Bequia Beaches

Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Bequia, Grenadines/St Vincent
For a small island, Bequia also has a large number of very diverse beaches. They can basically be divided into two groups. The leeward, or Caribbean, beaches generally are much calmer and better for swimming and have more bars and restaurants nearby. The windward, or Atlantic, beaches tend to have much rougher water, though some are still very good for swimming, and while highly picturesque, have less development nearby--though they do get a lot of houses built above them, for the views and for the breezes.
Probably my favourite beach is Princess Margaret, on the leeward side, a beautiful crescent of sand with only one restaurant on it, Jack's Bar, and a few local vendors selling beer and souvenirs. It is also very convenient to get to now that the walkway has been extended around Princess Point. T The most popular beach on the leeward side is probably Lower Bay. Lots of people come to Bequia and virtually never leave LowBay. There are a number of bar/restaurants, hotels, apartments and villas and if you just want to live on the beach, Lower Bay is the place for you. We found it too far removed from "town" when we stayed there our first year on Bequia. The water is a bit rougher than on PM but still pretty calm usually and the beach itself is gorgeous. There are also a couple of other leeward beaches that we visit. Plantation is the closest beach to where we live in Belmont and it is a very placid, quiet little beach, great for a quick dip. It is also much more tempting now that the Plantation House bar and restaurant is open on it. We used to call this dog-bite beach before the Plantation House started restoring it, because the wild dogs (and thieves) used to hide in the overgrown grass behind it and prey on unsuspecting victims who came down for a swim. There is also another little beach on the other side of town, in Ocar, by the Tradewinds marina that we like going to occasionally. It is very pretty and always dead calm and there is often some interesting snorkeling (lobsters, etc.) near the marina docks.
On the windward side of the island, the most popular beach is at Friendship. This is the home of the high-end Bequia Beach Hotel as well as a number of villas and apartments. While rougher than on the other side of the island, swimming here is very popular. It's a nice change of pace to walk over here for lunch and some different beach time. Other beaches on the Atlantic side include Spring, which is largely deserted--the Firefly hotel started a condo development there last year but has abandoned it, Industry (or Crescent) Beach, a pretty little bay that is home to the wonderful Sugar Reef restaurant, the completely deserted Hope Beach, which is a great destination for hikes through the bush, and the very rocky Park Bay, home of the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. I have never done it, but I hear that it is a great drift snorkel to enter at Park and let the current carry you around to Industry, the next bay. I just don't trust the consistency of the currents that much (I worry I'd end up in St. Lucia or Mustique!).
Anyway, there really is a beach for every taste here and it is one of the many charms that make people keep coming back.

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2025-02-12

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