Porting Cricketing Skills To Golf

Rendering of the clubhouse at Apes Hill where as a property owner Brian Lara has an automatic membership.

"RETIRED West Indies batting superstar Brian Lara is among 100 local amateur golfers that will vie for a spot at the BMW World Golf Championship at the Jockey Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina from December 1 to 7.

And in doing so he will be among the history makers as the first group of TT golfers to contest both the qualifiers and the World Championship tournaments..."

Click here for entire T&T Newsday article.

Telegraph Knocks The Sands But Still Fawns Over Barbados

"Holidaying probably isn’t quite as risk-free in Barbados as it is at Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos, the private resort where Bruce Willis and Donna Karan have houses and which the billionaire owner, Christina Ong, guards with 150 Gurkhas. Barbados is a lot less expensive, though. It also has one of the lowest rates of crime in the Caribbean. Even though most crime in the region is among local drug dealers, that’s a reassuring consideration after the lethal shooting of the newly-weds in Antigua last month..."

Click here for entire Telegraph.co.uk article.

West Coast Community Toolbar: A quick introduction

Click here to download the West Coast Community Toolbar.

A Look Back At The Old Days At Black Bess

Has Roman Abramovich Bought The Sands?

(photo credits Barbados Underground)

If the latest rumor making the rounds on the Internet is true, the condo project near Sandy Lane that everybody loves to hate may have found a new owner - Roman Abramovich. At this stage I should probably emphasize that this is only a rumor, but rumor is not exactly a new phenomenon  surrounding the name of the Russian tycoon rumored to be the 15th wealthiest man in the world with an estimated net worth in the region of US$ 24B. What we do know for sure is that lately he has been on a spending-spree, oops, make that lavish spending spree. This year alone he plunked down US$ 120M for a couple pieces of modern art and another US$ 34M for the 200-acre Wildcat Ridge estate in Aspen, Colorado; but that is chump change to the US$ 300M he is spending to convert a London apartment complex into an eight-bedroom palace, or the other US$ 300M he is spending to rollout “Eclipse” - one of the largest yachts in the world later this year (btw, did I mention that he already owns at least four, maybe five, other yachts?). And, this is not even getting into the what is turning out to be the “Villa Leopolda affair” or even what he has bought or rumored to have bought for his supermodel girlfriend (pictured below), Darya Zhukova.

But, your question is what has all of that got to do with The Sands? Well, if you have been paying any attention to our sidebars you know that some of the blogs to which we are reciprocally linked have been merciless in their criticism of The Sands condo project under construction in the salt pond on the border between Sandy Lane and Paynes Bay. If someone with the resources of a Roman Abramovich bought into this project then there is a chance of correcting what some have perceived to be its architectural, esthetical and environmental mistakes. However, more likely if indeed Abramovich has bought The Sands (including all of its six (6) condos), is the probability that he would do to it the same thing he is doing in Lowndes Square in Knightsbridge, London - convert the entire complex into the first true beachfront vacation “palace” on the west coast.  If any of this happens, then even the Platinum Coast would have "eclipsed" itself.

Peter Jones Picks Barbados And Sandy Lane

"Where do the stars go when they need to kick back and relax? Which restaurants, shops, resorts and hotels do they rate above all others? 100 of Britain’s best-known celebrities tell all..."

Click here for entire Telegraph.co.uk article.

Polo team gets new quick-dry,antibacterial, UV protecting shirts

click image to enlarge

"La Martina is delighted to announce that the Apes Hill Club Barbados polo team have been chosen to launch their new technical hi-performance dri-fit polo shirt..."

Click here for full article.

Joe Calzaghe invested in Royal Westmoreland

"After more than 10 years as holder of the WBO super-middleweight belt, Joe Calzaghe is one of Britain’s most celebrated – and dedicated – sportsmen. So it comes as a surprise to learn that, over the past few years, the 36-year-old Welshman has also been steadily building up an overseas-property portfolio.

In fact, if all goes to plan, Calzaghe will hang up his gloves later this year as an undefeated champion and focus on what is, effectively, his pension plan: a multimillion-pound portfolio of flats and houses stretching from the Americas, via Barbados, to eastern Europe, Cyprus and Turkey, as well as several properties closer to home..."

Click here for entire Times Online article.

