 WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE...
It has long been the custom for travellers to choose
bottled drinking water
when they first arrive in a new place, for at least as long as it takes to
become gradually accustomed to the water of the locality.
In most countries there is quite a range available.
Tell us about the brands you favour, and why. Is the more expensive brand better
than the cheapest or does it all seem the same to you? Do you stock your boat
with bottled water before leaving on a trip or do you use the water from your
storage tank(s) for drinking? Do you collect water from natural sources
directly? Tell us all about it! While cruising, most sailors who don't use a
'water-maker' are obliged to buy in water from local suppliers as the level in
their water tanks falls. This can be phenomenally expensive or very fairly
priced, sometimes both kinds in the same locality...
In Port Elizabeth, on Bequia, in the Grenadines, for example, the going rate for water from the
'barges' (small catamarans, masts removed, platform across pontoons, outboard
motor and barrels of water aboard) at 1st May 2000 was EC$0.65 per gallon (at
ECC$2.67 to the US$1.00 this works out at just over US$0.24 cents per
gallon) whilst in Carriacou the price was EC$0.35 or US$0.13 per gallon.
The
sailing distance is about eight hours between them. And we mean sailing -
under power you're looking at less than four hours. It is quite possible that water costs
more to produce in Bequia and we are not suggesting that there is necessarily
any exploitation of visitors going on. That is something we do not know. There
are other places, which will remain, at least temporarily, un-named, where there
can be no doubt that greed is at work.
It seems to us that it might be a good idea to try and compile a directory of
suppliers with prices, updated by anyone and everyone who has an interest
in getting the same kind of information in other localities in exchange for
giving it for the one he, or she, is in...
We'll be only too happy to collate
and present information received. Perhaps in the fullness of time, enough of us
collaborating could actually cause prices to stabilise a bit as the greedy and
unscrupulous start to lose business to their fairer neighbours... It will
certainly allow sailors with a budget (most of us, I fear) to make sensible
decisions about where to top tanks up whilst keeping costs down...
Linnet Woods for MarineZine
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