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Grenadines, April 2008

The Liat turboprop’s engines droned loudly as we cruised over the Caribbean Sea at 15,000 feet. The three hour flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico would bring us to Kingstown on St. Vincent Island—just a short taxi ride from Sunsail’s charter base and our departure point for a week of sailing among the Grenadine Islands. Mike, Randy, and Nate spread out in the lightly populated main cabin for some rest and relaxation while I gazed out the scratched window. The paint on the engine cowling was peeling off in the slipstream.

Liat Airlines planes have a well used quality to them

A few months earlier, Mike, a former charter client, had called me and asked that I put together a weeklong sailing adventure in a “warm place”. I considered the options. The Mediterranean was still too cold. Mexico’s Sea of Cortez offered some great adventure, but the sailing conditions could be fickle and the destinations a wilderness. The charter bases in the South Pacific held some attraction, but my experience there was limited and many of the destinations required offshore passage making. I figured our best bet would be the Caribbean. I knew the islands intimately and Caribbean sailing is some of the most consistent on the planet. The balmy trades blow from the easterly quadrants at 15-25 knots throughout fall, winter, and spring. The island lees provide plenty of anchorages, and passages between islands are short and though sometimes boisterous, rarely involve tacking. But where in the Caribbean should we go?

For me, the British Virgin Islands are the Disneyland of the archipelago. The passages are short and well worn. The destinations are scrubbed and shiny. The word adventure just doesn’t ring true in the BVIs. I’d just returned from skippering the Heineken Regatta in St. Martin. This was great sailing, but the destinations are few. Then I remembered the portion of the Caribbean that I had come to regard as the most genuine and unspoiled during my 5-month jaunt up the island chain in 2004—the Grenadines.

The Grenadines are a group of small islands nestled between the big islands of St. Vincent and Grenada. Politically, they are divided into the St. Vincent Grenadines and the Grenadian Grenadines. The crown jewel of the Grenadines is widely regarded as the Tobago Cays, an anchorage that is well protected by a huge coral reef, but is otherwise open to the full force of the Atlantic Ocean and Trade winds. Uninhabited islands, white sandy beaches, clear waters, abundant sea life, and dramatic views account for the popularity of this area, and many visitors to the Grenadines spend most of their voyage there.

A squall rushes toward us in the Tobago Cays as we try to finish our BBQ cookout

For my money though, Bequia takes top honors. For those who take the time and make the effort to scratch through the surface, the people of this island have stories to tell. Unlike the big islands, with cultures rooted in slavery and an economic history based is based in agriculture, Bequia is ground zero of a seafaring nation, famed for boat building and whaling.

Mainstreet of Port Elizabeth, Bequia

The people of Bequia show little of the anger-tinged obsequiousness that characterizes so much of Caribbean culture. These people are the independent and proud descendants of sailing folk for whom the color of one’s skin counted less than the cut of one’s jib.

Andy, a friend from my 2004 visit, works on his restored whaleboat
which is now used in Bequia’s “Island Regatta” held during Easter Week

To this day, the people of Bequia exercise their lawful right to hunt whale using small sailing boats and hand-held harpoons. As you ply the Grenadine waters, you will encounter at least two Bequia built schooners made of rough-hewn timbers and crewed and captained by Bequian seamen. These people have stories tell.

Friendship Rose is a Bequian-built schooner
captained and crewed by skilled local mariners

For seven days Mike, Randy, Nate, and I toured the Grenadines from St. Vincent to Bequia and then to Mayreau, Tobago Cays, Union, Mustique, and back to Bequia. The sailing was as good as it gets—brisk and lively, and the navigation was just challenging enough to keep things interesting.

Good sailing in the Grenadines

But as I reflect on our voyage, I think the cultural experience may have been more than my clients had bargained for. The black-skinned people of these islands may live in a tropical paradise but their daily struggle to survive makes visiting their home waters edgy. Boat boys, restaurant employees, and market owners proffer their services in an aggressive effort to make a few dollars. Their manner and attitudes are shaped by a long history of economic exploitation and daily experience with rich tourists, expecting and sometimes demanding, a pristine paradise.

Determination Bar and Grocery echos a senitment that is typical fo the Caribbean

Beauty is more than skin deep, and to really appreciate the Grenadines, it is necessary to dig down a bit to find the seafaring heart of the island people. It takes a desire to know. It takes work. It takes time. Above all, it takes humility. But once the exterior is pierced, the true beauty of the islands can be found.

A blissful moment at anchor in Union Island

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