Bequia, a very enjoyable place to dive

Visibility and Diving:

While we had 40' on a few dives we more often experienced 60+. The reefs
are
very healthy and colorful for the most part. And I was enchanted. Lots of
fish, lots and lots, but small due to spear fishing, as I understand it.
There's no commercial fishing on the island. Though you will see fishermen
out on their little boats, no one really polices their activities.

I've never seen so many spotted drum before and even more delightful, were
the juveniles. We often found 3 swimming together and they'd only be as big
as your thumbnail. At one point, I saw the perfect photo opportunity . . .
4 itty bitty juveniles dancing together with a large mature, all together,
perfectly framed by nature. Unfortunately, by the time my photog buddy got
ready for the shot, the mature had fled the scene. Regardless, she got some
amazing pics of the juveniles. The place was absolutely littered with red
banded coral shrimp, arrow crabs, blennies of all sizes and descriptions and
they were quite bold too. The arrow crabs were almost always fully exposed.
I could actually play with these crabs and shrimps, by waving my fingers or
approaching with my magnifying glass and instead of retreating, they'd take
on a defensive posture and click their claws at me. There was no end to the
fabulous macro critters and opportunity for photographing same.

While we didn't see a scorpionfish on every dive, we did see more than one
on many
dives. An amazing number of spotted morays and while there weren't as many
green morays, those we did see were extraordinarily large. There were large
lobsters right out of their overhangs, aggressively defending their mates.
That was pretty exciting. Lovely displays of garden eels too here and
there.

The coral was in fabulous shape and very colorful with a plethora of all
corals hard and soft. One of my most enjoyable dives began and ended over a
hard coral garden, but the middle portion of the dive was spent wandering
about through a literal forest of soft corals. It was like being in the
enchanted forest. Happily for me, I had gone on that dive alone with the
DM.

All of the dives were almost immediately off shore and while I use the term
"off shore", many times the shore was a startling cliff going straight up.
We generally started the dive at around 20', with a gradual slope down into
sand. Dive sites were generally 60-80', though out at the "End of Bequia",
I managed to get down to 110'. Magnificent dive; we started off in the
Caribbean and ended in the Atlantic.

I dove most every site available. On occasion the beauty of what I was
seeing nearly stopped my heart. At certain sites and times of the day, as
the waves crash upon the cliffs, the surf churns back down near the divers
and the
milkiness of that against the contrasting light turquoise of the water,
created a sight I've never seen before but hope to have repeated. I could
not take my eyes off of it.

I still can't get over the corals there. Fabulous colors, huge fans,
healthy sponges, azure vases and I even saw some pale green ones, gardens of
huge soft corals. Though not large for the most part, I've only ever seen
this many fish before at Sipadan. There are some magnificent rock
formations and at the End of Bequia, you start your dive in the Caribbean
and can finish it in the Atlantic. The water color changed at that point,
though I was one of the few that had enough air to see it. I wish I'd had
the opportunity to do that dive again and again.

There were some stunning vistas, particularly if you spent a fair amount of
time looking up during the safety stops.

Dive Op's:

We dove with Bequia Dive Adventures. They have two boats available, neither
overly large but both comfortable, with padded seats and biminis. For the
most part, our group had its own boat. On a couple of occasions, we'd have
another diver or two join us. Being there during low season, offered us an
opportunity that way. Larry and Ron own the shop, run it very efficiently
and also DM the dives. I loved diving with these guys. They each have
their own styles and favorite dive sites, but they do their very best to
make sure each of their divers gets to a new site on every subsequent dive.
I can't imagine how difficult this must be to do when different divers have
done different sites, but they managed to get me to a different site on
every single dive, even though our group didn't do each and every dive on
the same schedule.

