There is possibly no place in the world more colourful than the Caribbean. Colour is literally everywhere – the buildings, the fruit stalls, the natural wonders and the local dress code are all so vibrant. There are a few other aspects of the region that are immediately obvious too: 1. its hot and humid in October; 2. expectations of activities occuring within a ‘western’ timeframe are wasted here, and 3. everything is crazy expensive (i.e. it makes Sydney look like a budget traveller’s dream!). That said though, its a pretty special part of the world.
On a slow trail north from our starting point in Tobago, the plan is to island hop through the Lower Antilles group of islands in the south and the first country on the hitlist is St Vincent and the Grenadines; a nation of 32 islands with a name that sounds like a 1970’s music act. SV&G is relatively unknown to tourist crowds, thanks to the fact that until the last few years there was no international flights direct into the main island of St Vincent and it is generally not on the cruise ship trail. It turns out the remoteness of this pristine wonderland is both a blessing and a curse as we discovered in our attempt to explore the Grenadines, the name given to the string of smaller islands south of the mainland and north of Grenada.
High season kicks off in December so our arrival in October was met with erratic ferry departures, limited flight options and no day trips operating yet due to limited numbers. It certainly made the concept of planning seem like a waste of time, and we learned a few tough lessons early on that nothing is guaranteed here and you can’t count on making tight travel connections. So after a missed ferry thanks to a delayed flight we eventully made it to Bequia (pronounced “beck-way”), arguably the prettiest island in the ‘necklace of isles’ that is the Grenadines.
The colourful fishing village of Port Elizabeth sits in a beautiful harbour and is a popular spot for catamarans and yachts to stop for supplies and enjoy the many restaurants and watering holes, some of which had just reopened the week we arrived in anticipation of the busy period ahead. The water was warm, the beaches beautiful and the people friendly, and like Tobago the cost of food really surprised us.
Coming from Eastern Europe where we had been spoilt with value for money (thank you again, Albania) we were shocked to be spending AU $25 on hamburgers and AU $40 for a pizza that was barely big enough to feed us both, then of course you have to add the 10% service charge to everything and sometimes tax too. We quickly realised self-catering was going to be the way to go to avoid the dominant American style cuisine and stop our bank account from hurting too much, and an alcohol detox was looking pretty good too!
From Bequia we jumped on a tiny plane that took us to Union Island which is possibly one of the most remote locations we have ever been. It was punishing to figure out how to get there but was on our list for its proximity to the Tobago Cays Marine Park. As Aussies we are tough critics of international marine parks (refer back to the June blog about our perfect day on the Great Barrier Reef!!) and this one didn’t blow us away at first, but the chance to play with a stingray just off the beach was pretty cool and we stopped at some incredible beaches and ate fresh fish for lunch.
Union Island was an interesting paradox – it is so far from anywhere, and the locals of Clifton are an ecclectic mix of barefoot misfits and entrepreneurs, and yet in this random place where we were two of maybe 20 tourists in town we could order instagram-worthy smoothies with turmeric, almond butter, coconut water and chia seeds (AU $9.50 a piece mind you). Given the limited range of products in the grocery shops we have no idea where the ingredients had been sourced!
Leaving SV&G on yet another delayed flight we arrived in St Lucia which felt more commercial and appeared to have a more established tourist infrastructure, complete with western style supermarkets and a range of cuisines on offer in the restaurants. We spent a few days in the resort area of Rodney Bay on the north west coast exploring more beautiful beaches but the biggest drawcard on the island is in the south where the majestic twin pitons reach for the sky.
The coastal drive around the south of the island was a great way to discover hidden coves and appreciate the lush rainforest, always with our eye on the potholes that are characteristic of the roads here. Our last minute room booking near the town of Soufriere scored us the most amazing view from the plunge pool which we had to ourselves, and a sweet self-contained cottage. The south has a very different feel to the north with most tourists staying close to their luxe resorts so shopping in the local grocery store made us a bit of a novelty here, generally though St Lucia was great and much easier to navigate than SV&G. Let’s see what we get in the next country…
no fixed address... 