Sample St Vincent & Grenadines Itinerary
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Day 1
After checking through the yacht, set sail for Britannia Bay, Mustique, an easy 2.5 hour reach (17 miles). (Note: the easiest approach to Mustique is from St Vincent, rather than from Bequia or from the central Grenadines which would place you hard on the wind). En route to Mustique, pass the uninhabited islands of Battowia, Baliceaux and The Pillories. Approach Britannia Bay from the north (avoiding Montezuma shoals which lie about 800 yards offshore but are clearly marked - interesting snorkelling or diving with a wreck on the reef).
Britannia Bay is the one place in the Grenadines where it's mandatory to pick up a mooring buoy. No need to reserve in advance, it's a first-come first-served basis and, unlike in the BVI, you don’t need to be worried about not finding space if you arrive after 2.00 p.m. At some stage during your visit, someone will come out and charge you $30 for the mooring which entitles you to a 3-day permit.
Note that Mustique is a marine park and so fishing or removal of anything from the waters surrounding the island is illegal up to 1,000 yards offshore. Whilst the island is well known for its stately villas and famous inhabitants, what's more important are the beautiful beaches. From the main anchorage it's a leisurely 25-minute stroll south to Lagoon Bay. Golden sand beach, fringed with palm trees, a couple of picnic areas with wooden umbrellas and tables, and not a human being or building in sight. On a clear day you can see all the way down to Petite Martinique. From the dinghy dock, famous Basil's Bar is just a minute's walk to the north. Spectacular surroundings - white sand beach, sparkling blue water and a wonderful ambience. What a great place for a cocktail.
A "must" in Mustique is Firefly - a wonderful restaurant built in what used to be one of the great private villas of Mustique. It's perched halfway up the hillside overlooking the anchorage, and is stunningly beautiful - marble counters, giant ferns, a grand piano, Balinese furniture, two freshwater pools and a beautiful restaurant and bar. The food is first-rate and the prices moderate - but even if you don't want to eat, you should still go there to savour the ambience. It's fairly small so a good idea to book in advance if you plan to eat - unlike everyone else in the Grenadines who listens on VHF 68, Firefly monitors VHF Channel 10. It's the sort of place where one might be tempted to wander in for lunch at noon, and wander out again at three o'clock the next morning. Impromptu performances from famous musicians are a regular feature. If you don’t fancy the steep up-hill walk, call owner Stan on the VHF and if he’s not busy he will send one of his staff down in a vehicle to give you a lift.
Close to Basil's are a couple of food stores where you can get your Iranian caviar and Norwegian smoked salmon - and also excellent Italian bread baked by a real Italian baker. But don't plan on doing any major provisioning there - these stores are expensive. There are also a couple of (expensive) boutiques, and a little fishing village just north of Basil's, where you can pick up fresh fish directly from the fishermen.
For those who fancy a gallop down a deserted beach, thoroughbred horses can be rented by the hour. But for those who don't ride horses, I'd recommend they rented a "mule" - not a donkey, but a gasoline-powered cross between a mini moke and a golf cart. Ask the bartender at Basil's, and he'll call up the company who rents them (around $90 for a full day). Renting a "mule" is lots of fun and enables you not only to get around and explore some of the amazing villas, but also to access some of the best beaches which are a little too far to walk to from the anchorage. Macaroni beach on the east coast must rate as one of the Caribbean's ten top beaches - half a mile of fine white sand, with turquoise waves rolling in from the Atlantic, safe swimming, and a picnic area under the palms.
The Cotton House hotel is definitely worth a visit - formerly a 19th-century sugar and cotton plantation, the hotel has been beautifully restored to its original grandeur. There's a fantastic restaurant there - but it's expensive and rather formal (long trousers for gentlemen for dinner). They also have an informal beach restaurant which is reasonably-priced and a good option for lunch. The hotel also has a freshwater pool with a pool bar, and a water-sports centre with Hobie Cats, windsurfers and dive facilities.
If you need ice, you can get it at Basil’s - but you won’t be able to get water or diesel in Mustique.
Day 2
Head for Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau - the "Caribbean beach dream come true" and one of the loveliest anchorages in the Caribbean. It's a 3.5 hour broad reach from Mustique and the usual route is to pass close under the lee of the flat-topped island Petit Canouan, and then under the lee of Canouan itself. As you pass under the lee of Canouan's northern headland you'll probably lose the wind for a few minutes - but if you've had reefs in the main, don't shake them out - as you head across Charlestown Bay, you'll be hit by strong guests of wind blowing over the island's central ridge. Passing close under the lee of Glossy Hill, you then set across the North Mayreau Channel towards Salt Whistle Bay.
