Carriacou & Union Island

A dependency of Grenada, considerably smaller Carriacou slips under the radar of mass tourism and retains its slow Caribbean vibe. It is often touted as the safest, friendliest and healthiest of all the Caribbean islands

Carriacou’s culture is heavily influenced by the West African slaves brought here by the English and French and evident in celebratory dances like the “Big Drum”, which is performed at every village festival around the island.

Union is one of the southern-most of the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Cotton growing lured French and then English plantation managers to the island. When the British left the island, enslaved workers gained freedom to adopt a farming and fishing lifestyle. They developed a Caribbean flavour of music, colour and food.

 

We took the Highlights of Carriacou tour, landing early in the morning by zodiac  Then we drove in a minibus up to the hospital -the old isolation hospital - with great views. There were also some GR cannons there. Returned down to  the town and explored by ourselves for 15 minutes.. The tour was expected to continue to the Botanical Gardens and the museum, but I guess these were closed due to Covid!!  A good guide, the driver: he explained about the Manchineel tree

Click on any thumbnail photo and get a larger photo

 

In the afternoon we had a  catamaran trip round Union Island- some snorkelled. = and a Rum punch was served . We sat up on the top deck for the return trip, which was great

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