Crane Beach - wrecked
Crane Beach, Barbados - WRECKED - part 1
What was one of the better beaches in the World has effectively and practically been wrecked - not by Hurricanes but by the swamping of the beach by sun-loungers apparently belonging to the nearby Crane Hotel, along with broken glass, rubbish, metal beer bottle tops, and other detritus presumably left by guests and not cleared up by the beach staff.
A few weeks ago we ventured out to Crane Beach on the South Coast of Barbados. Our guide book "Barbados Directions - Accurate, Reliable, Informative" by Rough Guides (nominally dated: 2004) states "... it's still a fetching place [the hotel] and worth a look even if you're not staying (a fee of B$5 is charged for use of the facilities, though you can put it towards any food or drink you have during your visit."
My travelling companion, in her 60s, is somewhat mobility impaired (from a double knee replacement some weeks ago) and needs a stick to help to walk. But having read about Crane Beach we decided to spend a day there. We took a local bus from Bridgetown to the entrance gates of the Crane Hotel, and then walked through the grounds to the lobby. However when we enquired about getting onto the beach, we were rudely told by Reception that it would cost us B$25 EACH just to pass through the lobby and use the steps down to the beach. That is the Crane Hotel now CHARGES to visit what is supposed to be a FREELY accessible PUBLIC beach. We were then told that we could redeem this amount in the Restaurant on the way back - if we wished to. When we complained that the Guidebook only mentioned B$5 per visit to "use the facilities," the attitude of the hotel staff was 'take it or leave it' - typical arrogance for this kind of pretentious establishment, but not what we expected to find in Barbados.
We struggled down the rickety steps to the beach. Incidentally the no. of steps down are only 88 and not 200 as per the Guidebook. Anyone who was more disabled wouldn't have had a chance of getting down there, so despite charging for access, the hotel in its many years of stewardship has done nothing to improve access for the physically disabled. However when we arrived down there we found that sun-loungers and sunshades occupied every foot of the beach. These stretched side-by-side from one end of the beach to the other, leaving very little room for anything or anyone else. The only piece of spare beach was in a small 'alcove' underneath some coconut trees (with coconuts ready to drop), and unfortunately also occupied by two scruffy-looking beach vendors.
We were also dismayed to see the rubbish littering the beach (and amongst the palm trees at the rear); this being broken glass, discarded beer bottles and plastic soft drink bottles, metal beer bottle tops and other detritus. There were also at least two obligatory beach vendors lazing around trying to con people into purchasing conch shells and necklaces made out of coral etc. Don't the hotel management/owners realise or care that 2 million conch shells are plundered from Caribbean waters every year, and that around many Islands so many have been taken that many local species are now extinct? Obviously not. (Cont'd in part 2)