There's good snorkelling on the reefs, and the white sand beach is pristine. The main resort nestles in the palm trees on the beach, but don't be put off by the word resort - it consists of a dozen stone and wood cottages, and the resort's floor is the sand. The quaint beach bar is a popular meeting place for cruising yachties at Happy Hour, and the restaurant, set under the palms, serves great food at reasonable prices.
If you feel like a bit of exercise, follow the paved road from the dinghy dock, and, after a steep 25-minute walk (but well worth the effort) you'll get to the "settlement" where 400 people, and about the same number of chickens, cows and goats live. The old stone church (built in 1929 by a Benedictine monk) is definitely worth a visit and from the windward side of the church you'll get spectacular views over all of the Grenadines. In the settlement itself, you'll find 4 great little bistros, all very welcoming and serving good food. They accept credit cards and also have small minmarts adjacent to them. Dennis' Hideaway is my favourite - Dennis is the Grenadines' equivalent of "Foxy" on Jost van Dyke, except that he doesn't play the guitar - but he's the island's Justice of the Peace, yachtsman, guest-house owner, restaurateur and raconteur – and he even has a swimming pool and dive shop.
A word of warning - if you get stuck into Dennis's frozen Margaritas (which is easy to do), and it's after sundown, remember that the pathway back to Salt Whistle Bay is unlit .... don't forget your flashlight! Alternatively, you can ask for a vehicle which will cost around $US 8. Visiting Mayreau is like stepping into a time warp. There are around 400 yards of paved road, half a dozen vehicles, no high-rises, no police, and the island’s had electricity for less than 5 years.
Day 3
Salt Whistle Bay is the natural stepping stone to the Tobago Cays, the high spot of the cruise for pretty well everyone. It's an easy 45-minute passage, and best to motor or motor-sail as you'll be against current and on the wind. The Tobago Cays are a marine park and are patrolled by Park Rangers. So no fishing, no removing anything from the water and be particularly careful not to touch coral. In the Cays, you're anchoring in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean - with nothing between you and Africa except Horseshoe Reef. Although they’re uninhabited, the price of progress means that you can get pretty well anything you need in the Cays - the fishermen come out daily from Clifton Harbour in Union Island, and vend from their open boats. You can find everything from fresh fish, to lobster (in season, 01 September through 30 April), ice, jewellery, t-shirts, post-cards, soft drinks - and one fellow will even come round and take your orders for fresh baguettes directly from Union Island’s bakery for tomorrow’s breakfast. The snorkelling in the Cays is everywhere - right around the main Horseshoe Reef itself, one of the longest barrier reefs in the Western hemisphere, and close to the islands themselves. You can dinghy in and out of the coral heads, the seabed clearly visible, and pick up a dinghy mooring.
Day 4
By this stage in the trip, many people will be thinking about fresh water, and so our suggestion is to head down to Clifton Harbour for lunch, water, fuel and re-provisioning, and then to head south to Petit St Vincent for overnight. The almost vertical mountains of Union Island are visible 40 miles away on a clear day. You need to sail almost over to Palm Island before turning to the west and up into the main harbour at Clifton, the cross-roads of the Grenadines where you can obtain pretty well everything that you need. The harbour is divided into a western and an eastern side, separated by a reef in the middle. The best anchoring is to be found if you tuck up on the eastern-side of the harbour, behind Newlands Reef - it's a sand bottom, great holding ground, cool and breezy, and the water is crystal-clear. From this anchorage, it's a couple of minutes by dinghy, not only to the shore, but also to the unique Happy Island, the labour of love of one man. Janty got fed up selling pizzas in town so decided to build himself an island. It took him a couple of years and a lot of sand, conch shells and palm fronds, but today it's finished and he has a wind generator, solar panels, hammocks, reggae music - and a well-stocked bar. This is a must - and all visitors are welcome.
If you're planning on a lunch-time stop, then head up to the north-western corner of the harbour where you'll find Bougainvilla Marina. Give them a call on the VHF (Channel 68) to let them know that you'll be coming in. You can get fuel, ice and water here and there is a particularly good restaurant. The town of Clifton is just a short walk along the beach (don’t fall into the shark pool next to the Anchorage Yacht Club) and there are plenty of small supermarkets in town. Clifton is a funky little place with friendly people, several supermarkets and stores, and a number of great little restaurants where you'll find excellent Caribbean fare at reasonable prices. From Union take an afternoon sail (one hour) down to Petit St Vincent, one of the loveliest spots in the Grenadines. Martinique, to the south, is a volcanic island that rises steeply out of the water and is visible 40 miles away on a clear day. The island has dark sand beaches - but as you head towards the pass between Mopion & Pinese from Union Island, you’ll see a little white sand beach that looks as if it is on Petit Martinique. What you’re seeing is Mopion - the ultimate desert island - 15 yards long, fine white sand, and with a triangular thatched shelter in the middle of it (and a bottle opener bolted to the shelter’s support beam). When in Petit St Vincent, whether you’re thirsty or not, you need to visit the bar, a few minutes’ walk up the hillside. The ambience is great - hummingbirds flying through tropical vegetation, fat Labradors lounging in sandpits, and the finest fresh, tropical fruit frozen daiquiris in the Grenadines.
