Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary

Away from the west side of the island the beaches are empty. Take a taxi over the hills to the east coast and the wild beaches on that side of the island. There are bigger trees on the Windward side, including hard woods such as white cedar, used for making boats. Drive through coconut groves to Spring Bay, where there is a hotel and a beach bar (may be closed) and a pottery in a partially renovated sugar mill. The Spring Pottery and studios (The Old Sugar Mill, Spring, T4573757, magspottery@vincysurf.com, daily 0730-1630) produces domestic pottery and gardenware as well as local paintings. Industry Bay is another nice beach surrounded by palms with a brilliant view across to Bullet Island, Battowia and Balliceaux where the Black Caribs were held before being deported to Roatán. Food and drink available at the Industry Beach Bar. Both beaches are narrow with shallow bays and a lot of weed, making them less good for swimming and snorkelling. In the wet season there can also be a lot of runoff from the hills. In the northeast corner of the island, at Park Beach, is Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary (T4583245, oldhegg@vincysurf.com, EC$10/US$5 entrance fee, but donations warmly welcomed) . It’s an extremely worthwhile conservation project to save the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), founded and maintained by a Bequian, a former fisherman, Orton ‘Brother’ King. Local people contact him if they see turtles hatching and he goes to the beaches to collect them, releasing them into the wild when they are about 2½ years old. There is only about a 50% success rate and a lot of injuries from the turtles biting each other, but it is still better than the natural survival rate. A few green (Chelonia mydas) and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles can also be seen in the tanks. Larger tanks are needed if the enterprise is to improve its success rate.