Canouan

A quiet, peaceful, crescent-shaped island 25 miles south of St Vincent, with very few tourists and excellent reef-protected beaches. The beach at the Canouan Beach Hotel is splendid with white sand and views of numerous islands to the south. There are no restaurants outside the hotels and only basic shops.

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The main anchorage is Charlestown (bank, grocery), Grand Bay, with Corbec and Rameau Bays as possibilities. In settled weather, South Glossy and Friendship Bays make possible anchorages, with excellent snorkelling. Diving and snorkelling are good at all these anchorages and on the reefs on the windward side. Dive trips can be arranged through Blueway International. A recommended day trip is to the Tobago Cays, Mayreau or Petit St Vincent, depending on the weather and conditions, on the Canouan Beach Hotel 35-ft catamaran, EC$100 with lunch and drinks, non-hotel guests are permitted to make up numbers if the boat is not fully booked. There is an airstrip. A Swiss company, Canouan Resorts Development Ltd, has leased 1,200 of the island’s 1,866 acres in a US$100 mn development plan. A road has been built for the new, exclusive development, Carenage Bay, at the north end of the island and makes a good walk with wonderful views of the project where some of the luxury homes are under construction. In the centre of the development is an old church that will be restored as part of the project. An 18-hole golf course will be ready for opening soon. Off the main road on the Windward side of the island behind a long reef is a beautiful beach. There are hiking trails within the resort; get a trail map from the hotel. At the beginning of 2000 there was a political furore when residents mounted road blocks in protest at being denied access to beaches in the north, previously open to the public via public roads.

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