Our first night on Bequia was at Gingerbread. We stayed just one night in an upstairs room with a king sized four poster bed. Beautiful views of Admiralty Bay. Lots of mosquitos, though. More than we’d seen yet. Rotis for lunch at the Green Boley. Yum. We walked around town after lunch. Dinner at Gingerbread. I had fish curry, Russ had the fish special. He thought his was overcooked. I enjoyed all the various flavors of the dipping sauces that came with the curry dish. We slept under the mosquito net that night and awoke to find half a dozen fat and happy mosquitos right in there with us.
Next day we wandered through town a bit, and then were picked up by Fat Man to take us to our new home on Lower Bay. We had heard good things about Keegans, and the kindness of the proprietor, Smitty/Messenja. Russell really likes AC when he can get it, so we requested the apartment above Smitty’s residence. It was clean and comfortable with nice views of the bay from the balcony and only steps from the beautiful beach at lower bay. We walked along the beach that first day and had lunch at Keegan’s. That night we headed into the village of lower bay for dinner. We were somewhat lost. I was looking for Dawn’s Creole and with some guidance from a local managed to find it. We didn’t have reservations, so when we showed up she said we were welcome for dinner if we wanted what she had. We asked what she had, and she said Conch. We said let’s have conch. It was one of the best meals yet. And it was our first taste of chistophene which I thought was great. For dessert we had ice cream with what seemed like rum soaked raisins. Dawn’s was a great meal and experience. They treated us great.
The next day we called Fat Man and he took us over to the Turtle Sanctuary. We found Brother King’s commitment to this project to be amazing. I scratched the back of Busy Body, and got her to splash at me. After about an hour with Brother King, we walked back along the beach at Industry and then along to Spring Bay. We saw our first iguana along the road there. We called Fat Man for pickup at Spring Bay and he took us into town. We saw our Marbles skipper, Neal and chatted with him a bit. He introduced us to “Mr Bush” who does all the landscaping there along the Belmont Walkway. I'm sure his name is not really Mr. Bush, but it's a joke between the two of them, so we just went along with it and he laughed as we called him Mr. Bush on all our subsequent encounters. We went to Salty Dog for a very nice lunch and then went back to the taxi circle and just watched the people around us for an hour or so. It was a Friday afternoon and there was a lot of activity with people running to catch the ferry to St. Vincent. We wandered through the various shops and eventually hitched a ride with Fat Man back to Lower Bay. A wedding was taking place on the beach. Smitty made reservations for us at Coco’s for dinner, and when we arrived, the wedding reception was there in full swing. The large party slowed the service down for us, but the food was excellent, and we didn’t really care, we were on island time.
The next day, Saturday, we took the trail to Princess Margaret Beach and then walked all the way into town. It was real quiet in town compared to the day before. We wondered where everyone went. We bought an ice cream, walked around, and went back to sit under our favorite tree in the taxi circle and watched what little activity was going on. Back to Lower Bay that night for the Saturday night mingle BBQ at Keegan’s. Nice turnout of locals, and watching the karaoke was really fun. Russ had pig tail and I had chicken, and we stayed late into the night.
We were up early the next morning to see Willy. We’d heard about his handmade jewelry while on the sailboat, and although he came out to see us while we were moored in the harbor, it was pouring rain and we didn’t get a look at his wares. We sort of knew where he lives, and Fat Man told him to expect us, so off we went that morning back over the hill down Princess Margaret Beach. He and his family were getting ready for church, but he let us look at his hand carved pieces. Nice stuff. I bought a couple things. Then we were back to loaf at PMB for the rest of the morning. We made our way back to Keegan’s for lunch – shark – and settled up with Smitty. He and some friends were all heading to St. Vincent for the night for a big karaoke event. Even Fat Man was leaving. Smitty said not to worry, he arranged a new driver for us, and made reservations for us for dinner at Mac’s Pizzeria. Lobster pizza that night, our last night in Bequia, and it was delicious.
Next morning we were up early for the 6:30 ferry to SV. When we arrived in SV, we were surprised to see Fat Man waiting for us, and then Smitty. They introduced us to our new driver, Trembler, and we said goodbyes all over again. We spent 2 hours on a tour of St. Vincent. Our new guide was informative, and took us to the fort and to the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. He took us through several lush valleys and pointed out lots of fruits and veggies. Then our long journey home began.
American Airlines had cancelled flights on us twice, so we had a very awkward journey home. We flew from SV to St. Lucia (stopping in Barbados on the way). We had an afternoon in St. Lucia in the Rodney Bay area and spent the night at Coco Palms. Dinner at Ti Banane was very good. St. Lucia seemed so commercialized compared to where we’d been the previous couple weeks. Next morning we flew to San Juan and had all afternoon in Old San Juan staying the night at El Convento. Tapas and Mojitos that night. Yum. Next morning the final leg of our return trip began. San Juan to Dallas, and then a non-stop from Dallas to Santa Barbara. Back to reality! Again, thanks to many of you here for your words of advice. This was our 3rd trip to the caribbean, and it was by far the best trip we've ever experienced.
