Onto Bequia (pronounced ‘bek-way’) for the next stage of our St Vincent & the Grenadines trip 🌴
Despite being the second largest of the SVG islands, at just 7 square miles and with a population of less than 6000, Bequia is one of the small islands which make up the Grenadine island chain.
Chris and I spent 5 nights in this tropical paradise, exploring dreamy palm fringed beaches with gently lapping turquoise waters surrounded by lush emerald rainforested mountains.
We enjoyed some fabulous meals and also indulged in the hospitality of a day in a 5 star resort. We did have a cultural experience with a tour of the Firefly Estate!
We took the Bequia Express ferry from Kingstown ferry port at 09.30. This was a fairly large ferry and the process was easy. You leave your main luggage (our 2 cases) downstairs next to the vehicles, buy your ticket from the little office onboard and head upstairs to the seating area.
Tickets are cash only (XCD or USD) and we paid 32 USD for 2 x return tickets.
The above image is a view of the south of Bequia taken a few days before as our plane circled around waiting for a storm to pass before landing at St Vincent international airport.
Located in Admiralty Bay and home to the ferry port, picturesque Port Elizabeth, the ‘capital’ of Bequia with its brightly coloured buildings.
Walking the Belmont Walkway
During our first full day in Bequia we walked the coast path of Admiralty Bay which runs from Port Elizabeth, along the Belmont Walkway and Princess Margaret Trail to the end of beautiful Lower Bay.
The Belmont Walkway is a pathway consisting of a series of wooden and concrete paths and steps which hugs the coast and enables an easy and pleasant way to get around on foot.
The walkway is lined with beach front bars, restaurants and hotels so you can take as long or as little time as you wish.
The walkway is busier when a cruise ship is docked, as it was during our first visit. Cruise passengers arrive on tender boats and many make their way to Princess Margaret beach.
Princess Margaret beach was named after a royal visit in the 1950’s.
Lined with beach stalls and vendors and with many white plastic loungers for hire, Princess Margaret beach was busy as mentioned, with cruise passengers.
Between Princess Margaret beach and Lower Bay you come away from the edge of the sea to walk up a hill and onto a short section of road.
It isn’t long before you can remove your shoes again and feel the soft sand and gentle warm waters of Lower Bay under your feet.
Located at Lower Bay is Keegan’s, a beachside restaurant which also has rooms you can book.
With music in the background, Keegan’s had a good vibe and this was the perfect place to stop in the shade for a refreshing pina colada 🍹🍍🥥 (it’s a thing here to serve them in jam jars 😂)
Lower Bay was like a paradise being much less crowded than Princess Margaret beach. This was our favourite section of our coastal walk today.
We walked to the end of Lower Bay and then turned back to do the same walk in reverse. The distance between here and the ferry port is less than 2 miles.
On our way back we stopped for lunch in the luxury beach front Plantation hotel.
We had a glass of Chardonney for a reasonable 6 USD together with a rather pricier (but tasty) wood fired small 9″ pizza, cooked in their pizza oven, for 22.50 USD (plus service and tax).
This was an enjoyable spot for lunch sitting in comfy seats in the shade as we overlooked the bay.
Back in Port Elizabeth!
A day in The Liming
The Liming is a small 5 star boutique resort which is tucked away in Adams Bay on the south coast of the island. Its website offers the opportunity to ‘discover the art of doing nothing’.
A day pass for $US 75 per person is available and this includes a 2 course lunch, 3 cocktails and use of their sun loungers, beach, pool, kayaks, paddleboards etc.
On our second full day on the island we arrived by taxi at 11.00 having pre-booked our day passes by email the day before.
We began our day in The Liming with a Dark ‘n’ Stormy as we settled down to take in our surroundings.
We then spent the next couple of hours swimming in the sea, sitting on loungers on the beach (for about 5 minutes) and sitting on loungers near the bar (for a bit longer…)
The swimmimg pool was small but had a fabulous view overlooking the beach.
Relaxing with our books and a tasty beverage 🍹🍍 🥥
From a varied menu, we had a choice for lunch and could select 2 courses. We both chose a starter and a main and you could pay extra for dessert if you wished.
I’m not a ‘burger’ person but this was the best burger ever with its perfectly grilled fish and caramelised onion filling.
‘The art of doing nothing’ isn’t really us and after 6 hours of swimming in the sea, sitting on comfy loungers sipping cocktails, reading books and eating lunch we were a little bored and looked forward to Stanley coming to pick us up in his taxi.