The other thing that I particularly enjoyed about these guys, is that they
are very flexible and by that I mean, no dive nazi's them. Pretty much
white glove service with regard to setting up and caring for your gear, but
very relaxed with regard to being in the water. This was so refreshing to
me after the rigidity of recent experiences in Roatan. Now having said that
about taking care of your gear, it should be noted that it was dry season
with a particularly nasty drought. All of the water supply on the island is
from raincatching, so rinse water was in short supply. My gear certainly
got an extra soaking and cleaning when I got home. But the guys did what
they could under the circumstances.

The majority of the dives were lazy drifts and it was planned that they be
about an hour long. Anyone getting low on air or choosing to exit the water
early, was picked up by the dive boat while the rest of us continued on with
our dive. I don't believe I had a single dive that was less than an hour
and 5 minutes. On a few occasions, I was in the water by myself for 5-10
minutes luxuriating in the beauty as I took an extra long safety stop, for
no other reason than that I could. There were no recriminations nor did I
sense any anxiousness to return to shore under a restrictive schedule.
Surface conditions were gentle and so there were no divers up top, feeding
the fish, or I may have found it prudent to be considerate in that regard.

Ron and Larry and their staff were extremely helpful to me, as I'm having
some problems with my
shoulder and needed a bit of extra help gearing up and getting back into the
boat. Never once did I sense that there was any disgruntlement in that
regard nor did I sense any desire that I hurry up. This calmness and
acceptance of all of the divers different levels of ability (or in my case
agility) was unique in my experience. I've been diving other places that
were also very layback, but this was exceptional and I suspect that now I am
spoiled in that regard.

As for the other dive op, Dive-Bequia, I noticed that for the most part,
they seemed to return to the same dive site, day after day after day and
that site was Devil's table. While Devil's Table has some things to
recommend it, it is not the best site in the area, particularly as there is
some environmental damage to the coral there. It is, however, one of the
sites closest to shore. Am I being cynical by suggesting that was
Dive-Bequia's reason for returning to that site so often? On top of that,
Dive-Bequia's boat was often very far away from its divers, which is
downright dangerous, particularly at that site, where boat traffic is high.
I would never dive with these guys.

Surface Intervals:

We returned to shore between every dive and as hh pointed out there's an ice
cream, fresh baked goods shop, a few doors down from the dive shop, at the
Gingerbread House. We stopped
in there everyday between dives. I generally only had a soda water, but
others indulged themselves in the daily selection of baked goods. I have to
admit, those brownies were tempting, but I resisted. Of course, by the end
of the first week, I couldn't take it anymore and had a cinnamon bun. There
was very comfortable, well shaded seating on a cobbled patio with a lovely
view of the harbour.

Food and entertainment:

Though lobster season ended while I was on the island, they will serve past
the end date for as long as taken stocks remain. So, we still managed to
get a couple of the last lobster. Two were taken from the live
lobster tank at L'Aubergine. It was pricey but worth it. Later I had the
last one available (that day) at Diver's Table, my favorite place. It was
fantastic. The chef there heads back to Europe for a few months each year
and returns in the busy season. He is training two protégés and they are
getting pretty good too. That was possibly the best lobster I've ever had,
grilled with some seasoning on it, that I was unable to identify. I tried a
number of different chicken dishes on the island, but eventually gave up.
For some reason, the Bequians just couldn't cook it properly, which was a
unique
experience for me in that part of the world. The lasagne at Mac's was
pretty good and the rest of my crew quite enjoyed their pizza.

A few nights a week, there was live music at different venues and despite
the small number of people around, the places could still manage to fill up.
We pretty much followed the music circuit. My favorite bands were Brown
Sugar and Twilight. All that said, it was with wonder that a few of my crew
that like to party, found ourselves on a Friday night wandering about Port
Elizabeth, with no outlet for our energy. We ended up sitting on the street
with a few locals, enjoying a beer and chatting. One other night, the only
thing going on was some karaoke. Yikes. We cut our losses that night and
headed home early.

You can easily walk most of the town of Port Elizabeth along the beach
and/or the main road. It is that small a place, but the rest of the island,
rises from the sea and you have to be part mountain goat to really enjoy
wandering around, or in our case, just getting back to our accommodations.

