Whale of a time in Bequia!
April 25, 2009
Saturday
Well....we arrived in Bequia on Sunday, April 19th, making our way into Admiralty Bay
and anchoring off of a beautiful white sand beach. We were to meet some friends here from Maine, and the timing would have been perfect, but they were unable to find direct flights and it would have taken them two days on either end to make it to St. Vincent and the Grenadines! We visited Bequia last year, around June, but only stayed two days. So....we really wanted to get more of a feeling for the island that we really liked on our brief visit before!
This harbor is bigger than all of the harbors since Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, so the number of cruising boats anchored were too many to count!
But, our friends, DIGNITY, were here as were another couple that Jim had met in Venezuela, Linda and Ed on DREAMTIME. We're also seeing alot of the boats that we've seen on the way South....as we're all starting to gather for hurricane season.
We checked into Customs and Immigration for St. Vincent and the Grenadines (St. Vincent is the "mainland" with the capital of Kingstown, and along with the Grenadines make up one country) on Monday....but we had to pay an extra fee since we really arrived on Sunday!!! Oh well!! The price you have to pay for being in paradise!
We walked around the town....found the hospital.
...and of course visited all the little shops (way to pricey for us) but were able to find alot at the fresh vege/fruit market run by the Rastas from St. Vincent! We had to stop when they offered carrots for 7EC per pound...which is about $2.25/pound!!! EEeeeekkkkk!!! Everything else seemed reasonable. Jim told them they were "tourist" prices, but they wouldn't budge. This is the market where they really don't budge on the price, but they keep throwing in extra tomatoes, passion fruit, one or two bananas.....so really you get your money's worth...it just might not be what you wanted!! But it's all fun! 
The fisherman were pulling into the dock about the time we arrived with their fresh catch of the day. The one rasta told me that they went out at about 0600, to to where the birds are fishing, and caught mahi mahi and tuna. So...their day was done by 1000 that morning. I would love to post a picture of this nice guy that I talked to while Jim went and got fuel....but I'm really hesitant to ask people if I can take their picture, like they're unusual or something. But they are!! This guy was about 6'5" Rasta man with his hair wrapped in the panty part of pantyhose and a baseball cap somehow over the front of that....he had really pretty green eyes....a heavy wool long sleeved sweater on and had a very gentle voice. They tried to sell to the restaurants first since they get more money per pound since they sell them the whole fish, not just the fillets. It must be good fishing though....we saw him around two days later!
Bequia used to be an active whaling station...and they are still "allowed" to catch a whale during the whaling season between February and April. We did hear that they caught/killed a whale on our last day on the island and we were glad to be leaving before we saw any process of that entering the harbor! But this picture of the Whaleboner restaurant shows bones and vertebrae for bar stools!
All of this, kinda ironic, during the week of Earth Day on April 22nd!!
On Tuesday we walked around the island with our friends from DIGNITY. We walked past the beautiful local sailing skiffs on the beach
and up to yet another fort! 
The views from Fort Hamilton of Admiralty Bay are just beautiful!
We stopped by the local bakery on the way back to pick up the fresh bread that we smelled baking halfway to the fort. Jim and Steve had half of it gone by the time we got back to our dinghies!
We spent some time snorkeling and diving. Jim and Steve experimented with Steve's HUKA....a device that has a motor/compressor that floats above the water and long tubes that allow you to breath fresh air under water.
While they went diving, I just snorkeled above and enjoyed the serenity.
One night we went for drinks and Mexican food with DIGNITY and DREAMTIME. It was great fun.....still not the best Mexican food, but the drinks made up for it! Jim and I went to dinner the following night.....I took him out for doing my taxes again this year! We went to a really nice restaurant that overlooked the bay, The Gingerbread House, but we were the only patrons for dinner for the entire time!! There were a few locals that came to the bar....but not very crowded at all. After dinner we walked down the beach to listen to a Steel Pan drum band that was really good and fun to watch!
When we headed out on Saturday, we were able to sail with a beam reach from the anchorage around the SW end of the island of Bequia where there is a whole little town/development called "Moonhole".
According to Doyle's guidebook, it was developed by American architect, Tom Johnson....but there is no good road or anchorage to get to it. The houses are in the rocks and built of rocks without straight lines or angles....so when you see it it looks like it's rundown 
and abandoned. But I guess people live there or vacation there and are a "special sort"!
We attempted to go to the SE side of Canouan...a little anchorage behind the reefs, but it was rolly with the leeside being a big cliff....so we motored back around and anchored in Charlestown Bay in Canouan.
We didn't plan to stay long in Canouan....there's a big resort on the beach and home to a Moorings charter for sailing vessels. So.....we watched the stars at night and took off early today for the Tobago Cays!