Tour of the Firefly Estate
For day 3 we had pre-booked a tour of the tropical fruit gardens of the Firefly Estate which was close to our hotel.
We arrived 20 minutes early so sat in their open sided bar with its dark wooden beams and furniture, drinking fresh mango juice as we overlooked the garden.
At just before 11 am Ezra introduced himself as our guide and, together with two American tourists Chris and I set off to explore the estate.
We stopped at a Frangipani tree which was covered with these huge distinctive caterpillars. Ezra explained they are vital to ecosystem of the tree. While they chomp through its leaves they quickly grow back again keeping the tree healthy.
The sugarapple tree is native to the tropical Americas. Sugarapples are healthy and eaten raw or used in smoothies.
Ezra showed us many fruits, including starfruits, pomegranites and papayas and picked some to give us samples to try along the way.
We approached some sugar cane and Ezra disappeared into the middle of it with his machete. He soon emerged and gave each of us a piece to try i.e. sucking the sugary liquid from the stem.
Next he gave us a small paper cup each and crushed a bigger piece of sugar cane which produced a sweet liquid for us to drink.
Ezra cut a slice each of delicious mango straight from the tree explaining of the 3 varieties grown, the Julie mango tastes the best!
Expertly chopping the tops off with his machete, Ezra gave everyone a whole fresh coconut each.
He explained young coconuts, as above, are best for a refreshing drink whereas mature coconuts with their dark brown husks and firm white fresh are used for grating, snacks etc. He cut open one of these and gave us some to try.
Next we approached the bee hives and from a safe distance we tried some honey.
Harvested at Easter, the Bequia plum is a local speciality plum of the island. Above are tiny baby plums which will have grown ready to eat in about 3 months’ time.
Ezra took us to the widely stocked herb garden which included tamarind, mint, lemongrass and many others which the Firefly restaurant use for their cooking.
Following our tour we had a cocktail each in the open wooden Firefly bar and then enjoyed a Superfood Salad for lunch with tofu, seeds and a side of vegetable samosas.
After lunch we walked from the Firefly to Crescent Beach.
We had a short rain shower along the way but within 5 minutes it had disappeared as quickly as it had began.
Crescent Beach was wild and unkept, OK for a look at but we didn’t fancy staying there so headed straight back.
From Crescent Beach we walked back to our hotel which was steep and hot and took about 25 minutes.
Day 4 Sunday
Today we headed to Friendship Bay which is on the south side of Bequia and has views across to Mustique and other Grenadine islands.
With its sweeping stretch of golden sand this is another gorgeous beach and had slightly bigger waves than we found on the more sheltered Princess Margaret side of the island.
We were delighted to come across the 5* Bequia Beach hotel who welcomed us into their chic and comfortable beach bar.
Shortly after arriving as we settled down and sipped on a cocktail each a steel band started playing. Not loud or in your face but pleasant background quintessential sounds of the Caribbean.
From Friendship Beach we spent about 20 minutes literally walking across from one side of the island to the other, back to our favourite beach at Lower Bay.
We enjoyed a fantastic light lunch in Provision which was so good we booked a table for dinner later that evening.
After lunch we did some swimming and snorkelling in Lower Bay which, due to it being Sunday, was more crowded with locals.
We had a drink in the Google Maps highly rated Dawn’s Cafe in Lower Bay but didn’t find their service to be as friendly or welcoming as the reviews had suggested. We felt more like an inconvenience.
We had a walk along the beach before our early evening meal back in Provision. This is covered further down…
Next is some information about our accommodation.
Located in Port Elizabeth, Doris Fresh Foods have a delivery service where you can order produce and they deliver it to any location on the island. Handy if you are self catering.
Accommodation
This time we were not self catering as we spent 5 nights in the Spring Hotel, nestled up in the hills of the Spring Estate.
Due to its location the hotel provides a free shuttle service bus 5 times a day to and from Port Elizabeth and will stop anywhere you wish along the way.
With its high ceiling and furnished in traditional Caribbean style our room was airy, comfortable and spotlessly clean. Again, we had 3 pin UK sockets in the room.
