Thousands flock to Maracas Bay

AFTER a hectic and long Carnival weekend, thousands of people, both locals and foreigners, flocked to Maracas Bay yesterday — Ash Wednesday — for the traditional yearly cool-down.

This year’s soca hits blared loudly from two large sound systems on the beach, as the massive crowd paid homage to the sun, sea and sand. Richard’s Bake and Shark, an eating establishment which has become part of the Maracas Bay experience, did a thriving business. In the early part of the day, foreigners, most of whom were already tanned from the Carnival sun, outnumbered the locals three to one, but by three o’clock, bus, jeep, maxi and car loads of locals flocked to the beach.

Lifeguards and police officers were out in full force yesterday to ensure the safety of bathers and the maintaining of law and order. Coordinating police operations yesterday were North-Eastern Division Heads — Snr Supt Desmond Lambert and Supt Waldron Bishop. Also out in full force were officers of the North-Eastern Division Task Force under supervision from Ag Cpl Laurence. When Newsday left Maracas around 3.15 pm, lines of cars slowly meandered along the North Coast Road, towards the Bay. However, while police reported no major criminal incidents at the Bay, a car with two male occupants swerved off the North-Coast Road and plunged 20 feet down a precipice. However, the two walked away from the car and received a stern lecture from the police, while they waited for the wrecker to arrive.

Scheduled to perform live in a beach-front concert put on by Radio Masala 101.1 FM were Rupee, Iwer George and Militant. The concert was slated to start at 11 am and end at 6 pm, but when Newsday left none of the artistes had reached the stage, although JMC Triveni did perform earlier, much to the delight of the massive crowd. Fay-Ann Lyon’s winning Road March hit “Display”, was blasted numerous times by the DJ who also offered up Destra’s “Carnival”, Bunji Garlin’s “Snake Oil” and Machel Montano’s “Mad Man”, to name a few. Some of the female tourists sun-bathed topless much to the delight of several men, who while maintaining a respectful distance, got quite an eye-full. Another popular liming spot yesterday was Manzanilla, with reports reaching Newsday that many thousands jammed the Manzanilla beach front. The Ash Wednesday beach cool-down at Maracas Bay and Manzanilla has become the traditional after-Carnival lime with locals marking down the date on their Calendar.