Many projects seem to take a long time in our shop, but one fondly remembered job holds the all-time record! They say that time on a Caribbean island is kept differently from on a continent. Time passes much more slowly, and there is no need to rush. We certainly found this to be true.
In 2014, a businessman from Trinidad dropped in at Giggle Ridge Adventure Golf, which we owned at the time. He had been searching for more than five years (worldwide) for a company to build his dream project. We talked at length, and he excitedly promised that we would be the team to help him realize his long-held dream. Two years went by before he contacted us to start the serious planning. It was another year before we were under contract to begin the actual building process. In that year the project grew from a half acre mini golf to a two and a half acre theme park, complete with nine rides and attractions.
We laboured for well over a year in our studio to prefabricate all of the eye candy and signs for the park. Everything was then carefully packed into eighteen forty-foot shipping containers and sent through the Panama Canal by ship to Trinidad. Over three years, I made more than fifteen trips to Trinidad to supervise and advise as local contractors and labourers put in the infrastructure, shaped the land and built the buildings. A year after prefabrication began in our shop, we started the process of emptying the containers and placing the features in their permanent locations. Our last trip in 2019 to the faraway Caribbean island was to do the final touchups of our pieces. It was the most incredible long-distance adventure! Sadly, we never saw the park complete as the crews were just starting the landscaping when we left. We heard the park had a soft opening, but sadly, COVID hit before the Grand Opening, which I had planned to attend. Over the next few years, we lost touch with the owners, and we were never sure of the fate of the park. Today we found out the park still operates, although on a limited scale.
The park is in a gorgeous tropical location, nestled in an ocean bay, with a lush green mountainscape as the backdrop. Every sign and feature tells the story of Skallywag Bay, which goes like this…
Imagine a place — a special place that isn’t anything like our world. It’s a place where Imagination rules the day, where everyday concerns melt away, and those who come here simply have fun with family and friends. This is a place where lifetime memories are created.
Everyone has heard the stories of pirates, the Kraken and other maritime legends. Are they true? Did it all really happen? We believe! But we know it didn’t happen quite like everyone thinks or remembers. It actually happened much differently…
Back in the day, a long, long time ago, there were indeed swashbuckling pirates. While mere men might have crewed the lesser pirate vessels, the true pirates were a unique band of creatures called Gruffles. Neither human nor animal, the Gruffles lived in a secret hideaway called Skallywag Bay. When not out pillaging and gathering treasure, they lived peaceably in their tropical paradise. They were the Robin Hood of pirates (with a twist, of course), stealing gold from other pirates and keeping it for all for themselves! They were industrious folk, building their homes and other wonders from salvaged ships and locally found materials. They were ingenious inventors with mechanical minds, far ahead of their time.
The legend of the Kraken was, in fact, founded on truth, but it was not based on a living beast as you may have heard. Its origin is found in the Gruffle’s giant mechanical squid, crafted from forged metal and heavy wood timbers. The wooden pirate ships of old were no match for this fearsome, mechanical wonder. Few mariners survived to tell of this terror of the seas.
These legends live on to this very day. Rumour has it that bountiful treasure is buried in these parts.
This is the TRUE legend of Skallywag Bay.
