Bequia was charming and more rustic than Barbados, St. Croix, St. John, and Grand Cayman. It reminded me somewhat of Dominica (we stayed at Castle Comfort near Roseau), but seemed friendlier to tourists. Some people have said that Bequia is like St. John thirty years ago. So in comparison to St. John, I would note, Bequia has fewer beaches and fewer places to snorkel from the shore. There were several good restaurants (see comments below). The ocean breezes were wonderful but take insect repellant as there were lots of no see’ems and mosquitoes as well as other biting insects.

Bequia is a yachting destination. We were there in July (off-season), but still saw a number of yachts and enjoyed meeting quite a few people that live on their boats or had chartered boats for a sailing vacation.

We stayed at Village Apartments. The one-bedroom unit has a kitchen, living room with table for eating, balcony (great view of the harbor), and bedroom. Rates are very good, but air conditioning is extra. Village Apartments is close to Port Elizabeth (but the walk back is uphill with numerous steps once you reach the property). If you want to be “in town” within walking distance to the few shops and most of the restaurants, Gingerbread Hotel is probably the best choice. While Port Elizabeth is on the beach, it’s not really a swimming beach. If you want to be “on the beach,” Friendship Bay or Lower Bay Beach seem to be the best choices. You could take a water taxi to Port Elizabeth for diving, shopping, and dining. For astounding views (higher up in the hills), choose a villa or guesthouse.

The diving was very good. I recommend Dive Bequia (www.bequiadive.com) for diving and snorkeling.

We were there for 6 days and made 12 dives. Maximum depth was 103’; most dives were 60-75’. The water temperature was 81-82 degrees. Bequia is not the place to go for pelagics. We did not see any sharks or other large fish. We did see several sea horses, scorpionfish, and frogfish. There were plenty of medium to small fish on every dive. Dive sites were close to shore but because of the topography (steep hills that go right down to the water’s edge) there was no shore diving. Most of the diving was drift diving. Usually the current was very mild; a couple of times we had ripping currents (FUN). The divemasters tried to make the dives last as long as possible. Even when we arrived at the “end” of the dive, we were allowed to look around under the boat as long as we wanted to. Our shortest dive was 42 minutes (The Wall). This was also our deepest dive and there wasn’t really a way to “hand around” at the end. All other dives were at least 50 minutes with several at 60 minutes or more.

Dive sites that we went to: Boulders, Rocky Bay, Cathedral, Brown’s Bay, Moonhole, Cinnamon Garden, Ship’s Stern (not a wreck), Moonhole Wreck, North West Point, The Wall, and Strattman Wreck.

Good restaurants include: L’Auberge des Grenadines (perhaps the best escargot that I have ever eaten), Frangipani (great Key Lime pie), Devil’s Table (fish and chips were fantastic), Green Boley (for roti), Mac’s for pizza (some say the best pizza in the Caribbean – I don’t know as we rarely eat pizza in the Caribbean, but it was late on Saturday and everything else was closed), and Jack’s on Princess Margaret Beach. Gingerbread Hotel restaurant was closed, but their sandwiches at the Café downstairs were great. We generally have small breakfasts and lunches and go out for NICE dinners. If possible we even fix our breakfasts and lunches in our room. While we had a full kitchen, that didn’t work as the grocery stores were poorly stocked. We never did see any fresh milk (just packaged milk). Food was expensive, but well-prepared. Dinners for two, with wine, and a shared dessert were running about $100 US.

We didn’t do much besides dive and eat (and sleep and read). It was a perfect relaxing vacation. Luckily we didn’t want to do much else as there is not much to do on Bequia. We did take a taxi tour of the island. Well worth the time as there were some terrific views and a couple of quaint towns. Neighbors in the Village Apartments took a day sail on the Friendship Rose and enjoyed it very much.

Getting to Bequia is a challenge. We left home at 2:45 a.m. CDT and arrived in Bequia at 8:00 p.m. AST (the same as EDT) – essentially 16 hours. The tickets were expensive and we could have almost made it to Guam – that trip usually takes us 20 hours – and for not much more money. We flew to San Juan and then to St. Vincent (on Liat – an uncomfortable airline that loses luggage regularly). From St. Vincent we took the ferry to Bequia – one hour. The seas were rough – didn’t bother me, but my husband thought it was rough (he does get seasick sometimes and the ride over was a challenge for him). Lots of people were sick. On the way back Liat was running late (about an hour late) and we almost didn’t make our Delta connection in San Juan. A very helpful Delta employee moved us to the front of the line and expedited everything.

People in Bequia and St. Vincent were helpful and friendly. We saw very few other tourists. It was a great trip. Will we go back? Probably not as there are so many places to go. Will we encourage others who think it looks interesting to go? Yes!