Breakfast was included in our room rate and to our delight the Spring Hotel did fabulous Pina Coladas for just 6 USD (+ service & tax) so around £6. With a generous measure of rum and little bits of coconut these were the best we tasted while in Bequia (although the rum content did vary a bit…)
Food at the Spring Hotel
A classic Caribbean favourite! On the menu at Spring Hotel was a huge and very tasty vegetable roti which filled the plate and was amazing value at just 5.25 USD!
Half price rum punch and half price beers were available during the Spring Hotel’s happy hour each afternoon.
We were pleased with our stay in Spring Hotel which was lovely and peaceful up in the hills.
Dining
Firefly
For our first evening we had dinner in the nearby Firefly, in the same restaurant where we had lunch following the fruit farm tour.
This was refreshing and tasted good but my preference is for a standard Margarita made with lime. On my Margarita scale I gave this a 7 on the basis it was large!
Pumpkin is widely available in the West Indies and this soup was wonderful. Not a huge portion but the taste and texture was delicious.
We both had Grilled Kingfish and Salad for the main. Kingfish is found in warm Caribbean waters and was tasty with a firm white flesh. We had a decent sized portion of fish but the salad wasn’t filling so we both had dessert.
I had rum & raisin ice cream with a shot of rum drizzled over it. A lovely end to the meal.
The lady in Firefly called us a taxi for our 5 minute uphill and very dark ride back to the Spring Hotel.
Laura’s
The following evening we got the shuttle bus down to Port Elizabeth where we had booked a table in Laura’s Restaurant which had some of the best reviews on the island.
At the waters edge and understandably with such good reviews this was popular and therefore busy.
The service was good and the fish spring rolls were tasty.
The main course was also delicious and overall with its great atmosphere we had a lovely evening.
At the end of the meal the owner came over to have a friendly chat and he called us a taxi which was 35 ECD (under £10) to take us up to the Spring Hotel.
Cheri’s Rooftop Terrace
On the Saturday night we went to Cheri’s Rooftop Terrace, another restaurant with excellent reviews.
Cheri’s mostly serve Caribbean tapas dishes but on Saturday nights they have a set 3 course menu which a couple of choices per course.
Again we both had pumpkin and ginger soup for starter and this was even better than the one we had in Firefly.
At the beginning of our meal a female singer started singing and entertained us as we ate our food.
The main was ‘Roast Pepper Creole Fish’ served with pesto rice and stir fried vegetables and it was scrumptious.
This was followed by a dessert of orange coconut sponge cake.
At £80 for both of us this was the most expensive meal of the trip but this included 3 courses, wine and a bottle of water.
Provision
Following the mouth-watering lunch in Provision earlier in the day at Lower Bay we had a tasty dinner later the same evening.
This time we both had a main of tofu and cabbage coconut curry.
We finished with mango mousse each for dessert. Again the restaurant staff kindly called and booked our taxi back to the Spring Hotel.
Costs
Dining out in Bequia was less expensive than I had anticipated. The average costs for meals out were much less than those we experienced in St Kitts and Nevis 2 years ago and even Antigua from 9 years ago where the average costs just for mains was £25 – 30 each back then!
Getting around Bequia
The free shuttle down to Port Elizabeth was much appreciated and in addition, as mentioned, we took taxis the rest of the time. The island is so small it didn’t seem worth it to hire a car.
The taxis were not expensive, for example the evening taxi from Port Elizabeth to the Spring Hotel was 35 XCD (£9.55). There was always plenty available next to the Tourist Information place near the ferry port.
Most of the taxi’s were also pick ups! We sat on benches in the back with the wind in our hair as we were zipped through the island.
Communicating
I didn’t have a sim card and relied on wifi which is widely available across the island. Most of the communications e.g. for booking meals and the Firefly Estate tour were done by Whatsapp which was very convenient.
For example, I messaged Cheri’s Rooftop Terrace just an hour in advance and she gave us a table. As the restaurant was full it was probably the last one they had left.
Summary
Sadly our time in magical Bequia came to an end and next we transfer back to St Vincent.
Bequia is a small neat package of holiday fun! As a compact island, everything is close by and easy to get to with little effort.
With some excellent restaurants we have fond memories of delectable meals, magnificent beaches and warm crystal clear turquoise sea.
We were pleased to discover the day pass at The Liming, much quieter and more low key than Sandals St Vincent and at a much lower cost of 75 USD pp instead of 340 USD pp for Sandals.
And one of the highlights was the interesting tour of the Firefly fruit farm.
frombluetogreen.com 