Thanksgiving in Bequia
15 November 2006 | Bequia Island, The Grenadines
Karin
The beautiful island of Bequia was as charming and enjoyable during our second visit as it had been when were there last June. We had friends on several boats and greatly enjoyed their company, especially Thanksgiving dinner in a local restaurant complete with roast turkey and accompanied by side dishes with local seasonings (the sweet potatoes were especially good). Arriving at Thanksgiving dinner in a dinghy wearing a sundress and sandals felt unusual, having a special occassion seemed appropriate; most of the American cruisers had a celebration either at a restaurant or at a potluck on one of the boats. I am still not sure how anyone managed to cook a turkey in the small boat oven; in fact, I'm a little amazed they could find a turkey at all. But you must remember that full time cruisers become experts at finding things; so I guess skills learned when finding the needed fan belt work just as well when locating a frozen turkey.
Tour of Moonhole We missed seeing this really unique place during our first stop here and were glad when a tour was organized. Moonhole is very hard to describe; basically, it is a group of about 30 houses literally dug into the cliffs and rocks. From the water it looks like a lot of large caverns dug into cliff and you can't really see that there is anything inside these holes in the rock, which are actually various rooms. The first house was built during the 1960's and located mostly under the "Moonhole", which is actually a large arch in the rock cliff. Most of the rooms are open to the elements; electricity comes from a generator and rain water is collected in a cistern. The shower has no roof. A total of about 30 houses were built in this area. It is very private and difficult to get to. A few of the homes are occupied and a few are rented as vacation places. Our guide book describes it as "a special kind of vacation home for the right people." I found the rooms kind of forbidding because the walls, ceiling, and floor are all rock which didn't really look inviting to me even with lots of pillows, throw rugs, etc. The sofa was a stone ledge covered with lots of large pillows. However, I liked the outside areas (terraces and patios) very much because of their terrific views. There are a few pictures in our gallery. Although I took our camera, I left the card in the computer! I copied a few pictures from another cruiser, Jeff on Dragonfly; however, his batteries were low so picture taking at Moonhole was kind of doomed.