Travel Blog: Bequia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines

For our first visit to this island, and the Grenadines in general, we decided to take a tour that would give us an overview of the land and the culture, so we chose the 'Scenes of Bequia' excursion. And it isn't Bek-wee-a, it is Bek-way, if you want to fit in when you visit...

This is a small island, so close to St. Vincent that you can see Kingstown, the capital, very clearly from Port Elizabeth, the main, and as far as we could see, only town on the island of 7 square miles in size. Our tender pier was also the terminal of the ferry service that runs to Kingstown a few times a day. Like many towns on Caribbean islands, the main roads are Front Street and Back Street. While waiting for our tour, we walked along Front Street and found a few shops, restaurants, and the first church on the island.

Couldn't resist this one - Pizza Hut needs to update
it's corporate identity!

We set out in our covered pickup trucks with 6 of us and our guide in the open area in the back. It was actually quite a comfortable ride, although the guys had to duck when climbing in, and find a good way to tuck their longer legs out of the way.

Our first stop was at Mount Pleasant, from which we could see the neighboring island of Mustique, famous for the famous people who have homes there, one of whom was Princess Margaret. She had visited Bequia in the 1950s and had swum at one of the beaches in Admiralty Bay, so it was renamed in her honour.

While we were at Mount Pleasant, the guides for each truck became very excited when one of our fellow guests told them that he had been in St. Vincent on a very auspicious occasion. In 1969, St. Vincent and the Grenadines was granted 'associated statehood' by Britain, but 10 years later, on October 27, 1979, the country gained full independence. This gentleman on our cruise had been on the British warship that was on hand for the ceremony and had been there, in his full dress uniform, when the Union Jack was lowered and St. Vincent and the Grenadine's own flag was hoisted for the first time. Now, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is still a member of the Commonwealth, with King Charles III as the current monarch, and a Governor General representative, but this had been such an event that all of the guides wanted to have their photos taken with this man.

After leaving Mount Pleasant, we drove past some old coconut plantations to reach the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary.

On the way to Old Hegg, we passed a few nice coves and beaches.
There are some beautiful homes here, built by Americans,
Brits and even a few Canadians.

The Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary was created over 25 years ago by a family that wanted to make sure the Hawksbill Turtles didn't end up extinct as they were already on the endangered list. There are a few beaches on Bequia where the females come to lay their eggs, so the Sanctuary staff goes to the beaches when the turtles hatch and pick up as many of the hatchlings as they can. They return them to the tanks at the sanctuary where they are raised until the age of about 5 years and are released into the sea. If left to nature, only about 1 in 100 hatchlings survive, but with the help of Old Hegg, about 10 percent make it.

The son of Orton King, the man who started the sanctuary. It is
still his passion to save the Hawksbills.

After the turtle sanctuary, we visited the Firefly Resort for a refreshing drink. This is a small hotel up in the hills right beside a salt producer. There, they take sea water and evaporate it into salt, with added flavourings of all kinds.

Our final stop on the tour was the Hamilton Battery and lookout. This was the highest point near the town and was manned in turn by French and British cannons. These were strewn all over the hill, and eventually the government decided to collect them and create a historical spot at the top of the hill overlooking Admiralty Bay.