• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Friendship Bay is home to the calmest waters on the island.   (Photo: Simonsimages (via Flickr))

Explore Bequia’s stunning beaches by renting a “moke” – a mini soft-top vehicle – from Bequia Jeep Rentals ($40 per day). Spend the morning at Lower Bay, the island’s longest beach, then catch a water taxi ($5.50) over to Princess Margaret Beach, where the princess swam while on her honeymoon. If empty strips of sand are what you’re after, drive to the more remote east-facing beaches. At Industry Bay, you’ll see few beach-mates, even in the high season, though you might face stronger breezes. For the island’s calmest water, go to Friendship Bay, where waves rarely get higher than a foot.

Stop by the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, where you can talk to Orton “Brother” King about his efforts to restore hawksbill turtle populations in the southern Caribbean. Then get a feel for the island’s whaling culture, which dates back to the mid-nineteenth century and is still (legally) active, by visiting the one-room Bequia Whaling and Maritime Museum (La Pompe ; 784-458-3322), filled with whale bones, baleen, and old harpoons.

Stroll the Belmont Walkway on the waterfront of Admiralty Bay, where you can check out a handful of model boat studios and galleries. Pick up a shopping bag made of old rice sacks at the Rasta Market to carry home your loot. To catch up on the latest island gossip, stop by the almond trees — you can’t miss them — a gathering spot known to islanders as the “Houses of Parliament” for all the chatter that happens there.

Published on Jan 5, 2012 as a web exclusive.