We sailed south from Saint Lucia to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Saint Vincent is the largest island, and there are 32 smaller islands within the country. We skipped the big island and dropped anchor in Port Elizabeth in Bequia, which is pronounced “beh-quay”.
I’d call Bequia “cozy”. For example, here is our tour bus – a pickup truck where six cruise passengers climb into the bed. I am not kidding. But it makes sense, as no road on this 7 square mile (18 km2) island is wider than 1 1/2 lanes.
This is a lazy beach kind of tourist island, not action and adventure (altho “Pirates of the Caribbean” was filmed in St. Vincent). We started by going to the high ground, where a few old time cannons were installed back in the colonial times. There was a nice view of the port and the Silver Moon.
From there we drove to a Mount Pleasant, but not much to show you guys. You can see Saint Vincent on the horizon, and you can see the island of Mustique, where apparently many of the world’s rich and famous have villas. I don’t care about that, so there you go.
Then we crossed the island and visited the Old Hegg turtle sanctuary. It’s privately owned and focuses on hawksbill turtles. At the time we visited they had turtles ranging from newly hatched to 15 years old. Our guide explained how the water needs to be exchanged daily.
Here are some poorly done videos. The newly born turtles are very quick. The net above the babies are to stop birds from coming down and grabbing them.
Notes
- St. V uses the “Eastern Caribbean Dollar”. I had no idea such multi-country currency existed.
- Our guide kept calling the island of Saint Vincent as “the mainland”. When I lived in Hawaii that was the term for the continental USA.
- The father of Alexander Hamilton lived in Bequia for sixteen years