Bequia 2025

17 February - 2 March 2025

We have to start with Hurricane Beryl. Back in June a tropical storm in the Atlantic was aiming straight at Bequia. Miraculously (for Bequia) it very slightly changed course, although it did appalling damage to some of the small islands just to the south. And Bequia didn’t completely escape, so the first question when we arrived for our two weeks of sunshine was: what was the damage? and was the island fully up and running?

Hurricane Beryl

The answer is yes, Bequia has certainly survived. There had been damage: roofs destroyed, particularly on the southern parts of the island. But nothing like the catastrophic destruction only a few miles to the south. Two of the islands were pretty well wiped out, Union Island and the nearby Palm Island which had a well-known resort. Now no more. From our rather selfish point of view, we wondered whether the walkway recently constructed precariously round the headland and leading to the beaches had survived. It turned out that it had indeed been much damaged, but the amazing Action Bequia - the charity founded by our friend Richard Roxburgh, as to which more below - had managed to rebuild what the wind and the waves had attacked.

Hurricanes

The background is that normally these hurricanes, which have always been a dreaded part of life in this part of the world, travel well to the north of Bequia. But last year Beryl started much earlier than usual and decided to go south. Is this part of the climate changes we all know about? Who knows?

Rains

Another minor change this year is that, in the words of a resident, they had no dry season. Normally there is much rain - rain on which obviously they rely - during the summer and autumn, but as from around November much less. But this year they had pretty constant rain right through December and January. Actually it stopped - happily for us! - just before we arrived. The water tanks were full to overflowing and the island looked green and lush. We were able to enjoy the usual delightful Caribbean sunshine and the usual warm temperatures, actually very slightly cooler than normal (27 Celsius rather than 28). Our timing turned out to be immaculate.

Travel and accommodation

We made a few changes to our arrangements, triggered by two things: friends who have been in the habit of spending time in Barbados, and who we used to meet up with, no longer go there; and we have fallen out of love with the place on Bequia where we have stayed for many years.

Grenadine House, St Vincent

So, no need to stop in Barbados. Virgin Atlantic fly direct to St Vincent, which is simpler than going through Barbados. We did this, spending a night in St Vincent and taking the ferry next morning to Bequia. In St Vincent we were billeted in the Grenadine House, a fairly up-market establishment that used to be the Governor-General’s house back in the day and is now part of the empire of the Swede Bengt Mortsted who owns the (again, up-market) Bequia Beach Hotel. The ferry is not up-market (I must stop using this phase!). There are about half a dozen of these vessels. They must have been built many decades, if not centuries, ago and take about an hour to go to Bequia with a cargo of cars, trucks, provisions - and us. The fare is not expensive - about a tenner in our money.

Our other change is accommodation. In recent years we have taken an apartment in a group of apartments called the Village Apartments run by a lovely couple from Trinidad, George and Val. The accommodation was definitely not “up-market” (sorry!) but when things went wrong - not uncommon - George was always there to fix them. Sadly George died a few years ago. And things aren’t the same. Also, the apartments are built on an incline, involving many steps that are an increasing challenge in the heat of the day. So we have switched, perhaps not before time, to the relative luxury of the nearby Plantation House.

Plantation House

The Plantation House

The Plantation House, now styling itself the “Bequia Plantation Hotel”, has a history. When we first came to Bequia, some 20 years ago, it was derelict, apparently owned by Italians some of whom were in prison. Then a Kiwi called Kelly Glass took it over and turned it into what it is now, a lovely luxurious hotel. Although “hotel” gives the wrong idea. It looks like a colonial-style house with lots of bungalows scattered around the grounds. We were in one of the bungalows.

Things work. Take the showers. At the likes of the Village Apartments you have to be very careful about using water in the shower and indeed the loo (“if it’s yellow, let it mellow” - that sort of thing!). All the water on Bequia is collected rain water. At the Plantation House, it’s miraculously what we would regard as normal. You have a wonderful walk-in shower and no problems about water. How come? This year (see above) perhaps there was no problem. But normally they presumably have to buy water from St Vincent, where there’s plenty of the stuff.

