Canouan
High Stakes Development in the Grenadines
and
Inaugural Golf on the First Ever 18 Hole Golf Course in the Grenadines
On the historic date of October 24th, 1998
Disclaimer: My comments regarding the developments on Canouan are just those of an observer and sometimes visitor. No claims are made or intended as to what really is going on there – and if someone reads this and knows better – well, just write to me, correct me and help me be more accurate!
The Grenadines is a chain of wonderful small islands, in between the major islands and countries of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and Grenada. Most of the islands are territory of SVG, except for Petit Martinique and Carriacou which belong to Grenada. The region is a sailing paradise, because sailing can be done by sight, and all entries to anchorages and harbors are described well enough in such books such as "Sailor’s Guide to the Grenadines". Even not so well experienced individuals like myself can take out a bareboat and sail among the islands – although I took some particular care in the beginning by listening and observing very closely when taking tours such as with Captain Yannis out of Union Island (the bargain of the century – described elsewhere) or between St. Vincent and Bequia or Mustique on our frequent entertainment trips with our visiting staff at the College of Medicine. And when I sailed with my young kids (13, 13 and 17) at Xmas 1994 on a bareboat for the first time I experienced anxiety only during the first anchorage, fearing all night that the anchor might slip in the light breeze and swell in the harbor in CANOUAN.
Canouan must have been a nothing-island just some 5 or 6 years ago – a small village only with essentially no significant services for a tourist and with only one hotel, the Canouan Beach Hotel on its southern tip. The airstrip was short – too short for comfort sometimes – and there may have been trails to some beaches, I guess, but probably nothing marked or serviced. From the air the island certainly looked very attractive, mainly on account of a huge reef and lagoon on its east side. And when Rick, our film director friend in Vancouver asked about a site where he could do some filming of a yacht supposedly stuck or stranded at a tropical island, I thought that this lagoon might be perfect for the purpose (the film was never launched..).
A nothing-island? No offence intended – tell me what you, the reader know about the old days on Canouan; I will be happy to quote you and correct my statements: baerhans@caribsurf.com
But whatever the past, Canouan certainly is NOT a nothing-island these days; in fact it is my hottest tip for a good time in the Grenadines. A few years ago an Italian company managed to obtain rights to most of the undeveloped island area and proceeded to create a high-end resort for the money-heavy tourist or investor. A new hotel complex (Tamarind), another hotel and condominium complex (time share) with a huge, sculptured swimming pool next to a clean white sand beach at the "Lagoon", with dozens of units reputedly all sold despite the steep price of some US$600.000.-, desalination facilities, an 18-hole golf course (the first in the Grenadines, not counting past efforts at developing a few holes on St. Vincent in the Buccament Valley) to name the major visible developments.
Canouan Airport: International Departure & Arrival Hall and Airport Restaurant (reservations please!)
(Hey, don’t take this so serious: A brandnew facility is under construction!)
A road was pushed around the island – I hiked and biked it a few times and it now provides access to a wonderful wave beach in the north (Mahaut Bay: nobody around, all to yourself!). The village, which did not make a good impression on me several years ago (because my sons and I hiked all over trying to find a place for some food, being directed by different people in different directions to nothing we could identify as a food vendor or restaurant) is now developing at a steep pace: There is full employment with all the construction going on, and it shows: Cement roads rather then pot-holed driveways connect everything, people begin to beautify their houses, paint them, plant some flowering bushes and expand their facilities. If they started tying up the goats, vegetation outside fenced-in areas might also have a chance. A new bank building is there (still lacking and ATM machine, sorry to say) next to what used to be a stagnant pool in the center of town, now being filled in and thus reducing mosquito loads, and the central school playing field is being enclosed and improved. All this within the last three years. I find the people there a bit reserved – not so friendly towards visitors – and it is hard to say whether this will change or get worse as it sometimes does in areas where there are tourist developments without some integration. Never mind, I myself try not to act as a tourist and will remain friendly to all, no matter what. These people are being intruded upon – they have a right to remain reserved.
Now, let’s talk about playing golf! I am probably the hottest tip for golf in McCarthy (the village I live at) and I have been waiting for three years now for the project to mature, being told months ago that it would be completed – but only this summer I got the word that the course will be playable in the fall of 1998., and indeed it is.
