Exploring Bequia

For the past month and a half during the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven’t felt like writing about travel. Who even wants to hear about travel when we barely even leave our houses? Will I have to get an “immunity” passport or cancel my September vacation? I’m writing this on May 9, 2020 in the middle of sheltering-in-place in Illinois.  I have just begun to feel like sharing and “opening up” my thoughts on travel again. Maybe it’ll be another needed diversion… instead of Tiger King.

Bequia is so beguiling and quaint, ultimately what to do on Bequia is mostly relax, relax and more relax! There were things we could have partook in, but instead we elected to relax even more! The main activities we enjoyed were lounging on beautiful beaches and leisurely eating at restaurants, plus going on a marvelous excursion with Michael’s Boat Tours.

The very first morning of our week on Bequia we decided to try out the venerable Gingerbread for breakfast. We hiked down from our hotel and sat at the waterside eatery with a gorgeous view. We were advised to go to the counter to order as the waitresses were very busy. Enjoying the scenery of Admiralty Bay, we preceded to wait an hour for coffee. We found out that since we had ordered at the counter, no waitress took responsibility for getting us our food! I did have some interesting granola, but we decided to pass on coming back another morning.

Near the Gingerbread along the Belmont Walkway was the Whaleboner Restaurant and Bar, which had actual jaw bones from a whale framing the entrance and whale vertebrae for bar stools. Bequia is one of the few places in the world where limited whaling is still allowed. The International Whaling Commission classifies the island’s hunt under the regulations concerning aboriginal whaling using traditional hand-thrown harpoons. A whale is not caught every year. We did not try it, but it certainly looked cool.

Also on Belmont Walkway was our very favorite restaurant for dinner- Mac’s Pizza and Kitchen. The atmosphere at Mac’s was chill and the lobster pizza was seriously the best thing ever! Chunks of lobster everywhere. We went twice and had leftover pizza heated on our tiny stove top for breakfast the next mornings.

The last night of a vacation we usually go back to our favorite place and so we went back to Mac’s. The week we were in Bequia was the Bequia Mount Gay Music Festival and Mac’s had engaged one of the artists (Joshu) to stay for an extra night. Joshu sang jazz, the trees were covered in twinkling lights and we had a seared tuna app and a lobster pizza. Perfection!

We also taxied with our favorite taxi driver one night to the other side of the island to try Sugar Reef Restaurant for dinner. Eerily, we were the only diners for the first half an hour in the beautiful restaurant. We doubled down on lobster and had a lovely lobster soup with plenty of tender chunks of lobster and a lobster entree!

• 

• 

We were in Bequia during the Super Bowl and we found a great bar to watch it. Papa’s Bar had 7 big screen tv’s and what could be better than a warm Caribbean night and an open-air big screen (except possibly having the team you were rooting for end up actually winning)?

One of our Bequia highlights was a boat tour taken with Michael’s Boat Tours. We went along with two lovely British couples from our hotel that we got to know well (and subsequently got invited to a Brexit party that night!) along with another couple- including “Miss Hawaii Bodybuilder”. It wasn’t easy being in a swimsuit next to her, but it helped she was really sweet.

• 

• 

We were headed for the Tobago Cays, a protected marine park. As we got closer we saw a yacht, a bit bigger than our boat.

We went to nearby Mayreau Island to have lunch and explore Salt Whistle Bay.

Michael’s also runs tours that go to exclusive Mustique (where Mick Jagger has his vacation house) and several other islands. The Grenadines are fabulous in that so many small islands are close by for exploring.

One place on Bequia that we didn’t go to was the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. Initially I really wanted to visit because I am all for helping nature to make up for all the damage humans have done, but after I read about how the turtles were kept (even until they were 7 years old!) in a hot, shallow swimming pool, I decided to forgo donating any “entrance fees” to support this place. I also wish we could have rented a car to explore the island more, but we were so happy with what we did that it all was good. Who can argue with simply enjoying paradise?