We explored Port
Elizabeth and Bequia Island today.
It didn’t take long.
Bequia is an island
with obvious close connections to the sea. You can watch boats being built by hand in the traditional
way, under the palm trees on the beach, adjacent to the waterfront main
street. Bequia still has an active
whaling station but is only licensed for four harpooned whales per year so it
is seldom in use. We hired Jose
and his pick up truck to show us around.
It took about two hours to tour the hot sites.
We started with Fort
Hamilton on the top of the nearest hill, overlooking Admiralty Bay. It isn’t really a fort, more of a gun
battery. The original cannons from the 1700's are
still there and while Bequia was a British colony the French at one time held
it. The remaining cannons set up
to defend the harbour still display the Fleur-de-lis. Like many of these island
nations, the French and British exchanged the lands after various wars and if
they were not defending themselves from one another, it was from attack from
American Privateers.
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French Cannons in the Remains of a British Fort
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It Was Windy At The Top
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Next up was the sugarcane plantation. It was owned by the McIntosh Family. The Scots are well represented in Bequia and there are many "outside the family" offspring populating the island. Again, like many of the island nations, the hillsides were once covered
with sugar cane. The rum works we
visited last produced rum in 1905.
When sugar cane was no longer economically viable, Bequia
lost its main source of income.
Tourism is the only real economic generator on the island.
Next up was the Turtle
Sanctuary. A man who comes from a
long line of turtle hunters runs it.
The Hawksbill turtle is native to these waters and were nearly wiped out
as a species for their meat and shells.
The local waters have many Green turtles (the ones we saw at the Tobago
Cays) but these have fixed shells, little meat and are not native to these
waters. The owner is “giving back”
by propagating the Hawksbills and has returned 912 to the sea so far. He told us that approximately 1 in 3000
hatching's make it to adulthood so he has a long way to go.
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Turtle Hatching's
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Hawksbill Turtles
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We had a drive up to
the highest point of Bequia along an extremely narrow and steep road. The drive is not for the faint at heart
but the views of the surrounding waters and islands is worth it.
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Jose's Special Pick Up Guests
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Highest Point on Bequia
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We Asked Jose How His Brakes Were Before We Left
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Just One More Bay Shot
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We ended our tour back
at the bay and then set out for lunch at Jack’s Bar on Princess Margaret
Beach. Locals say that Princess
Margaret actually swam off the beach back in the day.
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Fish Sale on the Dock
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Salted Snapper For Sale
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Back To The Whaleboner For Beers
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Bequia Style - Fish (Mahi Mahi) & Chips at Jack's Bar
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The only place we could not see with Jose was the private retreat on the southwest part of the island. A group of Americans bought the area and built spartan, concrete houses, devoid of electricity, designed to allow eccentrics a place to get away. However, we did catch a few shots from the sea.
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Moonholes
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Built By a Bunch of Yale University Boys
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We picked up our
laundry from Miranda’s and are back on the boat and preparing for tomorrow’s
last sea bit crossing to Kingstown.
We will wave goodbye to Glen, Pam and the Blue Pearl. We have a flight back to Grenada and
then to Cancun via Miami after an overnight in St. George’s.
We will get back to
the blog when we can.