Robert Dahl from Colorado is one of our visiting professors who used to zip off to Barbados on weekends for some golf – this time we planned to give Canouan a try. I called ahead, reached a friendly manager, Mr. Tom Watson, and heard that the green fees would be US100.- (75.- for locals). I told him that this would preclude me from being a frequent customer. He pointed out that in Barbados it costs as much or more…so now I told him that this means to me that this precludes that I will be a frequent customer in Barbados. hey, what do we pay back home in Kaslo, on a course that is greener throughout the entire summer than a Caribbean course will ever be? Some 15 or 25 Canadian, isn’t it? But, of course, here you can play 13 months a year (Bob Dahl told me that in Colorado they also play in the middle of winter: given the thin air and a solidly frozen fairway, balls can easily be driven for 500 yards!). Never mind, Mr. Watson, I am not complaining, just telling as it is: I am not a high flying or paying sportsman, my golf handicap is not a number but my lack of ability to hit where I want to hit. Forget about the steep green fees - when Bob arrived I was all set to go with him and at least give it a try. Somebody had to do it!
The place to stay in Canouan is the Canouan Beach Hotel at the southern tip, right next to the airport! At US$100 - 130 for a night and three meals per person, air-conditioned rooms, daily catamaran trips to the Tobago Cays, the best beach in the Grenadines, the best view in the Grenadines, the closest location to an airstrip in the Grenadines, and on weekends in season maybe a jump-up after the lobster grill this is a bargain.
You don’t know what a jump-up is? It’s a dance! Preferably with dance-inspiring soca music which does not stop after 5 min of song playing but goes on uninterrupted for at least 20-30 min – then you can rest for a while.
You can also stay at Mrs. DeRocher’s Crystal Palace for $75.- or at the Tamarind for at least $200.-, and that’s without air-conditioning but with bar and restaurant facilities that are architecturally very impressive, being built by Venezuelan artisans using old, nail-free construction techniques….
So, guess, where we stayed? At the CBH, of course. Call Ms. Sandy at 458-8888, and she’ll arrange all for you including the flights.
View from CBH to Tobago Cays and to Mayeraux/Union Island
Our trip was almost called off: Heavy rains for three preceding weeks – the heaviest I ever experienced – threatened to continue into our chosen weekend, and we actually called off the trip Friday night. But at 6 on Saturday I downloaded the weather map and saw not a single cloud in the sky between us and Africa: The trip was on a again. Flying time is about 15 min – and this was my first landing on the newly expanded airstrip (are they expecting to increase the size of the island by 10-fold??).
Sue decided to stay at the beach, Bob and I headed for the golf course. Captain Philip drove us over but dropped us at the entrance of the resort (still lots of construction underway) refusing to drive inside: Just one of those things in Canouan between "them" and "us" – it needs to be sorted out! So we walked by dozens of the newly finished condominium buildings, now lushly landscaped with beautiful flowers and evergreen and colored crotons.
Eventually we reached (NB: In the Caribbean you don’t arrive somewhere – you reach!) the unmarked office with most welcomed air-conditioning. Two Caribbean beauties leaned over languidly, looked us over quizzically and eventually asked what we wished. We want to play golf, yes we do. Puzzlement was the first response, exchange of looks the second, and questions about where we cam from (straight from space) the third. Finally the decision to call someone via the intercom. It took a while, but eventually a western voice answered: Who were these people, why did he not know anything about anyone coming, were we "owners" (I wish I knew the feeling of being and "owner"), who could possibly have the idea to play golf her. Interjecting explanations of mine, mentioning that I talked to the gentleman just days before, that the weather did not allow us to make firm plans, call ahead etc. finally made the voice on the intercom suspect that I was that medical school guy who called earlier in the week and, ok, what would we need, and someone would be there to bring a cart and a set of clubs shortly. yes, we brought our own balls! Thank you.
A nice young Dutch chap made conversation, offered to show us around some – and we looked at the phenomenal pool, and I wondered whether they would serve drinks at the pool bar (barstools under water!) in plastic cups or real glasses. What a wonderful place, and no soul around to enjoy it, just a few attendants, waiters running back and forth as if they were in training or in an exercise class. Eventually someone arrived with a cart, gave us a course description and score card entitled ‘Frangipani Golf Course’, and off we were heading for hole 1.
