We have been fortunate in seeing many turtles since we’ve been over here and so we took the opportunity to visit the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, located in the rugged, northeast of the island.

Orton G. ‘Brother’ King, a retired professional skin-diving fisherman, started the sanctuary in 1995 when he successfully hand-reared an endangered Hawksbill turtle. Since then he has been responsible for having increased the seriously dwindling turtle population in Bequia, a project that he has undertaken with passion and no financial reward. We met him briefly during our visit and even today, as an elderly gentleman, he is still passionate and dedicated to his cause.

It was amazing to see the turtles up close (see above photo of a Green Turtle). The sizes ranged from small 1-year olds to a big 19-year old turtle. Most are returned to the sea but others that are injured or have a deformity that would mean that they would be prey to other creatures, have a home here and are very happy to see visitors. It was interesting to see how their shells articulated as they moved, to see their nostrils that looked as though they had been drilled into their horned noses and to notice that they have no eyelids. The injured ones had purple splodges on them from the medication used to heal them.

Some storyboards explaining the activities undertaken there would have been helpful but we enjoyed our visit none the less.