SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES |
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image : Karolina Wiercigroch |
Above : Princess Margaret
Beach , Bequia
The island ’ s hilly interior , carpeted in tracts of tropical dry forest , brims with biodiversity , including a species of gecko discovered as recently as 2005
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puffing above the surf just beyond the little island of Baradal .
“ They feed on the seagrass here ,” says Quency . “ So , we ’ re not allowed to anchor , as it disturbs the seabed .” Instead , snorkelers jump in from their boats , or charters stop briefly near Baradal ’ s beautiful arc of talc-white sand , for passengers to wade out and swim with turtles who tumble and glide in pristine , aquarium-clear water . Later , we motor around Petit Tabac , the barely-there sand spit used as another Pirates of the Caribbean location , in The Curse of the Black Pearl .
Two hours away , on the island of Bequia , a fruit punch sundowner comes with Sparrow ’ s , the dark spiced Saint Vincent rum named after the 17th-century brigand John ‘ Sparrow ’ Ward who inspired the movie franchise . I ’ ve made my way from Bequia ’ s Port Elizabeth harbor , following Belmond Boardwalk as it snakes the coastline along the deep arc of Admiralty Bay , to reach the Whaleboner . The island ’ s oldest family-run restaurant recalls
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Bequia ’ s harpooning heritage with old whalebones fashioned into barstools . Its double-entendre name , meanwhile , nods to the tumescent passion U . S . navy sailor Albert Hinkson had for local girl Angela Glynn — enough to settle in Bequia , marry her and found the restaurant .
Many more stories will emerge in my coming days on Bequia — on Princess Margaret Beach where the British royal swam in the 1950s , en route to her beloved Mustique . And with Bequia ’ s boat builders whose long tradition of handcrafting models produces exquisite wooden schooners , yachts and rigged rowing boats . While up on Mount Pleasant , surrounded by fragrant forests of ylang ylang and cashew , and views across the Grenadines to Grenada , I see the ever-present wisps of white drifting across the peak that gave early Arawak tribal settlers Bequia ’ s original name , Island of the Clouds . But for now , rum in hand , I ’ m content to watch the sun as it sinks and burns , turning to the fiery red of a Saint Vincent angel ’ s robes .
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fall 2024 • 39 |