Boatbuilding is part of Bequia's identity in a way that it is not on most Caribbean islands. The island has produced skilled craftsmen for centuries, and the tradition survives most visibly in the model boats sold throughout Port Elizabeth — precise scale replicas of schooners, fishing boats, and racing yachts, each one made by hand.
The industry workshop at Friendship Bay and the informal yards around Port Elizabeth occasionally allow visitors to watch work in progress. The connection between the model-making tradition and the island's actual seafaring history — fishing, whaling, and the building of working boats — makes the craft shops more interesting than they might otherwise seem.