Mustique trip report
 

Getting there: We flew to Barbados, stayed there for 2 nights at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion (very nice - fabulous service) and then flew Mustique airways to Mustique. I wouldn't go that way again. The next time I will fly to Canouan and take a boat. The flight was very smooth, good pilot, but the plane was so old and looked to be in disrepair... dust on the control panel, bent door handles ... I sat right behind the cockpit! It was a twin otter packed to the limit.

Mustique is beautifully manicured and we enjoyed just driving around in our "mule." We were looking for a villa for our family for next year, so we looked at a lot of villas... all of them fabulous. We had a housekeeper/butler, cook, and gardener. There was nothing lacking in the service. We were in a 2-bedroom villa, although it was just the 2 of us. We had a negative edge pool, oceanfront. The best beach was Macaroni, so we drove to the beach. The beach outside Cotton House Hotel is not nice at all. I got in the water, and fell and cut myself getting out...very rocky. I never went in again. We went to Besquia but it was closed for a "cricket" holiday and the water was very rough in the Catamaran. I did not like the boat at all, Ti Maratoba. The crew was polite, but you had to climb down in a hole to use the lavatory! They took us out in terrible weather instead of cancelling. We thought we had to go or lose our money. Found out later, we could have cancelled for weather. We did take Baleine Tours power boat to Tabago Cays. We would definitely recommend Baliene Tours for any boat trips in the area again. The boat trip was great, the boat and crew very nice, and Tabago Cays snorkeling is like Caneel Bay used to be... wonderful shallow water. You can stand in the sand to take a break. Best snorkeling I have had in years. We saw the Raffles Resort on Canouan from the boat and the water is unbelievable... it glows it is so beautiful. The resort is very secluded and just minutes by boat to Tabago Cays.

We found out that June and July are the worst months to go. This was the only time we could go, so we did have a couple of overcast days and it was not good weather for boating. It was sunny most mornings.

We made reservations through Mustique Ltd. for the villa and Colette was wonderful. Be sure and ask for her if you book there. I felt like we were already friends before I got there. She didn't seem to mind my many questions and was waiting for us at the airport when we arrived.

I would go to Mustique again for the service, villas, and Macaroni Beach and would like to try the Raffles at Canouan or Petit St. Vincent resort for the water and close snorkeling at Tabago Cays.

I hope someone finds this report helpful!

WT

Very nice report. I hope to visit Mustique and, especially, the Tobago Cays one of these days!

Peace, Greenie

Thanks for the report.

Were there many places to eat?
How long was the trip to Bequia? And were there other islands that were day trip possibilities besides Tobago Cays?

I'm looking into another Grenadine islands trip -- it is so beautiful there.

PSV is nice and a nice catamaran ride to Tobago Cays. Haven't stayed at Raffles yet but the island is gorgeous as is the water.

Thanks for the report, WT. We don't often read about Mustique on this board. You've confirmed that it's not really a place for me, but I still enjoyed reading about it. I have to wonder if they warn villa renters ahead of time that if a big enough celebrity is on the island, they won't be able to use their camera...

Did you ever find a villa special enough for your next big family reunion vacation?

>> ... if a big enough celebrity is on the island, they won't be able to use their camera..<<

Is this for real or a joke? I would be livid if they told me I couldn't use my camera on <u>my</u> vacation.

ooops, I'm getting my posts confused again. It wasn't in Wandering Texan's post, but one I had just read over on the Mustique forum on Trip Advisor. Somebody said that because a member of Britain's royal family was on the island that no cameras were allowed. The poster was understandably upset about not being able to take pictures of Mustique, but he was a day tripper to the island (perhaps on the Friendship Rose?). Someone else then chimed in to say that Mustique becomes a no-camera-zone from time to time when certain people are on island. Made me wonder if people are given warning in advance, whether they're booking a villa or staying at Cotton House or Firefly. It's one thing to book a stay knowing that it's possible you won't be able to take picturers. It's entirely another thing to show up on a beautiful island for your vacation and be told that you can't take any pictures.

Thanks for the trip report. I really hope to make it to the Grenadines one day.

ejcrowe: About 2 years ago, friends sailed through the Grenadines and ended up on Mustique (I think it was Mustique. If not, it was one of the other Grenadines). Anyway, Prince William, the girlfriend and friends were there and sure enough cameras were taken away. It was not up for discussion. My friends were not staying on the island. I don't know if that made a difference.

No one said anything to us about cameras. We have wonderful photos. I did notice in People magazine that Prince William and Kate were just there. The employees on the island were all talking about the 40th anniversary in August and lots of owners were expected for that.

We ate at the Firefly the first night because I wanted to see what the grocery situation was myself and the cost before ordering 9 days of food. The location was wonderful, but the food not so good. We had a wonderful cook, fixed anything we wanted, and she was so good that we never went out to eat again... no reason to. There is only Basil's which was closed for repairs while we were there and Cotton House. We were disappointed Basils was closed. Cotton house was very nice and we attended a party there they have for guests each Tuesday night. So there are very few restaurant selections, but you don't need them!

Bequia was about an hour catamaran trip, very close. I am told it is magical, so we were upset to find it virtually shut down. We did do some snorkeling on the beach which was good, but didn't really do any sightseeing. There are some other boat trips to islands you can plan from the area, but they don't seem to charter boats from Barbados or St. Lucia (or at least I didn't find any.) Beachgirl, if you email me at [email protected] I will email you back some boat charter information.

Regarding the villas, they were all quite special, but it is hard to find one directly on the beach. We were ready to book one, but now have scheduling problems with our family. I think we will go again, but probably not with the family. I really liked our villa, and the one next to it for 2-4 people. We stayed at Blue Waters for 7 nights and Racine for 2 nights.

At first, it was a little hard to get used to having staff around all the time, but we soon got very comfortable with it! After lunch, we didn't see them again until the cook started preparing dinner. We met the staff at a couple of villas that we knew were owned by famous people and they were very courteous to us. We found everyone on the island very friendly. I just wish it were easier to get to.


WT