach Lodge Resort Tofino, B.C. --- www.longbeachlodgeresort.com McLaren Lighting Ltd. 3400 Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. -- + 2520 Bowen Rd., Nanaimo, B. C. -- McLarty’s Gifts and Furnishings 9818 Third St., Sidney, B.C. -- Machines ’N Beans Espresso 5-625 Hillside Ave., Victoria, B.C. -- www.machinesnbeans.com G.E. Miller Builder & Contractor Ltd. 3755 Tillicum Rd., Victoria, B.C. -- www.gemiller.ca Mill Streams Village Sutton Group-Resource Realty
Mill Bay, B.C. --- www.millsprings.ca Norwalk 2655 Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. --SOFA () www.norwalkfurnitureidea.com Oak Bay Broadloom & fine Floors Ltd. 1991 Oak Bay Ave., Victoria, B.C. -- Oregon Creek www.oregoncreekcanada.com Pitcher & Associates Public Accountants Inc. 9843 2nd St., Sidney, B.C. -- www.pitcher.ws Quebecor World West 1070 S.E. Marine Drive,Vancouver, B.C. 1-800-663-8872 www.quebecorworld.com Shaw Cable 861 Cloverdale Ave., Victoria, B.C. -- www.shawcable.ca Shockey Modern Country Interiors (Duncan, Saskatoon & Calgary) Whippletree Junction, 4731 Island Hwy., Duncan, B.C. -- www.moderncountryinteriors.com
Sweet Peas At Home 601 Vancouver St., Victoria, B.C. -- The Teak Tree 437 Fitzwilliam St., Nanaimo, B.C. -- www.enchantedimports.ca Terasen Gas --- (Van. Island/Gulf Isl.) --- (Lower Mainland) www.terasengas.com Wickaninnish Inn & Ancient Cedars Spa Tofino, B.C. -- --- www.wickinn.com Steeples Restaurant 2744 E. Shawnigan Lake Rd. Shawnigan Lake, B.C. -- www.steeplesrestaurant.ca Stubbs Island Whale Watching Telegraph Cove, B.C. --- www.stubbs-island.com Richard Wey, Land Surveyor 4-2227 James White Blvd. Sidney, B.C -- Bruce Wilson Canada 1434 Store St., Victoria, B.C. -- www.brucewilson.ca
IHS
if you go – WINDSTAR/BARBADOS
Windstar Cruises www.windstarcruises.com The -passenger Wind Surf and The -passenger Wind Spirit sail the Caribbean. Barbados Tourism Authority – Canada office www.barbados.org/canada/bta.htm Also see: www.funbarbados.com Air Canada – www.aircanada.ca Barbados can be reached via a short, family-friendly direct Air Canada flight that leaves Toronto at : a.m. and gets you onto a Barbados beach by early afternoon.
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THE FORECAST FOR SUMMER 2005
summer time & a charming historic lake-front mill
house evokes idyllic dreams of the perfect summer home the livin’ is easy so we have great ideas & new products
for brightening up your patio and garden for the summer fish are jumpin’ and it looks like another record year for Island fishing resorts & lodges – so why not take the family? cotton is high + it also comes in the hottest colours of summer... The laundry line has never looked so fine one of these mornings we’ll take to the Island sands with dreamy ideas for an idyllic beach-party scene spread your wings & build your own home, if you dare... The pitfalls, perils & pleasures of new construction take to the sky for a holiday that won’t break the bank
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IHS