Admiralty Bay
Port Elizabeth, Bequia,
The Grenadines
13.00.687N
61.14.506W

To do something different today, Mike & Terri invited us to join them riding the dollar bus around the island. We’ve taken the bus before on different islands when we had somewhere specifically to go but have never gotten on just to ride. It turned out to be a great little ride. With Mike teasing the driver and his daughter, who collected the fares for her dad, the driver got into the role and played guide for his less than conventional passengers.

He told us that this was a special day on the little island. Yesterday one of their fishing boats had caught a whale. Since it has been a tradition for over a hundred years, the government allows the islanders two whales a year. Sail boats about 28’ long with a crew of 6 men, tack back and forth under sail looking for whales. When one is spotted, the alert is given to the other boats to converge on the area and help with the kill. Harpoons are used much the same way as they have for generations. The first in plunged deep into the whale by hand and a thick rope flaked in a basket unravels to its end. That’s when the “Nantucket sleigh ride” begins. When the opportunity arises, a second and third harpoon are also thrown by hand. When the whale tires, a man transfers from the boat to the whale and plunges another harpoon through the mouth of the whale and then bends it to hold its jaws shut to keep it from taking on water and sinking.

Yesterday’s kill didn’t fare as well. After the first harpoon was thrown and the sleigh ride began, the rope gave way and they had to call in a boat with a motor to catch the rope in the water and transfer it back to the original boat. Guess it has something to do with the rules that allow them to continue to take whales.

After the whale is killed, it is then hauled through the water to a little island off the coast where it is carved up and sold to the islanders. It sells for about $5.00 EC/lb. The boat crew who made the kill reaped the benefits. It looked like the whole island turned out to get their share.

Our bus driver continued by telling us that you need not only the meat of the whale but the blubber to cook it in. He said that people nowadays like to use a regular cooking stoves but he thought that it tasted better cooked over a wood fire the way they did it when he was younger.

He said that the meat tasted like beef and indeed, when we got a look at some of it in a bucket, it looked like beef. The lady sitting behind me offered to take us over to watch as they carved up the giant but I gave an emphatic no thank you. I can’t stand the smell of Dale filleting a fish on the back deck, I certainly don’t want to get a whiff of something being carved up that’s as big as a boat.

We finished our ride and when we were deposited back at the dock, we met Gerry & Nicky who were shopping for fruits and veggies. We told them all about our trip and walked down to the market to pick up some fresh bananas, pineapple, star fruit, green onions and broccoli for ourselves.

We all retired to our respective boats and made plans to meet up again for dinner at a local restaurant that featured a jazz pianist. Mike plays several instruments and often sits in with the bands we find. He had played before with Uncle Louie, who, from his accent, is from Scotland. Uncle Louie invited Mike to join him again and after our dinner, we were serenaded in grand style. When Uncle Louie took a break, Mike played a couple of tunes on the piano.

It was a great evening and punctuated with good humor when a gentleman from the table next to us, mistook Mike for someone he had met earlier in the day. Of course, this opened the door for Mike to run with the idea and was made even more crazy when the man Mike was mistaken for, actually showed up and sat at the next table down.

I think Gerry & Nicky weren’t quite sure what to think when they first met Mike and he immediately started teasing with them but considering how quick witted they are, they’ve made up for lost time. We always have so much fun.

Tomorrow, we’ll all point our bows south towards the Tobago Cays. Since these are uninhabited islands, it will be a few days before I’m able to make my blog posts again. Until then . . .