Bequia

A young Brown Booby - Poser!!

Carol at the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary

Lower Bay - Our favorite sea glass beach in Bequia

Aldebaran anchored in Admiralty Bay, Bequia
This photo was taken from the Old Fort

Bequia is the northernmost island in the Grenadines. It is a small island that is just south of St. Vincent. With it's large bay and good yacht services, it attracts a lot of cruisers. When we got here we realized that it was varnishing time, so for two weeks we sand, varnish, sand, varnish, read, go to the beach, hunt for sea glass, visit the internet cafe (computer still dead), and take walks. The weather has been windy, windy but we manage to complete the first varnish phase before the rain comes (the phases never end, by the way!).

We hear that the weather is going to go through a period of being very calm and clear so we figure it is a good time to visit the Tobago Cays. Our friends on another Tayana are about to show up so we decide to sail together to the Cays. We stock up on food, drinks, ice and prepare to leave. While we wait for the good weather, we decide to take a walk to the other side of the island to visit the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. This sanctuary was started by one man, who is now in his 70's. They watch for turtles to come to shore to lay their eggs and keep watch on them so no poachers come and take the eggs before they are hatched. When they begin to hatch they make sure the babies reach the sea. They keep a few small turtles to raise at the sanctuary since only 1 in 3,000 survive when they reach the sea!

The sanctuary has tanks with babies and tanks with various ages of turtles, and a few tanks with old turtles. They are all either green turtles or hawksbill turtles. There is even one that is around 10 years old that has some extra swimming privileges. Once in a while they put a leash on him and let him swim in the surf at the beach! The sanctuary is small but they do really great work. They have released nearly 800 turtles back to the sea, and they have a great education program to teach local children about sea turtles. They hope the information will be passed on to the fishermen of the family so that capturing turtles to eat and use their shells will decrease. When we leave the sanctuary we give an extra donation for the education fund. At the beach front in town where we leave our dinghy, there are craftspeople with tables full of turtle shell jewelry. It is against the law, but it is not enforced yet, something that those at the sanctuary are working to change.

The calm weather arrived......time to sail to the Tobago Cays!