Port Elizabeth on the Island Bequia in the Grenadines January 14, 2020

I am discovering that cruise travel is flexible and is sometimes totally dictated by climate. We were initially intended to go to Saline Bay on the tiny island of Maryeau in the Grenadines. Tides and winds made the captain of our not so large cruise ship, divert to the just as tiny island of Bequia in the Grenadines. Port Elizabeth is the most picturesque and the only town on the island. Still it was an interesting and pleasant visit. Its port could not even accommodate our ship so life boats were used as tenders.

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Port Elizabeth had a charming version of the tourist strip, where locals showed their wares. Some of you may know that I am sometimes quite emotional about dogs. That emotion is frequently fear. I was therefore rather intrigued by the home made fudge kiosk. The proceeds go to feeding the feral dogs that roam everywhere. They don’t rescue them. They don’t immunize, spay or neuter them. They just feed them. If they are visibly sick or injured they will try to capture them, but the island has no qualified veterinary services. So care is limited.

Pick-up truck “taxis” drove us all over the island, proudly showing us vistas and the lavish homes of their wealthiest residents.

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The highlight was the hawksbill turtle sanctuary.

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They recover eggs from the beach to hatch them. They raise the turtles for 5 years; then release them back to their original beach. Ever curious, I asked the turtle wrangler , how one can tell a girl turtle from a boy turtle. They all looked the same to me. He said all the turtles in the tanks above were girls about 2 years old. He said their life span might be 50 years in the wild. You cannot tell the gender until they are about 10 years old. Then the males develop what most people think is a tail. He also said that gender can be influenced by the temperature at which the eggs are hatched. Well, what’d ya know!

Linda