It's like the old Brady Bunch shows when Jan is sick of her older sister and says, "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, that's all I ever hear." This is how we were beginning to think about Bequia. Every person we met in Grenada just went on and on about Bequia. We kept thinking (despite hearing about it) what's so great about this Bequia?
So finally on December 1st 2025 we were released from our hurricane hole by our insurance and we set out to start discovering The Grenadines. The weather wasn't as great as we hoped so the first night we only went about an hour up the Grenadian coast and anchored for the night to get the better weather window. Our marina was excepting about 100 boats from the ARC cruising rally to come in so we all got kicked out. Perfect timing for us as I was more than ready to leave. Most of our friends had been gone for a while. Halifax Harbour was rolly and at one point we looked over to our sailboat neighbor to see the man buck naked and driving his sailboat out of the harbor. It was a shock and something I wish I hadn't seen. Freedom I guess.
Cruising Again
Naked Neighbor
Sunset at Halifax
After a rolly night we pulled anchor at 0745 from Halifax and made the 72 mile run to Bequia. We had calm 1-3 foot seas and 8-18mph winds. Pretty nice conditions. We went through a couple rain squalls that quickly passed and at 1609 we were dropping the hook in Bequia. Our friend Skip on Raja and Mary and Tom on Toga were here so we were excited to see everyone.
Passing By Saint Vincent
Heading Into Bequia
Sunset Bequia
We started our first full day in Bequia slowly. Enjoying coffee and our new scenery before lowering the dink to check into customs and explore the town. Bequia is really well set up in that there are several dinghy docks around the town so you are always perfectly positioned for wherever you want to go. At the end of one is the trash, another has a chandlery and at almost all of them there are restaurants. We were charmed from the start and all of a sudden the Bequia hype was making sense. We took our time strolling the nice boardwalk that surrounds the anchorage and the town and at happy hour met Skip at a place called Jack's which has its own dinghy dock and affords great views of the anchorage. Really excellent first day.
Strolling Around
Anchored in Bequia
With Skip at Jack's
On our way back from Jack's the dinghy motor decided not to start. There we were in the dark at the dock at Jack's with no motor. Fortunately some slightly tipsy boaters who happened to be our neighbors offered to tow us back which was super kind. I rode in their dinghy with them and Jeff sat in ours being towed. It's always something. We thanked them and told them we owe them some drinks and said goodnight.
The next day we had someone come and look at the dinghy motor while Jeff tried to fix our salon a.c. which finally stopped working after constant maintenance in Cartagena and Panama. This day wasn't so fun.
The next morning A.J the dinghy repairman came back with some parts and fixed the dinghy motor and just like that we were back in business and headed back into town to explore. Today we walked the opposite way from the commercial part of town, away from the restaurants into the more residential sections. It was beautiful and still surrounding the anchorage. We happened to discover (by smell) a good bakery where we got some coconut bakes and some raisin bread. Both were delicious. Back at the boat we took a cool refreshing dip till sunset then we cruised the dink down the isles checking out boats kinda like we were in Catalina.
Residential Walking
Sheep
Bequia Neighborhood
Bakery
Sunset Dinghy Cruise
There is never a dull moment in Bequia and thanks to the Sea Sisters there are daily activities. Today was an organized pub crawl with a walk and lunch. Mary and Anne were the only two sisters I knew from Grenada but that didn't matter with spouses in tow we all set out to drink and walk and have some fun. Our first stop was what looked like a shack on the beach called the Lion Den where we got rum punch and beers. After a few sips of my rum punch I knew I needed to switch to beer if I was going to make it for the whole crawl. We made our way around and up through Bequia into parts of the interior before ended on a beach opposite the anchorage. The views were spectacular and the stops perfectly planned in order to quench our thirst. I even managed to make a friend at our second stop. One of the owners littler girls came right over to me and started playing with me and then eventually crawled on my lap. Her family seemed a little surprised by this but didn't remove her until the ice cream truck arrived to which I couldn't compete.
Starting the Crawl
First Stop
Beautiful Views
Passed By Goats
My Friend
Second Stop
Lunch & Third Stop
Heading Back Down
Final Stop- Jack's For a Drink & Float
After a thorough cool down in the water in front of Jack's we went back to the boat for a little rest and some dinner. Later that night there was one more event- live music at one of the restaurants. One of the men on the pub crawl was playing and some of the crawlers hinted at going. Double headers usually aren't our style anymore but this sounded fun. So with some coaxing and a lot of whining I got Jeff to agree and we piled into the dinghy and went in. The restaurant was packed inside and out and various bands played all while John (from the pub crawl) played keyboard and accordion. Cindy and Mike showed up and it was just the four of us from the crawl but that didn't matter it was a lot of fun and a perfect ending to a great day.
The next couple days involved football watching and a visit from an a.c. servicer who finally said last rights to the salon a.c. proclaiming the compressor shot and no longer a member of our team. Anyone who knows me knows that besides my a.c. and Jeff there isn't much else that I feel passionately about on the boat. So this was a very harsh blow but not really surprising as we've been getting the poor thing serviced for months and months limping it along. C'est la vie.
Something is always going on in Bequia and tonight's event was a dinghy drift. Everyone brought a snack to share and a drink of choice and we all tied together and just drifted wherever the wind and sea had in mind. It was nice to have a distraction after the a.c. blow.
Dinghy Drifting
With our time winding down in Bequia we decided to take a walk around, get lunch and do some final provisioning before we checked out with customs and immigration. There are such nice boardwalks in Bequia that follow the entire perimeter of the bay and you can walk for as long or short as you want. We decided to end up at Jack's for our final lunch. Full circle after meeting Skip there our first night. We both would admit that not only did Bequia live up to the hype but it exceeded our expectations and now we too will be proud to proclaim, "Bequia, Bequia, Bequia!"
Walking Around Bequia
Nice Boardwalk
Lunch at Jack's
Anchorage