Bye for now!
Saturday
Well....we arrived in Bequia on Sunday, April 19th, making our way into Admiralty Bay
and anchoring off of a beautiful white sand beach. We were to meet some friends here from Maine, and the timing would have been perfect, but they were unable to find direct flights and it would have taken them two days on either end to make it to St. Vincent and the Grenadines! We visited Bequia last year, around June, but only stayed two days. So....we really wanted to get more of a feeling for the island that we really liked on our brief visit before!This harbor is bigger than all of the harbors since Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, so the number of cruising boats anchored were too many to count!
But, our friends, DIGNITY, were here as were another couple that Jim had met in Venezuela, Linda and Ed on DREAMTIME. We're also seeing alot of the boats that we've seen on the way South....as we're all starting to gather for hurricane season.We checked into Customs and Immigration for St. Vincent and the Grenadines (St. Vincent is the "mainland" with the capital of Kingstown, and along with the Grenadines make up one country) on Monday....but we had to pay an extra fee since we really arrived on Sunday!!! Oh well!! The price you have to pay for being in paradise!
We walked around the town....found the hospital.
...and of course visited all the little shops (way to pricey for us) but were able to find alot at the fresh vege/fruit market run by the Rastas from St. Vincent! We had to stop when they offered carrots for 7EC per pound...which is about $2.25/pound!!! EEeeeekkkkk!!! Everything else seemed reasonable. Jim told them they were "tourist" prices, but they wouldn't budge. This is the market where they really don't budge on the price, but they keep throwing in extra tomatoes, passion fruit, one or two bananas.....so really you get your money's worth...it just might not be what you wanted!! But it's all fun! The fisherman were pulling into the dock about the time we arrived with their fresh catch of the day. The one rasta told me that they went out at about 0600, to to where the birds are fishing, and caught mahi mahi and tuna. So...their day was done by 1000 that morning. I would love to post a picture of this nice guy that I talked to while Jim went and got fuel....but I'm really hesitant to ask people if I can take their picture, like they're unusual or something. But they are!! This guy was about 6'5" Rasta man with his hair wrapped in the panty part of pantyhose and a baseball cap somehow over the front of that....he had really pretty green eyes....a heavy wool long sleeved sweater on and had a very gentle voice. They tried to sell to the restaurants first since they get more money per pound since they sell them the whole fish, not just the fillets. It must be good fishing though....we saw him around two days later!
Bequia used to be an active whaling station...and they are still "allowed" to catch a whale during the whaling season between February and April. We did hear that they caught/killed a whale on our last day on the island and we were glad to be leaving before we saw any process of that entering the harbor! But this picture of the Whaleboner restaurant shows bones and vertebrae for bar stools!
All of this, kinda ironic, during the week of Earth Day on April 22nd!!On Tuesday we walked around the island with our friends from DIGNITY. We walked past the beautiful local sailing skiffs on the beach
and up to yet another fort! The views from Fort Hamilton of Admiralty Bay are just beautiful! We stopped by the local bakery on the way back to pick up the fresh bread that we smelled baking halfway to the fort. Jim and Steve had half of it gone by the time we got back to our dinghies!We spent some time snorkeling and diving. Jim and Steve experimented with Steve's HUKA....a device that has a motor/compressor that floats above the water and long tubes that allow you to breath fresh air under water.
While they went diving, I just snorkeled above and enjoyed the serenity.One night we went for drinks and Mexican food with DIGNITY and DREAMTIME. It was great fun.....still not the best Mexican food, but the drinks made up for it! Jim and I went to dinner the following night.....I took him out for doing my taxes again this year! We went to a really nice restaurant that overlooked the bay, The Gingerbread House, but we were the only patrons for dinner for the entire time!! There were a few locals that came to the bar....but not very crowded at all. After dinner we walked down the beach to listen to a Steel Pan drum band that was really good and fun to watch!
When we headed out on Saturday, we were able to sail with a beam reach from the anchorage around the SW end of the island of Bequia where there is a whole little town/development called "Moonhole".
According to Doyle's guidebook, it was developed by American architect, Tom Johnson....but there is no good road or anchorage to get to it. The houses are in the rocks and built of rocks without straight lines or angles....so when you see it it looks like it's rundown and abandoned. But I guess people live there or vacation there and are a "special sort"!We attempted to go to the SE side of Canouan...a little anchorage behind the reefs, but it was rolly with the leeside being a big cliff....so we motored back around and anchored in Charlestown Bay in Canouan.
We didn't plan to stay long in Canouan....there's a big resort on the beach and home to a Moorings charter for sailing vessels. So.....we watched the stars at night and took off early today for the Tobago Cays!Bye for now!
Comments