A New French Revolution, Caribbean Style

We were born 210 years too late for the big French Revolution, and were otherwise occupied during the ‘Days of May’ revolution in Paris 40 years ago. But we’re not going to miss the St. Barth Sailor’s Revolution coming this Sunday afternoon at the Hotel de Collective.

The cause for the revolution is that the powers that be have jacked up the rates for moorings and anchoring so fast and so high that sailors are  . . . well, revolted. To give you an example of how absurd it’s become, as of January 1, we’re being charged nearly $900 U.S. a month for the privilege of anchoring our Leopard 45 catamaran. Not for docking or mooring her, mind you, but for anchoring her anywhere around the island. This marks the second year in a row that the rates were jacked up approximately 50% at the height of the season.

We can and will pay the new rate — but only for the remaining six weeks we’ll be here this year. If the price increase isn’t rescinded for next winter, we’ll probably sell the cat and begin sailing adventures in Thailand and Indonesia next winter. St. Barth is a fabulous place and we’ve met many great friends here, but too much is too much. Besides, there are some other fabulous places on the sea.

While such high rates are a financial burden to visitors such as us, the ones they hit the hardest are the 150 to 200 people who live on their boats and work on the island, many of whom just get by as it is. Like many affluent places, St. Barth doesn’t have anywhere near enough — actually, it doesn’t have any — affordable accommodations for all the service people required to staff the bars, restaurants and hotels/villas, and to work construction. So many of these people live on their boats. Such a rate increase is devastating to their finances, and losing them would put an even further strain on the businesses which are forever in search of such employees.

As it is, those who are likely to suffer as much as the mariners and workers are the owners of restaurants and bars. That’s because nautical visitors, who are now having to pay the higher rate for anchoring, are in many cases simply cutting back on their spending in restaurants and bars by the same amount as the rate increase. So in essence the government is taking away from the local businesses that are one of their tax bases and which make the island so attractive to visitors.

Some are comparing what seems to be happening here to what happened in Nantucket. Those in the know say that 12 years ago Nantucket was a terrific place with lots of life, but over the last decade, when all the big money and glitz and glamour came in, the less affluent but more colorful people were driven out. "That once great island is now as rich and boring as can be, and I hate it," said one sailor who doesn’t want to be identified. "But if they keep increasing the anchoring and mooring fees on St. Barth, the same thing is going to happen."

While all this is, of course, a piffle compared to the other economic problems of the world, we’re old time ‘revolutionaries’ from the ’60s, and will be looking on with a sense of bemusement.

In other St. Barth news, this morning we took the accompanying photo of a boat arriving from the direction of Antigua. Give yourself two demerits if you can’t identify her.