|
Presents BUILDERS OF TORTOLA |
King Greenspon It does not take much acumen on the part of a casual observer to recognize that water tourism is the mainstay of the BVI tourist economy – and always has been. Although there are several pillars that support this variety of tourism, charter boats operations are one of the best known, and King Greenspon is very well-known within this segment of the business.
King was born in San Diego but moved to the Caribbean from Philadelphia in the late 1980s, “driven out by major oil” from an earlier vocation. He decided to “get into boats”, and in particular into chartering boats in the Caribbean. He bought four 43 foot motor yachts and sailed to St. Thomas in 1988, and finalized his move away from the USA in1989. After being quickly disillusioned by St. Thomas with its high crime rate and disappointing life style he migrated to Tortola in 1989. He lives in Slaney, just a short commute from Nanny Cay where his business is based.
September 1999 was not the best time to be opening a new charter boat business, however, as this month is better known for Hurricane Hugo. Hurricane Hugo was a destructive (Category 5) hurricane that struck the region in September killing (according to Wikipedia) 82 people and leaving 56,000 homeless. Although causing severe damage across the Caribbean, it was not the direct impact that caused most of the problems for the BVI. Hugo affected the USA as well as the Caribbean Islands and was at that time the costliest hurricane in US history. The negativity it generated towards tourism in the region was devastating -- with the BVI suffering from this “collateral damage”.
King refused to be discouraged, however, and slowly built his business. He replaced his boats (getting rid of the 43 footers) and reinvented himself as a successful day-charter skipper. In 1997 he got into power boats (28 foot and 30 foot), eventually owning four boats as his business grew. Life was looking up until 2001 when the September 11th terrorist attacks on the USA led to drop in business and another mini crisis. Recovering from the low point King Charters Ltd. (http://www.kingcharters.com/) now operates five 30 foot boats – appropriately named Island King etc. etc.
Although an important charter operator in the BVI, King has had, perhaps, more impact as an innovative operator. Most of the original charter boats were relatively simple in their offerings. King had his fitted out with fresh water showers, stereos and other consumer-oriented ‘luxuries’ – he “made them right”. The other operators followed his lead. Throughout, King has remained active in the marine community, and particularly in VISAR (Virgin Islands Search and Rescue) a voluntary organisation dedicated to saving life at sea (http://www.visar.org/).
King notes that it is “not easy to live here” (in the BVI), and never has been, as sometimes difficult government regulations, challenging supply chains and increasing competition can make life difficult. But unlike some other expats King sees a silver lining in this cloud, as the complications that are thrown up help to keep out “freewheeling” business elements that would be bad for the Territory.
In recent years King has seen a lot of changes in the BVI – although in major ways his business is not very different from what it has always been. Although he gets some traffic from the Cruise Ship Trade, he is not a booster of this form of tourism, preferring the encouragement of “high-end” tourism. There is more competition now in the day charter industry, as in many other aspects of BVI life and this makes every day more ‘interesting’ for an entrepreneur. The growth of water tourism has led to the destruction of (for instance) the mangroves, and such environmental degradation will not be good for the BVI in the long run – although perhaps helping some businesses in the short term. He recognises improvements in island infrastructure such as roads, but is not convinced by the need for all of the traffic lights. He sees the medical situation getting better, but still sees room for improvement.As he enters the 2008-2009 tourist season King is hoping that the current financial crisis does not have the same negativity as those following the 1989 and 2001 problems. In this wish King is no doubt well in line with the rest of the BVI population.
Draft of October 29th, 2008
"From uptight to really mellow in one day with King!"
Baldy Sawyer - Gates Mill, OH