Bequia, St Vincent

ST VINCENT, BUT QUICKLY TO THE GRENADINES

We dropped our rental car at the airport in Grenada at 9:30am and checked into our flight to the airport serving Kingstown on St Vincent. It's only a 25 minute flight but long enough for both of us to fall asleep since we'd both stayed up late the night before. The flight was continuing on to Barbados and only two other people got off with us which had me wondering what was wrong with the place. No rental car this time, instead we caught a taxi to the ferry terminal at Kingstown and the next boat to the Grenadine island of Bequia (pronounced bek-way).

Seb and I arriving in St Vincent & the Grenadines

The Bequia Express leaving Kingstown

I'd read some really promising reviews about Bequia and I wanted a few days where we could make our way around on foot and keep things simple. It's only 7 square miles, has loads of good shops, restaurants, quaint accommodation and a turtle sanctuary on the far side of the island. We decided to stay at the Village Apartments in Belmont beach with hosts George and Val Whitney - a driver was waiting for us at the ferry terminal and within five minutes we were in our room overlooking the bay getting a lesson on how to work the ceiling fans in our room.

Our unit at the Village Apartments

A BRIEF HISTORY

St Vincent & the Grenadines is another example of British and French squabbling over the same piece of paradise. It was one of the last areas of the Caribbean to be settled by Europeans because many displaced islanders from Grenada, Barbados and St Lucia fled to St Vincent. Ownership changed hands between the French and British no fewer than fourteen times before the Treaty of Paris in 1783 finally handed the islands to the British. The locals put up a good fight and it wasn't until  a few years before the turn of the century when 5,000 Caribs were forcibly moved to Roatan in Honduras when things began to settle down.

In 1979 St Vincent was combined with the remaining Grenadines (some belong to Grenada) as last of the Windward Islands to gain independence from Britain, ten years after St Vincent had first earned statehood status.

The beach leading to the tiny port of Port Elizabeth on Bequia

Admiralty Bay at sunset

The appeal of coming to Bequia is to escape the busier island of St Vincent and enjoy something more of the traditional Caribbean, whatever that means. It was the sort of place where everyone said 'hello' as they walked by, lots of acknowledging other people and an enjoyment of the simple things - the sun going down, feeding seagulls, chasing crabs, fishing. There weren't many kids about so Sebastian drew a lot of attention without much effort. From our location at Belmont beach a path runs beside the bay, past restaurants and dive shops to the town - we followed it as the sun set into the Caribbean Sea, stopping for a bite to eat as we fed the seagulls and chased crabs. Seb was intent on catching one for Lily.

Silhouette Seb strolling at sunset

GEEZER & THE MASK GUY
We spent the best part of the next day exploring the island, starting with a trip up to the old fort for the best views of Admiralty Bay. I was trying to buy a mask from on of the vendors when a guy called Geezer (or maybe Gary) offered to show Seb and I around the island. He helped me bargain a good price for the mask so I agreed to let him drive us around. There's precious little left of the fort except for a few cannons but the views were first rate.

The Old Fort on Bequia

Once outside Port Elizabeth the roads are pretty sketchy but Geezer took us north past the beautiful but poorly named Industry Bay to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary which was absolutely brilliant. not only was the drive really scenic but it gave both Seb and I the chance to get up close and personal with hawksbill sea turtles - from babies through to the fully grown adults. These guys are endangered so it was great to see preservation efforts up close.

Seb with a hawksbill turtle

Industrial Bay

After our island tour was over we ran into Geezer a few more times before we left the island - it's hard not to given the size. I was really impressed that he took the time to show Sebastian the different types of birds, plants, bugs etc but he truly wanted to make sure we enjoyed ourselves.

Geezer, Seb & I

The morning we left Bequia, Seb and I wandered down to the Frangipani Hotel for a full English beside the bay. As we left the Village Apartments George yelled out his goodbye's to Sebastian. The waitress at the Frang did the same as we headed for the boat. We saw the man who sold us the mask - a fist bump for Seb. Geezer was there too with a shout out to Seb and the driver who picked us up on our first day yelled his goodbye's too. And that summed up Bequia - just a quaint small town with real friendly people and killer atmosphere.

Our mask seller - pretty sure he's high

On the boat back to Kingstown I chatted with an Italian guy, Max, who lives in London. He was on the same flight as us later that afternoon to St Lucia, but he was going all the way to Barbados. Seb and I will be in London in about seven weeks so we may well see Max again in a later episode. We spent a few hours in Kingstown but after Bequia I found it too busy and not very appealing. There didn't appear to be an awful lot to see and I was already getting mentally prepared for another new country.

ST VINCENT QUICK GUIDE
Capital: Kingstown
Currency: East Caribbean Dollar
Language: English
Drive on the Left
Beer of choice: Hairoun