by Curlan Campbell

• Boat owners’ complaint continues to be characterised as a civil matter
• Documentation and communications have moved between government departments
• PDA officer inspected fence on 10 June; however, enforcement action deferred

It has been 129 days with no end in sight as boat owners trapped in Carriacou make a last-ditch effort to force a temporary truce that will allow them to relaunch their vessel. These boat owners are caught in the middle of a dispute between Carriacou Devcor Ltd. (CDC), the developer of the Tyrell Bay Marina, and the heirs of the Samuel Corion estate.

The affected boat owners said they have done nothing wrong and are not parties to the legal dispute. However, the erection of a fence across the access route to the marina’s slipway has left them unable to relaunch their vessels and leave.

French citizen Lou Le Sommer, owner of Malumau, a pink 34-foot monohull, is among the affected boat owners. She said the group has repeatedly sought intervention from police, government authorities, diplomatic representatives and other agencies, but no practical solution has been reached. “We do understand that there is an ongoing court case, but we are not part of that case; we have done nothing wrong, and we have not broken any law. We are simply innocent people caught in the middle.”

The following responses in this article were provided as a joint statement issued by the affected boat owners.

The group said it has approached police in Carriacou and Grenada several times. Despite those efforts, no police case number has been assigned. The boat owners said they were told on one occasion that their file had been lost and, on another, had to insist for almost 2 hours before they could provide a statement.

The owners questioned why their complaint continues to be characterised as a civil matter. “We also do not understand the police response. How can our complaint be called a ‘civil matter’ when, as far as we know, it has not even been properly reviewed by the prosecutor?”

The boat owners have also contacted the Prime Minister, the Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique, the Foreign Affairs Office and other government agencies. They said their documentation and communications have moved between government departments without producing a clear explanation of who can intervene or what prevents authorities from taking action.

Showing fence at Tyrell Bay Marina. Photo: Curlan Campbell for NOW Grenada

The Planning and Development Authority (PDA) was also contacted after an officer inspected the fence on 10 June. The boat owners said the PDA initially described the fence as temporary but later indicated that it appeared to be a permanent installation requiring authorisation. The PDA subsequently said it would defer enforcement action while the court matter remained unresolved, according to the boat owners. They have challenged that position and asked the authority to identify the legal provision preventing it from exercising its regulatory mandate.

“So why the delay? Why does it seem so easy to build something without a permit, but so difficult for the authorities to do anything about it afterwards?”

In a previous article on the matter, the PDA had already indicated that they must refrain from taking action because the matter is now before the High Court.

The boat owners have also sought diplomatic assistance. They said the French Embassy engaged with Grenada’s Foreign Affairs Office, while the US Embassy contacted senior Grenadian officials on behalf of the affected boaters.

Direct efforts to secure temporary access have also been unsuccessful. The boat owners said they contacted the Corion Estate on 1, 3 and 14 May, and sent a formal letter on 24 July requesting a temporary truce that would allow their vessels to be relaunched. The marina itself also contacted the estate on 17 June.

According to the owners, none of those approaches produced a response. “What is preventing the boats from being launched is the fact that we need two warring parties to call a mutual truce to allow us to safely launch our vessels and one party refuses to even engage in those discussions.”

“We simply need someone to actually engage with us and find a solution.”

According to the marina, the travel lift remains available to relaunch the vessels, but access to the slipway remains blocked.

The dispute is now having significant financial consequences. As of 14 August, the affected boat owners calculated their combined actual losses at US$110,000, with the amount continuing to increase. “If a storm arrives and we receive weather damage, that amount can be tenfold.”

The owners said the financial impact extends beyond lost income. They report lost employment opportunities, cancelled family reunions, additional expenses for pets and lost charter income.

Two employment opportunities were personally lost by Le Sommer, according to the joint statement. She had been due to return to Martinique before 1 June to take up a job offer but could not leave Carriacou. Another planned job also had to be cancelled.

Beyond the financial losses, the owners said the prolonged uncertainty is taking a psychological toll. “We are also losing something that we can never get back: time.”

For most of the affected owners, their vessels are also their homes. Their inability to move their boats has consequently affected both their living arrangements and their ability to earn an income. “For all but 2 of us, our boats are our homes, which is why we haven’t been able to leave and why we are effectively ‘imprisoned’ on Carriacou.”

The situation has also raised concerns about hurricane-season safety. The owners said they cannot relocate their boats if dangerous weather approaches, while others experienced the loss of vessels during Hurricane Beryl.

They also said emergency access is a concern because people among the group have health conditions that could require medical attention and the barrier restricts access for emergency vehicles.

Despite the increasingly urgent circumstances, the owners said they are not asking the government to take sides in the underlying dispute between CDC and the Corion estate heirs. Instead, they want authorities to protect people who are not parties to that dispute and create a temporary mechanism allowing the vessels to be relaunched. “We believe the government should require both parties involved to allow our sailboats to be put back in the water, regardless of their ongoing court case.”

The proposed solution is for the marina to be authorised and required to use its travel lift to relaunch the boats, while temporary access is provided through the fence so the vessels can reach the slipway. “Once our boats have been relaunched and we have left, they can resume their ongoing court case without involving us.”

According to the marina, the relaunching of the boats could be completed within 2 days once safe access is restored. But for the affected boat owners, the clock continues to run.

Boat owners said they will continue to speak publicly about their situation as they seek a resolution. “We will keep fighting for justice and will not stop until this situation is resolved.”

The boat owners stressed that they are not taking sides in the dispute between the marina and the Corion estate and are not supporting either party’s position in the ongoing court case. Their concern, they said, is simply that the marina needs to use its existing equipment to relaunch their vessels, but the fence is preventing that from happening.

They said the affected boat owners have no connection to the legal dispute and should not be made part of it. In their view, references to the court case have repeatedly been used to justify leaving them trapped, even though they are not parties to the proceedings.

The owners said they are not concerned with who ultimately wins the dispute; they simply want access to their boats restored so they can leave.

All efforts by our news desk to contact representatives of the Corion family, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister responsible for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs Tevin Andrews have so far been unsuccessful.

For now, however, the boat owners remain caught in the middle of the CDC–Corion estate dispute, 129 days after the fence cut off their route to the water.

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