When we entered Admiralty Bay, Bequia (pronounced Beck-we) on the 30th of May we were surprised to see a capsized barge in the harbor's main channel. Our initial thought was, "wonder how long that has been there like that." We are so accustomed to seeing derelict vessels in the Caribbean we assume they have been there for some time since a sense of urgency doesn't seem to fit with the island time mentality. However, in this particular case there was a tug with workers aboard actively working on re floating the barge. Perhaps this phenomenon can be attributed to our location. You see, Bequians are a hard working people with a very strong connection to the sea. After a visit to the whaling museum here we came away with a better understanding of their sea going heritage. You see Bequia was originally settled by whalers from North America, farmers from Scotland, French freebooters and Africans. In fact, the whaling continues today in a much reduced form. From February to April each year Bequians are allowed to take a maximum of two whales within that time period. They go whaling in the same way that their forefathers did in wooden whaleboats manned by seven men. Armed only with a hand thrown harpoon and their individual bravery. As with the whaleboats of Nantucket, far to the north, they can be propelled by both sail and oars. The sails are primarily to get them to and from the whaling grounds while the men and the oars provide the propulsion during the whale hunt. In addition to whaling boat building is a trade of these proud people. Bob Dylan had a boat built here in Bequia. They still continue to build work boats here, not for work though, they are now used primarily for racing. We have seen these brightly painted racing machines stored under covers, like Formula One cars, all along the beachs of Port Elizabeth (the main town). We just missed their work boat regatta and understand that it was quite a sight. We have heard that there is another work boat regatta happening in Canouan just 16 miles south of here. It started today and runs thru the weekend ending on Monday. So we hope to get underway tomorrow so that we can catch some of the regatta's action. If all goes well our next report will be on the regatta from Canouan, stay tuned.