The passage between St. Vincent and St. Lucia in unsettled weather can be an uncomfortable ride with gusty winds and lumpy seas. Thus, many cruisers hang out in adorable Bequia, just south of St. Vincent, waiting for a weather window to travel north. This is where Daggers Down finds herself.
In addition, other cruisers come to Bequia to stay for months at a time, because of its friendly people, lush landscape, eateries and bars, and the many cruiser activities. As indicated by the number of women at ladies’ coffee, we have reunited with many of our prior cruiser friends and met new ones. Furthermore there are numerous boats that we anchored near up and down the island chain in previous years.
Cruiser Activities
Ladies’ Coffee was held on Thursday at Sugar and Spice at 0930.
Other cruiser activities but not all inclusive:
- Beach parties
- Game times (Dominos, Farckle, etc.)
- Happy hours
- Hikes
- Island Tours
- Lunch/Dinner excursions
- Monday dinghy drifts
- Pub crawls
- Snorkeling
- Sunday Fundays: float by the beach.
Moke Exploration
One of the first times we stayed in Bequia we took a lovely tour of the island with a 6th generation local. See Bequa: A Mystical Elixir. The tour was great, and we learned a lot about the flora and history of the island.
However, lately I had been wanting to rent a car to explore the island at our own pace, but I had not seen any rental car places. So, I decided to reach out to Daffodil Marine Services as she has the pulse of the island. She indicated that she had a Moke (slang for donkey in the UK) that we could rent for $100 EC ($37 US) a day. She was upfront that it was a little rough looking, but indicated it would get us wherever we wanted to go. The price was right; so we decided to take it for a spin.
Firefly Estate
After ladies’ coffee, we began our journey towards the northeast side of the island. Our first stop was at Firefly Estate because we had heard so much about it. The grounds were indeed gorgeous, and I lucked out because Cuz John received a conference call while we were there. Thus, I got to relax, enjoy the scenery, and drink a mimosa!
Northeastern Bays
As we continued north passing Spring Bay, Industry Bay and Park Bay we were awed by the view of the turquoise water, the cute houses on the hillsides, and the many palm trees.
Grenadine Wild Sea Salt
We tried to stop at the Grenadine Wild Sea Salt, but when we poked our heads in, we were informed that this season they don’t open until December. We have heard they offer lovely salt-tasting dinners, but I guess that will be for another day.
Friendship Bay: The Sand Bar
We drove back through town southward to Friendship Bay. We had hoped to tour the Bequia Heritage Museum, but it was only open on MWF from 1000-1300. Nevertheless, we discovered The Sand Bar and decided to get a bite to eat while admiring the beautiful white sand beach and clear blue water. I had some tasty coconut shrimp. The breeze was spectacular, and I could have relaxed in one of the beach chairs for the afternoon, but the guys were antsy to move further south to Paget Farm where the fishing boats were located, and the whalers wait during whale season.
Bequia Heritage Museum
Since we didn’t get to tour the museum, we decided to rent the Moke for the next day, which was Friday. A group of cruisers also had decided to meet up at Firefly Estate for lunch. This sounded like a good day’s agenda.
We arrived at the Bequia Heritage Museum just as it was opening at 1000.
“The Museum complex at St. Hillary now comprises two buildings with interrelated exhibits.
The spacious, airy Boat Museum (opened in November 2013) explores Bequia’s famed maritime history, including boat-and shipbuilding and whaling. It also includes a traditional Amerindian dug-out canoe…. Next door, the newly completed air-conditioned Annexe, with its fine display of Amerindian pottery and artefacts almost all found on Bequia, together with a selection of items dating from the European period of Bequia’s settlement, including a collection of bottles retrieved from Admiralty Bay, expands on and completes the unique arc of Bequia’s 1700 year history.” (A Brief History of Bequia, https://www.bequiatourism.com/history.htm#heritagemuseum )
However, the best part of the exhibit was chatting with two of the local ladies who manned the museum. They had grown up with the whaling industry and had fond memories of the fanfare, that still exists today, whenever a whale was caught. When they were children, everyone would gather on the small island nearby and it was a festive event.
The island is now limited by the number of whales they can harpoon a year. In addition, they must use traditional boats with sails, and they can no longer export whale oil. Nevertheless, whaling is still a big part of their culture, and they continue to use EVERY part of the whale. So, while I hope to never see them harpoon a whale, I do respect their heritage and learned a lot from the ladies.
Cruisers’ Lunch at Firefly Estate
We enjoyed our lunch with some of our cruiser buddies, except that even though we had reservations and we were the only people there, it took 2.5 hours to get our food, eat and pay. They were nice enough to split the tickets, but it took some coaxing. One must always remember that island time is REAL. Nevertheless, the food was delicious, and the company was even better!
We had planned to go up the “fort” for the view and do some grocery shopping, but after the long lunch, we decided that it was time to head back to the boat for a nap instead!
Thanks, Daffodil, for the use of the Moke. We enjoyed our leisurely tour immensely.
Snorkeling
Since it looked like the weather wouldn’t settle until after Thanksgiving, we were taking full advantage of the beautiful clear water to snorkel. As seen in the prior post Underwater World of Grenadines November 2025—Pictorial, we were learning to spot and play with octopi as well as enjoy the other fish and coral of the reef. I thought I’d share a few more pictures. Can you find the ones with the octopi in their hidey holes?
The underwater life can be mesmerizing! The fish here are active and fun to watch.
If we must hang out in Bequia waiting on the weather, I can handle that! There is so much to do and see, and we have lots of friends here. So what’s not to like? We are in a state of bliss!
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend as the Holiday Season begins. Soon we are moving north. Feel free to use the form below to sign up for blog email notifications or you might miss a piece of our adventure!
