Sunday, November 23, 2014

A hidden gem

Yesterday, a group of us (Sue & Malcolm on Kool Kat, Gregg & Joe on Serenade, Ralph & Mary on Nightwatch, and ourselves) trekked up and over the hill to Bequia's ocean side to visit the Whaling Museum. Bequia has a strong history of whaling and they have an Agreement with the IWC that they can take four whales per year. The whaling season is from February to April and the Agreement is that they must hunt in the traditional manor. This involves using a hand-thrown harpoon from an open sailing boat and, we understand, there are fewer and fewer people available with these skills, resulting in no whales caught during 2013. We arrived at the museum, after more than an hour of trekking, and found it was CLOSED for renovations!

after a 1+ hr. hike, the Whaling Museum was CLOSED :(


the only glimpses of whales we saw


We trekked on in search of a restaurant, which was perched up on a hill (another climb), and it was also CLOSED :(  but along the way we came to Paget Farm, a gem in itself. It is a small hamlet and harbour where the main activity is harvesting lobster. Lobsters brought in here are shipped to Trinidad and then as far away as Japan. 




Putting together a lobster trap (hours and hours of labour) earns $5 EC ($2 US); a little more if you provide the materials!


'Cigar boats' are used for bringing the lobster traps in and out of harbour.

Paget Farm's harbour, with the island of Canuoan in the background

Returning with live lobster in the trap(s). The lobsters are then transferred to submerged holding tanks (seen floating behind the boat) where they are kept until they are shipped to Trinidad.

It took a team of 10 men to pull the boat back on to shore - the other 5 were playing 'Tug 'O War' with the front bow line.

posing for our cameras

After very much enjoying our chance visit with the people here, but finding no place to stop for a bite to eat; we hopped aboard a local bus (at $2 EC pp) and returned to town for lunch. As the rain fell, we were sheltered together with food and drink .... a wonderful afternoon.

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