The Pelican Bar in Jamaica

The Pelican Bar in Jamaica

I was watching Sky News and Weather this morning and the delightful Isobel Lang was presenting us with our usual daily dose of rain, wind, snow and more rain. As normal, they have Travel weather, this involves featuring some far flung destination that has glowing sunshine, warm breezes and scantily clad young ladies, for no other reason other than to piss me off, or so it would seem, it works anyway.

Today though was different, today it was a lesson in salesmanship and human ingenuity.

Let me explain.

Today’s travel weather was from the paradise island of Jamaica and the lovely Isobel told us that the picture we were looking at was that of the Jamaica Blue Mountains and then went on to tell us that this is where the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee comes from; “No s***!” was my first reaction, this girl had done her homework and was really on the ball.

Next was a photograph of Bob Marley and as if it was not self explanatory, Isobel told us “This is Bob Marley” he was a famous reggae artist from Jamaica. I have to say, I was really impressed Sky must have put in hours of research to come up with these little gems on knowledge.

Just as I was about to lose the will to live, Isobel had one more photo from Jamaica to show us before we were transported, as if by magic, to some miserable bleeder in Basingstoke who was going to tell us that the weather there was crap, it was a photograph of some wood in the middle of the Caribbean Sea????

As it turns out, this was not the nest of some lazy Pelican who didn’t give a toss about what the other Pelicans thought of his scruffy abode, no! This was the Pelican Bar! Really, this pile of planks nailed together and stuck on some wobbly stilts that look less sturdy than Ghandies legs was an actual bar and a world famous one at that!

The pelican Bar, designed (?) by a local fisherman called Floyd Forbes for himself and his “homies” to chill out in after a day’s hard loitering, is one of the most desirable locations in Jamaica, it is THE place to be seen (Albeit by Stevie Wonder and ray Charles maybe) when you visit Jamaica.

In 2004 the bar was wiped out by Hurricane Ivan but so special was the Pelican Bar to the local bars and businesses, they all clubbed together to help Floyd rebuild it and restore it to its former grubbiness.

The Pelican Bar is between 250 yards to a mile out in the Caribbean (further still if you get drunk and have to swim back to the hotel) Sea just off the Black River and Treasure Beaches and getting there is via local fishing boat, Jet Ski, Para glider or you can swim there. I believe the local sharks are quite friendly.

So, how does a pile of wood, stuck on poles in the middle of the Caribbean Sea come to be one of the most desirable real estate properties in the world? How does a fisherman make a shed on stilts so important that other businesses would die rather than see it disappear? I don’t know! If you know, please tell me and I will become a millionaire.

 It goes to show, property is not what YOU value it at, and it’s what value OTHERS place on it. There endeth the first lesson. Go and see our own little pile of "Pelican Bars" on the TIP Website (That's Tickle International Property, the properties are quite nice really!)

Tickle International Property
 Skype: tickle.tip 
Email: bill@tickle-international-property.com