The People:

I found many of the Bequians to be taciturn until you got to know them
and/or they became used to you. Once everyone was warmed up, then they were
warm and funny. Well, most of them. For example, there was the guy at the
market, who was yelling at us even though we were buying from him. He gave
us heck because he had to chase us. I said "Don't run after us and you
won't have to chase us" He said "I had to get your business". I smiled.
He kept complaining and bitching but finally asked me where I was from. I
told him "Canada", he replied that the Canadian government had set up the
market for them. I said "Well, that must make you smile". He replied "My
smiles are very expensive" I replied "Mine are free, please have this one"
as I grinned broadly. He was a tough nut, he didn't crack a smile or
lighten up at all. He just kept grumbling away, as I walked away with what
I'd come to purchase and a few things I had not. His technique may get him
a larger initial sale, but we sure didn't hurry back.

At the ice cream shop/bakery at the Gingerbread House, despite our
frequenting the place every day and always smiling and greeting the clerk
warmly, she never cracked a smile and was always very reserved. My second
last day, I went in and asked if I could buy some soda waters to take away.
She had no problem with that but asked that I return the empties. I told
her that probably wasn't going to happen, would she like to charge me for
the bottle refund as well. She did. Then a friend of mine came along and
wanted to go souvenir shopping. I didn't want to carry around all those
bottles while I shopped, so I asked the clerk if she'd mind if I left them
for a while and picked them up on my way back. She said "no problem, put
them back in the cooler" (they were already bagged for me). I said, "I have
cold ones at home so it's OK if they warm up, I'll just leave them on the
floor here out of your way" She said "Put them in the cooler". I said "I
don't care if they get warm". She said "PUT THEM IN THE COOLER". I replied
"Yes, ma'am!" and did as instructed. Kim and I left laughing. When I
related the story to my friends that own property there, they laughed too
and said my "Yes ma'am" had probably pleased her. But then they added that
they themselves would probably never understand the Bequians.

Another time, I met a Bequian, who is originally from the States. While we
were
talking, he got slagged off by a waitress. I didn't think I'd shown any
emotion on my face, but he turned back to me and said "Don't worry about it.
They are all just like that and you can't change them, no matter what you
do." I took that as an opportunity to inquire whether the attitude was
innate or learned due to exposure to tourists. He said "They are born that
way."

I also met many Bequians that were warm and friendly from the outset but
their attitude was particularly notable to us because of our more common
experience with those more reserved.

I could write for another few pages on interesting and/or amusing encounters
with these people, but suffice to say, while it certainly didn't start out
so, I came home with a positive liking for the people of Bequia, on the
whole.

Another outing:

One day our group took the Friendship Rose, a large schooner, hand-made on
the island, around 50 years ago, over to the Tobago Cayes. It was a
fabulous way to spend a day and we were waited on hand and foot.

The Tobago Cayes are quite beautiful, with the colors of the water a good
competitor for the colors of the water out at the Belize Atolls. The
dive we went on was in a kicking current worthy of a Coz freight train ride,
and while there was good viz, the corals healthy, nonetheless, it was pretty
much a flat plateau and none
of us were taken with that dive. We were left wishing we'd gone snorkelling
and playing in the water with the our non-diving buddies.

I highly recommend taking the Friendship Rose out to the Tobago Cayes for a
relaxing day with friends, wind and water.

Windup:

I enjoyed the diving here so much, I'd go back for it in a heartbeat . .
..except for two things.
To get there from my home, is an arduous journey and
while I really liked our accommodation, you have to have the legs and the
heart of a mountain goat. Oh yes, and air-conditioning was necessary to me
and an extra charge over and above the cost of the acco. My A/C bill came
to $200. Not that pleasant a surprise. I could have run it a little bit
less than I did, but I don't think I could have made it out for under $150.

All that said, I recommend that this place be put on your list, especially
if you are into underwater photography.