On June 22nd I set sail from St Lucia bound for Grenada, so I could store my boat and fly back to The States for hurricane season….but that is a…
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Carib Indians aggressively prevented European settlement on St. Vincent and African slaves, both shipwrecked and escapees from St. Lucia and Grenada, were allowed to intermarried with the Caribs. Even though the French settled Barrouallie in 1719, the British captured the island in 1754, the French returned in 1779, and the British regained control in 1783, it was not until 1797 that there was peace with the Carib Indians and Black Caribs, as the escaped slaves were known. Even then it only came with a peace treaty.
St Vincent’s history has been affected by violently erupted in 1718, 1812, 1902, 1971, and 1979 of La Soufrière volcano. The eruption of 1902 was the most deadly, killing 1,680 people in the Carib Indian village. This wiped them out on St Vincent leaving the only surviving Carib Indian settlement in the entire Caribbean on Dominica.
Helpful Info
Population – 109,600
Money – shares the Eastern Caribbean dollar with 5 other countries and 2 British islands (fixed at US$1 = EC$2.70)
Language – English
Religion – 88% Christian
When to go – Dec-June is most popular. Summer is nice also, but a little hotter and more humid. Hurricanes most active Aug-Oct.
World Heritage Sites – 0 – None
Country formed – Independence from United Kingdom on 27 Oct 1979
The Grenadine Islands are a chain of small islands spread over 40 miles or so just south of St Vincent. Interestingly they have always been split with the north 2/3 administered by St Vincent and the southern 1/3 by Grenada.
Slavery was abolished in 1834 and St. Vincent and the Grenadines gained independence on 27 October 1979, and was the last of the Windward Islands to do so. In 2009, voters were asked if they wanted to replace Queen Elizabeth II with a President and 55% said no.
My Visit
I first sailed through St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2018 and have returned several times with guest and by myself.
Likes, Dislikes, and Recommendations
The Grenadines are a wonderful group of islands. I describe them as the “Little BVI” with a “Little Bahamas” thrown in. Just like the BVI, they are fantastic for charters, but with WAY less crowds. The Tobago Cays are as perfect as everyone says they are plus I loved the islands of Bequia (whaling history), Canouan, Mayreau, and Union.
On St Vincent hiking up 4000 feet to the rim of La Soufrière volcano and peering down into the crate with the lake in it is not to be missed.
Below you will be able to get even more helpful hints by reading my St Vincent & The Grenadines blogs and soon I will have a travel video or two for St Vincent and the Grenadines.
All Blogs From St Vincent & The Grenadines
I hoped you have enjoyed reading about Trinidad and Carnival as much as I had seeing it all. When Carnival was over I needed to sail north about 200 miles…
The reason Bar One is not your typical beach bar is because it is not on the beach…..in fact, it is not even on land! Bar One is the Grenadines…
This is the first year I spent the holidays in the Grenadines and it was so much better than in the British Virgin Islands where I have run charters the…
Last year I did not make it around to Chatham Bay on the west coast of Union Island in the Grenadines, so when the ladies I had on my last…
As you have read in the last several blogs, I was in the Tobago Cays with three ladies on my last charter of the season. Over on Mayreau (2-3 miles…
The last charter I had this season was with three ladies as we sailed from St Vincent down to Grenada through the Grenadines. The one that booked the trip said…
After sailing to Blue Lagoon on St Vincent to drop off the couple who sailed down from Nevis and explored Mustique Island with me, turn the boat around, and pick…
This is one of the few photos I have with the Guiding Light in front of the setting sun, since I am either on the boat at sunset or in…
Those that have been reading the last several blogs you know that I am describing my time on Mustique Island and also that I hurt my back 4-5 days before….
Yesterday I told you about the private island of Mustique, what the rules to visit are, and how much we loved hanging out there for three days. Today I am…
Last year I skipped the island of Mustique when I cruised the Grenadines with my friend Steve and this year I wanted to correct this oversight. Therefor I went there…
As I studied the chart for the Grenadines, to prepare for the short passage from Bequia to Mustique, I noticed a group of islands around halfway between the start and…
The answer may surprise you. It is bamboo. Now I bet you are wondering why I am talking about bamboo, which is part of the Asian culture, when I have…
Many cruisers check in and hang out in Tyrrel Bay on the west coast of Carriacou at the south end of the Grenadines, but I prefer Hillsborough instead. Tyrrel Bay…
On Sunday I told you all about Sandy Island. Well, we loved it so much that we spent several hours ashore and ended up spending the night moored off the…
Yesterday I wrote about how awesome Sandy Island, off of Carriacou in the southern part of the Grenadines, was and how we ended up spending the night moored off the…
On the western end of the bay with the town of Hillsborough there is a tiny island called Sandy Island. It is less than half a mile off the main…
Tomorrow I am going to write all about the tiny island off Carriacou called Sandy Island. This little sandbar offered so much more than we expected and we spent the…
On the hills high above Hillsborough on Carriacou Island in the Grenadines there is a hundred year old hospital and it has two cannons at the view point. From here…
On Sunday I left you at Petite Martinique where we had just entered Grenadian water after sailing a whole half mile from Petite St Vincent. In that blog I talked…
I will be writing about Hillborough later this week with all the sights we saw and how wonderful the little town was, but today I want to focus on one…
At the southern end of the Grenadines there are two tiny islands that are separated by half a mile physically and a world apart in spirit. Both islands are protected…
I was sitting on a beach on Carriacou Island after checking into the country of Grenada and saw this local fisherman heading out to fish. I thought it was a…
Looking at the Union Island reef that protects the Clifton Harbor you would not think much of snorkeling it because it is too shallow, but you would be wrong. Newlands…
Well….actually we enjoyed the well. Haha see what I did there? Today’s photo of the day is of a well. 🙂 In all seriousness Sparrow’s Beach Resort was a fantastic…
Steve and I had the best of intentions of walking north out of Clifton and looping around to Ashton and then up to the top of The Pinnacle. Then we…
Tomorrow I am going to tell you how Steve and I had all kinds of intentions to hike all the way around Union Island. There was just two thing stopping…
If you are in Clifton on Union Island in the Grenadines and you walk west out of town you will come to a causeway connecting Frigate Island and Union Island….
