We had a very nice sail, and made good time to the beautiful Island of Bequia (pronounced, beck-way) .  Bequia is part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  It is one of the Grenadines and a holiday destination to St. Vincentians and cruisers alike! From the picturesque town of Port Elizabeth, to the white sand beaches of Princess Margaret Beach and Lower Bay, to the small boutique resorts,  to upscale and downscale shops, to the wide variety of restaurants, to the many roadside veggie vendors selling luscious produce from the equally luscious big island of St. Vincent, to hikes or short open-air taxi rides to various points of interest, to snorkeling at Devil’s Table, tiny Bequia is truly a jewel among the Grenadines as the green diamonds in the St. Vincent flag are meant to symbolize!

We motored into the north side of Admiralty Bay past the sherbet colored homes of the fishing village, Hamilton.  Hamilton is so named because it developed on land granted to the British family of James Hamilton (father of one of the United States of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton) who settled there from St. Kitts & Nevis in the 1760s as one of the so-called “poor settlers”. This little Bequia/American history lesson was made possible because of an excursion we took with new friends to the top-notch Bequia Heritage Museum early on during our stay in Bequia ! 

We looked for a good spot to anchor on the north side of Admiralty Bay, but it was crowded.  Many of the boats over there were members of the Salty Dawgs Sailing Association, a friendly group of which some friends of ours are members.  One of these friends, Lynn Hoenke on S/V Roxy, is on the board of directors of the Salty Dawgs and was organizing a lot of fun activities for their “Caribbean Rendezvous”.  She graciously gave an open invitation to anyone in the harbor to any of their events.  We participated in a handful of the “rendezvous”  happenings during our first few days anchored in Admirilty  .

Due to the crowd, we chose an anchoring spot closer to the south side of the bay and are in that same area today!  As soon as we dropped the hook, I dove to see if we were set well, and I was rewarded with a sighting of a beautiful spotted eagle ray!

Our anchoring choice put us “next door” to old sailing friends, Annemarie and Steve on S/V Freebooter and in the same “neighborhood” as Heinz and Margrit, old friends we had connected with earlier this season in Grenada!  Soon after, our friends, Nick and Amanda on S/V Ernestina showed up and joined the “neighborhood” and the socializing!

Some of our social activities gave us a little exercise as did “noodling” (water aerobics with pool noodles, a cruiser favorite)! We were led by Steve…

Margrit provided the humor, and

we all enjoyed this morning-time activity!

Our time in Bequia always has us eating out way more than usual!  There are so many friends and so many places to get dinner with them!   Before we ever enjoyed any of the many Salty Dawg activities, we were invited to dinner at The Porthole with Lynn and her husband Mark with whom we’ve been communicating for years on the “Coconut Telegraph” every morning on the single sideband radio.  Before Nick and Amanda along with their Norwegian guests sailed on their way, we had a nice dinner out with them at one of our most frequented spots, Mac’s!  Although I fell down on the job of photographically documenting all our many get togethers during our time in Bequia, the fact that very little grocery shopping has taken place on this holiday island attests to the many dinners out, pot-luck style sundowners, and beach BBQs with many different friends and acquaintances at different locations and on various boats!

The first Salty Dawg event we attended was the trip to the Bequia Heritage Museum where we also learned about the whaling tradition which is so important to this island.

Because of learning that there are several fresh water wells scattered on this tiny island, I was able to identify one at a little hole-in the-wall place accessed through a narrow alley-way where we like to eat called Sweety Bird’s.

If you’re like Margrit, you may prefer coconut water to well water as refreshment.

Our Easter celebration didn’t turn out as we expected, but it was very special!  We planned to meet some of our friends at St. Mary The Virgin’s Anglican Church at the time we noted posted on the sign out in front of the church, but when we got there, the last parishioners were just getting ready to leave.  Knowing that Steve was a leader of our VHF radio church services during the pandemic lock down which we all experienced together in Martinique, I suggested that we have our own service at the church. 

The local parishioners graciously let us borrow some hymnals and prayer books and stayed around to join us in our impromptu Resurrection Sunday service to which a few other boaters trickled in due to the incorrect information on the sign.  We sang, had Bible readings, and prayed together!

As we were leaving, we were offered prints to take with us of the beautiful artwork at the front of the sanctuary, “Our Lady Of The Seas” & “St. Vincent Of Saragossa”.  I will treasure them, always!

After church and a post-church coffee social with friends at the nearby restaurant, Marie’s, we encountered some kids enjoying their Easter Sunday down at the town dock.  The little boys were not shy about asking for a ride on our dinghy, and Captain Mark was amenable to the idea.  Big sis asked if she could also come along, and we took a short little spin out around the Bequia-built, wooden ship, Friendship Rose, before dropping them back off at the dock and heading back to Nancy Lu!  What fun!!  If we thought our Easter Sunday festivities were over for the day, we were happily mistaken!  Not long after we got home, we got a call from Annemarie and Steve to meet them along with Heinz and Margrit over on Freebooter for more coffee, tea, and sweets!  This had always been the plan, but since we were joined for church by other boaters, we all went for post-church coffee together.  I was very glad to get some delicious coffee aboard Freebooter because the iced coffee I ordered at Marie’s was truly lacking!  I quickly mixed up some of my watermelon lemonade to share, and we popped on over.  We all stayed and visited so long that reservations were made with The Open Deck restaurant and a water taxi to transport us for dinner!  For this extroverted introvert, this was QUITE a day! But I have such fond memories, and that is why I wanted to record it all here even though I know it is probably TMI !! 

Easter holiday festivities continued on through Monday.  We experienced only a tiny fraction of what was going on on land.  The St. Vincent to Bequia ferries were extra busy and the town was hopping!  Things calmed down on Tuesday and have been moving at a steadily slower pace since then as the high season for tourism is winding down.

I’ll close this blog update with some pictures from the waterfront of beautiful Port Elizabeth.  BTW, this main port town of Bequia was renamed when Princess Elizabeth visited many years ago!  Also, Tony Gibbons Beach was renamed Princess Margaret Beach after her visit to Bequia…

My favorite is passion fruit! Mark’s is nutmeg.

 

morning view from under the shade of an almond tree…

 

leaf from an almond tree

 

These men and boys are eating mangos where the cleaning up is easy!