Heading South, again: How the other half live

The lush garden

And the (lack of) noise

At 9.22 last night it felt very odd being thousands of miles from the wee boy that I'd given birth to exactly 7 years before.....but finally got to talk to the birthday boy at 9am my time when he was all bouncing and excited about this birthday presents (I'll need a whole other jet to bring them home in, apparently)!

This morning, at 7.30 we caught the boat to Pine Cay, a very VERY exclusive island a short boat ride from Provo. Pine Cay is a private island, where, if you have a couple of million dollars burning a hole in your back pocket you could buy a property. Only first you have to get wind that there is a house for sale (these folk don't advertise in the local paper) and then, having found a property for sale you have to a) be recommended to the rest of the community and b) be accepted by the rest of the community before you can buy. It is rather nice to know that no matter how much money you have, there are still some places that are out of your reach. Although the result is an island that is largely populated with rich, white American millionaires which sounds utterly ghastly.....

Anyway, even rich white American millionaires need staff and so we set off to install a new RO machine for one such household. We had to organise a boat through the office on the island that does that sort of thing (no public ferry service to this island) and when we got there, boy was I in for a surprise. Pine Cay has a very high rainfall compared to the rest of the islands and, on parts of the islands a good deal of dark sand covering the rock which means it is comparatively lush. We disembarked on the private dock and I was greet with a lush tropical garden (this is the dry sub-tropics), not a single noise save for the birds singing and the water lapping on the pontoon. A very rare experience for me here. The owners were not there (the place is probably empty for 90% of the year - after all, folk that rich have no need to rent out their pads) so we had the run of the grounds.

We did the initial work to install the RO machine and then set off for a trip around the island. Nicky has been working there doing landscaping and stuff for some 30 years and so knows the area well. There are no tarmac roads, no cars, and frankly, no people either. For an hour we saw a handful of men renovating another house and Junior down at the dock and that was it. There is no shop at all, those that come here to spend time in their houses have to bring everything with them from Provo. There is a small hotel on the island which does not serve non-residents and, what with the price of the resort being astronomical, operates as a great way of keeping oiks out of the place. With no cars, transport is by golf buggy which is rather fun. It really is the most surreal place - whilst it is mind-bogglingly wealthy, all the houses (which are few and far between) are lovely - a little weather beaten and ramshackeled, none of your swanky overly manicured lawns or drive ways here. The saving grace is that the island is only private down to the highwater mark.....all that lovely ocean belongs to us all and as soon as we get a boat we intend to sail along their exclusive water fronts!

Two hours later we'd run out of excuses to cruise around pretending we were multi-millionaires and hopped on a boat back to Provo. Here's what the place looks like: