St. Vincent and the Grenadines

"I know you!" Walking past the taxi stand on Kingstown's Bay Street, that comment was meant for me. Sure enough—when I looked back over my shoulder, I recognized one of the drivers. He had, in fact, driven me around the island on my visit to St. Vincent the year before. People in St. Vincent and the Grenadines actually have an amusing saying about island living: "You know half the people; the other half knows you!" I think that might be true.

A string of 32 islands and cays comprises the single nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. St. Vincent is one of the least-"touristy" islands in the Caribbean—an unpretentious and relatively quiet island, where fishermen get up at the crack of dawn to drop their nets into the sea, working people conduct business in town, and farmers work their crops in the countryside.

Hotels and inns on St. Vincent are small, locally owned and operated, and definitely not glitzy. The only resort is on a separate island, 600 feet from the mainland. Restaurants serve mainly local food—grilled fish, stewed or curried chicken, rice, and root vegetables. And the beaches are either tiny crescents of black or brown sand on remote leeward bays or sweeping expanses of the same black sand pounded by Atlantic surf.

Independent travelers interested in active, ecofriendly vacations are discovering St. Vincent's natural beauty, its sports opportunities on land and sea, and the richness of its history. They spend their vacation walking or hiking St. Vincent's well-defined jungle trails, catching a glimpse of the rare St. Vincent parrot in the Vermont Valley, exploring exotic flora in the Botanical Garden and in Montreal Gardens, delving into history at Ft. Charlotte, trekking to the spectacular Trinity Falls or the Falls of Baleine, and climbing the active volcano La Soufrière. Beneath the surface, snorkeling and scuba landscapes are similarly intriguing.

The Grenadines on the other hand will dazzle you with amazing inns and resorts, fine white-sand beaches, excellent sailing waters, and get-away-from-it-all atmosphere.

Bequia, just south of St. Vincent and a pleasant hour's voyage by ferry, has a large complement of inns, hotels, restaurants, shops, and activities and, therefore, is a popular vacation destination in its own right. Its Admiralty Bay is one of the prettiest anchorages in the Caribbean. With superb views, snorkeling, hiking, and swimming, the island has much to offer the international mix of backpackers and luxury-yacht owners who frequent its shores.

South of Bequia, on the exclusive, private island of Mustique, elaborate villas are tucked into lush hillsides. Mustique does not encourage wholesale tourism, least of all to those hoping for a glimpse of the rich and famous who own or rent villas here. The appeal of Mustique is its seclusion.

Boot-shape Canouan, mostly quiet and unspoiled, with only 1,200 or so residents, accommodates the well-heeled guests of Raffles Resort Canouan Island. The posh, full-service resort takes up the entire northern third of the island and boasts one of the Caribbean's most-challenging and most-scenic golf courses and a European-style casino, along with an incredibly inviting spa.

Tiny Mayreau has fewer than 200 residents and one of the area's most beautiful beaches. At Saltwhistle Cay, the Caribbean Sea is often mirror calm while, just yards away, the rolling Atlantic surf washes the opposite shore. Otherwise, Mayreau has a single unnamed village, one road, rain-caught drinking water, and a couple of inns—but no airport, no bank, and no problems!

Union Island, with its dramatic landscape punctuated by Mt. Parnassus, is the transportation center of the southern Grenadines. Its small but busy airport serves landlubbers, while its yacht harbor and dive operators serve sailors and scuba divers. Clifton, the main town, has shops, restaurants, and a few guesthouses. Ashton, the second significant town, is mainly residential.

Meanwhile, it took decades to turn the 100-acre, mosquito-infested mangrove swamp called Prune Island into the upscale private resort now known as Palm Island. Today, vacationers who can afford it lounge in luxury on the island's five palm-fringed white-sand beaches.

Petit St. Vincent is another private, single-resort island, reclaimed from the overgrowth by owner-manager Hazen K. Richardson II. The luxury resort's cobblestone cottages are so private that, if you wish, you could spend your entire vacation completely undisturbed.

And finally, the Tobago Cays, five uninhabited islands south of Canouan and east of Mayreau, draw snorkelers, divers, and boaters who are equally impressed with the sheer beauty of the area. Surrounded by a shallow reef, the tiny islands have rustling palm trees, pristine beaches, the clearest water in varying shades of brilliant blue—and plenty of resident fish.

The various islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are fairly close together. Whether you travel by boat or by plane, traveling between or among them is not difficult. In fact, St. Vincent and each of the Grenadines are all quite unique. Once there, you'll definitely want to sample more than one.

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