Bequia - 2026

8-25 February 2026

Plantation House

While on Bequia I had an amazing thought, amazing at least to me: I’ve been coming to Bequia for a few weeks in February for a quarter of my life. I’ve been coming for nearly 25 years and I’m not yet 100.

For those who don’t know Bequia - and who find other things to do than read my journals - it’s a wonderful escape from the dire February weather in England. Particularly this year.

Bequia, a small island in the Caribbean, is warm and sunny - every year. This has to be the first, banal, feeling on arriving, escaping from the dreariest, most rain-soaked February we’ve ever had. It’s the same for American visitors, who describe the horrors of unprecedented storms and snowfalls even, according to an old friend, in South Carolina. Bequia seems to be unaffected (almost, see below): 27 celsius during the day, 24 at night. No change - although they haven’t been having enough of the rain that they depend on. Perhaps it’s all landing on us northerners.

Surges and earthquakes

I say “almost” unaffected. Actually there were rough seas and surges during the first few days after I arrived, putting some of the beaches out of action. Possibly the side-effects of the storms up north - who knows? There are other theories, much discussed among the locals.

One is that there was a mini-earthquake or other seismic activity (4.5 on the Richter scale) somewhere in the northern Caribbean.

Another theory is more appealing: an underwater volcano with the delightful name “Kick-em-Jenny”, which certainly exists a bit south of Bequia and maybe has been quietly erupting.

Ferries

I fly these days to the neighbouring island of St Vincent and take a ferry to Bequia. This year there are changes. I selected the 10.00 am ferry and discovered that it was the new “fast” ferry, which interestingly is faster - much faster - that the “express” ferries. The Bequia Express has been chugging along for decades, and looks it. We now have the Bequia Fast Ferry which is sleek, comfortable and only takes about half the time that the Express takes. All for the same very reasonable fare, about a tenner in our money. See the two in the photograph.

Ferries old and new

Beaches

I have a new friend, on Princess Margaret Beach, called Patricia. I need to recap.

There are the two best beaches, both on the Caribbean side of the island: Princess Margaret (apparently informally named after her, way back, because she spent some time there) and Lower Bay. I tend to go to Princess Margaret, partly as it’s nearer.

But this year I’m breaking with the past. There’s a string of beach bars along the beach, mostly pretty ramshackle, more this year than before. The one we always selected for our loungers was the one run by the formidable Fay, who advertises “Free beer - tomorrow!”, like the Red Queen.

But Fay is very sullen, even unfriendly. No welcome at all after all these years. Even after I gave her a painting of her that she’d commissioned. Perhaps that’s why - it was too accurate!

Anyway, I moved on, keeping my head down. The next one is run by lovely Patricia, who gives you the warmest of welcomes. She supplies even more comfortable loungers and assures me that she will protect me from the ire of Fay.

Patricia's beach bar

Theatre

People don’t normally come to Bequia for the theatre. But this year the Bequia International Theatre is happening again, run by the enterprising John Burstein.

The first offering I was able to go to was a comedy “Come Down from Up River” although rivers didn’t come into it much. It was about an elderly uncle (played by Burstein himself) who lives a secluded life, “up river” I suppose. He comes down to meet his neice, who is about to marry her lesbian girlfriend. Ooh, what will he make of that? Actually, it turns out that he couldn’t care less. In his words, he “couldn’t give a shit”. All this is very funny, although it did ramble on about all sorts of other topics that were not quite as funny. All very well acted.

The next, a few days later, was a concert given by two Brits, Pete Richards and Dan Haynes, of the music of Simon and Garfunkel. Wonderful! A sell-out for both performances. Well-deserved.

And finally, an amazing show of mind-reading by an Irishman called Tomas McCabe. I was completely mystified. “Choose a card”, “Choose a colour”, even “Choose an occupation”. He got them all right. Magic? Mind-reading? I was certainly baffled. His day job is a barrister.

Shake!

As readers of previous journals may remember, I am a groupie - of the “Soul and Motown” group called Shake!, not forgetting the exclamation mark.

Shake! in action

I could only manage to see them once, but they greet me like a long-lost brother. The core members are Jan and Louis, she on saxophone, he on keyboard. As Jan and Louis (from Yorkshire and Glasgow respectively) they have been on the island for many years. But recently they have been joined by the charismatic singer Tem who comes form Chicago. See the picture above, but you’ll have to imagine the music.