This year the Plantation House seemed to have a problem. We had got to know the manager Pascal (are all Frenchmen now called Pascal?), a very friendly and competent individual. After two days he had gone. Replaced by a successor in the shape of Chris. We now know Chris. Allegedly there had been management issues. Hopefully now resolved.

Bequia today

Moving on from our own arrangements, how is the island doing? What changes are there - if any? Not many.

Bequia is pretty much unchanged. I hesitate to mention two tiny things: crabs and dogs!

In past years you saw small crabs scurrying over the walkway when the waves swept over. This year - none. Similarly, on the beaches: they would scramble along and dive back into their little holes. This time I only saw one. Where have they all gone?

As to dogs, the opposite. There are many more, all friendly, none making a nuisance of themselves - or not much. The reason for the population increase is not hard to see! They tend to get on with it as one has breakfast. Many years ago there was a lady who ran a service that did control the situation - whether the dogs liked it or not. But she is no more. The dogs perhaps are happier!

Theatre

Not many people come to Bequia for theatrical culture. But in recent years an American actor/writer called John Burstein and his wife have put on what they call the Bequia International Theatre Festival. It’s very professional and very popular. This year they did five shows over a couple of weeks, all sold out. We were just in time to catch the last show, a play with much mystery and multiple twists at the end - slightly too many for me! As is becoming normal, all the actors were miked-up; hardly necessary in the cafe/restaurant on Lower Bay where it all took place; and exacerbated by the tendency of the talk to end up in shouting matches. This all sounds rather negative, which I don’t mean it to be. We will be in the audience next year if they (and we) are still around.

Shake!

I have become a serious groupie of the group who call themselves “Shake!” - Shake with an exclamation mark. They don’t do enough shows for me, and one of them is on Sunday afternoon at De Reef on Lower Bay, which involves an expedition. They’re a trio. Two of them, Louis on keyboard (Scottish) and Jan (from Yorkshire) on saxophone, have been playing at the local restaurants for years. But last year (maybe before that) they were joined by the charismatic singer Tem (from Chicago).

Shake! - in action

My favourite of their numbers is “Walkin’ the Dog”. I wrote last year that it was by Gershwin. I am flattered to find that Tem and his wife Linda are keen readers of my blog. He very politely wanted to correct me. I was wrong, he said. It’s by Rufus Thomas, released (according to Wikipedia) in 1963. This started a bit of research - Mary being convinced that it was by Gershwin. In fact, we were both right. The music was originally by Gershwin, for the Fred Astair film “Shall We Dance”, where Astair walks a dog on a luxury liner to chat up a lady also walking her dog. Interestingly, Rufie is able to claim it as his own with no reference to Gershwin - perhaps he did write the words. Copyright is a tricky subject.

Cruise ships

On some days, one sees a massive cruise liner moored just outside the harbour. Not the very largest: the ones we get only have a mere couple of thousand tourists on board. But they are enough to crowd out the beaches. Mercifully there were only three of the monsters while we were there - there were other smaller versions that don’t really count. One of the big ones was run by Club Med and contained mainly French; the others were run by TUI the German outfit that took over Thompson Holidays, with the result that the punters were largely Brits. The trouble is not just the numbers. It would be nice if they benefited the island, but they don’t seem to spend any money; they are well fed on the boat with their all-inclusive deals. St Vincent charges a tax, but allegedly none of that gets through to poor Bequia.

Action Bequia

I’ve already mentioned Action Bequia. But we need a few more words. It was founded some ten years ago by Richard Roxburgh and goes from strength to strength, doing things that the government should be doing but doesn’t. Richard organised a big fund-raising event when we were there and told us about the wonderful things they have been doing. You should be able to see from the pie-chart below where the money goes (about US$ 0.44 million in total). This time an impressive amout went to hurricane relief. It’s remarkable that “Admin” hardly features.

Postscript

I like the names of the water taxis: “Say no more” “Why worry” “Never give up” and the one that’s been around for many a year “Phat shag”.

Fay’s beach bar on Princess Margaret beach has a couple of nice signs. One says “Free beer - tomorrow”. Another “Live Slow Today” - it’s easy, after one of Fay’s rum punches, to read the L in Slow as an H.

And this year we see many helpful signs saying “BUY YOUR CANNABIS HERE”.

Tony Herbert

5 March 2025