Four Seasons Coming Along Swimmingly

They say no news is good news and everything seems to be proceeding swimmingly at the construction site. Government is replacing a bridge in the area (pictured above) which has developed cracks but no one is suggesting that the heavy equipment and pounding at Four Seasons had/has anything to do with it. Cinnamon88, the company behind the project, may be facing new challenges in Grenada with the sister project there with the recent coming to power of a new government there pledging to review the controversial Mt. Hartman declassification as a national park to build a sprawling Four Seasons resort that would destroy the last remaining natural habitat of the national bird - the Grenada Dove. No such hiccups exist at the much smaller Barbados project of just 32 acres of Platinum Coast beachfront. The biggest issue still remains the labour crunch in Barbados but Four Seasons appears to have successfully cleared that hurdle last year with an understanding with the labour unions and government. “With a bit of luck,” to borrow a phase from one of Cinnamon88’s principals - Michael Pemberton, all is looking set for a late 2009 or early 2010 opening for the 106-room hotel (paired down from the original 125), 36 villas (pared down from the original 80), and 40,000 sq. ft spa (the exact equal of Sandy Lane’s) resort.

Better Late Than Never: Sandy Lane gets its own Crop Over

"SANDY LANE'S MARIO LINSKEE ALLEYNE proved too hot to handle with a performance worthy of the Party Monarch crown, when the five-diamond resort hosted its all-inclusive Crop-Over Lime at the Old Nine Clubhouse for its coaches and champions (management and staff) last weekend...."

Click here for NationNews.com article.

First, It Was Conrad - Now Rihanna & Chris Land On Paynes Bay

This blogger is not much of a celebrity fan but it would be a mistake for a blog purporting to cover the west coast of Barbados not to mention that two of the leading lights of the pop music scene were recently in our neck of the woods. That’s right, Rihanna herself recently vacationed in her homeland, Barbados, with her famous ‘just friend,’ Chris Brown. I don’t know where they stayed but by now probably all of their fans around the world have heard about Paynes Bay because that’s where they were photographed frolicking on the sand and sea. One would have thought that with their money and celebrity they would have gravitated to the more upmarket beach just a few yards to the north - Sandy Lane - whatwith all the Louis Vutton and/or Yves St. Laurent luggage, etc., that Rihanna was spotted with at the airport. From the photos now making the rounds on the Internet it looks like the couple had fun although Rihanna looked more pensive (some might say apprehensive) than Chris. Be that as it may, Paynes Bay probably has not had such wide exposure since the Cubana air disaster off its shores in the 1970s or even the day ‘Conrad, the duppy’ landed there and immortalized the beach and himself.

AirOne Still Standing By For Takeoff

"AirOne Ventures Limited, which bills its yet-to-be-named airline as the Caribbean's first low-budget carrier, says that it will begin service to nine regional and United States destinations between March to April 2009.

Fares will be as low as US$10 but on average 40-70 per cent cheaper than existing airlines, said Airone commercial director Tara Playfair during an interview with Business Observer yesterday..."

Click here for entire interview.

Did Jesus Play Beach Cricket?

This blogger certainly played and enjoyed it as a boy, and we know Prince Edward enjoyed it on the west coast four years ago, or at least appears that way in this NationNews.com photo, although he is holding the bat a little funny; but did Jesus also play beach cricket? Since the Da Vinci Hoax, oops, 'Code' more and more smarter people have come to the recognition that not everything you read in books is true, particularly "old" books. Such may be the case in this latest claim that Jesus also played cricket on the beach.

For the record, this blogger believes in the historical Jesus and the traditional Christian understanding of his life and ministry. However, I also believe that he had a normal childhood and could have played a game similar to cricket as a boy. With that caveat and for what it is worth I post the following excerpts from The Age:

"It is possible that cricket, a game venerated all over the Commonwealth, is older than currently thought. In fact, Jesus may very well have played the game (or a similar bat and ball contraption) as a child himself, according to an ancient Armenian manuscript."

"Dr Abraham Terian, recently a visiting professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the Humanities, points to a rare manuscript as his source.

He notes that in the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy, translated into Armenian in the 6th century from a much older lost Syriac original, a passage tells of Jesus playing what may well be the precursor of cricket, with a club and ball."

""Jesus is instructed to watch Israel's house and not leave the place while the master goes away on a tour to collect clothes to be dyed. But no sooner has Israel left the house, than Jesus runs out with the boys,'' Terian says.

"The most amazing part of the story of the nine-year-old Jesus playing a form of cricket with the boys at the sea shore, is that he would go on playing the game on water, over the sea waves.''"

Read entire article here.