Restaurants

I normally do a short round-up of the restaurants, prefacing it by saying that people don’t come to Bequia for the food. But this is misleading - even unfair. There are good restaurants and I think they only get better.

The key ones are the same as always. Laura’s, ever excellent, run by the enthusiastic Argentinian Carlos. Mac’s Pizzeria, which is definitely not just a pizzeria and has become the social centre of the island - run by Kevin from California and his wife Draissy (not sure about the spelling!). Provision, which probably produces the best food on the island. And finally, Fernando’s run by the now elderly Nando, who used to go out every morning in his miniscule boat to catch the fish of the day but is now more land-bound. He still, on occasion, serves what must be the only roast lamb with mint sauce in the Caribbean.

Otherwise, there is Cheri’s Rooftop Terrace that I didn’t manage to get to this time. And Jack’s Bar on Princess Margaret Beach, which is for me the perfect place for lunch.

Plantation House

This is where I stay. A wonderful place (see the photograph above), wonderfully placed on the waterfront. But there was a problem, much discussed among the visitors - and also taken up with the management. It was all about breakfast - perhaps too boring to go into here, although it’s interesting to me how a good hotel can get something so simple so wrong.

Breakfast was never one of the strong points but it was ok. But this year, it was ridiculous partly in terms of the way it was served - some things are self-service, often things that would be better served by the efficient waiters; other things have to be ordered from the waiters, often things that would be better self-served; other things are seemingly not available at all. And fruit, which could be the strong point, very limited. You can get better, fresher orange juice at Gatwick Airport.

I gave up. I bought what I wanted from the local shop and brought it into the restaurant. Absurd! Although I have to admit that the eggs and bacon pass muster.

Doris’s

A note about the local shop. It’s well known to the yachting fraternity and caters to their demanding tastes. It’s run by Doris, an amazingly efficient lady, of Indian origins, born in St Vincent, who carries a stock that would be impressive in the local Sainsbury’s - even including blueberries (from Mexico). She also speaks German for some reason.

Travel back home

Most people regard my way of getting back to London as mad. This year it did throw up a few problems.

It’s all driven by the fact that I hate night flights, even more than most people do. All flights to Europe from the Caribbean are night flights. On a night flight I want to get to sleep, but can’t. It’s purely psychological. On a day flight, I nod off almost as soon as I fasten the seatbelt.

My solution, coming back from Bequia, is to take a day flight to New York, stay the night in the JFK Hilton, and take a day flight from there to Heathrow. One of the benefits is that you can have a nice dinner at the hotel, possibly helped along by a dry Martini. It has worked well in the past.

But this year I made a mistake. The flight from St Vincent left at 4.00pm and wasn’t scheduled to arrive till 8.30. Getting into the hotel in time for a proper dinner was impossible. Actually it was worse than that.

There are no signs to the Hilton, for the good reason that it isn’t really in the airport. A kind man (with very limited English) said he’d take me there in a wheelchair. He took me quite a long distance to what turned out to be a shuttle bus stop out in the freezing cold. And there was no shuttle bus. I had him take me all the way back to where I could get a taxi. The taxi driver (who had even more limited English) got me to the hotel - eventually. At least it wasn’t still snowing.

I’m not going to give up. Next time I will benefit from the lessons learned. A key lesson is that the airport hotel to go for is the TWA Hotel, which is actually in the airport and is well-signed. Also, rather obviously, I’ll need an earlier flight.

Politics

One is mercifully free of politics in Bequia. Although we have been aware for many years that the government in St Vincent has been left-wing and has ignored the concerns of Bequia. Hence the sterling work of the charity Action Bequia, which I have written about before.

But last year they got a new government led by a local Bequia man, Dr Friday. Much rejoicing! Will things change, we ask?

I did some research in the St Vincent airport on my way back. I always remember seeing a group of photographs proudly displayed, indicating the local politics: one of Fidel Castro and one of Hugo Chavez. Have they been replaced? Answer, No! Maybe these things take time. Maybe the St Vincent “Blob” is fighting back . . .

3 March 2026

Tony Herbert