Bequia (Part 2)

Lower Bay on the south side of Admiralty Bay   

In amongst the socialising and cleaning chores we took a dinghy ride across to the south side of the bay to snorkel over the coral reef there. It was surprisingly good. We swam with eagle rays which were about a metre across, peered at numerous lobsters hiding in the rocks, saw beautiful coral and hundreds and hundreds of reef fish. What we did miss were the flying gurnards: normal sized gurnards but with fins which make a circle around the fish each tipped with florescent blue.

On the 9^th Feb we returned to Lower Bay’s beach and dragged our dinghy high above the waterline so that we could leave it safely whilst we went hiking. Our maps were very basic tourist overviews of the island but it looked like we might be able to work our way around to and up the steep ridgeline to the south of Admiralty Bay.

Friendship Bay   

Rainforest walk   

Our route initially followed the road up and over towards the southeastern side of the island. From here we skirted Friendship Bay, confirmed that the wind wasn’t much help for sailing north and set about trying to find the path which climbs up to Ma Peggy’s Rock, the highest point on the island.

From the road, just past the whaling museum (now closed), we followed a deeply rutted track steeply up the hillside. It turned out that the ruts were carved out of the hillside by rainwater using the road as a stream. Fairly soon we were walking up through rainforest and then, once we had reached the ridgeline, along a narrow path, clambering over rocks every now and then. Along the ridgeline the hillside fell away on either side very steeply but we knew that we were on the right path because every now and then we saw a rock painted with the distance to go to the summit. Even better, we spotted a branch in the track which led down to the beach where we had left our dinghy.

Looking south west towards Bequia’s airport

Ma Peggy’s Rock is a fabulous vantage point. We perched on the almost black volcanic rocks with a beer in hand and surveyed the scenery. To the southwest we had a great view of the island’s airport and the small rocky islands reaching out to the west. However, the best views were looking down into Admiralty Bay. It was peppered with yachts anchored over the turquoise water and sandy seabed, and off to the right were the long golden sandy beaches. We decided that the bay looks far more attractive from above than at sea level primarily because you can see the shallower sandy areas much more clearly.

Admiralty Bay, Bequia from the high point of the island, Ma Peggy’s Rock

Back down at sea level, we were joined in the anchorage by Kealoha V. We hadn’t seen Mike and Cate since we were in Lanzarote and so it was lovely to congratulate them on their Atlantic crossing and to find out how they had enjoyed the experience.

Fort Hamilton

Conscious that time in Bequia was running out for us, on Wednesday 14^th February we went for a short walk up to Fort Hamilton, perched on the hill just behind BV. Constructed during the late 1700s, Fort Hamilton was built by the British to house a battery of guns which protected the Royal Navy fleet anchored in the bay from unwanted interference by American privateers and French raiders. There is not a huge amount there now, other than a pagoda and half a dozen guns, but the excellent view across the bay and out across the approaches highlighted exactly why the Royal Navy had chosen this spot to build their fort.

We, along with the majority of other yachts in the bay were waiting for a good weather window to head on. The general consensus was that Friday was the day to move but we hatched a plan to head off on Thursday for a short hop north to Saint Vincent. That would leave Friday, potentially the better sailing day, available for our longer passage on to St Lucia. We let the Germans just ahead of us know our plan because their yacht was floating over our anchor and they would need to move to the side to let us get away; they told us that Thursday was the wrong day to go – it should be Friday! But we felt that our plan was good, so we ignored the ‘group think’ and got BV ready to go. Worst case we could always retreat back into Admiralty Bay and let everyone tell us “I told you so”.

Bequia, St Vincent Grenadines