Day 5
Motor out to Mopion sandbank. Whoever jumps in to check the anchor will think “Wow!” The snorkelling here is the stuff of Jacques Cousteau movies. It’s a deeper anchorage and thus the fish are bigger and the corals are bigger. It’s very usual to see schools of rays, large parrot fish and even groupers. This is the ultimate desert island - if you stand on the south-west corner, you can get a photo with the sea on the left, the sea on the right, the hump of sand with the triangular thatched shelter in the middle, and nothing in the background except for the ocean. It’s not an overnight anchorage, so you’ll need to move on, and my suggestion would be to head for Chatham Bay on Union Island’s west coast, an hour and a half’s sail from Mopion. Best anchoring is in the north-eastern corner of the bay where you’ll be in about 15 feet with a sand or sand/weed bottom.
Day 6
Head to Saline Bay, Mayreau. This is a pretty spot and only half an hour or so from Chatham Bay. There’s a lovely beach at Saline bay, and also a paved roadway up to the settlement. A point of interest is the wreck of a British gunboat which lies just north of the western tip of the reef at Grand Col Point, and you can snorkel over it as it starts in only 14 feet of water. For overnight, you might want to head up to Canouan, an hour or so from Saline Bay. It used to be an island of 700 farmers and fishermen and one hotel, but that changed in 1990 when an Italian group came and built the Tamarind Beach Hotel in the centre of Grand Bay. The hotel is very pleasant - has a good Italian restaurant with a real Italian Chef and reasonable prices, the cheapest ice in the Grenadines, showers for visiting yachtsmen, and friendly staff. The Tamarind Beach Hotel was the fore-runner of the world-class Raffles Resort which encompasses most of the northern and north-eastern parts of the island. Part of it is managed by an American gentleman called Mr Trump. The resort has around 250 luxury villas, tennis courts, a huge swimming pool, a spa and health centre, a casino, an 18-hole golf course, an Italian piazza, and two restaurants (food flown in fresh from Rome every week). It’s expensive but if you’re looking for amazingly good food and something “different”, check it out.
Day 7
Next stop is Bequia. The best spot to anchor in Bequia is Princess Margaret Beach - the second golden sand beach to starboard as you head up towards Port Elizabeth. The water is clear for swimming and there's some snorkelling off the northern headland. There's also a small restaurant here with a dinghy dock. To get to Port Elizabeth, it’s just a couple of minutes' dinghy ride around the bay’s northern headland and you’ll see dinghy docks along the waterfront footpath that runs from the Plantation House hotel right the way up to the Frangipani, the popular Happy Hour meeting place for cruisers. There are many great bars and bistros along the waterfront pathway - Mac’s Pizzeria is a favourite. Tommy Cantina is an excellent Mexican Restaurant, and Gingerbread Hotel does great local and North American food. A relatively new restaurant overlooking the water and close to the dinghy dock is Maria's French Terrace. They have a great menu, excellent service, and the prices are very reasonable. Overall, there's a great choice from French to Caribbean, and something to suit every pocket. Although Port Elizabeth is well developed by Grenadines standards, it still retains a sleepy, old-world Caribbean charm. Most people still access Bequia by boat, and the island’s sea-faring traditions such as whaling, model boat building and fishing still remain.
If you’re in need of exercise, there are some great walks - notably to Hope Bay, a deserted bay on the east coast, lined with a golden sand beach, with coconut plantations sweeping down the hills almost to the water’s edge (about an hour’s walk - take food and drink) and to Spring and Industries bays on the north-east coast (also about an hour). Getting around Bequia is inexpensive in local transport and you can pretty well tour the whole island for about $US 5. The turtle sanctuary is worth a visit, as is the Old Fort, a charming hotel with stunning views, a freshwater pool and regular entertainment. You wouldn’t get bored spending two or three days in Bequia - it really offers a little bit of everything - good places to eat, great beaches, spectacular scenery, snorkelling and diving, reasonable shopping, friendly people and the chance of seclusion.
Day 8
Time to return to Blue Lagoon. This is going to take around 1.5 to 2 hours - longer than you might expect. Give us a call on VHF 68 as you approach Blue Lagoon, and we’ll send our staff out to bring you back into the dock.