I'm on a boat and, it's going fast and...

Hey everyone!

We can hardly believe it, but today was the last field day of the trip. It’s amazing how fast the time has gone. We definitely finished with a bang, though: a trip to Bequia!

Bequia (pronounced BECK-way) is the northernmost and geologically the youngest of the Grenadines. It’s been called “the perfect Caribbean island”, a name which we found pretty much checked out. Geologically, Bequia is, like St. Vincent, almost entirely volcanic, with rocks dating to between 5 to 3.6 Ma. It’s separated from St. Vincent by a stretch of deep ocean, indicating extension between the two islands. Somewhat shockingly, Bequia is also a hub for whaling in the area! They have a quota of 4 humpback or sperm whales each year, and go at them Ahab-style with harpoons! Very cool.

To get there, we got up bright and early to catch the 8 am ferry. Some mild seasickness later, we landed in St. Elizabeth, the island’s largest town. Our magnificent driver Roland then drove us across the island to our outcrop for the day: a small quarried cliff near the airport. We split into two groups, each walking along one level of the out crop. We found lots of evidence for subaerial (i.e. not-underwater) volcanic activity, such as pyroclastic flows, lahars, blocky a’a lavas, and ashfall deposits.

The lavas had plenty of large phenocrysts, including one hornblende we found that was 3 cm across!
We drove further down the island looking for similar outcrops, passing ludicrously luxurious resorts and miles of gorgeous beach. We eventually came to a cliff on the other side of the island, with similarly-dipping lava and pyroclastics. And just like that, the geology portion of the trip was finished! We quickly donned out swimsuits and switched to tropical-paradise-mode.

Our next stop was Friendship Bay (seen above) and unlike the name suggests, it ripped our group apart! We had this beautiful beach all to ourselves but Roland told us there was much better out there. Our group was torn between staying, seeing some turtles, and going to a beach with more.... refreshments. After some debating Joy, Colin, and Ed stayed while the rest of us journeyed on to Roland's recommendation.

In less than 15 minutes, we arrived at a beach front restaurant and indulged ourselves. We had completed our transition to vacation mode. It took Laurent less time to get into the water than it did for some of us to even order a drink! After a well earned meal, those of us left hit the beach and let the crystal clear blue water take us away (literally for some).

Time flies when you're having fun, but sometimes a little too much. We missed our chance to see the turtles but we still had time to reconnect back at Friendship Bay! To end our day in Bequia, we all met back and spent the last hour roaming the reefs, building sand volcanoes, and even getting a little cardio in! What a fantastic group to spend a day in paradise with.

Roland got us back to the ferry in no time flat, and after dealing with a persistent coconut water salesmen we were on our way back to St. Vincent. The boat ride back was nice and breezy for most, but poor Joy had a bit of a rough go. Thankfully Peter was there to lift here spirits!

Our final full day here is coming to a close with a karaoke party in the hotel. Roland and Tess are bound to show us all up but itll be real fun. It's bittersweet that this trip is ending soon but what an amazing times its been. We travel out tomorrow, stay tuned to see if we make it home safe!