# Caribbean Vacations Forums > St Vincent and the Grenadines >  >  Trip Report 11/29 -12/9

## ccg

Happy 2018 to everyone.  I hope that everyone has a healthy and happy new years.  And at this point, I would just like some warm weather.

 Obviously with Irma, we had to change our plans.  We were disappointed not to be spending this time on SBH as it has become our "recharge the battery" time, but we were excited to explore other parts of the Caribbean.  AA and SBC were great to work with in adjusting our plans.  With AA, it took about an hour but we were changed our flight to St. Lucia through Miami but able to come back through Charlotte and they didn't move our seats around!  SBC just rolled our flight over to 2018.  No hassles, snotty attitudes or change fees from either airlines.  

 St Lucia was not our final destination.  From there we flew Liat to St. Vincent for 2 days.  Here is a bit of information that may help someone in future, we learned the hard way.  Liat does not fly out of the same airport that AA flies into.  It is a 60 + minute car ride to the small regional airport in the North.  Plan your flight times accordingly.  We used St. Lucia Taxi Service to get us around the island.  $70 for the 2 of us, which I thought was a pretty great deal.  Our driver stopped along the way for pictures and beer  :thumb up: .  He also stopped at road side stall, where a man has a bread oven built into the side of the mountain.  We were treated to a delicious snack - warm bread is great in any location!!  We arrived with plenty of time to make the flight from St. Lucia to St. Vincent.  The return trip using the same taxi service was just as good.  We had a small mix up in arrival time, but we had all day to get from one airport to the other.  The driver stopped multiple time for pictures, took us to a local restaurant for lunch, and made sure we had time visit the La Soufriere volcano park, which is worth a stop, all for $80.  It was supposed to be 90, but we negotiated the price.  Arrived at the airport with plenty of time to get some last rhum punches in the system.  Personally I would not ever stay on St. Lucia, every beach we saw was not to our liking.  It is a beautiful island.  The roads reminded me of driving in ski country, with Jurassic park like plant life along the road.  If you get car sick, this is not the island for you.  It was fun to spend our last day there.

 We stayed on St. Vincent for 2 nights at the Mariners Beach Hotel.  Nothing fancy, but very friendly staff and good location for the short stay.  How can you not like it when their 1st question is "Would you like a cocktail?"  We also stayed here on our last night.  There was a restaurant on site, which was OK.  Again, for a  short stay anything is tolerable.  St. Vincent has a new international airport and the government is working to attract either Jet Blue or AA flights.  I would recommend Charlie Tango taxi service.  It's a father/son operation and they were prompt, reasonable priced and very friendly.

 From St. Vincent we flew SVG to our final stop, Canouan.  SVG is another SBC or WinAir.  Believe it or not, there is a scarier landing than SBH and that is onto Union Island.  The plane has the same slope coming in but it over houses the whole way down, and not just over the statue and the round-a-bout like SBH.  Flying over the Grenadines is beautiful.  The color of the water and all the sail boats is so impressive.

 Canouan is a small island and there is really nothing to do.  We did not have a car and did not venture away from the resort, which there were only 2, The Tamarind Beach Hotel and The Pink Sands.  We stayed at the Tamarind.  We LOVED the place!!  The Pink Sands was way out of our budget, and requires real dress clothes for dinner.  :tongue:  They do have a golf course, but Bill never plays when we are on vacation.  We were not sure about how we would feel at hotel having only rented homes, but it worked out really well.  At one point there were only 7 guests in the whole hotel, so we basically had the beach to ourselves.  The staff was fantastic and saw to our every need.  The beach team had 2 sets of chairs ready for us every day - in the sun and under an umbrella. There is a deli on site in addition to the restaurant. We did not go hungry, or thirsty  :Big Grin:   The resort is run by Italians, so the deli had beautiful meats and cheeses as well as wines to choose from.  There was a lunch plate each day, that we enjoyed several times, but it was the pizza oven that won us over.  I don't think I have ever eaten so much pizza for lunch while on vacation.  So good!  The restaurant did have a good variety on the menu, so we never felt like we were eating the same thing every night.  The bay that the hotel sits on is huge for the sailing community.  There were boats in every night, but they would all leave the next morning, so we had an unobstructed view of the water every day.  We did find Canouan to be very hot.  We had great weather with only 1 afternoon of rain.  The rooms of the hotel are only screened, but they have very heavy plantation shutters on them and when closed keep the cool air from the air conditioner in the room.  It was fantastic to be cool at night and to hear the waves hit the beach all night.  I don't think I have gotten better sleep while on vacation.  We would also recommend Sparrow and Capt Bligh XO rums.  They are locally made and delicious.

 We did take a morning to go over to Togabo Cays to snorkel.  If you are down that way, it is worth your time, amazing!  So many fish and turtles!  I did freak a little when I saw a small shark.  We had a fantastic time!

 I would return to Canouan again!!!  I probably fly in and out of Barbados instead of St. Lucia next time.  

 We are looking forward to returning to SBH in 2018, but our new adventure was fantastic and very memorable.  This was a little longer than I thought it would be. 

 Charlotte

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## amyb

What a terrific save. Looks like you made the most of your vacation time and got to see some new places. In my opinion, St Barths is improving and recovering daily, and I know you will be welcomed back with   open arms.

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## marybeth

Wow! Sounds like an awesome trip. I was wondering how you guys made out. So glad you had a great time!

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## julianne

Great report, Charlotte. So glad you were able to experience a bit of the Grenadines. Very different from St. Barth but a great, offbeat area. If you go again, consider adding Bequia and Palm Island to your itinerary.

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## tim

It's been 25 years or so since I was down there on my boat.  My favorite activity was snorkeling on Tobago Keys.  That was a really special area at that time, and I hope it remains pristine.

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## ccg

It was a great trip and we are so glad we went.  We missed our daily discussion of which beach and "are we eating out for lunch, dinner, or both", but not having to make any decisions was a nice change of pace.  One plus for staying in 1 location, we could have multiple bottles of wine and not worry about who was going to drive. 

Tim - the waters and reefs around Tobago Cays were beautiful!  I'm sure they look the same, maybe some more sailboats.  The Grenadines and visitors have obviously respected this area to keep it beautiful for everyone.  *Lots* of kite boarders the day we were there and they were really moving.

Now planning our return to SBH.  :thumb up:

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## amyb

Charlotte, you did splendidly!

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