The chart was a bit difficult to read, the signing at the holes, and directions to the next not as much detailed and clear as one would eventually like it, but the fairways were green (after all, we had had heavy rains for weeks), the greens were in excellent shape though a bit slow but not too tricky. A long water way to the right (eventually to be used a source of green water) scared me – I did not want to loose my first ball in there – and I did not. In fact, both Bob and I did a 5 on a par 4 hole. The Dutch chap, not an experienced player by his own account, mentioned that there was deep grass off the fairways. Well, he was right. Not only was the grass deep, it also was of a kind that makes balls disappear. Further, there were plenty of hazards: rocky, shrub-infested gullies crisscrossing the course, and any ball in there is a write-off. In the end Bob lost about 4-5 balls, I closer to 10. the area is not yet ball-saturated, so there is no chance of finding any! But overall the structure of the course – tightly interwoven, and there are some 10-12 holes to play, so most are doubled up to add up to 18. I did not get a hole-in-one but I got something else which, I believe is unique and, I am sure definitely is an absolute first in Canouan – a pot-in-one!
1) Bob getting ready to set up yet another par! 2) Nice view – it may never be so green again! 3)The author trying to figure out which hazard the ball dropped into – it definitely was NOT on the green!
I forgot whether it was hole 8, 9 or 10 – the fairway slightly curves right around the tree and shrub nursery. My first t-off described a perfect curve to the right and landed smack in the middle of the nursery, packed with 2-foot high plants. No chance for recovery, and besides I would not be caught dead looking for a ball there while the nursery staff stood there grinning! So, try another ball: This time it followed the course of the first by also spinning to the right but hitting just the edge of the nursery. Damn – it had to be just were Mr. Watson was operating some equipment, so he saw the whole thing and had a good laugh when I found my ball right in one of the pots. Thus I do have witness.
After 9 holes we stopped at the bar for a coke. Since there were no guests, the waiter was totally out of practice and had to be prompted. It is a hot place: walking the whole course, with its several steep ups and downs would be a bit tough, I was happy for the cart. The view from some of the holes is superb – looking at the whitewash over the reef and the crystal blue waters behind it. After close to 6 hours we finished. Here is our score card: Bob has a handicap which obliged him to keep it low. I was under no such obligation – in fact, this probably was my first round of golf where I did keep a score (although we were somewhat generous at one or the other of the holes where extraterrestrial forces had interfered). It is also the round where I lost more balls than patience – about 10 in all. The Dutch fellow was so right. Bob lost a few, too: The last on his final approach shot, both being attracted by water – sorry Bob, I have to mention this for the sake of accuracy and credibility.
FINAL SCORES: Bob Dahl – 96; Hans Baer 115 (or so)
Clearly, these are the scores to beat – and the challenge herewith is up and out!
Views over the Pool with reef and the Lagoon, the golf course not being visible at the far left.
Returning to the office. all that was left was paying up. This turned out not to be so easy. We must have been the first paying customers. the lady (I am not sure she knew there was golf course, and the term "green fee" seemed to have no meaning to her) mentally made a few full circles, checked through a number of drawers, finally fixed her eye on a chart on the wall, and began mumbling some numbers like "100" or something. So I pointed out that for SVG locals it should be 75, although 65 had also been mentioned as a promotional fee to Bob over the phone a few days earlier, and the question was what would it include because there seemed to be no separate fee for renting the clubs. So, maybe the 75 was for cart and clubs and course use? It seemed to be and that is what we settled about. In the last minute the lady became a bit nervous, called a number and made some inquiries, upon which she was prompted to fax the rate sheep across the island, I guess to the Tamarind Hotel, and back came the call that all was in order. We wanted to use credit cads, but she could not find the imprinting machine, although all drawers were checked. So Bob paid his in US and I mine in EC, and when she could not find a receipt book we told her to forget it, we could do without. But then she asked whether we were staying in the hotel, and we said yes, in the CBH. In that case, she said you also can pay at the hotel. She called, asked for our room numbers (1 and 2), I asked whether she was talking to Sandy now, which she confirmed, and then she gave us the money back, called a driver, and off we went. I was puzzled because of the efficiency that they would actually have in place already payment arrangements with a hotel on the other side of the island. But things became clear when the driver headed for the Tamarind rather than the CBH: I pointed out the mistake, and the confusion came from the fact that she must have understood "TBH" rather then "CBH", and so we dropped off at the TBH reception desk where we paid, this time with credit cards. NOW, that was the end of our inaugural golf at the sometime in the future world famous Frangipani Golf Course in Canouan!
Back to the CBH, for a swim in the warm waters with the dream backdrop of the southern Grenadine islands, and ready for the complimentary rum punches and a lobster grill dinner!
So you see – playing golf was not so difficult, but getting to start and pay for it became a bit complicated. That’s the way it is done down here.
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