TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Pinel Island Ferry Service/Strike Over?

Huh. Those guys who run the ferry service to Pinel have kind of their own fiefdom there, I guess!!

I guess the new guy with the boat will be very busy since he will be the only serving the tourists?

Hard to burn a boat and then they only burn down to water level.

Wendell

As long as the chair vendors make it over all you need to do is pack a cooler and enjoy the day. Pre booked cruise ship excursions will be scrambling.

What? How do you get there, if there is no ferry?

I understood the boat that applied for the permit got approved gives service and the four that are objecting are the ones not providing service.

As Wendell implied, I doubt that guy is running either, especially since the headline of the story said "ferry service halted"...

The article is titled: "Ferrymen stopped serving Pinel" and in the article the following appears: "Meanwhile, the restaurants on the islet are deserted. One of them is also closed since Monday."

Based upon that and what I have seen mentioned elsewhere, there is no service to Pinel as far as I know. I believe at least one of the boat captains was blocking the road to the parking lot also.

Guess there is always the kayaks for the adventuresome. Surprised they can get away with blocking a road.

Really?

It's France. They block roads in protest all the time.

Kind of like whats going on in the USA with all these various demonstrations.

I have no sympathy for the food and chair vendors on Pinel. After what they did to the American who owned the middle restaurant a few years ago, I call it Karma. And please don't tell me about her permit had a flaw in it. I'll bet that the 2 remaining operations have plenty of permit irregularities. But of course, they are French.

I am wondering if everyone has seen this article about the "Eco-Lodges" someone wants to build on the island.
http://www.soualigapost.com/en/news/5864/tourisme/what%E2%80%99s-ecolodge-project-pinel-island-about

I posted a link here Astounding, if they allow it to be built..

Sounds like where we stayed on St John USVI, Maho Camps. One of the best vacations ever! Didn't think Hubby would like it because he's not a camper but the "yurts" overlooked the ocean and were large enough for a king bed. Kitchen was a coleman stove and an ice chest but we ate meals at the restaurant on site. Food as good as anything we've had on SXM.

Not sure if Pinel project is the same company but they did a great job.

According to the article in the online version of The Daily Herald today, the strike continues and another meeting is scheduled for today. Meetings were held with the 4 striking captains on Monday and Tuesday with no resolve. I believe they are still blocking the road and there is little activity on Pinel.

And a more recent ARTICLE.

Hopefully it gets resolved soon. I must admit though, that the Prefect's position that they want the 4 carriers to prove their damages is kind of silly, to me. There are X number of people that are going to go to Pinel, regardless. If there are 5 carriers hauling the same number of people, versus 4, obviously each of the 4 carriers has now lost 5% of the total business, and a drop of 20% of their individual business..

Math lesson in order here <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

I wondered about that also.

Yeah, thought about that afterwards and didn't go back to fix it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> Fixed it now.

Another update HERE.

It would be interesting if part of the solution would lie in providing regular ferry transportation to Tintamarre, although one would think it would have to be in bigger boats than what they use to go to Pinel, as the ride to Tintamarre can be rough.

its exactly what they are doing to Pat at Galion. He is not french

https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/62...el-ferry-strike
In todays Herald