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St Vincent and the Grenadines - 2/26/2013 9:36:04 PM
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barata
Posts: 4132
Joined: 4/11/2006
From: a few degrees north of Akumal
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SHH!! Don't let anyone else in on the secret. This place is gorgeous! The weather was a constant 27 degrees - that's about 82 for y'all. Day in, day out, all night long. We had a couple of showers, one deluge that woke me up when my feet started getting wet from rain drops coming in the hatch, but nothing that lasted very long. The water temp was about the same as the air temp. And the people are fantastic - kind, giving, appreciative, they love their home and want you to love it too!
It's a long haul from Calgary, we left at midnight for Toronto, had a couple of hour lay over there, long enough to grab an expensive breakfast, then on to Barbados. We got there mid-afternoon and had planned on a layover so we didn't end up in a strange place with only 1/2 our wits about us. Turns out we would have been fine but we enjoyed the stopover anyway.
Thanks to TA I found a decent and reasonably priced hotel ($100 US) right on the edge of St Lawrence Gap, close to bars and restaurants and right on the water's edge.
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RE: St Vincent and the Grenadines - 2/26/2013 9:49:57 PM
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barata
Posts: 4132
Joined: 4/11/2006
From: a few degrees north of Akumal
Status: offline
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We had some time before dark to wander around, caught a great sunset and found a waterfront restaurant just across the bay from our hotel - Pisces, expensive but very attentive service, separate waiters for water, drinks and food. We started out with sharing a ceviche, but it was so good we had to order another. Then the most famous Bajan dish, flying fish. This was done kind of upscale with capers and frou frou garnish. Really, really delish!
The next morning we walked the beach before heading back to the airport for our 30 minute flight to Kingstown St Vincent. Thought about staying downtown to catch a little of the culture but we don't get to spend near enough time by the sea living here in the mountains, so again I chose an ocean front hotel, the Mariners on Villa beach. The gave our ocean view room to someone else and when I complained the offered to send us to a fancier place but it was on another island with no phone and we had to connect with our sailing buddies so instead they reduced our room rate by 1/2! Great deal!
The French Veranda restaurant is attached and I had a very tasty tuna tartar for dinner. Sorry, ate it too fast for food porn photos!
Our friend and captain had been here with another group a couple of weeks before so had scoped out the best spots, and made some great connections; a taxi company and a guide for the Soufriere volcano! Great idea to get a little exercise before getting on a boat for a week. The government insists on a guide and we had the delightful Bonya, an interesting rasta man with a wonderful outlook on life - and someone who knows the value of an education, so he's sent his daughter off to university! He made the climb in flip flops.
Dinner that night was at VeeJays in downtown Kingston, a local hangout, cheap excellent local food. I had curried conch, John had conch roti, and we all had lots of rum. Followed up with a little karaoke downstairs. They treated us very well, an experience to be repeated where ever we went in the Grenadines. "Thank you for coming. We enjoyed having you. You are welcome to come back anytime. Have a wonderful time in the islands."
Next day was shopping, $500 EC for food and $500 EC for beer, wine and rum. We did have to reprovision the rum and wine, and stopped at the crazy fresh market on Bequia Island for fruit - locally grown oranges, passion fruit, limes, mangos, soursop (OMG, pudding encased in a rind, best fruit in the world!!) tomatoes, cucumbers, and the salesmen were relentless. We had to keep telling them NO - we only want 6 tomatoes. NO!! Not so many passion fruit - it was quite hysterical and we left with about 20 lbs of produce for $27.
The sailing - winds were constant, seas were reasonable, weather was fair aside from a 15 minute shower.
< Message edited by barata -- 2/26/2013 10:22:06 PM >
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barata, PI and catering service inc
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RE: St Vincent and the Grenadines - 2/27/2013 6:09:01 AM
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ChrisandCindy
Posts: 4670
Joined: 12/24/2005
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Nice, how was the snorkeling?
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RE: St Vincent and the Grenadines - 2/27/2013 6:29:32 AM
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uphillklimber
Posts: 5528
Joined: 2/17/2005
From: Bryant Pond, Maine
Status: online
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Hey!!! that boat looks real familiar!!! Can't wait for more!
