Tobago Cays Feb 2018

We made a day trip from Grenada out to the island of Carriacou which means Isle of Reefs and is the largest island in the Grenadines.  There are no large resorts or cruise ships visiting here.  It is quiet and relaxed and has that undiscovered feel to it.  Things haven’t changed much over the years.  You can take a ferry from St. George in Grenada to the island, have lunch and hang out at idyllic Paradise Beach.  Alternatively you can fly to Carriacou like we did which only takes 20 minutes and then have a private speedboat take you out to the Tobago Cays where you can see beautiful deserted islands, snorkel over coral reefs, and swim with the sea turtles.  The Tobago Cays is made of five uninhabited islands protected by a horseshoe reef and is part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  The trip was planned for us by Simply Carriacou.  It was quite expensive but very well executed.

We were picked up from our flight and driven to the pier to board our speedboat.  We first stopped at Anse La Roche which is one of the beaches where turtles often nest.  The beach is only accessible by boat or by hiking over the hill.  We did not get off the boat  and instead continued to the private Palm Island where we swam in the shallow water.  From Palm Island, we headed to the Cays where we snorkelled over some reefs and swam with some turtles.  We docked at Baradal which is a deserted island with many cacti and iguanas roaming around.  The views of the area from the top of Baradal, especially the glimmering turquoise waters, were absolutely breathtaking.  From Baradal, we went to a beautiful beach on Petite Ramier for our BBQ lobster lunch.  After lunch, we continued on to Salt Whistle Bay in Mayreau for some more swimming and drinking at the beach bars.   After an invigorating day, we stopped by the bar on Happy Island off the coast of Union Island.  Happy Island started with some conch shells and expanded to what it is today.  The friendly owner Janti operates a bar here and you can swim over for a drink and some good conversation.  From Happy Island, we headed back to Carriacou to catch the last flight back to St. George, Grenada.