The Island Owner`s Influence in Grenada

The Island Owner`s Influence in Grenada

I am a brave person . I live my life exactly how I want to live it. Recently I took a chance to work abroad for a few years which gave me an enormous experience. I also went on around the world trip for 3 weeks, and learnt a great deal. I feel like every year of my life counts as three years because I am brave enough to fit in so many things , which I wouldn`t have dreamt of doing before.

And my bravery in taking risks and living a full life is all thanks to this one place in the Grenadines, and to one man who inspired me ..

It was year 2007. My husband and I were looking forward to a holiday on Petit St. Vincent in the Caribbean. It was this island`s unusual atmosphere that first attracted me, the fact that the villas do not lock as there are no keys, and to ensure privacy you just need to raise a red flag outside your room to not be disturbed all day; if , on the other hand, you wanted to get a service-cocktail of your choice for example, or a pick-up by a golf buggy for a tour around the island for lazy bums, you would raise a yellow flag. The island was magical-empty beaches, hammocks around the island, boat trips , lobster dinners and breakfasts, a small sandbank called Petit St. Richardson for a Robinson Crusoe experience;  but above all there was a privacy. You would only run into other guests at dinner. However, for a true celebrity experience,  it was possible to have dinners in your villa. There was nothing else that we would have wanted there as we were having out of this world experience, until one day we have received an invite for cocktails at the owner`s villa. Owner and island manager Haze Richardson and his wife lived on the island, that’s all we knew from a brochure sent to us at the time of booking.

We arrived that evening expecting nothing more than a couple of cocktails and a chat with a few other guests. However, something extra ordinary happened. I wanted to know how Haze Richardson bought his island, and asked him. We ended up having a conversation that run well into the night, and feeling like best friends that have just met again after a long break. Haze was so easy to talk to, just an ordinary American man, he told us about his youth,  how he had a girlfriend from Kent in England while he was in the US air force, and how he was so lucky in cards he could afford to buy a boat to travel.  And as luck would have it , one day his boat was hired by a millionaire who was thinking about buying an island, and was looking for someone to turn it into a resort. Haze had no experience in building or plumbing but he said yes. That`s how the boat captain had become the island manager. He managed to build the entire resort, and turned it into something that all celebrities seek but now ordinary people can also have -secluded private holiday island at a reasonable affordable price. In the end the millionaire was so impressed he sold this island to Haze , and Haze has become the owner as well as manager . We were talking and talking, and I asked Haze to write his memoirs as his story was just as powerful as the stories of famous entrepreneurs like Richard Branson.  When it was time to say good-bye I thanked him for sharing his life`s experience with us. Later I realised it made such an impact on me that my whole life perspective has changed. I was no longer afraid to take a different path in life from the one I already planned. I started travelling more, taking risks more, and worrying less. My usual shopping sprees were forgotten and given place to a new fitness regime. I took an opportunity to work in Switzerland for a few years, and I started writing, and learning new languages. I have become brave enough to say “yes” to new interesting experiences in life and “no” to the usual routine.

Unfortunately, a few years later, I read an article mentioning that Haze Richardson died while on holiday in Costa Rica and the island was sold. The island owner has never written the memoirs. I will never go back to Petit St.Vincent , as the creator of this exclusive secluded island won`t be there, but that evening was one moment in history that has changed my perspective on life forever and has made me a brave new person embracing more and more new experiences in life.

 

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