St. Vincent or Bequia?
 

We've been to quite a few islands in the Caribbean, but for this winter we want to try some new ones: we are planning to fly to Barbados, where we plan to stay for about a week. After that we would like to spend 10 days or so on either St. Vincent or Bequia, or both. My question is, which one would you recommend, from personal experience? Don't know anything about either island, so would be grateful for any help and information. Also, if there's another one of the Grenadines you recommend...

Ooh, I'm a brand-new devotee of the area. Others will be able to give you more comprehensive info, but here are my suggestions based on just one trip there and lots of research.

With 10 days, I'd choose to stay on Bequia and make a couple of day trips to St. VIncent for exploration--with the ferry connections it's easy and inexpensive to go back & forth.

Bequia is compact enough that you could get a really good feel for it in 10 days. It's completely charming, from the main town at Port Elizabeth, chock-a-block with restaurants, bars, shops, and the market all within walking distance, to the beach at Lower Bay, with a nice variety of beach bars and guest houses, to the beautiful but more secluded Spring area. It's an island that is full of charming people, both local and tourist alike. It lacks pretension but exudes a welcoming feel.

I would definitely suggest taking in a daysail on the Friendship Rose, checking out the local bookshop, the tiny but lovingly done whaling museum, the pottery at Spring, and the turtle sanctuary. Take some time and walk through Port Elizabeth, ducking into the various shops and markets. Meander along the Belmont Walkway, a waterfront path in town that leads you by various restaurants, hotels, and shops. Walk from town up to the fort for beautiful views. Check out Princess Margaret beach and the other beautiful beaches on the island. Stop to chat with the school kids on their way home from school. Watch the fishing boats go out and come back in. Ask how the catch was.

Really, it's the sort of place you fall in love with, the kind of place that has a siren call all its own.

Thanks ejcrowe, this is extremely helpful! As a matter of curiosity, where did you stay on Bequia?

I pretty much agree with ejcrowe, but I would suggest that you take some time for St. Vincent, since it does have some interesting aspects. The Mesopotamia Valley and Montreal Gardens are worth seeing, and there are opportunities for some boating and hiking tours if you like that sort of thing. It is an island that is not geared very much to tourism, which also makes it different.

Carola22, my trip to Bequia was only 5 nights, so we stayed in town at the Frangipani Hotel. Overall I loved it and would recommend it in general, but you might want to read the full trip report that I posted at the end of July of this year where I mention minor caveats. I think the report is called "Two Weeks in Bequia, St. Vincent, and Grenada."

I loved my time on St. Vincent and would definitely encourage you to spend at least a couple of days exploring it. We found the botanical gardens to be gorgeous and the Dr. Cecil Cyrus museum to be both a moving and gruesome tribute to the hardships of practicing medicine in St. Vincent. We also did the fort, which was interesting, but it would've been more impressive if we had not visited El Morro in San Juan on our previous trip. If we'd had time, we would have driven up through the Mesopotamian (Mespo) Valley and looked through Montreal Gardens as RAB indicates. I also would have liked a drive up the Windward and/or Leeward coasts.

If you have 10 daysk, split them between St. Vincent and Bequia - we would have been totally bored on Bequia for the whole time (ditto with St. Vincent). Another issue is getting to the two islands. It is easiest (and cheaper) to take Caribbean Star or LIAT's large commuter planes to/from Barbados to St. Vincent, rather than the tiny commuters directly to Bequia.

Depending on your schedule... you can fly to St. Vincent and take the ferry to Bequia and vice versa (if you don't mind ferry rides) or you can take a little commuter between the two islands at a very reasonable cost and it's only a 20 minute hop rather than an hour long flight from Barbados to/from Bequia.

We stayed at the Gingerbread (near Frangipani), but some of the other hotels in the country are nice too.

In St. Vincent, we've stayed at Young Island and Mariners Hotel - nice rooms and good restaurants at both.

Lots to do in both places, but to truly explore at your leisure be better to stay both places... rather than try to ferry back and forth for day trips.

Hi, Scubamom. Your post left me with a question. You say that you would've been "totally bored" on either Bequia or St. Vincent for 10 days, but many of the accommodations you write about on your webpage are either private island resorts or are so secluded that they might as well be. Are you not bored with those places? Or do you just not visit them for 10 days at a stretch? Thanks!

We generally stay no more than 5 days at any one resort and have been known to "hop" between three on a 10 day trip. For one, this allows us to experience more than one resort on a trip and right... we hardly ever get bored this way!

However, that said... sometimes it takes a lot of planning to figure out the easiest transfers from this one to that one. Staying at several resorts in the BVI is fairly easy - but I have to work with the ferry schedules.

Hoping around the Grenadines can be a bit more challenging, especially in and out of Mustique. We've used Barbados in and out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and also St. Lucia. We had planned to combine Grenada with the Grenadines the year the big hurricane hit and alas never made that trip, but the transfers can be done using ferries and the interisland commuter planes.

P.S. to island hop, the trick is to pack light! <grin>

heh--you're right about packing light! Even for our two week vacation this summer to Bequia & Grenada, we only had carry-on luggage. You couldn't pay me to lug around a bigger suitcase!

As for me, I've never yet become bored in any location. I'd love to have the luxury of time to wait & see how long it took for me to reach that state. Somehow, I think I may be in the Godot category! ;)

Carola22,
I agree with all three RAB, Scubamom, and ejcrowe.
I love St. Vincent proper because it is less "touristy" yet find myself ready for a little more than sight seeing and nature after 4-5 days. That would be when to head 9 miles south to Bequia where there's a bit more action. Ideally I'd spend 3-4 days on St. Vincent, head over to Bequia via ferry, spend the remainder there saving one more day for a return trip to St. Vincent in order to make your connections home. If you have the time and money you could visit much of the Grenadines. For example 3 days St. Vincent, 2-3 days Bequia, and spread the remainder over Canuoan, Mayreau, Union Island, and Mustique, saving the last day day for St. Vincent to make your connections home. Somewhere along the way a must stop is the day trip to Tobago Cays.

Thanks everybody!! for their responses. Very very helpful. We've decided to split our time evenly between St. Vincent and Bequia (about 5 days each), and also spend a week in Barbados. All the other islands (Mustique, Canouan, etc.) also sound fantastic, but since this is a new experience for us anyway (we've always gone to St. Martin and Anguilla, or Aruba) we decided to keep things simple for now - perhaps next time!

Great choice! I think you'll have a great time with Bequia & St. Vincent, as they will be a nice foil to Barbados for a total vacation that includes a likkle bit of everyt'ing.