Whether it’s pristine waters, inviting tropical bays, great marinas, zip-lining around the famous Pitons, a volcano, mineral baths, and sublime white sandy beaches, you can really say that St. Lucia in the Windward Islands really does have it all.
Direct commercial flights from the USA mainland and Europe are an added but important plus.
Many of our clients like to use St. Lucia as a “jumping off” point for a leisurely charters down-island to St. Vincent and the Grenadine islands finishing up in Grenada. Admittedly you’ll need more than a week’s charter to do justice to this particular route. This is a one-way trip and it goes something like this:
- Fly into Saint Lucia.
- Set aside two or three days to explore the Island of St. Lucia, well worth it. There are some great hotels and resorts on-island.
- Sail south and anchor off, or close to, the Pitons in Soufriere Bay or Pitons Bay for the night.
- Continue to south to St. Vincent Island and stop for the night at Wallilabou Bay or even Kingstown.
- Keep on your Southward route to the Grenadine islands starting with Bequia, and/or Mustique. I mean, frankly you can skip islands if you want, I’m merely laying out the possibilities.
- Move on to Canouan, Mayreau and the Tobago Cays, Union Island, and Carriacou. These fall into the “DON’T MISS” department.
- Finish your Caribbean charter holiday in Grenada, (the famous spice island) spend a couple of days seeing the sights, and then fly home from Grenada’s International airport.
The whole trip is likely to take about one week on a Motor yacht (excluding the three days in St. Lucia and two weeks on a sailing vessel for this one-way trip through the Caribbean Windward Islands. You’ll notice that the itinerary runs from North to South. And this is because of the prevailing winds and currents. Doing it the other way round can prove quite uncomfortable in a smaller vessel.
If you don’t have the time for a two weeker, of course you don’t have to start in St. Lucia, you could start your charter any place where there is a local airport but you’ll have to take the local puddle-jumpers that service the area. Favorite intermediate starting points are St. Vincent, Canouan and Union Island.
Some words of wisdom. Although the island chain is definitely in the tropics and warm all year round, the crossings between the islands are exposed to the Atlantic swells that generally come in from the East. Especially in winter. So in my book, the Grenadines are best in the spring, summer and early fall. After all, it is your vacation, you don’t need the ups and downs of choppy waters, especially if your guests are not experienced sailors.
This article is meant to perk your interest in other good charter options when you get tired of the BVI (if that’s ever possible).
You can obtain much more detailed information from our charter specialists at BoatBVI.com so give us a call, shoot us an email or simply send us a handy contact form and we’ll gladly get back to you with more information.