St. Vincent Trip Report

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morecowbells

Contributor
Messages
1,321
Reaction score
1,264
Location
St. Louis burbs
# of dives
200 - 499
About St. Vincent:
An island with Carib Indian, African, French and English roots. In 1979 St. Vincent and the Grenadines became last of the Windward Islands to gain independence. St. Vincent and the Grenadines consist of 32 islands and cay’s, with only a handful being populated. In addition to St. Vincent, other islands of the Grenadines include Mustique(exclusive high end Mick Jagger abode and British Royalty destination), Bequia(absolutely charming and small), Canouan(resorts for golf and yachting enthusiasts), Union(I have no clue), and a group of smaller (many unpopulated) islands. English and Creole widely spoken. Although their currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar, American dollars were widely accepted.

Why St. Vincent?
A couple that we have been diving with for over a decade visited the island several years ago and fell in love with the island. They enjoyed the topside beauty and the variety of small critters under water. My husband and I were seeking a new experience for our February vacation.

Traveling Logistics:
There are not many options getting to and from St. Vincent. LIAT offers many interisland flights, but I was apprehensive about booking with them since they are notoriously unreliable and have strict baggage limits. American Airlines has a once a week flight to the island out of Miami. The downside to the one flight a week is finding a viable plan B if you miss a connection or flight gets cancelled. Since our layover was only 50 minutes from St. Louis to Miami, we opted to leave the night before and stay in Miami thus minimizing the risk of missing flight. The return flight from St. Vincent left at 3:45 pm. Unfortunately, it is too late to make a connection to St. Louis, which resulted in another(planned) overnight stay in Miami. St. Vincent has a brand-new airport which was far more efficient and cleaner than my local airport. I have no idea of the details regarding the construction except that it was funded by China(scratching my head).

Per my friend’s advice, we eschewed renting a car and decided to use a taxi. Best decision! Driving there would have been nothing short of harrowing. I have driven on the left side of the road in other countries, but with the winding roads, lack of sidewalks and not understanding the right of way’s it would have a disaster. Cabs were reasonable, and every taxi was immaculate. Where we stayed, most of our restaurants were within walking distance, so using a taxi was only necessary for going into Kingstown to catch a ferry for a day trip to Bequia and going to and from the airport.

Lodging:
We stayed at The Mariners Hotel. The hotel itself is about a 20-minute drive from the airport and a 20 minute drive into downtown Kingstown. Units are built in a ‘U’ shape around a courtyard, pool and ocean view. Rooms are simple and small, but beds were comfortable, and the a/c worked like a charm. Water pressure was meh, but hot water was ample. Everybody was friendly and very welcoming. You can see a lot of pride in ownership. Breakfast was included in our package and was surprisingly plentiful and savory. The onsite restaurant, The French Veranda was always outstanding with a variety of dishes. Their amazing variety of smoothies(even the green smoothie was delicious) as a great way to start a day of diving.

Diving:
We chose Serenity Divers as our dive op. They offered pick up at our pier and storage of our gear. Both Vaughan and Harvey were fun and knowledgeable guides. The love for their island is contagious and both are amazing at giving some background information on both the dive sites and the island itself. There were many advantages to using this dive op. Dive groups are small (we had no more than 4 divers), and we were able to dive our profiles without having to ascend as a group when the first person runs low on air. Tank fills were always above 3000 psi. Gear was rinsed, stored and maintained by staff. Dockside pick up was around 8:45, rides to sites were in the 10-20 minute range. Diving in St. Vincent is different from other Caribbean destinations where you dive off the meso American reef. The island of St. Vincent is volcanic and rugged with plenty of inlets and coves. Most dives were tucked inside a protected cove, which was ideal since winds were in the 20-30 mph range and seas were rough with large swells. Dives typically started next to a cliff off a shoreline inlet, along a rocky bottom, then over some sand and grass then over some coral heads. The first thing that I noticed was the abundance of healthy, undamaged corals. The corals were vibrant without showing signs of algae or bleaching. Only once did we encounter another dive boat in the same cove. They were leaving as we were gearing up. The island does not have many dive ops, so getting congested or reef damage from over exposure is not an issue.

