Many Vincies with transportation will head to pastures far from them. The leeward folks go 'country' out to the windward side and vice versa. The folks from 'town' (Kingstown) will go up either direction. Of course, the far north of both leeward and windward are were all the best 'touristy' spots are at. Our crew ventured from our turf in north leeward and traveled a few hours (2.5ish?) around the mainland to the far Owia Salt Ponds. Owia is very far north--much more so than the leeward side goes and is nearly at the northern tip of the island. We had to go all the way around, because SVG is one (if perhaps the only) Eastern Caribbean island/mainland that does not have a circular/main ring road.
We left early, shooting for 730 and with the typical delays got out of Spring maybe about 830 or so and arrived in Owia around 11am. The place was already filling in nicely with people from all over. Several football and cricket games were played in what small patches the park provided. We, like a few others, found a little niche off the sidewalk trail and set up our cook. The typical Vincy one-pot was on the menu--with the first batch being a callalou soup and second some form of meat soup. Neither caters to this lone vegetarian and so I 'walked' (local expression for bring something with you) with my lunch, a tasty batch of basil rice and chunks.
The entire Owia Salt Ponds has been targeted for the National Tourism Project, which is performing upgrades & improvements on chosen sites across SVG. The Owia Salt Ponds was still under construction, but the upper park area seemed complete with a circular park & walkway and several gazebos inside the grassed middle. New cement steps, semi-steep, go down from the park area and take you down to the salt ponds at ocean level.
The salt ponds themselves seemed to be formed from the large rocks that have settled along the beachfront, creating a wall-like effect. Here the sea tides seem strong and when they reach certain heights, splash water over small rock outcrops and keep the ponds full. Small ponds chain link themselves in a patchwork along the beachfront. Small fish and other creatures can be easily seen in these ponds and one must be wary of the random congo snake (not poisonous, but I hear the bite is rather painful) or sea egg (local name for the spiny sea urchins).
I suppose this place is popular to begin with, but since it was a public holiday--the salt ponds was bursting with attention with kids jumping off rocks and diving for glass bottles they would fill and drop to the bottom. In other areas they simply splashed in the shallows or relaxed on the rocks. I bounced around snapping pictures of all sorts of little fish and trying to climb around some very sharp rocks on the far beach edge in order to get a fleeting moment of the large waves coming up to pound the rocks. The leeward side tends to have very call waters compared to the windward side. At one point I miscalculated how high the wave would hit and got half-drenched. Luckily, I managed to partially cover myself behind a rock and shield the camera.
Back down at the main pond area, I eventually got into the water. It took me a bit--I didn't seem as brave as the general public around me. Something about seeing a mass of sea urchins clinging to the upper edges of the rocks.....right where I would be grabbing to pull myself in and out of the deeper waters....seemed to dissuade my interests of jumping in. After a bit of coaching, I jumped in and was told that I would just have to swim around the the farther shallows to get in and out. ug...that meant navigating the youth. Oh well, should expect a total get-away on a holiday. ^_^
The picture above I ended up keeping because I thought it sadly humorous that I should set the camera down with the timer set and as I rush across slick rock--I should slide a foot right through a puddle and have the camera catch my colorful expression as I realized I had a wet shoe.
I hung out with the others back at our little squat spot for a good part of the day and as evening fell we all worked our way up to a dance party going on. If I had thought it was crowded during the day, I was sadly mistaken when viewing the masses drawn for the evening festivities. A few of us even managed to get inside a decently-sized building where the dj was playing and I must admit that sardines would be extremely comfortable in that place with room to stretch. Some guy tried to lift my wallet, but I politely took his hand (already in my pocket) and pulled it away empty. Funny, the guy started reacting as I grabbed him and that he didn't do anything wrong. The scene ended at that. The few of us in then squeezed out as it was simply too crazy to have a good time. The group stood around and limed for a bit longer and finally embarked on the long ride home. Of course that was after the traditional wait for the couple missing stragglers who don't like to answer their phones when the group tries to locate them.
Stay happy and well
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn
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