Recommendations Needed - St. Vincent and the Grenadines

[wyhe]

We are taking the family for a 2 week charter out of St. Vincent as soon as school let's out. We are chartering a beautiful cat. Four of us are scuba divers and we are al avid sailors. We've never been to the Grenadines before and would love suggestions on what to see and do and also on what to avoid. We are also open to suggested itineraries. Would love to hear from others that have been there. Thanks in advance.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, wyhe.

Get out of St. Vincent as quick as you can. Enjoy a rest stop at Bequia (beck-wee), then push on to the Grenadines.

[wyhe]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, wyhe.

Get out of St. Vincent as quick as you can. Enjoy a rest stop at Bequia (beck-wee), then push on to the Grenadines.

Why get out of St. Vincent ASAP? Only because it is not as nice as the other islands? We plan to spend a couple of days exploring St. Vincent after our charter and before heading home. Should we reconsider this plan?

[JiminSanPedro]

I have spent over a year and a half working on St. Vincent. I can say that the diving is spectacular there. It was rated one of the ten best places in the world a couple of years back. There is a great amount of small critters to see in the coves, some walls, and fantastic coral formations. That being said, there is a large drug trade on the island, and you can expect to have anything on your boat that is not well locked down to "go missing" in a blink of an eye. Bequia is more cruiser friendly but the diving is not nearly as good. You can cruise over near Union Island and Mustique and have a great time in the "Marine Park".

[JiminSanPedro]

The two attractions that the tour companies tout are the Volcano Tour and The Falls. The volcano means you hike in the horrible heat through the jungle to view a cauldera for a few minutes then hike back. Total bust. The Falls are some waterfalls that are not all that great but if you go by fast boat they might feed you a picnic lunch and you can swim around in a lagoon. Best tour operator on the Island is Lionel Howard. Don't go past Chateau Belair either on your own or in your charter boat, still the Wild West there. Stay away from the rum punch too. Have fun!

[wyhe]

We decided to spend a few days touring st. Vincent at the conclusion of our two week charter w would like to do some active things to stretch our legs after being onboard for a while. Sounds like you don't recommend the volcano hike or the waterfalls. What active hikes do you recommend instead? Any thing else you think we "can't miss"?

[s/v Jedi]

I agree with others: go aboard and get out of there like a bat out of hell. Return last day.

Spending time is best done in the Grenadines, Bequia or even Carriacou.

The reason for avoiding St Vincent itself is security. Especially around the charter operations.

[wyhe]

Unfortunately, that doesn't really help. My charter is 11 days and I have three days in St. Vincent after (the boat was not available for the full time hat we would be there). Therefore, I am looking for recommended activities in St. Vincent. Tips would be appreciated.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by wyhe

Unfortunately, that doesn't really help. My charter is 11 days and I have three days in St. Vincent after (the boat was not available for the full time hat we would be there). Therefore, I am looking for recommended activities in St. Vincent. Tips would be appreciated.

There are none to give, other than the ferry service to Bequia. We don't write this to annoy you, we write this to help you. We used to ferry to visit St Vincent with tha boat at anchor in Bequia. We toured around in a bus which was horrible and then we went to the botanical gardens where gardeners wanted to sell us their dope that they grow right there. No joke.

[wyhe]

I understand. Thank you for explaining.

I visited many of these islands during a year-long cruise years ago on my Westsail 32. Pre-wife, pre-kids, pre-responsibilities. I found most of the islands pretty safe if you kept your "head up" but I never made it to SVG. I'm surprised to hear that it is so rough. Is St. Vincent that much worse than the other islands?

[JiminSanPedro]

Three days to departure I would book a scuba diving trip, stay at Young Island resort, then take the ferry to Bequia, stay at the Frangipania and hike around there a bit. SVG is not safe for unescorted tourists. I worked on Pirates of the Caribbean1 and 2 and know the area quite well. Enjoy your cruise.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by wyhe

I understand. Thank you for explaining.

I visited many of these islands during a year-long cruise years ago on my Westsail 32. Pre-wife, pre-kids, pre-responsibilities. I found most of the islands pretty safe if you kept your "head up" but I never made it to SVG. I'm surprised to hear that it is so rough. Is St. Vincent that much worse than the other islands?

It is much worse yes. I agree with Jim, take the ferry and stay in Frangipani in Bequia and explore there, book a scuba trip etc. then the ferry back to catch the plane.

[sck5]

We spent a month in SVG a couple of years ago. Based ourselves in Bequia, which is a great place to visit. St. Vincent itself was not as nice as some above have said. What I would do is get on the boat and immediately depart for Bequia (about 7 miles from Blue Lagoon). Lots of nice places to eat there but be sure to lock your boat up and dont anchor by Princess Margaret Beach which where all thefts I am aware of have happened. Then go to Tobago Cays for the best diving in the universe. Really, it is quite spectacular and also a sea turtle sanctuary. Cruise around the other Grenadines and then end up in Bequia. For a hundred bucks you can end your charter there and stay in the Frangi or gingerbread for your three extra days and then take the ferry to St. Vincent to catch the plane. (Dive Bequia has their HQ right next to the gingerbread so if you want to do a guided dive then that is a good place to go. The ferry dock in St. Vincent is in Kingstown which is close to the airport which is close to the charter bases. There is nothing in Bequia that isnt close to everything else in Bequia except maybe the sea turtle hatchery which is worth a visit - you can hire a ride to get there.

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by sck5

We spent a month in SVG a couple of years ago. Based ourselves in Bequia, which is a great place to visit. St. Vincent itself was not as nice as some above have said. What I would do is get on the boat and immediately depart for Bequia (about 7 miles from Blue Lagoon). Lots of nice places to eat there but be sure to lock your boat up and dont anchor by Princess Margaret Beach which where all thefts I am aware of have happened. Then go to Tobago Cays for the best diving in the universe. Really, it is quite spectacular and also a sea turtle sanctuary. Cruise around the other Grenadines and then end up in Bequia. For a hundred bucks you can end your charter there and stay in the Frangi or gingerbread for your three extra days and then take the ferry to St. Vincent to catch the plane. (Dive Bequia has their HQ right next to the gingerbread so if you want to do a guided dive then that is a good place to go. The ferry dock in St. Vincent is in Kingstown which is close to the airport which is close to the charter bases. There is nothing in Bequia that isnt close to everything else in Bequia except maybe the sea turtle hatchery which is worth a visit - you can hire a ride to get there.

We're currently in Bequia. We're anchored off the beach, the end closer to town and there are a lot of boats here. To date we've heard nothing of any crime problems, at least not on the daily nets or from people we've spoken too. Doesn't mean we don't lift & lock up the boats at night, but it's not a threatening place.

Not like when we were in Soufriere, St. Lucia where there were guys casing our boat from their dinghies under the guise of borrowing an air pump.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

We're currently in Bequia. We're anchored off the beach, the end closer to town and there are a lot of boats here. To date we've heard nothing of any crime problems, at least not on the daily nets or from people we've spoken too. Doesn't mean we don't lift & lock up the boats at night, but it's not a threatening place.

Not like when we were in Soufriere, St. Lucia where there were guys casing our boat from their dinghies under the guise of borrowing an air pump.

Indeed. I have been advising to go to Bequia because it is a great place. It was St. Vincent, the island, that I cautioned about. St. Lucia is bad too but believe me, the things happening in Blue Lagoon make those Soufriere thugs look like nice guys.