Blogs from Saint Vincent, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Central America Caribbean

Canouan is one of the smaller islands of The Grenadines. We knew being halfway between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator just off the coast of Venezuela would be very warm; but it was so comfortable during our brief stay with an almost constant off-shore breeze. The destination was picked by our host as a hop from Nevis for his birthday; he was especially lured by the golf course which didn't disappoint - challenging and beauful! Lucky us, you say! Lucky us, we repeat! The resort is very sprawley, but each couple got a golf cart to roam from villas to the beach, to the restaurants (open on a revolving basis), pro shop, spa, boutique, etc. The "girls" even hailed a rubber raft with an outboard motor to get us from one beach to another. ... read more

Jammin’ Day 5 and reggae is playing on the car stereo as we swing around the winding roads up the Windwards coast of St Vincent. We wind our way between the banana trees along a bumpy track and up the hill, passing a lush array of trees including breadfruit, guava, cashew and passion fruit, before arriving at a shining building painted in the green and blue colours of the FAIRTRADE Mark.. This is Montaque, in St Vincent, it’s the brand name of a range of jams, jellies and juices, but for the banana farmers of St Lucia, Dominica and St Vincent it’s also a window to the future - their first venture into food processing, as a way of diversifying away from just the sale of the raw fruit. Two years ago the farmers of the ... read more

1st June marks the official start of the hurricane season in St Vincent, and almost like clockwork the rain is hammering on the roof of the reception centre at Langley Park, where the farmers are bringing their fruit for weighing, checking and shipment. Nearby, grey and copper coloured waves crash to the shores, and the coconut palms bend in the wind that gives these islands their name. Nioka Abbott was up early working through the downpour to cut and pack the twenty 18 kilogram boxes of bananas she’s promised for this week’s Asda and Sainsbury shipment. As she says, ‘here in St Vincent we love carnival. No rain ever stop our carnival. So rain can’t stop our farmers. Shipment ain’t gonna wait for no rain to stop.” Nioka was one of the very first farmers to ... read more

At the modest offices of the St Vincent National Fair Trade Organisation, there is a busy flow of farmers coming in to collect the bags they will need for the next harvest. Some of them are collecting Asda branded bags, some plain ones, as their bananas are also sold loose and as Caribbean smalls into Sainsbury’s. The Fair Trade Organisation is running a tight operation, everything is receipted, signed and stamped in duplicate, along with a constant friendly banter between the farmers as they come and grow. However today, the farmers and the Fair Trade Organisation have got a lot on their minds. If you’re a farmer in St Vincent, Friday is not just the day that you collect whatever bags or boxes you need for your next harvest, but it’s also the day you get ... read more

Arriving in St Vincent is quite spectacular - the twin prop plane sails low in the sky heading towards the setting sun and then sharply banks to the right. We pass over the roofs of some beautiful villas, and then skim the rocky shore, hugging the shoreline with the waves crashing against the rocks literally a few metres below us. Just as it seems we're destined to either clip the rocks with the wings, or land in the water, the ground flattens, a runway appears, and within a couple of seconds we've bounced onto it. The air stewardess says, Welcome to St Vincent and the Grenadines, my home and the jewel of the Caribbean! Although it's early evening and the sun is rapidly going down, it's still very warm and sticky. Ancelma and Romo from the ... read more

Happy Easter to all from Wallilabou Bay, the set from Dead Mans Chest, Pirates of the Carribean. The pirates are still here. Now they are called boat boys. Five of them managed to cause great confusion when we were trying to get the boat moored. Then they layed out their jewerly on the pontoons of the boat and got somewhat pushy about us buying stuff. Jesse bought Shauna a necklace of a young boy and the other men got rather upset. We sailed here yesterday from Bequia, a 2 hour sail, where we spent 2 great days in Port Elizabeth. There was a lot going on as it was the easter regatta. We had dinner at Tommy Cantina that was delicious. Shauna was suffering from ceasar salad withdrawl. Later we were at the Fragipani for drinks ... read more

Day 5 Tyrell Bay Carriaou, Grenada March 9/ 2009 We dingied into shore and caught a bus to Hillsborough to check out of Grenada. We needed to do the immigration and customs just like leaving any country. I found a free wifi area at the local telephone sales office. That is where you got the last blog from. We picked up a few more provisions and headed back to the boat for a noon departure. We motored into the wind for 10 miles to Cliffton on Union Island where the skipper had to check us in at St Vincent immigrations and customs. Joe and Luke did some snorkeling near our anchorage and came back with some neat conch shells. Wayne and Rick took a swim off the boat and lathered down with soap. We are getting ... read more