Intrepid Travels

Bequia lies only 6 miles south of 'mainland St Vincent', so we left IE in Admiralty Bay and boarded an old rust bucket of a ferry (apparently a donation from Norway, judging by the faded lettering on the stern), for the short trip across the channel to Kingstown, the capital of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). We berthed (by touch) alongside a P&O cruise ship, Azura, and walked out into the noise, heat and dust of this busy port, choked with people, cars and animals, all vying for space on the pavements and roads. Not a place for the faint hearted! After a fruitless search for proper coffee, we wandered around the pretty Anglican cathedral and the very beautiful stone Catholic cathedral, which had a wonderful shady courtyard filled with vividly coloured plants. In both sanctuaries, the plaques and headstones told a tale of the colonial past, with little reference to the local people. Today, the Catholic precinct houses a school, a parish office providing emergency aid, and a soup kitchen.
A short distance beyond the cathedrals lies the botanical gardens, first established in 1765 as a medicinal garden, and restored after years of neglect in the 1800s. The 20 acres are beautifully maintained, and informative guides provide a fascinating tour, with opportunities to smell the leaves and bark of many of the trees and other plants, most of which seem to have been imported! It is a haven of shade in a very hot and humid environment.
We found a local café for lunch and were served pieces of shark, rice, lentils and beans/chick peas, from large 'troughs', and it was all very tasty. By this time, the heat was becoming oppressive and we sought shelter under the trees in the Alliance Francaise gardens before boarding the ferry for the return journey, getting home just before the last light of the day.