St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Why St. Vincent and the Grenadines?

Accommodations

Several upscale to mid-range, all-inclusive resorts can be found sprinkled throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but small hotels, bed and breakfasts, and villas are more frequently found. Where I’ve stayed: Two private island resorts, including Petit St. Vincent and Palm Island

Activities

Diving and snorkeling, beaches, multiple water sports, golf, tennis, hiking, boating, sailing, fishing

Beaches

West end beach, Petit St. VIncent

Palm Island, beach and hammock

Powder-white sand beaches can be found throughout the Grenadines, except for the black sand beaches that fringe the windward and leeward coasts of the main island of St. Vincent.

Food and Drink

Locally caught fresh fish (mahi mahi, tuna, bonito, kingfish, snapper, flying fish and marlin) and seafood (lobster, squid and octopus) are served throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines. St. Vincent’s national dish is roasted breadfruit and fried jack fish. If you get a chance, try dishes made with local vegetables, including callalou, yams, dasheen, bananas, plantains, and christophenes. The local St. Vincent Brewing Co. beer is Hairoun, which was the original Amerindian name for St. Vincent meaning “Land of the Blessed,” Local soft drinks include Hairoun BItter Lemon and Hairoun Ginger Ale. The local rum is Sunset Very Strong Rum, an overproof white rum.

Getting There

Several airlines fly to St. Vincent (SVD) and the Grenadines from North America and Europe. Major gateways are Barbados (BGI), Grenada (GND), St. Lucia (UVF), Martinique (FDF) and Puerto Rico (SJU), with connecting flights to Bequia, Canouan, Mustique and Union Island.

Or, arrive by boat. I first visited from a Windjammer Barefoot Cruises ship (no longer in operation), but other options to visit the Grenadines are still possible on small sailing ships such as Star Clippers.

Location

St. Vincent and the Grenadines lies to the west of Barbados, south of St. Lucia and north of Grenada in the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, in the Caribbean Sea. There are 32 islands and cays that make up St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Nine are inhabited, including St. Vincent and eight Grenadines islands, including Young Island, Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Union Island, Mayreau, Petit St. Vincent and Palm Island. Two additional islands of the Grenadines, Carriacou and Petit St. Martinique, belong to Grenada.

Vibe

Visitors will find a friendly, welcoming vibe throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Natives are said to be experts in “liming,” a Caribbean term for having a good time and enjoying life to the full, or as some would interpret it, “the art of doing nothing!”

Tourism Board: Discover St. Vincent and the Grenadines

If you go, don’t miss:

Sailing and snorkeling in the Tobago Cays, aboard the Beauty, if you are staying on Petit St. Vincent, or aboard the Pink Lady if you are staying on Palm Island.

Petit St. Vincent’s 49-foot sloop, Beauty

Green turtles are plentiful in the Tobago Cays.

Sea Stars inch across the sandy bottom in the Tobago Cays.

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Scuba diving, with Jean-Michel Cousteau Dive Center at Petit St. Vincent private island resort. Or, Grenadines Dive with Glenroy Adams, based on Union Island (who I dived with during a stay on Palm Island). Other dive operators: St. Vincent: Dive St. Vincent, Serenity Dive; Bequia: Dive Bequia

Petit St. Vincent’s dock

Jean-Michel Cousteau Dive Center, Petit St. Vincent

Published article on Petit St. Vincent:

Paradise Unplugged

Petit St. Vincent private island is antidote to post-election stress

St. Vincent & the Grenadines—It was Election Day in the U.S., but the sea turtles swimming near an anchorage in the Tobago Cays didn’t seem to notice. We bobbed like corks above them, watching them through our masks, slowly finning through the crystal clear water as a line of cushion sea stars inched across the white sand bottom.

Read the rest by downloading a PDF of my article, published in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 1-22-17.

PDF-Petit St. Vincent-FWST-1-22-2017

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St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the Blog:

Island Treasures: Mopion Islet

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