Peter John Morris

Peter Morris comes from the South West of England. Although he lived in other parts of southern England he identifies most with Cornwall where he grew up as a teenager and worked prior to coming to Tortola. Cornwall forms the tip of the southwestern peninsular of Great Britain, and is heavily dependent, like the BVI, upon tourism. Also like the British Virgin Islands Cornwall has a close historical and contemporary relationship with the sea. His home area was in and around St. Mabyn village and parish, which accounts for the name of the boat that he arrived in Tortola on – “Mabena”, which is an alternative name for the Cornish Saint. He arrived here in 1984, first living on his boat and then residing in Pasea Estate before settling at Mount Healthy – his current address.

Although trained in electrical and mechanical engineering, as well as workshop practice and accountancy, Peter has been a sailor “forever”, working on boats since he was five years old. In his youth he hobby-sailed in many parts of the globe, seeing Cape Town, St. Helena, and Ascension Island amongst other places. Although he worked for local government (Liskeard and District in Cornwall) immediately before coming to the BVI, his avocation eventually took over a larger proportion of his life and he set out to sail around the world over a three year time period.

But as fate would have it, he stopped in Antigua, and then came over to Tortola hoping to visit friends. He missed the friends but found other sailors he knew, met Rufus Van Gruisen, the Managing Director of Cay Electronics at a social gathering, got a job from him, and stayed in the British Virgin Islands. Rufus later left Tortola and runs a Cay Electronics office on Portsmouth, Rhode Island (USA). “Cay Electronics is a marine engineering, sales and service company that specializes in the sale, installation and repair of marine electronics and electrical equipment, marine software and computers, refrigeration and air conditioning systems and reverse osmosis water makers for yachts and powerboats” (http://www.cayelectronics.com/). Peter’s work thus helps to combine his pastime and his training

In 1984 Peter found “life a lot easier” in Tortola “it was so relaxed”. The pace of life was slower and the people were friendly. Everybody is in a rush now. People used to leave theirs cars open, with their “stuff” in them and commonly with the keys still in the ignition. Houses were also often left unlocked. Guns were virtually unknown. The increase in crime has changed many aspects of this lifestyle. At one time it seemed that people only worried about theft at Festival time, now it seems to be all of the time.

Peter also remembers The Moorings being a much smaller operation, and the four-lane highway being a two lane, winding road. There used to only a few, smaller cruise ships. Now the island has problems supporting the many larger ones that come here. Although boating was important, there were many fewer boats, docks and marinas, and charter companies. Summer used to be an ‘empty” time but now tourism is almost year round.

Since 1984, of course, there has been a boom in development and the whole place has changed. The roads have been improved and number of cars on them has skyrocketed. There are lots more larger buildings. The airport is much improved though – a real boon to the traveler. Along with these ‘physical’ changes, bureaucracy has increased and thus life has become more difficult. Work permits seem to be harder to get than used to be the case. There are more rules and regulations, and government officials to enforce them. But of course you find this happening the world over. It is not peculiar to the BVI.

Although bureaucracy might have made his job somewhat more challenging, other developments have made it easier. It is now easier to connect with equipment manufacturers and get (for instance) spare parts. Companies like Fedex and DHL have also helped to transform his workplace, making supply lines quicker and better. His job has changed as well with the developments in technology. They used to service equipment down to the component level. Now they just swap out boards and ‘push buttons’. Equipment now interfaces with computers and problems are solved, or at least diagnosed in (almost) an instant. On the down side it is still hard to get good help, that knows both electronics and boats, in his business, and even overseas trips and advertising have not solved this problem. People need both an interest and an aptitude in a business that operates during odd hours. It is also difficult to operate at times, such as carrying stocks, in a small country.

If development is progress, a debate that is common in Tortola, then there has been a lot of progress since 1984. Perhaps there has been too much development but not enough planning. But, certainly, the opening and the growth of HLSCC has been a boon to the islands. But in many ways the population of both the BVI and HLSCC are too small to allow all of the necessary programmes and classes. Progress is tough at times in a small place. Politics has also changed a lot in the BVI, and indeed the whole character of the place is different. In addition crime is a development ‘cost’ as is the deterioration in air quality, and the increase in water pollution. Agriculture has suffered as the economy has ‘developed’, but through the increased use of chemicals has also caused its own challenges to the environment. We need a recycling programme to deal with, for instance, the waste of the electronics and computer industries such as motherboards and Nicad batteries.

Peter has contributed to the BVI through his work. In addition he has served with VISAR, is a Rotary member, and has worked with a drugs and addiction foundation. He taught at HLSCC for time and could do that again. He now works with “Lime light” the local theatre company.

If he had his life in Tortola over Peter would do much the same. Perhaps taking some different directions, but in the same industry. He wishes he had put in his residency paperwork years ago, but now these things now take longer. If he had a different status in the BVI he would have probably bought property and might have started some other businesses. His future is still uncertain: “Who can tell nowadays?” The BVI is not as attractive as it used o be, as development has increased, and destroyed much of what was here when he arrived, and the sheer volume of people is greater. But again, this is true everywhere and he doesn’t visualize moving anywhere else.
 
 

Draft of April 16th 2010, of interview of April 15th, 2010.

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