Let Me Tell You Why I'm in Love with Bequia

(This is from Karen)

Picture a harbor about the same size as Newport Harbor from Goat Island to Wellington. Then take away most everything man made, except an occasional sidewalk and pier, and add a white sand beach that covers everything else. Along that beach there are some very Caribbean looking buildings that house shops and restaurants, small hotels and tasteful old homes. You can walk from one end all the way to the other along the beach. Stopping only for ice cream. No Haagen Daas though - it's not perfect.

The water in the harbor is perfectly clear. So clear that when I dropped a fork overboard while doing the dishes, you could see it on the bottom in 15 feet of water. Matt has found lots of treasures while swimming; other people's forks, flashlights, old ropes, eels, etc. We bathe in it every day and find the temperature and cleanliness unbelievable. You just don't see water like this anywhere.

The island is about nine square miles and 6,000 people live here - all of whom (except for maybe the pushy people at the vegetable market who you DON'T buy from) we have found to be exceptionally friendly. Especially the young males when they see Danielle. She has already been proposed to.

We have walked almost everywhere already. No place too far as long as you bring lots of water and your lungs and legs are ready for some steep hills. We climbed to the top of a radio tower where we could see St. Vincent to the North and all of the Grenadines to the South. Spectacular. We also walked to the northern end of the island to see a turtle sanctuary. A local guy whose family, generation after generation, has made a living catching, eating and selling turtle meat and shells, has been reborn. He finds turtle eggs wherever he can on the islands in the Grenadines and raises the turtles until they are old enough to take care of themselves without being fish/bird/mongoose/people food. Then he marks them and sets them free and supposedly follows them, only I'm not sure how as most of them travel very long distances and can live to be way older than you or me. Anyway, it was interesting to see what he does. His heart is definitely in the right place although there are some environmentalists who probably wouldn't think so.

We have also been enjoying the freshest food we have had so far. The fish is the best we've ever had. You know when it arrives at the market because there is a guy at the market who blows a conch shell to announce fish. It is louder than any horn you've heard. We heard it all the way up the top of the radio tower. So we've been lucky enough to get fresh fish twice and only pay 20EC ($7.70 US) for the whole fish (except for the head and tail, which the fishermen can't understand why we don't want, but are happy to keep for themselves). There is a vegetable market here that has the best produce I've seen but it is a scary thing to go there. The minute you enter the area, you become surrounded by every vendor, asking (begging) you to buy this mango or that pineapple, etc. They are the most tenacious people I've seen and I have a hard time dealing with them. I'd like to tell them to shut up and let me look around but I'm too much of a coward. I still can't decide if it's better to buy from just one or buy a little from all of them so I think from now on I'll go down the street to the guy who sells stuff out of the back of his truck and just not face the issue.

Another reason I like it here is that the people seem to take pride in their homes and their island. The other islands we have been to are mostly beautiful but I have been surprised at how much garbage there is around and at how unkept their homes are. Here, you see almost no litter and all of the houses are well maintained. It's nice to see that they realize what a special place it is. So far, there are only a handful of small hotels and it looks like they don't plan on any large developments.

So if you're looking for a nice place to vacation, this would be it. But don't tell anyone else. Ren out.