Bequia has long been a island of yachtsmen. Isolated enough to remain unspoiled, yet lively enough to offer something special for just about everyone. It provides a splendid combination of the old and new that so many find enchanting. It brings so many back year after year.

Boat building and repair work are the main industry. Experienced sailors can sometimes get a job crewing on boats sailing on from here to Panama and other destinations. For maps and charts (and books) go to Bequia Bookshop, which is very well stocked, run by Patrick and Heather Reynolds. 

The nearest beach to Port Elizabeth is the pleasant Princess Margaret beach which shelves quickly into the clear sea. There are no beach bars to spoil this tree-lined stretch of soft sand. At its S end there is a small headland, around which you can snorkel to Lower Bay, where swimming is excellent and the beach is one of the best on the island. Local boys race their homemade, finely finished sailing yachts round the bay. In the village is Kennedy's Bar, a good place to watch the sunset with a rum punch. 

Further along is De Reef, whose bar and restaurant are the hub of much local activity. Away from Port Elizabeth the beaches are empty. Take a taxi through coconut groves past an old sugar mill to Industry Bay, a nice beach surrounded by palms with a brilliant view across to Bullet Island, Battowia and Balliceaux where the Black Caribs were held before being deported to Roatán. Some luxury homes have been built at the N end of the bay. Food and drink available at the Industry Beach Bar. 

A short walk along the track leads to Spring Bay, to the S, where there is a beach bar (may be closed). Both beaches are narrow with shallow bays and a lot of weed, making them less good for swimming and snorkeling. 

The walk up Mount Pleasant from Port Elizabeth is worthwhile (go by taxi if it is too hot), the shady road is overhung with fruit trees and the view of Admiralty Bay is ever more spectacular. There is a settlement of airy homes at the top, from where you can see most of the Grenadines. 

By following the road downhill and S of the viewpoint you can get to Hope Bay, an isolated and usually deserted sweep of white sand and one of the best beaches. At the last house (where you can arrange for a taxi to meet you afterwards), the road becomes a rough track, after mile turn off right down an ill-defined path through cedar trees to an open field, cross the fence on the left, go through a coconut grove and you reach the beach. The sea is usually gentle but sometimes there is powerful surf, a strong undertow and offshore current, take care.

 Friendship Bay is particularly pleasant, there is some coral but also quite a lot of weed, a taxi costs EC$15, or you can take a dollar bus (infrequent) in the direction of Paget Farm, get out at Mr Stowe's Store (EC$1.50) and walk down to the bay (you may have to ring for a taxi at one of the hotels to get back, though). Further up the coast at Park Bay a retired fisherman known as Brother King rears hawksbill turtles as a one-man environmental protection agency; visitors and donations welcomed.

The Tourist Office by the jetty (very helpful) can help you arrange a visit to the cliffside dwellings of Moon Hole at the S end of the island, where a rocky arch frames the stone dwelling and the water comes up the front yard. At Paget Farm, whale harpooning is still practiced from Feb to May by a few elderly fishermen who use two 26 ft long cedar boats, powered by oars and sails. They do not catch much. If you can arrange a trip to Petit Nevis, to the S, you can see the whaling station and find out more about Bequia's whaling tradition.