Why Everyone Loves St Vincent & Bequai - once they find the secret beaches - a Doris Visits guide

In St Vincent, in the Grenadines, would you love to go to this wonderful beach? Or this fantastic beach? Or catch tiny fish? Or this beach, which used to look like this? Or Hogwarts? The first thing you'll be offered outside the port is a water taxi. It's $15 return to Phila Beach. It's not the best beach. It's not the cheapest. It might be the quickest. Are you enjoying St Vincent? I love it. It is a total slice of paradise. Yes. Everywhere you go. Absolutely. And I hope you enjoy it. Upon that, this is where we leave the port. Let's not be in a rush to leave the port. And not just for the trinket stores. I'm talking about the ferry. Because the best thing in St Vincent is on its sister island, Bequia. That building there, which is right next to the dock, is a supermarket. And it's super important because inside is an ATM. Which is where you'll get local currency. Key for the water taxi. The ferry, which costs about the same. Or the local bus, which is cheaper. And that's how we're going to get to one of these great beaches. If you're not interested, go straight through the supermarket. There's another open market. And you'll start to walk out of the docks and towards the bus carriages. The development that's going on in St Vincent is cleaner. And they're shaping the place up. The new development became essential after the hurricane. But there are some very old buildings. And rather Hogwarts-like. This is the Roman Catholic school. This is a pretty fabulous place, isn't it? Beyond the two schools and the playing fields are the botanical gardens. That's about as much as there is here in St Vincent. So your walk is going to be fairly short. And you'll be back at the ship for lunch. But if you're going to a beach, let's show you how. You only have to walk about 300 yards left outside the port. And it becomes more hustly and bustly. And we've just found a street market. Get some salt with some onion and some garlic. A little tip of black pepper. And some curry. And you can put some salve in them too. And some flour and you mix them and fry. And so that's a local dish? Yeah. They call it chi-chi. There's chi-chi nets all along the bridge. So chi-chi, or tri-tri fish, are fished when the moon is in the right position. I'm not sure when that is. But if you're lucky enough to see it, it is quite a spectacle. And it happens right next to Buckingham Bay Beach. Which is the best beach in St Vincent. So let's go there first. It's easy, by bus, for a couple of dollars. There are two bus stations. This one is Wynwood and the other one is Leawood. So depending on which direction you want to go, you need to pick your bus station. Villa Beach is in one direction. And you can get a bus or a boat from the cruise terminal as Jean showed you. $15 return to Villa Beach. And Sandals in Buckingham Bay is in the other direction. Ask the bus drivers. This is the Leawood bus garage. It's the second one down from the ship. We're trying to go to Buckingham Bay. They don't have numbers on the buses, they just have where they're going. Or ask the driver. Buckingham Bay is the beach that we're after. This is what I absolutely love doing. This is a typical Doris Visits trip. Get a bus, get off in the middle of nowhere. And suddenly, St Vincent is a charming place. And the bus ride here was fantastic. All for a dollar. For a couple of dollars you can get to the only white sand beach on St Vincent. So this beach is absolutely gorgeous. There's only four people on it and they're from the ship. They paid $20 in a taxi return. We paid $1 to get here on a bus. So this was 2017. The bus still goes there. It's still a public beach. It still costs only a dollar. But it's better. This is the only white sand beach on the island. And it's still absolutely public. They can't stop you going on. The only thing is, you can't use the sunbeds because they belong to Sandals. But the beach is for everyone. Hi, my name is Mishka. I work with my mom. We're here at the beach at Sandals. This is Buckingham Bay. What we do, we service the visitors from the cruise ship mainly. Also locals as well. But if they want to rent a beach chair or umbrella because there's not a lot of shade here. We cater to them. Our prices are very reasonable as well. We have drinks as well. Snacks, anything. If you don't want to walk all the way over there, we can cater to you. My name is Mishka. I love it. You're very friendly here. Thank you. So it's in the opposite direction to Villa Beach. Easy to get to by bus. And it's expanding. The government's expanding the local facilities. So it's only getting better. This looks very different to when we were last here. Still absolutely beautiful. In a different way I suppose because it's more commercialised now. The beach behind me, right next to Sandals, is one the government's investing in for the locals. They've already brought sand in. So it's going to be a real sand beach. With a little drink and place to rent out your chairs over there. The bridge has been amended and improved. So ignore the gates and the security guard on the bridges. The beach is public. You can use it. This side is local. It's more funky. The food's nice. The beer's cold. And the locals are extremely friendly. Really, this has got everything you want. Don't think that Buckingham Bay has vanished because of Sandals. It's just got better. This barbecue smells delicious. Let's hope all the beaches stay public. And the local community here can thrive through the business that's coming down to Buckingham Bay. So when you've finished your day at Buckingham Bay, you just walk up the hill to the bus. And back to the ship. If there are lots of cruisers on the bus, you might get lucky. And the bus driver will take you down to the bay and not just drop you at the top. That does happen. The walk up, the drive home, just as quick as the river taxi. Nothing against the river taxi. But let's look at the ferry. They take American dollars on the bus. And it's two dollars all the way there. So when you see me presenting on Doris Visits, you may wonder why. Well, it's because Jean has passed out. Forty EC dollars return. That's very cheap. Thank you very much. So this will work on the way back as well? Yeah. Thank you. Inside is air-conditioned. And it's quite cool. The ferry that crosses to Bequia is the red boat. There are two of them. They're slightly different. But both have a shaded outside area. That's the wind star. Now if you're wondering why, having travelled to St. Vincent in the Caribbean, you would go to Bequia, I hope you won't be asking that question after you've seen this film. Bequia may be one of the best paradise islands in the Caribbean. