The Dongsha Cafe, run by and for the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) garrison on Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), the largest island in the Pratas chain, can lay claim to being the southernmost coffee shop in the nation.
Coast Guard Sergeant Awis Neyung said he built the cafe in September last year in an abandoned carpentry workshop next to the garrison’s bakery so that colleagues could have a nice place to relax when not on duty.
Pointing out the floral ironwork of braided rebar that decorates the service window, Neyung said a lot of effort had been put into giving the cafe a unique look by using the materials on hand.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The baristas are bakery employees on loan, he said.
The Pratas Islands have no natural top soil for growing food, so the garrison relies on food supplies from Taiwan proper, especially for fruits and vegetables, said Major Wang Wei-hsin (王維新), commander of Coast Patrol Company 2, Dongsha Command.
Supplies are flown in by civilian aircraft on a weekly basis and by ship monthly, but the vagaries of logistics sometimes means delays and shortages, Wang said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
After technical problems put one supply ship out of operation, the garrison ended up living off its stock of frozen vegetables, which led the then-commander to import soil to start farming on the atolls, he said.
The command now operates Kaihao Farm (開豪農場), where pumpkins, chili peppers and basil are grown and chickens raised, he said.
“The Dongsha Islands are small, uninhabited and far from Taiwan, but the coast guard and other military personnel on the islands are no less dedicated to the defense of the nation’s sovereignty,” CGA Dongsha-Nansha Branch Deputy Director Wang Mao-lin (王茂霖) said.
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