Link to a few photos:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/8557860@N04/3F38Y9Trip Report – June 13-27, 2007
I won’t bore you with details regarding air travel, you’ve all heard the horror stories of late. Let’s just say that the merger of LIAT with Caribbean Sun/Star is not a good thing. If it’s possible, the service has gotten worse, and now with only one airline servicing the Grenadines, there is no competition…so expect higher fares, fewer flights, more frustration. We flew through San Juan…and probably won’t do so again if we don’t have to.
We began our trip at Beachcomber’s Hotel on St. Vincent. We just love this place, the staff there is so nice, it’s become part of our extended family. We’ve always met interesting and kind people around their beach bar, and this time was no exception. Our first day, we went into Kingstown on the dollar bus (a cultural experience we relish each time) and shopped at the market. The sights and sounds of the market are wonderful. We stopped in at Cable & Wireless and bought a pre-paid GSM cell phone so we’d be able to call around the Caribbean (our Cingular cell phones were worthless – why isn’t the US on the GSM network like the rest of the world?!?!)
After 2 nights on St. Vincent, we traveled to Mayreau on the M/V Barracouda, AKA the Mailboat. It’s not a bad way to travel. It’s slow, as we found out…there are 2 engines on board, but only one works (it’s island time) and we had an interesting and fun time traveling. We admired Canouan from the deck, and were tempted to get off there, but had it in our minds to go on to Mayreau. The fare from St. Vincent to Mayreau was only $35 EC.
We hiked up the hill to Dennis’ Hideaway. Dennis is an interesting guy…very accommodating, and the rooms there are pretty nice and have a/c. We enjoyed the gardens, the restaurant and bar at Dennis’. We hiked over the hill to Saltwhistle Bay. Wow, all of the hype is justified. What a beautiful beach – and we had it mostly to ourselves. We stopped into the Saltwhistle Bay Club for a drink, which was a mistake. We found the staff there to be rude and aloof, so we moved on pretty quickly. Of course, while we were there, it had gotten dark and we forgot the flashlight. The cell phone came in handy when we called Curtis Taxi to come pick us up for a ride back to Dennis’.
We ended up staying at Dennis’ place for three nights. The food was very good, and the staff was wonderful. They packed us a cooler with sandwiches and cold Hairouns to take to the Tobago Cays for the day. We had Patrick water taxi take us out to Petite Bateau for the day. We were shipwrecked on the island for the day, which was amazing. The island had great snorkeling on one side, and a nice beach on the other. There was actually a hammock strung up between two trees. It was like a real life Corona commercial! Periodically one of the boat vendors or water taxi guys would come ashore for a break in the shade or to check on us, which was nice. We decided that neither of us could think of a nicer day we’ve ever spent anywhere. Patrick came back to get us right at 5:00 pm as planned. We showered at Dennis’ and walked up to have dinner at Robert’s Righteous.
Robert is a Rastafarian and wonderful and charming guy who spent a lot of time with us (it’s the slow season now). His ramshackle restaurant and bar is a very fun place. As dinner went on, the bar filled with yachties coming up from Saltwhistle Bay or Saline Bay. Robert had some local kids in who set up a drumming circle and people were dancing and having a good time.
After three days at Dennis’, we decided to hit the open seas again. We flirted with the idea of going to Union, but decided against it…we were both anxious to get to Bequia on Thursday for jump-up.
Back to the mailboat (early) in the rain. Rain, rain, rain, and lots of it. It rained the entire way back to St. Vincent (letting up long enough for us to run into town and pick up lunch and use the ATM). A quick ride on the Bequia Express and we were back on Bequia.
At the ferry dock in Bequia, it really started to downpour. We got soaked looking for a taxi (why is it when it rains, they’re scarce?!?) who would take us to Lower Bay. We stayed at Keegan’s for 2 nights. We really liked Keegan’s. The rooms are simple, but functional, like most SVG hotels. There’s a hot shower and a cold fridge, which seem like luxuries when you’re in the Grenadines. The room rate was only $60 bucks and we had lower bay pretty much to ourselves while we were there. We had stopped at the Rasta Market and picked up some fresh fruit, so we had a “carpet picnic” in the mornings since food offerings at Keegan’s were limited (we were their only guests at the time).
There is a new restaurant/bar being built just up the road from Keegan’s in Lower Bay. It looks like it’s about 75% done. One of the owners is the German guy who runs Lina’s coffee shop (next to RBTT bank) in Port Elizabeth. It looks like it’s going to be a nice place. Should open up in time for the season.
We ate both at Dawn’s Beach Bar (grilled cheese and creole chicken!) and at De Reef on Sunday afternoon (BBQ chicken and fish!). Loved both places very much. Coco’s is still closed – looks like for renovations of some kind.
After 2 nights at Lower Bay, we decided to try life on the Belmont Walkway, so we checked into the Frangipani. LOVED IT. Great room, excellent staff, wonderful service. We really liked being so close to walk everywhere. We checked in at Handy Andy’s each day (we referred to his place as “Headquarters”) and checked e-mail and let friends and family know we were alive and well. Andy is a nice guy and has been helpful to us both times we’ve been in Bequia. He has a real love of Bequia and talked about some of the recent political issues we’re heard about regarding the protests and the current prime minister.
We also had the opportunity to eat at Tantie Pearl’s restaurant. First let me say this: do yourselves a favor and take a taxi to Tantie’s. When we were told it was up the hill, we didn’t think it was a big deal…we had hiked up hills before. It’s not just a hill – it’s a freaking cliff! We couldn’t believe that cars were able to make it up there, let alone us. Well, the food, the view, and the sunset made it all worthwhile. Again, we were the only customers.
Sunday night the Bequia Carnival began. There were festivities at the soccer/cricket field, including the crowning of a Bequia Princess of some sort. There were a series of teenage contestants, each participating in an evening gown competition and in a Q&A session. The question was “if you were Prime Minister, what would you do?” The first contestant stepped up to the mic and said, “If I were PM, the first thing I’d do is abolish the VAT.” Well, as you can imagine, the crowd roared their approval.
A DJ began spinning tunes shortly afterward and continued to play until the music abruptly stopped at around 8:30 am. Come to find out, the DJ was arrested and put in jail in Bequia. Apparently he dropped his pants at some point so he was thrown in the clink.
We had the chance to visit Jack’s Bar at Princess Margaret Beach several times. After reading comments about the bar on this website, I was prepared not to like it very much. I have to be honest – we loved it. It’s a really well built bar/restaurant with friendly staff, a nice menu, tasty drinks and great food. And it’s so convenient to have a place now at Princess Margaret where you can get food & drink.
After 4 nights of fun and sun on Bequia, we ended the trip with 2 nights on St. Vincent. We took a trip through HazEco Tours of the Windward Coast, “Pirates” set, Dark View Falls, the Botanical Garden, and Fort Charlotte. It was interesting to see more of St. Vincent than we have in the past (we’d never gotten much past Kingstown).
Traveling to SVG in June was a great time to visit. Off-season was quiet, easy to get personal attention, and cheaper. The only drawback was the mosquitoes. They were wicked – we managed with Off! and those Bugmat things as well as mosquito coils. We counted mosquito bites each night before setting off to bed.
We had the experience of having two locals recognize us from our previous trip to SVG almost 2 years ago. We were very surprised by this and it made us feel like we had returned home. I think SVG will be a place we will return to again and again. I can’t believe that more Americans haven’t discovered this wonderful country. For that I am grateful.
