Bequia has several nice beaches and in those early days I spent a lot of time at Princess Margaret beach, it was easily accessible from the Harbor and where I was living at Friendship. After school I would often walk home by climbing over Princess Hill, stopping for a swim at the beach before scrambling up the goat path to the Lower Bay road. I went to Lower Bay Beach a lot too, that’s where De Reef was, my favorite dinner spot. Friendship Beach was also close to my house so I was surrounded by choice!
I had heard about a beach on the Windward side of the Island called Hope, and was happy to be invited to a cook-out there. Mac said we would gather whelks, shell-fish I had not yet encountered on Bequia. Mac’s uncle, Cyril Mitchell, owned the Hope plantation back then, and was producing copra from the coconuts. The plantation had a fresh-water well we could use to wash the sea-salt off our skin, a luxury I would learn to appreciate after a day at Hope Beach.
That Saturday we drove to the top of Mount Pleasant in Momma’s land-rover and hiked down to the beach from there. It was a pleasant walk but I could see that the return trip was going to be strenuous. At the bottom of the hill we entered Papa Mitchie’s coconut grove and walked through to the beach.
I was stunned by the raw beauty of the bay, it was completely different from those on the leeward side of the Island. It was very windy, and big rolling waves were pounding ashore. The sandy beach was strewn with pretty bleached driftwood as well as flotsam from the sea, and it was deserted except for our small group.
That was the day I learned how to body surf. I had never been in such big waves and was timid at first, growing braver as I watched others coasting on them. Once I learned how to catch a wave and ride it ashore I didn’t want to stop, it was a lot of fun! It could be dangerous too, if you caught a wave at the wrong moment you could get “muffled up” (hurt), and the current was very strong. I loved playing in the waves but was cautious, they were powerful and I treated them with the respect they deserved.
It was time to gather the whelks for lunch. A fire had already been started and breadfruits were roasting, the rest of the meal would be provided by the sea. Whelks are like snails, they cling to rocks and are easy to harvest. We filled a bucket quickly, then scalded them in boiling water to remove the snails. That wasn’t as easy as finding the whelks, it was hard work! We roasted the whelks (not unlike escargot) and ate them with breadfruit, using sea-grape leaves for plates. Everything tasted so wonderful after a day playing in the waves, and I made a silent vow to myself that this first trip to Hope Beach would not be my last.