Qualla: Bequia

Bequia: Introduction

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit simonsimages, CC BY 2.0. Alexander Hamilton's father died here, and nobody came to the funeral. James Hamilton moved from St. Croix to Bequia in 1774 under a British land grant program for indigent settlers, took up a plot along the shore of Southeast Bay, and stayed for sixteen years. His famous son sent money and letters begging him to visit or emigrate to the new United States. Neither man ever made the trip. The island that kept them apart is seven square miles of volcanic hillside in the Grenadines, fifteen kilometers south of Kingstown, and its name -- from the Arawak for "island of the clouds" -- suits a place that has always existed slightly out of reach.

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Image: simonsimages | CC BY 2.0

Bequia: A Harbor Worth Fighting Over

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit en:User:John Hill, CC BY-SA 3.0. Admiralty Bay, on Bequia's west coast, was once the safest natural harbor in the Eastern Caribbean during hurricane season. Henry Morgan may have anchored there. Local legend holds that Blackbeard -- Edward Teach -- used Bequia as his base, and that Sir Francis Drake planned his ...

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Image: en:User:John Hill | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bequia: Traded Between Empires

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rjkooljay, CC BY-SA 3.0. Bequia changed hands the way Caribbean islands did in the eighteenth century: through treaties signed in European capitals by men who had never seen the places they were giving away. The French settled first, establishing small plantations of indigo, cotton, and sugar worked by e...

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Image: Rjkooljay | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bequia: The Last Whalers

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joyce Hill, uploaded by en:User:John Hill, CC BY-SA 3.0. Bequia is one of the few places on Earth where whaling is still permitted. The International Whaling Commission classifies the island's hunt as aboriginal whaling, and Bequians are allowed to catch up to four humpback whales per year using hand-thrown harpoons from small, open sa...

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Image: Joyce Hill, uploaded by en:User:John Hill | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bequia: Floats, Regattas, and Turtle Sanctuaries

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. Modern Bequia draws cruising yachts, expats, and divers to 28 identified dive sites where hawksbill turtles, moray eels, and lobsters move through wrecks and shallow caves. The Easter Regatta and Music Fest is the island's biggest annual event, but a newer tradition has captured ...

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Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0