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January 2006 A life at sea sounds like a dream to many. Others would wish for a mixture of land and ocean. Ferrying people and cargo between Antigua and Barbuda, Greg Urlwin has found the perfect blend. In the early 80's, Urlwin decided he wanted to follow in his uncle's wake, and sail to the Caribbean. Before that, he says, he had been in a university in New Hampshire, studying "everything and nothing". "I came down here for a year," he says, "and stayed, two, went home, and was even less interested in being there than I had been before. "I realised that all this university was getting in the way of my education, so I came back here."  He made a 20-year career sailing yachts from Antigua to Europe, Alaska, the US coast and the Panama Canal. But that too eventually grew dull, and Urlwin wanted something new.  Today, he's the captain of the Barbuda Express, the only passenger sea link between sister islands Antigua and Barbuda. Setting up the business was no easy feat, however.

Greg Urlwin

Eventually, Urlwin got backing from a family member and two friends to purchase a second-hand wave-piercing Catamaran from Florida.

Though not the most profitable business in the world, he says, "It was something I knew that I could do, and I could do well. You try to find a business that you want to start: swim with the dolphins, a new golf course, and there's always someone that's against you.

I knew this was something that they wanted, nobody was going to be against me; it just seemed like a natural fit."

Previous attempts to bridge the distance over the years had failed.

Urlwin credits his success to the type of boat he uses. Instead of being carried by the waves in the notoriously unsettled channel, the Cat goes through them, making for a much smoother ride.

Passengers range from cricket teams to construction workers, to sightseers and hotel workers. In addition, he ships produce, sporting gear.
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The vessel makes the 180-minute round trip daily, leaving Urlwin little time to do anything else but run his business. "What do you do in your spare time?" I ask. "For leisure?" he replies. "When I get some leisure time, I'll tell you." His love for the Caribbean is made up of simple things: "I think the more relaxed lifestyle, the climate, the people, the fact that in Antigua, we have people from all over the world, and people from all over the world visit here. "It's an unpretentious lifestyle here, nobody really cares what you drive, which is so much different from the States, where it's all about what you drive and what you wear. There, it's work every minute of your life and accumulate a whole bunch of toys and have no time to enjoy yourself. It's he who dies with the most toys wins."

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The last year for him, he admits though, has been gruelling. 

Finding a licensed ferry captain to assist him was a major task.

"It's been a ridiculous amount of work," he concedes.

"But on the plus side, the only way that you can really understand how the whole thing works is to do it yourself." 

He describes his daily responsibilities as "keeping all the balls in the air."

"I'm a problem solver," Urlwin says, "so when I look at starting a business, I'm looking to solve problems.

And one of the big problems this whole region faces competitively is the transportation problem. If you're in Miami, and you need to do something in West Palm Beach or wherever, you get in the car and you drive there.

"But if you're here in Antigua, and you need to do something in Barbuda, you need to get on to some type of transportation. So to me, a business that solves that problem is a good business." 

His original plans included running a ferry between St Vincent and the Grenadines, or Antigua and French island-territory Guadeloupe.

The latter he still firmly intends to do. A larger, faster boat would be needed. Meanwhile, he says there's nothing he longs for within the shores of North America. He spends his days between the sister islands, and most nights rests his head on the relatively untouched Barbuda, home to around 1,500 people.

The only thing he says might make him move back to the States - and this only temporarily - would be if his other half decides to further her studies there. In the meantime, he's content with doing what he loves, in a place where he's happy.

The following is Susan's first article for the magazine:

Baking Bread On The Island Of Antigua ~ A Canadian Story

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