We spent close to four weeks over Christmas and well into January at Sea Shells. This has been, by far, our best holiday apartment stay anywhere.

Location:
Sea Shells is on Belmont Road, on the hillside directly above plantation beach (see photos). From the apartments you have a great view of Admiralty Bay and across the Bay to O’Car and Fort Hamilton. It’s an eight-minute walk, heading north, down to the waterfront and Belmont Walkway where most of the restaurants are located (turn left from Belmont Road down the path that has a sign for The Fig Tree). It’s a 10-minute walk, heading south, down to Princess Margaret Beach (turn right down the hill where you see the Jack’s Bar sign). In the same direction it’s a 15-minute walk from Sea Shells down to the beach at Lower Bay. If walking is not your preference you can flag down the $1 vans that zip along the road at breakneck speeds or you can call a taxi. We used Challenger Taxi (wife and husband team of Sandra and Curtis) for the entire time that we were there as they were recommended to us by friends who visited Bequia. Sandra and Curtis are very friendly, very knowledgeable and very responsive and they’ll gladly run a tab for you. Call Sandra at 455-9163 or Curtis at 455-4216. You can also rent a car from them if you prefer.

Apartment Configuration:
Sea Shells is a single structure consisting of the owners’ (Michael and Arlene) dwelling at the top-most street level (Belmont Road), apartments 1, 2, and 3 are below the owner's dwelling and finally apartment 4 is below the other three apartments. Apartments 1, 2 and 4 are one-bedroom apartments and apartment 3 has two bedrooms. The design and furnishing of all the apartments is top-notch – no doubt due to the fact that Michael is a professional architect and Arlene has impeccable taste in furnishings and very high standards in cleanliness and maintenance. All apartments come with a fully equipped kitchen.

We stayed in apartment number 4 and though it seems to be the least booked apartment we found it to be absolutely the right choice for us. Apartments 1, 2, and 3 are all directly above apartment 4 and those three apartments all have balconies. The views from those three apartments over Admiralty Bay are also definitely better. However, apartment 4 is just ten steps from the swimming pool and the sun deck/patio. As a family, with a six-year old who spent hours every day in the pool, Apartment 4 was the best choice. As our daughter reminds us often - "I'm not into views." Additionally, the layout of Apartment 4 is great – definitely better than apartments 1, 2, and 3. Both the bedroom and the living room have big bay windows opening out towards the Bay and make the apartment very bright and airy (see photos). Additionally, Apartment 4 is the only apartment with an air conditioner in the bed room – a great option for those warmer nights.

Amenities:
Staying at Sea Shells is like staying in a very nice home with 5-star service. Housekeeping service is provided on all five weekdays by the very friendly and personable housekeepers Dursha and Nicky (or Nic). Bath towels and beach towels are provided and changed regularly as are the sheets. A local cell phone is provided for each apartment which you can easily top up at many places in Port Elizabeth (we used the little tech center right next to Pizza Hut and Maria’s French Terrace). For the four weeks that we were there a top up of about EC$15 (about US $5.60) was more than sufficient to call for taxis, call restaurants, make dive bookings, etc. Wireless internet access is also provided at Sea Shells. The connection speed was surprisingly very good – probably DSL and we did not experience any dropouts in service. The little swimming pool is ideal to cool off at the end of the day or if you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to walk down to the beach. The sun deck is really nice to kick back and read a book and have a cool drink while watching out for the visiting Antillean Crested Hummingbirds, Scaly Naped Pigeons, Bananaquits, and very friendly Anoles (little lizards) who come right up to you. Speaking about Anoles, if you stay in Apartment 4 there are two resident Anoles in the apartment who love to eat mosquitoes. Their names are Lizzy and Plumeria so please treat them well :-) Speaking of mosquitoes – the one downside to Bequia in the non-dry season is the mosquitoes. They’re tiny and very agile. All the beds at Sea Shells have mosquito netting in the style of canopy beds. Even then some mosquitoes somehow manage to get in. So, tuck those mosquito nets underneath the mattress and slather on whatever repellant suits you best. Otherwise you’ll be itching and having a miserable time.

Hosts:
Sea Shells hosts, Michael and Arlene, treat their guests like family. Along with other guests they invited us to a fabulous Christmas lunch feast as well as treating us with delicious home made fruit cake. Michael took us out for a drive in his car a couple of around Bequia and pointed out various sights that we would not have otherwise seen. Michael is also actively involved in a civic-action group called Action Bequia and can tell you all about the various initiatives that he is involved in to make Bequia that much nicer.

In summary, one can find a place to stay that’s right on the beach (De Reef apartments in Lower Bay for example), or you can find a place right on the Belmont Walkway in Port Elizabeth (Frangipani or Gingerbread are some examples) or you can find a place that’s further out in Industry or Friendship Bay and enjoy solitude. For us, Sea Shells was the perfect combination of location, price, ambience, convenience, friendliness, and comfort.