Tourism and regained freedoms
The British Virgin Islands: My very familiar, foreign - home
The Expert
by Sarah E. Harrigan
Mervin Hastings of Eco Adventures BVI is exactly that, a formally trained ecoscientist. He grew up in the Brewer’s Bay area of Tortola with his great uncle and grandmother, with whom he’d drink Black Wattle bush tea (a local plant from the spice pepper family, that’s good for curing respiratory diseases such as the cold and flu) every morning,
One thing my worldly adventures have taught me is that, with the right guide, you can rediscover, reimagine and redefine anything and to relearn the BVI, I needed an expert.
Mervin spent most of his life outside, and if he wasn’t out learning the local plants with his grandma, he was climbing the nearby ghut on his family’s land, where he caught crayfish, snacked on hog plums and almonds and collected calabash casings that were later turned into dining bowls. It is these childhood experiences, plus the knowledge and familiarity of the landscape, that make the eight unique tours offered by Eco Adventures BVI, soo exhilarating.
What You Will Learn For our day out, we embarked on the Signature Brewers Bay Ghut Tour. Immediately, we learned why Brewer’s Bay is home to five Sugar Plantations, with both 18th and 19th Century machinery. We then got a brief history on how the BVI women smuggled rum over to St. Thomas, our USVI neighbour, in their pantalettes, and that the BVI was almost a french speaking country.
E
ven though I was raised until the age of 12 in these beautiful, rich green islands, I noticed very early into the Eco Adventure tour that I may have to revoke my own Belongership. The truth - I knew the world more than I knew my home, and this was my first lesson back. After four years in Mayer, Arizona at boarding school, five months in Hong Kong for a unique marketing and finance internship, four years at the Pennsylvania State University for a BSc in Economics, and eight plus years in New York City making waves in corporate and startup finance, it was time to re-establish my island roots. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability to travel beyond the borders, there was plenty of time to dive right into the lush fauna, deep blue seas and resilient people of the BVI; and in the bush with Mervin Hastings, was the best place to start.
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Then, what started out as a historical tour, quickly became an adventure like no other, similar to going into the wilderness in Jurassic Park. We climbed huge boulders, walked through streams, had a conversation with a jovial Pineapple farmer who almost convinced us to exchange manual labour for the sweet fruits he grew, and ended up on an old school water reserve that resembled what we today call a cistern. On each of his tours, Mr. Hastings passionately covers a variety of subjects in such detail, that his guests can write a book, teach a class, heal themselves of any ailments, or like me, get seriously reacquainted with home, by the time it’s over. In under three hours, we covered the following topics: History: Slavery, Fights For Ownership Of The BVI, Sugar Plantation Brewing, Folk Tales. Fauna: Learn How To Live Off The Land: Cooking, Cleaning & Healing Purposes. Insects: Learn The Scientific name of Insects and their role in the EcoSystem. Marine Life: Learn About The Underwater Life Coral and fish
