Blogs from Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Central America Caribbean - page 14

The last few days have been spent on the island of Bequia, the most northern of the Grenadines. The local history revolves around ship building and whaling, although nowadays there are only one or two whales caught each year, and the only ships built are model ones. It is a beautiful place and I explored the main streets of the little town looking in all the craft shops, and discovered the coastal lanes in an early morning run. The model boat industry is based around one family, the Sergeant Brothers, who have perfected the craft of carving wooden replicas of the Bequian whaling boats. I met Augustine, one of the main craftsman and he sat there for nearly an hour, gold tooth flashing in the sun, telling me all about the history of the area and ... read more

It has been a busy few days since I last wrote to you. We spent 2 days in Grenada enjoying the history and scenery of the islands. The inlands of Grenada are covered in lush rainforest, which is amazing considering that a hurricane devastated the island only 2 years ago. Apparently when the storm hit it took all the roofs off the houses and uprooted trees across the hillsides. The island is dependent on crops of bananas and spices which were totally destroyed, so the islanders faced extreme hardship. Some houses went without power and running water for months - imagine no showers or flushing toilets for 2 months! The island has bounced back though, and we spent a fantastic morning walking through the forest, swimming in waterfalls, followed by an afternoon exploring the old fort ... read more

5-19 Hotel: Silverpoint Hotel, Barbados, $177 Flight: Austin (AUS) to Dallas (DFW), American Flight: Dallas (DFW) to Miami (MIA), American Flight: Miami (MIA) to Barbados (BGI), American It's been a bit of an adventure just getting here! We arrived at the airport early morning on Saturday to find our our original Austin-Atlanta flight was delayed, and Delta was rebooking people on alternative flights. After waiting 45 minutes in line, we finally had an itinerary to take over to American, where we found out Delta had given us an illegal connection time in San Juan. By the time we had sorted this out, it was too late for checkin with American, and not possible to make it to Antigua the same day. Since we had tickets from Barbados the next morning, I then asked if they ... read more