Bequia – Picture Perfect

Bequia is a pretty little island. Even the Pizza Hut is pretty!We didn’t stay long in Bequia (pronounced Beck-way) just a couple of days.

Although it is a busy little harbor there is no fueling dock.
However there is THIS guy!

He just pulls up alongside you and you fill your tanks, drop off your laundry and if so inclined, fill your water tanks.
Our water on Knot Anchored is stupendous so we didn’t but as for laundry – hell ya!

People swimming, dogs chillaxing and directions from whence you came.

This place is cool – off the grid.
There’s a common room where you can sit on big round rattan chairs reading, napping having a drink.
I feel like people come here for solitude.

There’s a great view overlooking the harbor mainly due to the very steep hill it’s perched on!

This is the view from the bottom of the hill.
Beach right there – nice beach too.

There is more to Bequia but that’s all we got to.
I’d say if you want a quaint, colorful off the beaten path kinda place to visit. Come here.
There’s more to it we just scratched the surface.

As we were leaving Bequia we came across this very cool place carved into the rocks.

Built in the 1960’s by a guy who had no architectural experience at all, MoonHole is a kind of a commune.

This couple from the US came to run another hotel, found this side of the island, had a picnic there and decided to buy it and build a campground.

The campground turned into 17 houses on 35 acres.
No roads just gravel paths from one spot to the next.

There are 6 houses you can rent and the cost is not astronomical.
Check it out – MoonHole.

One of the most scenic places we’ve been to coming down island is the Whaling Station Island.

As you come in to the left you see what looks like a white gravel beach.

It’s actually a conch graveyard.

You find find these everywhere!
Poor little suckers, never stood a chance! That’s what you get for being a big claw with one eye I guess.

I enjoy a conch fritter as much as the next person but also hope they aren’t being farmed into extinction.
It’s kind of eerie to be snorkeling along and see one after another of these shells with the hole in the top (meaning it’s empty).

This place has a lot of history. It is absolutely postcard-errific!

We found a path and followed it along.

The whale hunt here has been going on for well over 100 years.
Back in the day when a whale was captured it was not in vain as it fed an entire village and the hunters were, well, heroes.

Such a pretty island. Guess it had to be done somewhere other than the mainland.
I can’t imagine the process.

These hunters would watch for the water spouts coming through the pass.
Signal the people down below with mirrors on the location of the whale and everyone would spring into action.

They jumped into their sailboats – yes, sailboats, approached the whale in transit adjusted their sails to position themselves between the head and tail then harpooned the whale from around 6-8 feet.
HARPOONED.

This reminds me of the Inuit’s and Native people up north.
They had to live right?
Certainly was no unfair advantage SAILING alongside and then harpooning – wow.

That said this is a dying tradition.
For a number of reasons.

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see a whale personally you will know they are majestic creatures.
We were lucky enough to see one so close (4ft from the boat) and let me tell you it is a game changer.

Whaling is still happening here.
It’s the last place in the Americas to allow it and the go ahead is only good til next year I think.
Who knows what will happen then.

People argue it’s tradition.
Using power boats and cellphones wasn’t tradition other’s argue back.
Men used to club women over the head and pull them by there hair back to their caves but we don’t do that anymore.