We arrived back to Saint Vincent on the Bequia ferry at dusk, and by the time that we grabbed some breakfast supplies, had dinner at Basil’s downtown, and jumped in a taxi to Arnos Vale (just outside Kingstown) it was pretty dark. The taxi ride was amusing, as we stopped repeatedly to ask folks by the wayside where Stonetrail Villas was located. With the aid of MapsMe and Google Maps we were able to get our taxi driver to the right place. More fun and games as the charming receptionist, Mellissa, fought with the electronic door lock to let us into our room. After 30 minutes or so, we were in and off to bed.
We have to admit that during our time on Saint Vincent we didn’t do much. There’s not a lot to see and do on the main island. The population of the capital, Kingstown, is under 20,000 and the entire country’s is just over 100,000. Tings move at a relaxed pace, there’s no traffic lights in the entire country, and chilling and relaxing are the order of the day. So that’s what we did!
The first day we did nothing but walk up the hill for both lunch and dinner at a swanky hotel. We knew that it was posh because the didn’t even have a sign on the outside, just some lettering on the driveway. Or maybe just hadn’t got around to it? A trip to the beach filled the time between meals. The term “black sand” beach just means that the beach sand is of volcanic origin and is mostly brown although with some black patches. An amazing contrast to the pure white beaches of Bequia, just a few miles away.
Our second day, we took the local “windward” bus into the capital of Kingstown. (The bus on the only other highway on Saint Vincent is, naturally, the “leeward” bus.) Not too much to see other than a very nice church and a tour through the botanical gardens; the highlight there was a breadfruit tree descended from the original imported by Capt. Bligh (of mutiny on the Bounty fame). Lunch was delicious fusion cooking of conch roti washed down with Hairoun, the local lager. The bus ride back to our villa was far longer than we expected as we seemed to hit every small community on the way. However, that proved to be a blessing in disguise since we were on the bus as a major rain squall blew through, and it ended as we stepped off the bus. We ended up for dinner at one of the longest beaches on the island. Unfortunately, it was backed by the walls of large resorts so wasn’t all that attractive, though the views out to sea were impressive.
After the hectic pace of the previous day, we took a beach day. We felt that we were adapting nicely to the island’s pace. Lunch was limited to bags of ginger flavoured peanut brittle from a beach kiosk, but dinner was a return to the nearby hotel for rum punches and tasty seafood. Then off to bed before an early flight to Barbados the next day.
See our pics of Saint Vincent on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/100countries/albums/72177720323969475
