When I saw the article in this paper, “Black Sands Resorts in limbo,” I wondered, why don’t we get an investor who will come and say, “I will do this,” then simply do this and be done with it.
The author of the article would have been just as sure-handed if he had offered a brisk harbinger, in bold print: “Coning soon; Royal Mill Hotel Luxury Resort and Residences in limbo.” Keep your eyes open, it is to be the next saga. It is going to be bigger than Black Sands if only because it is going to be plumb in our face, day in, day out. And in Camillo’s backyard, too. But that’s a case of you make your bed …
Okay, so Ratho Mill is not in limbo … yet. But it is doomed and limping to get there, though. Because, really, that’s where it’s at. Even the limp is not in a hurry. And it is painful to watch. Go and see. I mean, the project was to be completed by the end of 2020. So, tell me, of the ten storeys, how many are completed thus far. The lack of a question mark is by design.
My first thought on seeing the headline for the article on Black Sands, was to challenge the use of “limbo.” I thought “purgatory” would have been sweeter. Then I scratched my head and paused. In Catholic doctrine, purgatory is the stopover on the way to heaven. Heaven? For real? In that case I deemed purgatory would be an oxymoron. Black Sands and the celestial city are incompatible.
Since purgatory wouldn’t have worked, I had another look at “limbo.” With the help of the Oxford Dictionary and a little cherry picking, I conveniently settled on the first offering, which read, “limbo; the supposed abode of unbaptized infants, and the just who died before Christ’s coming.”
“Infants” aside, “limbo” was not a viable choice either because by my choice of definition it had to be unbaptized. But it was. Hell, the article even had a picture of the baptism. Watch the two chief baptizing ministers (pun intended) grinning like two Cheshire Cat – prostrating themselves for the project. Something they’ve done before. They did it good for Dave Ames, the Vincentian from England who absconded from Richmond beach.
Alas, “limbo” was not good for another reason: it spoke of “the just.” That would have to be Black Sands and to rate Black Sands as “the just” is a great disservice to what is moral and virtuous.
Nor is there “the just” as far as the Royal Mill project is concerned. But, yes, there was a baptism there, too. A baptism that I am guessing circumvented due diligence, the way you put the cart before the horse.
In spite of the prettiness of their online brochure, it is fraudulent and misleading. With intent. The brochure expropriated pictures of the exotic Tobago Cays, depicting “stunning views of the Northern Grenadines.” Dude, whoa. Tek time. First, let’s get our geography right. The Tobago Cays are in the South of the Grenadines. The islands in Northern Grenadines that you can see from Ratho Mill – as mere specks – are Battowia, Baliceaux and the Northern tip of Mustique. Stunning views? Not so much. Those islands are about fifteen miles away and even if they were in the Calliaqua bay, the view from the soon to be in limbo resort would not be “stunning.” And as stunning as Bequia is, it is not what you’d get from the view from Ratho Mill.
The brochure, as I have said, is fraudulent and misleading and since ignorance is not an excuse, it makes the government, just as culpable in the con. At least that’s the way I see it. They cannot just look the other way.
If the hotel ends up with guests, and I contradict myself saying that, lawsuits could be fast and stinging. Could the government be included? I don’t know.
Man, cut me some slack. A ten-storey luxury resort – and residences – on top of the knoll above Calliaqua? Seriously? As the idiot Trump would say, “who would have thought that?” Who signed off on that?
One cannot just ups and call a hotel or a tourism facility a “luxury resort.” There are criteria that must be met. And after looking at the photoshopped brochure, excuse me if I do not believe a word of the written blurb.
After seeing the idyllic Tobago Cays in the brochure and reading about “the stunning views” that the “elevated paradise with crystalline sea water shores” offer, I would like you to put your feet back on the ground and consider this.
At one if the two options for a nearby “beach,” there is a fish market at one end of it, a coast guard base at the other and a disgusting foul-smelling waste drainage in between. The last would be the Calliaqua river. It seldom flows; it is mostly an ungodly stagnant pernicious soup.
Welcome to Royal Mill Hotel Luxury Resort.
Meanwhile, go to Ratho Mill and look at the construction that is going on and tell me if there is anything about that site gives you the feeling that it is a ten-story building in progress. There is not even a sense of urgency, given that it is well far behind schedule. You do not even need to have the experience of building a two-hen chicken coop to give a sober response.
And to imagine that these were the people who tried to get their grubby paws on Indian Bay reef. To f–k it up.
Patrick Ferrari
