When To Go

Pretty much anytime is a good time to visit the island. Twelve-knot trade winds can be expected from October to July. This isn’t really a factor since all diving is done on the leeward side of the island where marine conditions are typically calm. August and September are the doldrums, when the wind dies down.

Getting There
 

Search 4Escape - The International Lifestyles Search Engine  - 4Escape is a search engine that searches our network of websites each of which shares a common theme: International relocation, living ? investing overseas, overseas jobs, embassies, maps, international real estate, asset protection, articles about how to live ? invest overseas, Caribbean properties and lifestyles, overseas retirement, offshore investments, our yacht broker portal, our house swap portal, articles on overseas employment, international vacation rentals, international vacation packages,  travel resources, every embassy in the world, maps of the world, our three very popular eZines . . . and, as they are fond to say, a great deal more.

Most major airlines fly into San Juan, Puerto Rico or to Barbados. From either port, Liat Airlines and Caribbean Star Airlines offer turboprop service into Kingstown, St. Vincent. The only jet service to St. Vincent is the weekly 707 cargo plane that runs every Tuesday. 

Accommodations

The entire island has about 100,000 residents. As one would expect of such a population base, there are a number of hotel and condo choices.You can even charter a yacht, if you wish. 

For this trip, a pre-arranged taxi was waiting at the airport and quickly transported me to the Mariners Hotel. You would be hard pressed to find a cleaner, better maintained hotel in a Caribbean destination. The staff is friendly and eager to serve and the food is as tasty as it is reasonably priced. At first glance, the breakfast menu is a bit limited but when I asked about making any changes, the waitress was not only happy to do so but even made additional suggestions.

The Diving

St. Vincent bills itself as the “muck” diving capitol of the Caribbean. Don’t let the term fool you… muck diving means carefully and closely inspecting the sand and reef structures for small critters. It has no bearing on the actual water clarity, which routinely runs 50-70 feet and sometimes more. It also does not imply there is only shallow water diving. The island’s topside terrain is steeply sloping volcanic mountains and this terrain continues below the water, as well. Reefs start in as little as 10 feet (3 meters) and often continue well past recreational limits. Lots of long spine sea urchins keep the reefs clean and pillar coral and huge gorgonians are evidence of a very healthy marine eco system.

Dive St. Vincent (www.divestvincent.com) is one of only two larger dive operations on the island and has been around for more than twenty years.

There is no one favorite dive site in St. Vincent. Whether crawling around in the sand at 20 feet or hovering next to the wall at 136 feet, every dive holds the opportunity to see marine creatures you’ve only read about or things that have not yet even been published. Other than a solitary Almaco Jack that cruised our group during a deep excursion along a wall, about the largest predator we saw were healthy-sized Trumpetfish or Spotted Moray Eels, both of which were abundant. Sharks, turtles, rays, and green morays are so rare they are considered non-existent and there is no wreck diving in St. Vincent.

Most dives are in the 20-45 foot range and include a thorough site briefing as well as a guide.