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's free. And please share with other cruisers. Directly opposite where you get off from the ferry, you'll find the tourist office. Hi. Do you have any maps? Oh, great. Thank you. So we're setting off to rediscover this lovely island. So there's a market just as you get off the ferry. If you turn right, carry on walking up. You can hire a scooter. This is open from 8 till 6. Remember the post office we showed you right at the beginning? That's where you need to go to get a local permit to drive if you want to hire a car. You'll need to show them your home driving licence. And you'll need this even if you have an international driving licence. Top tip. Never pronounce the island Bequia unless you want to see an angry local. Funnily enough, this is one of my favourite churches that we've seen. It's not adorned and over-ornamental. It's just very simple. Tip 2. Bequia is part of St Vincent in the Grenadines. There are genuinely some places in the world which are special. For whatever reason, you may have met your wife there. You may have had your first margarita. But they're special. And you probably think, like I had with this. Although I'd like to go back, I may never get there. Well, today we have. And in fact, every time we get back to St Vincent, we will now. Isn't this just to die for? It's so unspoilt and it's so beautiful. Because Bequia is unspoilt and a little less visited than other Caribbean islands, the locals may appear to be less used to tourists. So this is their version of the boardwalk. And all the ships cast know they're all here. The dancers and the singers. There's the dive centre on the right. If I had more time, I'd love to see what the Mermaid Academy is about. You will find a few dive centres on the island. Here's another one, just beside another live music bar. Bequia has a very different feel to the island of St Vincent. Well worth the trip. No shortage of restaurants to choose from. All along this beautiful, not boardwalk, it's stone. But it's all along the seaside. And this holiday resort on the left-hand side that we're just approaching was laying derelict when we visited 15 years ago. But then so was the one on the white beach in St Vincent. And both are now open. Beaches here in St Vincent are all public. Still going. Where are we going? Well, we're heading for Jack's Bar. So I'm setting off on the Princess Margaret Trail. But there are lots of bars now. However, the trail is worth a walk. I wore my flip-flops last time. I've got my trainers this time. Much easier. The ground is uneven. And you should keep your eye open for broken steps. There are a few. It's a rickety old trail. Going down. So this is actually the coastal path around to Jack's Bar. Now, in the book, Kieran didn't take this way. Kieran got the cab from an estate agent over there. And she took him to Jack's Bar where they sat down. And she arranged to get the keys for these two houses. But your walk around, this is the beautiful coastal walk. There's a lovely bench here for a short stop with a great view. So this is what I'm looking for. That's Jack's Bar. Look at this guy behind me. This is Jack's Bar. Now, if you've seen it in our old Doris Visits film, it is very different. They've completely remodelled it. Princess Margaret Beach is one of the best beaches you'll find in the Caribbean. And Bequia has more. You just need to walk a little further. But this beach is going to be pretty empty. Food, beer, drinks, cocktails. All fantastic. Strenuous bit. Along to the end of the beach and up the steps. Remember, Kieran did get up here by car. We've walked today. So in Cruise Ship Heist, Kieran buys a house. It is this house. He gets to the top. This is the one he sees, but he's come by car. And the car, if you remember, stops on a hill. It says it in the book. And he also walks down the hill and he buys another one. Which is two down. We walked all the way down the hill. We'd have to walk all the way up the hill again. And I want some swimming time. We were also 15 years younger. So walking down the hill and up again wasn't so bad. Let me show you the old film. So you can see Jack's Bar and what is at the bottom. Welcome to the island of Bequia. This is Jack's Bar. What a place. So this is Jack's Bar 15 years ago. I have to say I do prefer the older style. Look how few boats were in the bay 15 years ago. Picket fences. Picket fences are big here. Everywhere. Do you want to know a secret, Bequia? You just need to get here and you can hire a villa or an apartment. Look at this. It's not such a secret. Especially now we've told you how to get there by ferry. For 40 Eastern Caribbean dollars. It is a dream of a place. Guess what I've found. Another beach. It's Lower Beach, right next door. You can see why Kieran bought two houses. If you want to know where the money came from on the cruise ship, you'll need to read Cruise Ship Heist. I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of Bequia. It's like a secret place in the Caribbean. Oh, look. Grenada is the paradise island where you find monkeys and anything can happen. Excuse me. Is your name Doris? Welcome to Grenada, known as the Nutmeg Isle. And the tongue is called St George's. Turn left and you'll find the bus garage. Or you can grab a water taxi and go to the beach for the day. It took us about 15 minutes on the water taxi and it was 15 US dollars. That's a return. But remember, the bus was only a dollar. We just came on the number one bus from St George's to Grand Ants Beach. It cost us $1. The further you walk along the beach, the less crowded it is. And there are bars everywhere. Rice pudding. OK. We've passed the highest point in Grenada and we're now at a welcome centre in the National Park. Most people will stop here and have a look and see if they can see any monkeys. Oh, hello. Just search Doris Visits. We try and put a little more fun in cruising than there already is. The Sandal Tunnel is one of the unique historical sites in the picturesque town of St George. So we have our spice market. We have our nutmegs. We have our spices. We have our cloves. Those are our chocolates. And if you happen to read one of my cruise novels, there are ten in the series, please do leave a review on Amazon. Cruise Ship Heist has been number one three times in two different countries. Enjoy your cruising.