There used to be a swanky bar in the main curve of the beach called the Salt Whistle Bay Club. It was connected by a path to a set of ritzy bungalows with the same name hidden by a thick stand of trees. The bartenders were cool and seemed to have seen a lot of the world; the whiskey was swell. If we were lucky enough to have landed an anchoring spot close to shore, we used to swim in for our drink, drying off with a towel we carried in a water-tight backpack, pulling on a t-shirt, some shorts. Swimming back to the boat afterward in the falling light was particularly lovely. If we were anchored too far out to swim, especially for the return trip, we would row our dinghy to the worn dinghy dock and walk along the crescent of sand, feeling the lingering warmth of the sand on our bare feet.  

The old bar, in fact, makes an appearance in A Turquoise Grave. Maggie, the heroine, and her sea captain, Jake, meet up with a rich tycoon, the kind of person who would have the money to stay in the bungalows. He’s an old sailing and drinking pal of Jake’s who’s got some vital information to share.

The current bar featured in the blog entry, The Last Bar Before the Jungle, is more in keeping with the ambience of the island than the Salt Whistle Bay Club ever was with its handsome wide stone bar and uniformed staff. By contrast The Last Bar is ramshackle, informal, constructed with bits and pieces of what’s on hand, its walls festooned with posters and sayings. Since last year, a new coat of yellow and blue paint has been added to some of the picnic tables and benches, but the overall effect is more raffish than fancy.

To get to The Last Bar you need to pass by the rest of the little joints that have sprouted up willy nilly along the edge of the bay over the last years. No one officially lives at Salt Whistle Bay.  There is an actual village up a steep mountain path, high above the bay. But fishermen and their families as well as some vendors live informally on the beach during the sailing season. From there they fish in the early morning and grill lobsters and mahi mahi as the day unfolds. In another scene in my mystery novel, A Turquoise Grave, Maggie and Jake’s charter passengers eat lobsters on shore at one of the little joints in Salt Whistle Bay just like those in the picture below.