Whale!

They caught a whale! A little while ago they caught the first whale of the season here in Bequia. Bequia is one of only a handful of places in the world which is legally allowed to catch whales as its part of their traditional customs. They're allowed to catch 2 per year, usually humpbacks as they are migrating in the waters between Bequia and Mustique.

Although catching 2 a year using traditional methods doesn't make much of an impact on the whales; it feeds into larger issues as St. Vincent is essentially being paid off by nations such as Japan (which is involved in mass whaling way beyond its waters) to vote in its favor on whaling matters.

If you're interested in reading more there's a good article here going over both sides of the argument, as well as a lot of whaling past and present.


Opinions aside it was a fascinating thing watching the whale being brought in to Semple Cay (a little island just in front of my hotel). I headed out to the Cay (littered with huge whale bones) to watch the whale being cut up and sold, with loud party music already pumping in the background.


Its a big event here to catch a whale and there was chaos everywhere as the fishermen hacked off their squares of blubber and meat, throwing it at their friends or bringing it in to weigh and then sell. Apparently you cook the meat in the blubber and it tastes kind of like beef.

At the end of the afternoon they had only finished half of it, so they towed it out to sea to preserve it and the next day they finished it off. They say that if you melt the blubber into an oil a teaspoon of it will cure colds. It was definitely an interesting experience.