One of the many vendors seen on Hellshire beach.
ABOUT 20 years ago I made my first trip to Hellshire beach. Everyone I knew used to go there and hang out. The fish wasn't as famous then, it was all about the socialising.
The wide beach and sand dunes were perfect for spotting who you knew and to be seen. I was young and looked a lot better in a bathing suit. The ten or so huts along the beach selling fish and festival were in harmony with the naturalness of the place.
The beach was divided along racial socio-econimic classifications. The Eastern tip referred to as South Africa, was predominantly uptown fair skinned. The browns, not so browns and both the black and the white wanna-be's occupied the middle, and as one went towards the West, the black population was more interested in sand scrimmage and sugar cane than the posing and posturing in the East.
The fish became more popular, the increase in visitors made it a lucrative business and the shacks grew and multiplied. The car wash boys prowled the "back beach". More huts began to be built in the mangrove area behind the dunes.
These didn't sell fish but were homes, bars, and dance areas. No plumbing existed then and still doesn't. Theft and intimidation was on the rise. The brown and white population moved to Lime Quay. The huts multiplied further. Now there is a full-fledged community behind the dunes, and the fish huts or rather shanty restaurants, form a wall across the dune ridge. Water pipes were put in by the UDC but no plumbing. The magic of Hellshire nearly all gone replaced by a shanty town.
Best kept secret
But no. The best kept secret, was the coast facing East. The section looking out to the relocated uptowners across the sea at Lime Quay. Fort Clarence and Kingston off in the distance to the left. Quiet. Fish no longer mass produced to feed the hoards on a Sunday. Only ten or so small huts. Large dunes with mangroves untouched behind.
Does the UDC encourage and enter into meaningful dialogue with these conscientious users of the beach. These people who have been selling fish here from the beginning. No. They put in a water supply on the other side to encourage settlement and increase the effluent in the area and bulldoze the harmless ones.
The claim is that the area is to be developed. I challenge anyone from UDC to show the public a plan with any immediate intentions of implementation in the area. What development could even be considered? Leave it alone. Clean it up, immediately. Especially rationalise the growing community living on the other side and set limitations on settlement. As it stands now there seems to be no plan, no systems in place, no monitoring nothing. Just some, "street people relocation" type high-handidness at play. Actually the action that was taken recently by the UDC was highly suspicious and smells very fishy.
Email: vitruvius_@hotmail.com