Frigate Island is a little island full of birds and other animals that sits off of the southern coast of Union Island in the Grenadines. It is now connected to…
When we pulled into Clifton Harbor from the Tobago Cays we had to round the reef off Union Island and at the end of it was Happy Island. This is…
Palm Island is a small island one mile from Union Island and within its 135 acres it has five beaches. You can only get here by boat and you are…
The only bad part about the town of Clifton on Union Island is the harbor is either too shallow or too deep to anchor. It sits behind a reef that…
Yesterday I told you all about the Tobago Cays and how they are protected by the World’s End Reef. I also told you that you can go between the reef…
The Tobago Cays are the crown jewel of the Grenadines and in my opinion the entire Caribbean. My description of the Grenadines is that they are a tiny Virgin Islands….
Petit Bateau Cay is in the Tobago Cays and on this little locals put together some amazing beach BBQs for charter and cruising boats. They have even built a community…
I make a big deal that Salt Whistle Resort on Mayeau is open, because we thought it was shuttered years ago. Our cruising guide said Salt Whistle Resort on the…
Last week I told you how Canouan was a nice island, but not really our favorite place. Well, we left there and sailed five miles to Mayreau and found paradise….
Today the blogs are moving from Canouan to Mayreau in the Grenadines and today’s photo of the day seems as close to perfection in the islands as I have found in…
After a pretty walk up the hill Shane and I reached a point of no entry to pursue our visit to the fort clearly marked on our map….well, we could…
Today’s ‘photo of the day” is the perfect way to end our time on Canouan in the Grenadines…..especially after Steveand I were attacked just minutes before. Come back tomorrow and…
Canouan is a lovely island, but it was not my favorite in the Grenadines, because almost half the island is off limits. The island is shaped like a fish hook…
Today’s photo of the day is a great sunset we watched from a resturant called Mac’s on the Belmont Walkway in the middle of Bequia in the Grenadines. We loved…
I know I have been writing a lot of blogs about Bequia in The Grenadines, but we had so much fun on this island and there are so many adventures…
Well I have good news for you. The Old Fort on Bequia has been turned into a fantastic little resort. I will write all about it in two days and…
The locals are one of the few groups exempt from the world-wide ban on whale hunting. They are allowed to take up to four whales a year, but there are…
I saw this wind indicator at the Old Fort on Bequia, which I will tell you all about on Sunday. I just loved how it had a a ship on…
On Sunday I wrote about our time at the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary on Bequia. Well as we were walking back to town (about two miles) we came across the…
The pseudosphinx tetrio is a species of moth in the family Sphingidae. Its common names include tetrio sphinx, giant gray sphinx, frangipani hornworm, and plumeria caterpillar. In the island of…
The thing my friend Steve wanted to do on Bequia, an island in The Grenadines, was to visit the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary and this was TOTALLY fine with me….
This guy let me get really close and take today’s photo of the day. He is a resident at the Old Hegg Tutle Sanctuary on Beguia in the Grenadines. On…
Port Elizabeth on Bequia is a lovely little town, but mostly because of how laid back and simple it is. To me it is the quintessential Caribbean village. The locals…
I have been dreaming of sailing The Grenadines for several years now. So, with the boat anchored in Admiralty Bay (there is plenty of spots to anchor in 10-15 feet,…
We spent several days on Bequia and I am going to start writing about this amazing island tomorrow, but when I saw this puppy chewing on a coconut I knew…
Last week I wrote how we checked out of St Lucia at Vieux Fort instead of Soufriere and all the hassle that caused. Well, since we did not raise anchor…
Remember last year how Melek and I did a six-week cruise through the Leeward Islands? Well this year I will be cruising the Windward Islands partly on my own and…
This is a question you will ask a lot in the eight countries that use the East Caribbean dollar (EC$). All eight of these countries are former British territories, except…