When I first went to live on Bequia water taxis with engines were pretty much non-existent, people rowed or sailed to get from one location to another. This made Admiralty Bay a peaceful anchorage, a few of the yachts had motorized dinghies but they were few and far between. This changed in the 80’s, Bequia’s harbor was suddenly buzzing with boat engines, and the lovely quiet bay became noisy. Fancy yachts and the bigger cruise ships brought jet skis, and they were a dreadful nuisance in the anchorage when they raced between the boats.
When I became chairman of the Tourist Committee I listened to the complaints of cruisers anchored in the bay as well as the tourists staying ashore. The water taxi situation was out of control, there was no one in authority to enforce the speed limit on the water and the drivers were at times extremely reckless when dropping passengers off at the beaches. As the complaints mounted I decided to add the owner of a water taxi to our committee, hopefully we could find some solutions to the reigning chaos.
Dealing with the water taxis was much easier than the land taxis, most likely because they were all young and new at the taxi business. Many were eager to attend meetings (I think the free food and drinks at the Pizzeria helped!) and seemed genuinely interested in making improvements to their water taxi businesses. Daffodil Harris was a huge help to me, she was a hard-working lady running a multi-faceted operation in the bay; she provided water, ice and fuel to yachts as well as running a laundry service and I respected her a great deal.
The water taxis formed a casual association, they needed help with meetings and I was happy to assist when I realized how enthusiastic they were. We had fun contests, one for the most attractive water taxi and another for the safest water taxi. Several business owners along the waterfront agreed to act as judges, and the contests ran for the length of the season. Suddenly the scruffy-looking vessels were nicely sanded and painted and were operating at a sedate speed within the confines of the bay, what a difference a little co-operation made!
After the awards had been presented to the winners of the first water taxi competitions all of the participants were invited to paint a number on their boat. I can’t recall how the numbers were chosen for each vessel, but we had a bow-painting party at Lower Bay Beach, with drinks and food for the water taxi operators. For years several water taxis proudly sported these painted numbers on their bows; these were the boats that had been deemed safe by the waterfront judges, and the drivers were proud of them. Tourists were advised to use the water taxis displaying a number and the bay became a more orderly place. The judges had been good-natured about the contests, reprimanding drivers when they felt they were being reckless and offering praise for good performance. The contests had been fun for everyone and the end result was pleasing.
There was still a lot of recklessness in the Bay; as with the land taxis every vessel became a water taxi on cruise ship days, and I would wince as I saw my “numbered” taxis having to compete with “unnumbered” drivers who had no regard for the safety of their passengers. On cruise ship days it was still “dog eat dog” on the water, but at least the rest of the time the harbor was a more peaceful place.
As for jet skis, my committee, in its advisory capacity to the Government, suggested that they be banned in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. And they WERE! As far as I know that particular law is still in place.
I love getting these Bequia stories. Having been to Bequia at least 10 times with our sailboat, a charter, and by flying in, they bring back wonderful memories. When our dingy disappeared, the water taxis came to our rescue. Knowing our circumstance, they often did not charge us for the trip. Special young men.
One of the many things we looked forward to when visiting Bequia on the Mandalay was getting laundry done. Our bartender, Mash Up, would supply us each a trash bag for our laundry with instructions on how to label it properly.
We would leave that bag at the bar for pick up in the early AM. Back onboard enjoying swizzle time after a day on the island, we would see the little Daffodil Laundry boat pull up alongside full of our bags of laundry all clean and neatly folded. Usually what you sent out always came back, or at least it came back to the ship! In case of any laundry mix ups, there was a small area at the back of the bar that served as a laundry exchange of sorts – if you found an extra clothing item in your bag you would drop it there, if you were missing something you would probably find it there. It was a simple system and worked just fine. Thanks for bringing these wonderful memories back to me Judy.