Fresh off a quick overnight in Grenada (courtesy of a free JetBlue voucher from last October’s Welcome to Chinatown gala), we touched down at Maurice Bishop International Airport at 1:53pm.
This marked the beginning of a 3-country Caribbean island-hopping adventure to complete 3 of my final 5 UN member states.
The Royalton Grenada was a 4-minute taxi ride from the airport; so short I felt we could have saved the $10-$12 and walked it.
But as an all-inclusive resort with beachfront cabanas and all the amenities, I’d scored a discount with the Amex Platinum, so we did what any reasonable person would do: ate our weight in buffet food and relaxed by the pool.
The next morning we woke early to board the 8:00am InterCaribbean Airways flight JY 703, landing in St. Vincent (SVD) by 8:45am.
Our tour guide Devon arrived precisely at 8:45am to pick us up. With exactly one day to see as much of the island as physically possible before moving on, we set out on our whirlwind exploration.
We started at Arnos Vale with a view of Young Island and Fort Duvernette rising behind it.
Continuing along the main road, we stopped at the site of the old airport, now converted into a shopping center.
Its former runway serves as a new road, while the control tower has been transformed into a rooftop bar.
We then reached the capital, Kingstown, touring through the predominantly commercial town.
Very few people live in Kingstown itself; the culture here is that the entire island commutes into Kingstown for work, then returns home to other parts of the island in the evening, leaving Kingstown as a ghost town by nightfall.
The city center features its fair share of historic churches, each adding to the colonial architectural of this waterfront capital.
From Kingstown, we drove up along the northwestern part of the main road, which curves like a smile along the island’s coast; no complete ring road exists yet.
We stopped for sweeping views of Kingstown from the town of Layou.
From Layou, you can also spot the Sandals resort nestled along the coastline.
Continuing to Peter’s Hope, we glimpsed Little Bay and the abandoned attempt to build another resort there; a reminder of development dreams that never materialized.
We passed the Belle Isle Correctional Facility in Barrouallie after a series of switchbacks:
. . . and admired the town’s reinforced sea wall, built to protect against the Atlantic’s persistent waves.
Then came Wallilabou Bay, where they filmed the original Pirates of the Caribbean.
Some of the sets and props remain, slowly succumbing to the tropical humidity; a reminder of Hollywood’s temporary presence in this Caribbean paradise.
We continued through a view of Rose Bank . . .
. . . before reaching Dark View Falls near the end of the accessible road.
This twin waterfall setup lies tucked behind a bamboo grove, a bamboo suspension bridge, and a $5 entrance fee.
We weaved past the lower falls and climbed about 3-4 stories of concrete stairs, skipped across a stream, and were rewarded with views of the higher falls:
From Dark View Falls, we drove to the extreme northwest at Richmond, where remnants of La Soufrière’s volcanic eruption from April 2021 still leave their mark. The ash and traces remain visible throughout the landscape,
The river has nearly dried up, leaving behind an empty, barren, yet surprisingly fertile bank now used as cannabis farms; a testament to volcanic soil’s paradoxical nature.
We then turned back into Richmond town for a pilaf and chicken & mutton roti lunch at Beach Front Restaurant & Bar.
Instead of visiting St. Vincent Botanical Gardens (the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, established in 1765) or Montreal Gardens up in the Mesopotamia Valley, Devon took us to his childhood favorite: Wallilabou Heritage Park (also a $5 entrance fee).
Here you can find the island’s oldest petroglyph.
A stunning place to have a family gathering for a picnic:
Heading back toward Kingstown, Devon drove us down to view Questelles Beach . . .
. . . . then up the upper crust neighborhood of Dorsetshire Hill for a grand panoramic view of the island.
Turning around past a staircase behind a radar tower, we saw Kingstown in all its glory from above: pastel buildings, humid air, harbor lights glinting in the distance. The capital doesn’t attract much tourist attention, which probably works in its favor.
By late afternoon, Devon dropped us off to check into the newly built Holiday Inn Express, after which we grabbed dinner next door at Diamond Terrace.
One day in St. Vincent; not enough time, but also exactly the right amount for what we needed to see.
- At time of posting in Saint Vincent's, it was 30 °C - Humidity: 75% | Wind Speed: 19km/hr | Cloud Cover: sunny and humid
