Bequia Whaling

Bequia, which is one of 32 islands that make up the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, has a long tradition of whaling and building open sailing whaling boats. Whale hunters watch for whales day in and day out. When a whale is sighted, all hands race to the sailboat built for whaling. First rowing out to sea in the open sailing craft, the sail is then set to glide silently up to the whale where a harpoon is thrown into the flank of the whale and the ride commences, with the open sailing skiff towed behind an angry whale while all hold on tight. Once the whale is caught and killed, the whale is towed by motorboat back to Bequia where all of Bequia stops, schools are closed, and everyone converges on the whaling station to help butcher, clean and salt the whale meat and cut away the blubber. Usually an impromto whale meat barbeque is started right on the beach to keep the villagers fortified during the job. Anyone that helps walks away with whale meat.


Bequia Old Whaling Station

Whaling was brought to the island in the late 1800’s, when a local Bequian made his way to New England and onto a whaling boat. 20 years later, he returned with full whaling knowledge and harpoons. The boats were built on the island and whaling became an important part of Bequian economy and food resources. However now whaling is only done by a handful of Bequians. Finding whale meat and rendered blubber on the island is difficult. Especially as the rendered blubber is said to cure all ills and therefore is carefully kept as a prized possession. However the history of whaling on the island is being preserved in the local whaling museum and boat building continues as an important part of Bequian industry.

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Grenada - Spice Plantation

Grenada is the second largest producer of nutmeg in the world after the Banda Islands, once home to the East Indies Trading Company in the 1600's and where nutmeg was first founded. In the 1800's nutmeg seeds were transported to Grenada where the crop flourished with trees over 70 feet tall. The nutmeg tree requires certain soil conditions, conditions which are exactly that of the soil on Grenada, and so nutmeg trees grow in abundance on this island, with their cool leafy canopy providing excellent shade for growing the cocao tree which thrives just under the nutmeg tree canopy.

Nutmeg has been highly prized for centuries, and finding a better route to the Far East in search of the nutmeg was one of the incentives of Columbus to undertake the famous voyages of discovery. Once thought to have many curative powers, nutmeg is now usually found in cookery, and on the island of Grenada, expect the nutmeg to be grated into almost everything including rum punches, sweet and savory sauces, jams, and desserts. In fact a household without several nutmeg nuts and a grater is not a truly Grenadian home.


Grenada - Spice Plantation Building

The nutmeg nut grows as the center of a fruit that resembles a small peach appearing after the tree flowers with small yellow fragrant flowers. Often the fruit peel is used in jams and jellies. The nut itself is in the center and is encased in a thin brown shell with a waxy red overlay called mace. The mace is separated from the brown nut shell, dried and also used as a spice with a stronger flavor than grated nutmeg. Break the brown shell and inside is the nutmeg nut, which is a solid nut and prized. Grating the nut produces fresh nutmeg powder, which has a very different flavor than the powdered nutmeg sold in canisters in the store and everyone should try true grated nutmeg grated fresh from the nut. Don't leave Grenada without your own supply of nutmeg nuts, mace and of course a nutmeg grater to bring home your own bit of the taste and smell of the Caribbean Spice Island of Grenada.

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