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Lovin life,
Bob
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RE: St Vincent and the Grenadines - 2/27/2013 8:02:25 AM
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Jamie
Posts: 2548
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Southern California
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Sounds like a great vacation so far, love sailboats. Did a bareboat charter once in the Abacos chain of the Bahamas with another couple, one of the best vacations I have ever taken.
One of the sailing magazines (cannot remember which one now) has an issue every February (or used to) with a special insert on chartered boats with either bareboat or crewed. That is how I found the outfit we used, we went in late October and early November and got two weeks for the price of one.
Looking forward to more, thanks barata
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RE: St Vincent and the Grenadines - 2/27/2013 8:45:44 AM
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Bosco
Posts: 6895
Joined: 5/8/2006
From: Another day..another seedy hotel
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Wow. You are making me long for the islands, Barata.
Looking forward to more Trip Report and Pics.
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RE: St Vincent and the Grenadines - 3/1/2013 11:09:26 PM
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barata
Posts: 4132
Joined: 4/11/2006
From: a few degrees north of Akumal
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The "prequel" for Beachbilly....
A couple of years ago we reconnected with our "best man" who we hadn't seen much of since his wedding a year or so after ours. So it had been a while since we'd spent time with him. Anyhow he filled us in on how he'd taken up sailing (after his divorce.) Our 30th anniversary was coming up and sailing seemed like an interesting way to celebrate so with his credentials he was able to charter a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands and off we went. A couple of years and a few navigational and blue water sailing experiences later and he's able to charter boats in more challenging locales, like SVG. Lucky for us he was looking for folks to fill a boat and we signed on.
This is all new to us, but apparently there are many companies who will rent boats, either motor or sail, to people who qualify. If you don't have the qualifications, you can rent a boat with a captain for a couple of extra c notes per day. And you can add a cook if you really want to be pampered.
The boat we chartered was a monohull sailboat 43' long with 3 cabins, each with it's own bathroom. Bathrooms are of the "****, shower and shave at the same time" model. Sink tap converts to shower head and there's a drain in the floor with an electric pump to take away the extra water. Works well for cleaning too!
Being as how it was a vacation and we LOVE all inclusive's, we elected to purchase only lunch and breakfast foods and eat dinner out. Charter companies will provision the boat for you, but we know how to grocery shop so the day we were to leave port some of us went shopping while the sailors in the crowd went over the boat with the charter company to make sure we had the correct equipment to make the boat go forward (and backwards) in the water. We spent $500EC ($190 US or CDN) for a week on groceries we gave away lots of juice, some pancake mix, cheese, a pineapple, a few cartons of long life milk and various sundries at the end of the trip to a rasta pal we had befriended on St Vincent.
SVG is easy to get around even if you don't have a boat. There are ferries that go to every island, even Myreau, population 350, home to Dennis's Hideaway hotel and Robert Righteous and De Youth International Restaurant and Bar. This was probably my favorite spot and I'm glad that our buddy had taken another group of folks through SVG a couple of weeks before and sussed out the best spots. I had my heart set on visiting Mustique, a private enclave of the verrrry rich and famous (Mick Jagger has a place there) but the captain had checked it out and renamed it "Mistake" due to the $140US mooring fee (we generally paid $40EC on the other islands. The mooring fee is like a campground fee, you pay to tie up to the bouys in the harbour.) After mooring they went to the only public bar on the island and were ogled by the one other group in the bar who were obviously looking for "somebodies". The best "somebodies" in my opinion are the locals who have spent their lifetimes on the islands, making jobs for themselves and their families, making visitors feel not just welcome but a part of the lives of the islanders. I'd better stop, my husband will get upset that I've told you all THIS much about the place. It's magical really.
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barata, PI and catering service inc
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RE: St Vincent and the Grenadines - 3/16/2013 5:59:30 AM
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uphillklimber
Posts: 5528
Joined: 2/17/2005
From: Bryant Pond, Maine
Status: online
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Was this a bareboat cruise, or did you have a crew? Was the boatboy only there for mooring purposes in the harbor?
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Lovin life,
Bob
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How does one go about planning a trip like this? 
7 trips later I seem to have forgotten that there are other beautiful places on earth. Thanks for the reminder!
