Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Travel Forum

Hi everyone,
Going to be on Bequia for three weeks from Jan 11. Will be staying @ Dawns Creole Gardens - anyone been there? Whats it like? Also, we intend to do a lot of snorkelling - whats the reef like there at Lower Bay? Another question - would it be best to take USD as the rate would be advantageous at the moment for us in Britain, or just take ECD or travellers cheques? Any other tips would be appreciated!

Thanks - Jeff

Hi Jeff,

am just back from a 16 days cruise through all the islands of St. Vincent and Grenadines. It was so awesome, water and air of 28 degrees, always sunny days and calm sea. Very transparent water, amasing snorkelling (the best was at Tobago Cays).

Bequia's main town is Port Elizabeth. We have visited it during a stop at Admiralty Bay. People are friendly, altough quite poor and men are mostly drunk already in the morning. The fruits and vegetable market is very, very expensive. E.g. from what I remember, 1 kilo of tomatoes was 10 U.S. dollars. Salad is a luxury stuff there, although in any hotel restaurant you can still get it in a menu.

As concerned for diving, I don't know Lower Bay, but the snorkelling next to Petit Nevis was great. I would asvise to go to nearby Petit Nevis and Mustique (loved by stars) islands, as they are gorgeous.

For moving between the islands, there are taxi-boats at Admiralty Bay, you can agree at a good price, if you are polite and the driver likes you :) I mean there is no standard price (it is better to bargain in E.C. as the prices are rather high in USD or Euro).

for info on diving go to:
www.dive-bequia.com

for the info on your hotel go to:
http://www.islandtimeholidays.com/Hotels/Dawns.htm

As for money, we had USD dollars with us. There was no problem to Exchange it to E.C. I would advise, to exchange it right at your arrival. There is National Commercial Bank at Port Elizabeth with ATM machines, which accept Visa and MasterCards. Elsewhere, in shops, restaurants etc. the rate was about 2.5 E.C. for U.S.D and 3 for Euro. So, it is expensive to pay in U.S.D. even worse in Euros (as Euro rate is not appreciated regularly against the U.S.D.; E.C. has a fixed rate against the U.S.D. as E.C. is a dollar-based currency), much better is to pay with E.C.

Hope, that helps.

Have a wonderful trip,
Natalia

Hi Natalia!

Thanks for the info - the currency part will be very helpful! I'll check out the links as well. Glad you had a great time in The Grenadines - hope ours is as good! Plan to visit Mustique and St. Vincent - want to see the botanical gardens there. Glad you found the snorkelling good - I try to go a couple of times a day at least! Can't wait to see hummingbirds again.........

Take care and merci beaucoup!

Jeff

You’ve chosen well. Dawn's Creole is a small guesthouse/hotel up a short vertical road from Lower Bay Beach. It is operated by Bequian Dawn Simmons and her German husband, Willy.

The place is spotlessly clean and the little restaurant serves interesting and tasty food that is a fusion of German and Caribbean - and it works.

Dawn's is right next door to Coco's place - a colourful bar/restaurant that jumps to live music twice a week. Because of this, there's sort of a running feud between the two places but, IMHO and I live nearby, the music nights are fun and they only get out of hand once or twice a season. Take earplugs (if it's not the music, it's the dogs, roosters...)

Dawn also runs a really neat small beach bar on Lower Bay with inexpensive food and grog - one of my favourite places to hang, especially on a Sunday afternoon when the jump up at deReef and the beach volleyball games are in full swing.

Also make sure you have dinner at Nando’s at least one night...Nando fishes in the morning and cooks his catch at night. Inexpensive but reservations are a must because it is so popular. Nando’s is at the other end of Lower Bay Beach from Dawn’s and (of course), up a hill.

There is snorkelling at either end of Lower Bay Beach. I think the west end is better, especially as you go further around the headland. Sometimes the current there is strong and can be a push getting back, so be careful.

Also, virtually in front of the end of the road up to Dawn’s, there is a small reef that has lots of little tropicals, female parrotfish, etc., and the occasional rarity (peacock flounder, for example). Sometimes you will see a local spearfishing here in the late afternoon. There’s not much by way of coral.

A water taxi from Lower Bay will take you over to Rocky Bay which is also a good snorkelling site.

On the north end of the island, you will find excellent snorkelling (fish and coral) in Anse Chemin but it’s a difficult hike. Less arduous, is the walk out to Park Bay where you can drift snorkel from outside the reef all the way down to Spring Bay. Make sure you go at high tide to get over the coral safely and, ideally, with someone who has done this before.

Take a trip with Michael Bynoe of Michael Tours over to Isle a Quatre for a beach BBQ on a deserted island, and even more snorkelling right off the beach ($50 US pp).

For the best snorkelling, lash out $75US pp and go with the catamaran Passion on its weekly trip to the Tobago Cays, where Johnny Depp was marooned on Petit Tabac in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Sometimes the dive shops will take snorkellers along for a modest fee to places like Anse Chemin. My preference is Bequia Dive Adventure but Dive Bequia is just fine too.

I assume you are taking your own fins, mask, etc...if not, consider doing so because what is available locally for rent is limited, expensive and not the best.

Re currency - In your position, I would take EC and a credit card (Visa is everwhere) and UK travellers cheques/cash which you would have to change in a bank (expect a line-up and take your passport). The EC is pegged to the US$ and the larger businesses are happy to accept US but would have trouble with UK currency. The smaller businesses of course prefer EC only. There are also ATM’s but they are often out of order.

Re general tips - since you are going to be in the region for three weeks, don’t pass up the opportunity to visit the main island of St. Vincent. Scroll down to Chinacat’s post below, and you will see a reply of mine dated December 28th which gives you some idea of what is available there...fantastic and easily doable by daytrip from Bequia.

I just noticed you mentioned going to Mustique.

There are two easily accessible snorkelling sites in Mustique.

You get to the first site by walking west along the beach front road at the main jetty. Continue until you get to a pile of tumbled concrete blocks on the shoreline. These are the remains of an old changing hut that was destroyed by Hurricane Lenny and never rebuilt. They mark a break in the reef where you can go out for some excellent snorkelling. The fish are fearless as there is no spearfishing allowed. on Mustique. Regrettably, the coral is still recovering from Lenny but the fish are great.

The other site is off the eastern headland in front of the Cotton House Beach - remarkable for a forest of sea fan.

Hope this helps.

Hi Curiousx !

Thanks for all your great info! You say you live on Bequia so we may meet up sometime! ( Susi looks the same as in the photo on our homepage, but my hair is about a foot longer - midlife crisis! so you may or may not recognise us. If you do - say Hi) The snorkelling info you gave was just what we needed to give us a good start. Along with birdwatching and walking and trips to Mustique and St. Vincent etc. I think we'll have a full and packed programme. Thanks also for the currency info - we'll get what EC we can today or at Gatwick tomorrow and we'll take sterling travellers cheques and change them in Bequia. Also - thanks for the info re: earplugs. We're people who like a quiet time so we'll just have to try and get into the swing of things won't we :-) Been a few years since I've been to the Caribbean, and Susi has not been there before - she can't wait and neither can I ! Thanks once again.

Kind Regards,

Jeff