The sun rose over the Grenadines at 6:10 a.m. There was a sharp northeast wind blowing and the waves were cresting and breaking with white foam. Last night’s film Round Cape Horn by Irwin Johnson came immediately to mind as the wind this morning was singing loudly as it rushed through our riggings. The captain dropped anchor in Admiralty Bay at 7:29 a.m. facing the lovely village of Port Elizabeth, our immediate destination. We boarded our tenders and landed in Port Elizabeth after a brief ride. There we boarded our covered pickup trucks for our visit to this lovely isle.
Bequia was settled first by the Taino and then Carib Indians. Scots were brought over quite early as indentured servants in some considerable numbers in the early 18th century and they have remained here. The demographics of Bequia is thus unlike many of the other islands we have visited with a substantial Euro-American population. Like all the islands we have visited, however, the races did mix and there is now a rainbow of racial colors all living harmoniously.
Our first stop this morning was the turtle sanctuary of “Brother” Orton King. “Brother King,” a former commercial turtle fisherman, had a conversion experience and realized that overfishing was destroying the turtles, fish, and reefs, which he knew and loved as a child. He vowed to help serve the turtles and so began to raise recently hatched hawksbill and green turtles in pools. He and his assistant wait until the baby turtles are hatched and about to head for the sea. They then gather them and bring them to the sanctuary. They remain in his sanctuary pools until they are five years old when he releases them. To date he has released 900 plus turtles. This year he expects to see his first mature adults return to lay their eggs. He receives no government support for his work and as a result Lindblad Expeditions has elected to support his efforts.
We then drove to the north side of the island to an early defensive battery named Fort Hamilton, where there is a battery today of five 18th century canons (four English and one French). The fort has an association with Alexander Hamilton, the first treasurer of the United States and a native of the Caribbean. There our lovely lady guides regaled us with local Bequian folk songs about whaling and local characters. On being dropped off at the main street (the only main street!) we were on our own. The street was ringed with small tables selling all sorts of local handicrafts. Some visited the lovely Anglican Church built in 1824. The two principal religions on this island of 6,000 are Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism.
Our final stop is always a hit—Jack’s Bar. This famous place sits directly on Princess Margaret Bay and has to be one of the most idyllic spots in all the Caribbean. There we enjoyed all sorts of fruit punches and some I am told had rum in them! The water in the bay was just right, neither too cold nor hot, and the color a clear crystalline coral blue crystalline blue. I swam out about 400 yards and still could easily see the bottom 25 feet below.
Tonight we had the captain’s farewell dinner and drinks on the lido deck beginning at 6:00 and elegant meal in the dining room following. Max put together everyone’s slides and they were running continuously on the lido deck screen. The wind picked up as we sailed onto our destination of Barbados.
Despite the festivities of the last night, I am also a bit saddened, as I have to say goodbye to some wonderful new friends. So let me end with until we meet under a clear sky and a fair following sea.
