Our time exploring The Grenadines was a highlight of our 2019 summer. With white sand beaches, vibrant coral reefs and swaying palm trees, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines offer all the hallmarks of a tropical getaway in the Caribbean, without the tourist traffic or cruise ship crowds.

This is a great trip for those who want the laid-back, boat-life experience. Scuba diving, snorkeling, and other aquatic activities are the spotlight of this adventure.

A private island once reserved for royals, Mustique has opened its white sandy beaches and is now one of the most coveted and exclusive travel destinations in the Caribbean.

Mustique is well-known for its scuba diving opportunites including coral reefs teeming with turtles and rays, and four shipwrecks the most famous being the Antilles, a large cruise ship sunk that in a navigation accident in 1971.

Finish the night with a dinner on the beach at the famous Cotton House, a coral-colored boutique hotel frequented by famous faces.

While most say “Beck-way”, many islanders pronounce it closer to “Beck-wee”. No matter how you pronounce it, beautiful and colorful Bequia is quintessential island life and the perfect place to begin our adventures in the Grenadines.

We’ll spend an afternoon walking the cute brightly painted streets, take a dip in the water and eat dinner in Port Elizabeth’s open air restaurants that overlook Admiralty Bay.

By far the largest island in the area, Saint Vincent dominates the map watching over the tiny islands to the south that make up the Grenadines.

Guests may fly into St Vincent and check out some of the fantastic scuba diving, or visit the St Vincent Botanical Gardens, founded in 1765 and is the oldest in the western hemisphere. 

Mayreau is tiny—just 1½ square miles—and mostly remains in the hands of heirs of the original French plantation owners. Only about 300 residents live full time in the little village on Station Hill, and there are no proper roads.

Visit the shipwreck Puruni, a 1918 British gunship that is lying in only 40 feet of water. Snorkel and scuba dive right off the coast to see the monster lobster hiding behind the port holes, and count a sea floor full of starfish as you take a leisurely swim to the beach.

This is a nice stopover for lunch and a swim, snorkel or paddleboard before moving on to the Tobago Cays.

Uninhabited and protected as a marine park and turtle sanctuary, the gorgeous Tobago Cays are the crown jewel and the highlight of any trip to the Grenadines.

Surrounded by an impressive barrier reef, they offer some of the best snorkeling and diving in all of the Caribbean with warm, shallow waters filled with hard corals that are alive with marine life, including a thriving population of marine turtles.

Thanks to the lack of development and remote location, Tobago Cays rarely feels overrun. Made up of five small islands you could easily spend several days splashing through the calm, turquoise water exploring the vivid coral and making friends with the curious sea life. We planned to spend just a few days during our first visit and stayed for two weeks—leaving only after we ran out of cash for the daily park fees!

Fishermen swing by regularly to offer their fresh catch of fish and lobster, or we can take the tender to one of the tiny islands for a cajun lobster or jerk chicken bbq dinner made by the locals.

At night the sky is alight with stars and when we turn on the underwater lights beneath the boat a tornado of rays and fish swirl around in the crystal blue water.

Union is the most populous island in the area after St Vincent. With an eclectic assortment of bars and restaurants like The Snack Shack (made using all upcycled building materials), and cute kitschy boutiques like The Salty Girl (filled with bathing suits, jewelry, and other non-stereotypical souvenirs), Union is a great beginning or final stop along our Grenadines tour.

Famous for its kitesurfing, you will see people slicing through the water while rigged to massive colorful kites all year long. This is the perfect time to try a lesson if you’ve ever wanted to.

No visit would be complete without a beer at Happy Island. Unique enough to land its own page on Atlas Obscura and just a few hundred meters from Union Island, Happy is a man made island built from discarded conch shells.

Janti, the builder and owner, made use of these wasted shells that once littered the beaches of Union Island after being discarded from fishermen. Today you can visit Janti, have a drink and rub elbows with other boaters who frequent the liveaboard friendly bar. 

Petit St Vincent is a private island but we can anchor nearby to visit the picturesque “Mopion Island” a thin strip of sand surrounded by turquoise water and a single tiki hut carved with names of all the visitors before.

There is also some great diving nearby on Mopion Reef, a drift dive with an average depth of approximately 50 feet. This is the place to see huge lobsters, and moray eels. There are also lots of sharks including Caribbean Reef sharks and nurse sharks sleeping in the sand.