Bequia

The Grenadines are a chain of about 600 islands, islets, cays and rocks covering 17 sq.miles / 44 sq.km and extend for 62 miles / 100 km south like a series of unaligned stepping stones from St Vincent to Grenada.

The island nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines comprises thirty-two separate islands and is located in this group, 100 miles / 161 km west of Barbados, 21 miles / 34 km south of St Lucia and 60 miles / 97 km north of Grenada. The main islands are Bequia, Canouan, Mustique, Palm Island, Petit St Vincent, Mayreau, Isle D’Quatre and Union Island. All the Grenadines have soft white coral sand beaches and clear waters, ideal for snorkelling and diving and provide the best sailing waters in the Western Hemisphere and arguably the world.

St Vincent is the largest of the island group, 17.5 miles / 28 km in length and 10.5 miles / 17 km wide, with a mountainous, heavily cultivated interior and a rugged coast-line dotted with volcanic black sand beaches. An active, but currently dormant, volcano is located near its north end.

Bequia, the second largest island, lies 9 miles / 14.5 km southwest of St Vincent. It is about 5 miles / 8 km long and 0.5 miles / 0.8 km wide and looks quite different from St Vincent, having rounded hills rather than mountains. There is a large difference between the coastlines on either side of the island: the windward (west) side is very rocky, while the leeward (east) side has many bays, most of them having white sand beaches.

The highest point of the island is at 900ft / 274m. The large natural harbour of Admiralty Bay is a popular yacht anchorage. Hills and beaches of white sand alternate around the Bay, with exposed rock cliffs along the southern edge.

Bequia offers a paradise complete with quiet lagoons, beautiful reefs and long stretches of near-deserted beaches. Small, beautifully lush and on the quiet side, Bequia has its own unique culture. The atmosphere is very West Indian and the inhabitants, who enjoy a comfortable standard of living, are friendly and polite.

Known as Becouya in the 17th century, Bequia is the northernmost, and largest, of the Grenadines, a chain of islands that comprises the southern portion of the nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines and stretches some sixty miles between the main island of St Vincent to the north and Petit St Vincent to the south. Located at latitude 13° north and longitude 61° 15′ west, the island has an area of 7 sq.miles / 18 sq.km and is rather hilly and green with white sandy beaches.

Bequia remains one of the most unspoilt and natural of all the Caribbean islands with a population that numbers just under 5,000. The island was once a busy center for whaling and boat building and Bequia still retains its traditions and skills based on the sea. Sailors have long known Bequia as one of the premier sailing and cruising destinations of the Grenadines and the Eastern Caribbean. The superb anchorages, coupled with the traditional nautical lifestyle, attract yachts of every size and description from around the world. The sailing season culminates in the annual Easter Regatta.

Bequia is one of the last Caribbean islands to retain its old-world charm. Not for us the mega-tourist resorts, high-rise hotels, timeshares, shopping malls, fast food restaurants, high crime rates or crowds. Bequia still retains its 1960’s flavour and small island friendliness. There aren’t any traffic lights or no-parking signs. The beaches are really empty like you see in the travel brochures. You don’t have to get up at 4 am to save a beach chair. You feel safe. By the second day you won’t have to tell the taxi driver where you are staying; he will already know you. By the end of the week you will have friendships that could last a lifetime. You will want to come again next year. Bequia… because…

A Potted History of Bequia

Human life on Bequia dates back thousands of years, although the written history of the island only began in the 16th century, a short while before Europeans made the island one of their colonies. The island is believed to have been discovered and inhabited as long as 7,000 years ago by the Ciboney, a race of primitive hunter-gatherers, who came in small craft from South America.

About the time of Christ, the Arawaks, who originated in the Orinoco Basin area of South America and migrated northward throughout the Antilles, displaced the Ciboney. The Arawaks were a peaceful people who were accomplished at agriculture and pottery.

Around 1400 AD the Arawaks were overrun by the warlike Island Caribs (hence the name Caribbean for the area), who named the island Becouya, meaning Island of Clouds. Many petroglyphs chronicle the history of the Arawaks and the Caribs and examples of these artefacts can be viewed in the St Vincent National Museum. In 1675, a slave ship sunk in the Bequia/St Vincent channel; some slaves managed to reach St Vincent and Bequia and the consequent intermarriages resulted in the Black Caribs. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Caribs fought off European explorers many times, causing them to give up on the area for a while. In the early 1700’s however, the French became interested in St Vincent and, after taking it over, sent a group of French small-holders to Bequia to make their first settlement, raising indigo, lime, cotton and sugar.

In 1763, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the French lost St Vincent and the Grenadines to the English, who were then also in control of Bequia. During the next decade there were a couple of attempts by the French to regain control of the island, but they failed. The British allowed the existing French settlers to continue cultivating their land — however, as always, the British elite got the lion’s share, with the leftovers going to English, Irish and Scottish poor white settlers.

Between 1763 to the mid-1800’s, sugar was the major crop under cultivation and, over the next 70 years, several sizeable plantations and numerous small holdings were developed by a population of around 1,400 people, of whom 86% were slaves. After that point the sugar industry was in decline; and once the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 had been passed making the the plantations no longer profitable, many estate owners returned to England. Those who remained turned to the sea to make a living.

Bequia is a small island with a superb natural harbour and richly stocked waters. It follows that inter-island trading had been in place for centuries, together with supporting crafts such as boat-building, navigation and fishing, including whaling. In 1875 William Thomas Wallace Jr. — known as Old Bill — formally introduced whaling to Bequia after working on one of the Yankee whaleboats that came to the Caribbean chasing humpback whales. He set up the first shore-based whaling station at Friendship Bay. One of his boats The Iron Duke still exists today and can be found in Lower Bay. Shortly afterwards, the Ollivierres followed suit in 1880 with the still-functioning whaling station on Petit Nevis.

Under international agreement, St Vincent & the Grenadines has been granted aboriginal whaling rights by the International Whaling Commission because it is considered a true cultural tradition. Bequian whalers are legally allowed to harpoon no more than two whales per year, although this rarely occurs today.

Whaleboat-building was the impetus for the rapid development of a thriving industry making boats of all sizes; from 28′ whaleboats to large inter-island schooners. The industry continued up to 1990, with boat and ship building in Bequia dominating over the rest of the Grenadines. Descendants of the boat builders and shipwrights are still building boats on Bequia today, employing skills and methods that have remained unchanged for generations. Boat building remains an honoured calling, whether life-size or in miniature, using tools and techniques that have been passed down from one generation to the next.