Our port of call is only 94 nautical miles due west from Bridgetown, Barbados, so we arrive in port at 8am instead of the scheduled 10:30am. Bunkering must have gone well. At any rate, we are up around 6am to watch a beautiful sunrise. Here are two very different views, one facing east and the other facing west. Cathy points out the fascinating light pattern in the western sky.
It’s a perfect morning to have breakfast at the Terrace Café sitting outdoors on the stern of Insignia. Steve is, of course, fascinated by the marine traffic, which is largely made up of a parade of red and white ferry boats all heading for port.
We are there for our ship’s arrival and an opportunity to observe this busy port. Lots of boats, which speaks to the fact that, besides the Island of St. Vincent, there are nine other inhabited islands among the Grenadines that make up the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Our excursion, Bequia by Sailing Catamaran, won’t begin until 10:45, so we spend from 9:00 to 10:15 at Horizons, our morning hangout. Then we change into bathing suits (which we wear under our clothes), grab beach towels that Ricarda provided us for the day, and head for Insignia Lounge to await instructions. When told to do so, we disembark the ship and walk about fifty yards to our waiting catamaran. We are very psyched for this. As mentioned above, the weather couldn’t be better, and we always love boat rides. Cathy’s hip arthritis is still giving her trouble, so this is a perfect activity.
Essentially, the 6 ½-hour excursion is made up of these elements: cruise to the Grenadine Island of Bequia (pronounced Bee’ Kway, by the way), snorkel at a place called Moonhole, sail over to Port Elizabeth and dock, wander around the town, sail ¼ mile to Princess Margaret Beach, snorkel, eat lunch, swim and relax there for three hours and sail back to Kingstown. A perfect day on a beautiful Caribbean island.
We board our catamaran (the name of which Steve never does discover) and soon we and around 55-60 others are on our way. Captain Gary is introduced by our guide Indy, which we learn later is short for Indera.
She gives us a thorough introduction to her country and today’s itinerary, as well as the required safety lecture and tour of the boat itself. She is very informative and friendly, and has a great voice that she needs in order to talk over the roar of the engine (the description of the excursion says sailing catamaran, but we never do raise the sail, much to Steve’s disappointment). Here are a few of the many tidbits of information she shares with us:
- The principal industry of this country is tourism – period. There is very little industry or tourism, and little exporting of whatever is produced or grown, except a small banana crop which is shipped to the UK, some coconuts and arrowroot.
- The country is, as she refers to it, a “Commonwealth country,” a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, begun by the British back in 1949 as their possessions gained independence.
- Nine of the Grenadine islands are inhabited, with Bequia having a population of 5,000.
- The ferries we have been seeing connect not just the Grenadines with St. Vincent, but the entire country with places like Trinidad, Barbados and other islands. It’s a two-day journey to Trinidad.
For about an hour, we just enjoy the cruise. Steve gets up to take some photos, and a lovely young lady who is assisting Indy asks if she wants her to take a picture of him. He just cannot say no to this beautiful, sweet young woman. The boat is rocking and his footing is a little sketchy, but she takes several.
He asks her for her name, and she tells him it’s J – just the letter J. Whether that is strictly so is not his to question. He chats with her for a couple of minutes. Finds out that this is indeed a full-time job for her. The catamaran tour company made a great choice to employ her. She is outgoing, a good conversationalist, very attentive to all the passengers, and has a wonderful, kind personality. A perfect job for her.
We begin to approach Bequia.
We are first to go to a spot called Moonhole. Unfortunately, the surf is too rough today for us to do any of the snorkeling called for in the tour description, but we spend a few minutes cruising around looking at all the strange houses. Indy tells us that construction of the first home began in 1962, and a family named Johnson has owned all the property and built all the houses we see. There are a total of 19 structures, and 5 of them are still open. The family still owns everything. Very unique venue, to be sure.
Next, we motor about twenty minutes to Port Elizabeth, the “capital” of Bequia. We dock and many of us spend about a half an hour just walking up and down Front Street to get a look at this adorable little village.
Back to the boat for a very short sail to Princess Margaret Beach. The British Royal Family has long had a relationship with the country, especially Princess Margaret. She owned a property on the neighboring island of Mustique, and often came over to Bequia to swim at this gorgeous beach. So, they named it after her.
Captain Gary runs the catamaran right up to the beach. A set of stairs are placed on the bow, and we all, one by one, gingerly make our way down the stairs into hip-deep warm water. Before that, snorkeling equipment is handed out to those that want it, including a blue shirt that has to be worn so that the crew can watch and keep them safe when snorkeling. We pass on the snorkeling, because even we can see that the surf is pretty rough.
But we do hustle to find a nice spot in the shade. We’re going to be here for most of the afternoon and the Caribbean sun gets the respect from us that it deserves. Cathy goes swimming immediately for about twenty minutes. The beach is perfect, but there are small stones underfoot to deal with in the water. And the dropoff is fairly steep. The water is delightful and clear and the swimming is relaxing. Steve goes in when Cathy emerges. Others go down the beach with their snorkels and flippers to the area recommended for that activity. It isn’t long before most all of them return. As it is at the Moonhole, the surf and current to too rough to engage in this activity safely.
A van arrives with lunch at 2pm, and, by then, everybody is hungry. We all get in line to receive fried chicken, broiled fish, fried banana, coleslaw, beans and rice, and mac and cheese. A really good meal. Then we just vegetate. Steve does take a couple of walks up and down the beach, just to take photos and check it out.
We each go swimming one more time before we board the boat and depart around 4:30. On the trip back to Kingstown, a frigate bird gives us a great show fishing. Steve gets a great photo of our two guides, with St. Vincent in the background.
We arrive at 5:45, right at sunset. We get a wonderful view of the sun setting behind our ship, and, in the other direction, the moon rising over the hills.
Only a few minutes after we board, we set sail for the island of Dominica, 131 nautical miles away. This has been a classic visit to a beautiful Caribbean island, full of interesting things to see and hours to relax by and be in the warm Caribbean Sea.
