Can't Get There From Here

The photo above illustrates the sad state of affairs vis-à-vis the beaches in the Mullins Bay area (click on photo to enlarge). Here this family staying at Sandrige Hotel (behind the catamaran) is trying to go for a stroll along the beach probably as far as the Mullins Beach Bar when they ran into this barrier which not too long ago was the sandy beach in front of the now abandoned Kings Beach Hotel. After surveying the hazards for a few minutes the couple lost heart and turned back. Only a few hardy souls (including the owners of Lemington which is just north of Sandridge who can be spotted twice a day power-walking as far as Gibbes Beach) venture past this point coming from either direction. Complaints about the lack of and/or disappearance of sandy beaches on the west coast are already surfacing on websites like TripAdvisor.com. Government is currently focused on repairing south coast beaches and promises to reach the west coast some unspecified time in the future. Hopefully, it would not be too late.

Meanwhile, Royal Westmoreland seems to be settling in quite nicely in the neighborhood as fears about their “exclusive” attitudes are beginning to subside mainly because so far the public still has free access to the beach bar and other facilities. Parking in the area remains a problem and many would-be visitors to the beach in rental cars simply drive by without stopping unable to figure out where to park. Many are parking along Mullins Gap and Mullins Terrace and just beyond the Texaco Service station in the parking lot of the East Moon Chinese Restaurant who don’t seem to mind.

Battaleys Mews seems to be having some difficulty getting off the ground. Completed earlier last year and rumored opening last December is still closed. Last word is that they may open some time this month if they get phone service. Oops, sounds like money trouble already. A few barely visible and hardly readable signs pointing to the resort have recently gone up on utility poles in the area. Another “mews” is in the works in the area as well - this time a little closer to the beach. Mullins Beach Mews (16 luxury townhouses) is to go up on Mullins Road and Mullins Gap across from the Royal Westmoreland Indulgence Spa (formerly Suga Suga) on the grounds of the old Maude Skinner mansion. It will be sad to see one of the last remaining stately old homes in the area finally torn down for condo conversion - price of progress no doubt. And, next door to the coming soon Mullins Beach Mews will be 11 more condos called Woodpecker Apartments (starting around US $600,000).

Indeed, all along Mullins Gap there is a lot of new construction in various stages of completion including condos and villas, and more still are in the pipeline. The Pimento Group, the people behind Maynards Point Development 3-4 miles north of Mullins Bay, are about to start Mullins Ridge yet another high end residential tourism development in the Mullins area. And, a couple terraces inland work is full steam ahead on the mega resorts at Black Bess and Apes Hill which should start coming on stream later this year 2008. If the current governing party is returned to power next week the Prime Minister promises to turn Queen Street, Speightstown into another St. Lawrence Gap-like tourist attraction which too can only auger well for the future of the Mullins Bay area just 1 mile south.

St. Peter’s Bay Condos under construction at Road View between the abandoned Kings Beach Hotel and Sandridge Hotel.

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