For those who are lovers of the social and cultural history of Anguilla, it may be of absorbing interest to see how travel between our island, and Santo Domingo, in the so-called old days, has dramatically changed in recent times.
The Santo Domingo trek from Anguilla started around the 1930/40s. That was when Anguillian males – some of them leaving school early and the bulk of them married with wives and children – went to work in the sugarcane fields of that Spanish-speaking republic. Some of them stayed and openly or covertly established families there. Others kept returning home, only to leave later on again for the seasonal sugarcane harvesting.
They travelled to and fro on some of Anguilla’s best known sloops whose captains and crews became very skilled navigators of the waters of the Eastern, Central and Western Caribbean Sea. The long sailing return journey to Anguilla, as treacherous as it might had been sometimes, with rough seas tossing about their tiny vessels, was said to have been of much fun also.
With the sea in their blood, the captains and crews rid themselves of much boredom by racing back to Anguilla – thus, to some extent, influencing boat racing as it is today on the island.
The return of the boats with the Anguillian workmen, from San Pedro de Macoris, and other Santo Domingo ports, was always met by crowds of womenfolk – wives and other relatives. It was like a jollification. Social and cultural historian, David Carty, once said that so great was the welcome home that one Sunday morning the congregation at the Bethel Methodist Church rushed down to Sandy Ground, leaving the preacher alone in the pulpit!
That age of daring travel by sea has now come to an end. For a completely new generation of travellers, in modern times, jet airline travel is the order of the day. Further, the boats that sailed to Santo Domingo then are no longer in existence.
Now, every Thursday, large numbers of Dominican Republic nationals fly in style between the Spanish-speaking and English-speaking islands. The colourful carrier is Sky High Aviation Services.
For many of them, Anguilla has become their home – claiming successfully to be descendants of Anguillian men who travelled to Santo Domingo in the old days and, as said above, established families there. They are now coming home to roost.
