Bequia

Position: 13°00’30.4″N 61°14’27.6″W

Heading north out of Grenada we paused at Carriacou and cleared into St. Vincent & The Grenadines on Union Island. Mustique is a private island smack in the middle of the Grenadines. Long an exclusive destination for the jet set, royalty, and aging rock stars, the island maintains a kind of friendliness for cruisers, especially, cruisers in need of a Rolex watch at short notice.

According to our cruising guide, for around $75 USD you can hang on a mooring for a couple of nights and shop until you drop. Just don’t do what a group of French cruisers did a few years ago. With a sense of égalité that in hindsight was perhaps misplaced, they wandered down the main road and onto one of the estates. Once inside, they enjoyed the pool and partied for several hours. A housekeeper eventually kicked them out. The homeowner took a dim view of their shenanigans and complained to the town council. Today exploring the island is actively discouraged.

Bequia Bound

Since none of that interested us, we left the Tobago Cays with its busy families of green turtles, and headed straight for Bequia, a favorite stopping point with every cruiser we met. It’s a pretty place that was never on anyone’s beaten path. It has a small population and good ferry links to St. Vincent. Plus, it’s quaint enough that it seems like you’re visiting a large resort – even when you’re not.

For sailors, head to Admiralty Bay, a large, well-protected harbour surrounded by Port Elizabeth, the island’s capital. Holding is good where you can find sand. It took us four tries and directions from an experienced captain to set our usually infallible anchor. You want a good set because strong gusts of wind (“Bequia Blasts”) regularly rip through the otherwise calm harbor day and night. The aptly nick-named Charterer’s Reef juts out into the harbor luring amateurs aground.

Whales

Going ashore, there are several good dinghy docks to tie up to and a concrete footpath snakes around the water’s edge linking up many colorful bars and restaurants. Such quaintness comes at a price, but it’s only about a 15% mark-up on other islands.

Bequia is a whaling island. That means it can legally capture one whale a year, as long as the fisherfolk use traditional methods. Hand-throwing harpoons is a young man’s game and most of the experienced whalers are now well into their 70s. The younger generation prefers hanging out on Facebook and seems happy letting the whaling tradition die. Yet, traditions die slowly and this year Bequia got lucky. Apparently, the island went bonkers when the first whale in years was landed. Crazy celebrations lasted over a week and the islanders made use of every part of their catch.

Turtles

There’s a Hawksbill turtle sanctuary on the island. Much diminished over the past 10 years, the sanctuary’s director told Carol and Tai that sargassum seaweed has decimated their remaining population of Hawksbills. It’s not clear that the sanctuary even has a future.

Sargassum has proliferated wildly in the past few years and is choking shorelines along the coasts of Mexico and the Caribbean. Warmer ocean temperatures and shifts in weather patterns seem the most likely culprits. Want more? When sargassum decomposes it releases hydrogen sulfide gas and there are rumours of schoolchildren dying from the fumes.

Buccaneers

On a brighter note, we caught up with our Backstreet Buccaneer friends Ellen and Tisch from Miclo III and Carolyn and Andrew from Askari. Both boats showed up on our AIS and it wasn’t long before we were in the bar celebrating Ellen’s birthday. We slept in late the following morning.

Here are a few photos to give you a flavor of Bequia:

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