Warning: The photos below contain images you may find distressing.

Over Easter 2015 my partner Angela and I spent four days in the Island of Bequia in the Grenadines, taking in the sailing regatta that takes place annually over the holiday period. Bequia is renowned for its boat building culture, something I vividly remember from my last trip there in 1991. Alas, the boat building seems to all but disappeared, the beaches that were once home to boat builders and wooden frames that held unfinished hulls were empty and we travelled around the island looking for signs of it with no luck. While this old trade seemed to be dying, we stumbled upon one contentious tradition that refuses to do the same. This is the story of whaling in Bequia.

Sat at breakfast at Bequia Beach Hotel on the eastern coast, Angela enquired about the island just outside our bay with a large concrete structure that stood strangely against the small hill and waves that crashed around it. I explained Bequia‘s history of whaling and that the island (curiously named Love Island) was no longer in use. Angela suggested we go there to take pictures after breakfast, using one of the local boat taxis to ferry us across. No sooner had we finished our breakfast we were informed the whalers had their first catch in three years and were bringing the whale into the island shortly.

We arrive at the taxi‘s to find a large number of people waiting to cross the water. A number among them carry buckets and canvas sacks, at this point we have no idea why. Out in the bay we can see four or five boats queuing to drop off their passengers and the small hill already dotted with people. We wonder where whale is as we contemplate what we are about to see. We‘re both avid supporters of the anti-whaling cause so this trip has us torn but we wanted to witness first hand the tradition and make our minds up about Bequia‘s right to hunt.

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