If you are looking for large marine life such as sharks, eagle rays, grouper or turtles, St. Vincent most likely will not deliver. While we were researching dive destinations, I was fully aware that St. Vincent is a small critter paradise. Although, keep in mind that the lack of larger marine life does not equate depleted marine life. Reefs were teeming with schools of Fairy Basslets, Damselfish and Wrasses. Each dive yielded numerous eel sightings. There was one dive alone where we must have encountered at least 10 eels. With the exception of one green moray and one chain moray, all eels were spotted moray’s and Sharptailed eels. Our dive master Harvey had the amazing fortune of finding a stunning yellow Frogfish. We saw plenty of Scorpionfish, Flamingo Tongues and I was lucky to stumble across a Fingerprint Flamingo Tongue. The best find was by dive master Vaughan; not only one, but two side by side Flying Gurnard’s. This was a first for me. I have never encountered one of the oddities before! At first, I thought he was pointing out a Lizardfish. Then upon closer inspection, I saw the legs and eventually the purple wings. Other fish we encountered were the typical Caribbean suspects. It seemed that the Spotted Drums, Rocks Beauties and Trunkfish were more prolific and abundant than in other Caribbean destinations.

Surface intervals were spent on the boat. Typically, I am not crazy about this practice, and prefer to be on terra firma fending off sea sickness. Fortunately, the boat would seek placid waters of one of the many protected coves. One of the inlets was where the movie ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ was filmed. Another cove is where the defunct Buccament Bay Resort sits. This looks like and amazing location. A big topic on the island is the sell and purchase of the property and a re-opening (around Christmas). While the property appeared remote, the scenery and beach were stunning. It will be interesting to see how this transfer of ownership unfolds. I would definitely investigate booking there in the future for the amazing views.

Topside diversions:
We took a midweek day off from diving. We decided to ferry over to Bequia(pronounced Beck-way). With the aid of a Scopalamine patch, the hour-long ride was not hideous. This island is a complete gem! The island is seven square miles and is a popular yachting destination with pristine, calm beaches. The harbor consists of a paved walkway lined with shops, galleries and restaurants. We hired a taxi to visit the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. I love turtles and even have a tattoo of one. The attractions itself is just so-so. There are pools designated for baby, juvenile and adult rescued turtles. It was cool to check out these cuties, but not sure if I would repeat this excursion. I would love to return to Bequia and spend a couple of nights on the island.

Overall impressions of St. Vincent and it’s people:

St. Vincent is a lush, forested, hilly and rugged island. We stayed on the southern end of the island where most of the dive lodgings are located. One night we decided to try a restaurant in downtown Kingstown. While the meal was great, the part of town was dicey and I would have not been comfortable walking around. The other parts of the island we visited felt safe. This island itself is obviously poor and has had some struggles recently. However, the upside to this is that the locals care deeply about their island and its impressions on visitors. I have not had an issue with customer based interactions and service in other Caribbean islands, but some of the places (Bonaire and Curacao), the service can be standoffish and indifferent. In St. Vincent, we had cab drivers, a stranger on the ferry and a gentleman at the airport approach us and at point blank ask us how we liked the island, what we thought of the place and people and if we would ever return. I found the locals to be welcoming, soft spoken, gentle, friendly and sincere. At the risk of sounding incredibly superficial, they were some of the most attractive people I have encountered in a destination. The islanders are enthusiastic about the prospects of the new airport bringing more flights. Both my husband and I were impressed by this charming island, lovely people and reefs which are the most pristine that I have encountered anywhere else in the Caribbean.
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Flamingo Toungue
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Fingerprint Flamingo Tougue
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Frogfish
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Perfect perch for Scorpionfish
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The empty Buccament Bay Resort
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Harbor in Bequia
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Two Flying Gurnards. Poor image quality, it was on a grass and sandy bottom with so so vis
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Thanks for the report. We spent several weeks in the Grenadines and Tobago Cays in the late 90's and early 2000's on Windjammer Barefoot Cruises (before we were dive traveling). They did a two week cruise itinerary through these islands. It was our favorite and we enjoyed it multiple times. A few years ago a group resurrected the "Mandalay" and I've been brainstorming a trip combining their current one week itinerary out of Grenada (for old times sake) and a second week of diving on Carriacou. I hope to pull it off while the boat is still afloat. :) Your report revives my "jones" for the trip.:bounce::bounce::bounce:Thanks again. :clapping:
 
Both Carriacou and Canouan are on my list of places to visit. I would love to know how you enjoy the diving in Grenada.
 
Good, practical report. Good to know that flight planning limitations can make planning an overnight layover (at least on the way there, maybe both ways) wise; adds to time and cost. For the typical 7-day week getaway Caribbean vacation out of the U.S., that could cut into time a bit.

Glad to see another St. Vincent report.

Richard.
 
Thanks for a great report. I had an uncle who used to dive and he mentioned that Bequia was one of his favorite islands to visit.
 
Great report...sure sounds like a nice place to try.
 

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