Coconut Wildies

The west coast still has its fair share of bird life even with the steady loss of tree cover on the shoreline and elsewhere to make way for vacation condos and villas. You can still spot the busy hummingbird and the occasional gaulin out fishing on a mossy reef. Then there are the ubiquitous sparrows (some might say finches) and blackbirds that have grown so bold that sometimes it has become quite a task keeping them out of homes and hotel restaurants. Making a comeback from near extinction is one of the larger birds seen on the west coast, the Ramier Pigeon, which Bajans call 'wildies.' The pair in the photo above [click photo to enlarge] built their nest in the coconut tree they are sitting on but lost two of their young which tumbled to the ground in high winds from the nest they weren't quite ready to leave. It is interesting to watch the antics of this species but you don't want to be under it when nature calls, or as some suspect, when it commands nature.

Click here for photosynth

Black Bess - Green Golf Resort In the Making

click image to enlarge
One of my chief complaints over the last few years as a blogger trying to cover tourism development on the west coast has been the complete lack of information on the web or anywhere else on almost all of the largest projects in the area. I have contended that it contributes to the sense of alienation and distrust on the part of locals and the sense that their homeland is being stolen right from under their noses. More often than not the press releases and plans for these developments were appearing in overseas media (mostly British) long before anything appeared the locally or some enterprising blogger or journalist (mostly the former) caught on to what was going on. This is why I welcome the virtual treasure trove of information the development at Black Bess has recently dumped on the web.

This is indeed a refreshing departure from the norm of how business is done in Barbados since it is the most complete set of plans this blogger has seen for any tourism development project on the island. There is almost too much detail. What stands out is the attention and emphasis being placed on the environment. Indeed, in the humble opinion of this blogger, if they only succeed in keeping half their promises, Black Bess would still be a shining example of a green resort not only in Barbados but throughout most of the rest of the region. Of particular note is the plan to use wind power to pump water from a huge manmade lake to irrigate the golf course. The windmills would be an interesting 'back-to-the-future' for Barbados which is still dotted with the walls of scores of windmills used in the production of sugar and pumping of potable water since the 17th century.

It is doubtful many locals will ever catch a glimpse of this new generation of windmills since the Black Bess resort is so secluded and off the beaten path. Only a small portion of the Banyan Tree section of the resort is visible from the highway peeking over a steep cliff overlooking the west coast. Plans call for Banyan Tree to open by the end of the year but it would take nothing short of a miracle for that to happen given the rumors circulating about the project’s cash flow situation. In any event even if the other sections of the sprawling 360-acre resort never get built, Banyan Tree with only 47 pool-villas (less than half the hotel rooms of Sandy Lane and the upcoming Four Seasons) will definitely redefine luxury in Barbados.

Who Said Tracking Royal Westmoreland Isn't Entertaining?

Click here for the comedy of errors.

Lancaster Shenanigans

We have known for about a year (at least this blogger covered it last November) of the expansion plans of Royal Westmoreland to a 750-acre golf resort with the purchase of the adjoining Lancaster Plantation in St. James, Barbados, including adding another golf course and clubhouse, 250 more villas, an upscale shopping mall, and perhaps also a 5-star hotel. Well, a strange thing happened last Friday, July 25, 2008, the Lancashire Evening Post out of the city of Preston in England carried a story titled “Tycoon tees up plans to create golf resort” covering the Lancaster expansion plans of Royal Westmoreland as if they were all announced last week for the first time.

Don’t laugh yet! If we are charitable enough to say that the Lancashire Evening Post isn’t too quick, we would also have to say that the architects Royal Westmoreland have hired to design the Lancaster expansion aren’t too bright (well, at least their PR staff anyway).


(click image to enlarge)

On their “In The News” page on their website (see screenshot above) they quoted verbatim from the article in the Lancashire Evening Post (Preston, England) but curiously cited the quote from the “Lancaster Evening Post (Lancaster, England)” [emphasis supplied]. Mercifully, the hyperlink takes the reader to the correct web address. Let’s all hope that the architects themselves do a better job on the Lancaster expansion in Barbados than their PR people did with "Lancashire" on the World Wide Web.

Now, this blogger realizes that this booboo may or may not be partially blamed on an "American" spell-checker, but still it is not like the PR people had more "big" news in July 2008 to report. One would have thought they had more than enough time to get their one and only news item for the entire month right? Laugh now!

Meanwhile, and I am not sure if this isn't another shenanigan but it is certainly no laughing matter if you are looking to get your hands on one of those fancy new villas or apartments at RW. According to their new interactive sales map of the estate be prepared to fork over between ½M - 7M USDs. Ouch!