| Our driver, Ricky, pulled into the Young Island dock area and flashed his lights across the narrow strip of a channel separating the resort from the southernmost tip of St. Vincent. While the main island is edged with beachside hotels, restaurants, a dive shop, and gift store; from our vantage point, Young Island looked as if someone had strung Christmas lights. The beacon of the small water ferry launched from the other side of the channel, and we watched it putter slowly towards us as Ricky set our bags at the end of the dock. |
| In the daytime as well as at night, Young Island is like a tropical castle, complete with a moat (the small channel separating the island from St. Vincent), rooms (private cottages) and vista points (there are several secluded patios and more public lookout points located throughout the island with names like Lookout Point and Sunset Point) connected by rustic stone walkways, stairways, and flower lined paths, and even a nearby watch tower in the form of an old fortress called Fort Duvernette on an adjacent and smaller island. During our stay at Young Island, I often felt like a princess or visiting royalty surrounded in lush jungle gardens. |
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| As we arrived at Young Island's dock, exhausted from our day and weary
of traveling, we looked up to see a waiter holding a serving tray with
two very tall rum punches topped with fresh pineapple slices. Just as magically
as the appearing drinks, our bags disappeared. Jackie, the resident
manager, greeted us off the dock and led us through a maze of beach front
dining huts. She looked us over: since our morning shower, we had spent
the day in St. Lucia touring, shopping, and traveling to St. Vincent in
90 degree tropical heat.
“By the time you go to your cottage to freshen up, dinner will be over. Would it be all right to eat now and then we'll show you to your room?” Jackie asked. I swirled my straw in the frosty rum punch, now half gone, and I could feel the tension from the day drift from my body with the breeze of her suggestion. She led us to a table set for two in a secluded alcove fringed with blooming hibiscus and palm fronds.  One of the best aspects of Young Island is the staffs’ service and attention to detail. During our stay, the staff seemed to come in and out of small alcoves – appearing when you wanted or needed something, sometimes just as you think of it. Service is behind the scenes and seamless. For example, when walking down to dinner in the evening, someone would appear from nowhere and ask if we wanted a table for two. While we are at dinner, our beds were turned down with a sweet candied piece of pineapple resting on our pillows. Messages about upcoming massages, a manager cocktail party, or a special trip were always hand delivered to us as we were coming or going from our cottage (we never quite figured out how the staff knew we were en route from the beach to our cottage, or from St. Vincent to Young Island, but somehow they found us). Because Young Island is a small private island, we also never had a need to worry about getting lost or bringing money to the beach or dinner. Our biggest decisions on the island were whether to sit at the beach and read a book, to swim out to the coconut bar for a fresh drink, to take a kayak or sailboat out into the bay, or to retreat to our private balcony for an afternoon of sunshine. Of course, you can always choose to venture “off island” for a day excursion - just check at the reception lounge for ideas and arrangements.  6:30 am We awake to a gusting summer breeze carrying aromas of ocean and fresh flowers into the bedroom. There are ceiling fans, but no air conditioning in any of the cottages. However, the island receives breezes from the Caribbean. Wooden slates on the windows in the rooms allow the cool breezes to filter through without sacrificing privacy. Fading sounds of tree frogs mingle with emerging calls of peacocks, parrots, and songbirds and it is lovely just to lie in bed and watch the glow of the sun become brighter in the room. 8:00 am  We
breakfast on Creole French toast, served with fresh coconut shavings piled
atop fresh grilled bread. This breakfast is interactive: the server pours
and lights rum atop the mound of coconut and encourages us to douse the
flames with warm syrup after the shavings have toasted. The French toast
has a wonderful mélange of sweet, savory, and aromatic flavors and
nutty and smooth textures. Feeling indulgent, we also order bacon and sausage,
cinnamon yogurt, and pineapple juice.
Max: The bread on the island is baked fresh every day, and there are no less than six different kinds of bread to choose from. There are two types of French toast on the menu, regular French toast and the Creole French toast. We ordered the plain French toast the first morning and were left wondering about all of the hype about the dish. The flaming coconut Creole French toast is definitely worth trying.  A few other couples sit at tables under our eating hut, and we pleasantly exchange names and adventures on the island as we sipped our breakfast tea. Everyone is very friendly and relaxed at breakfast. 9:00 am We laze around the front beach for a few minutes while we watch the dive boat load on the St. Vincent side dock. Watching the yachts in the channel is about as active we get during the wait for the dive boat. As it approaches Young Island, we collect our gear and walk down to meet the boat.  Max:
Young Island has a ferry that constantly shuttles between the mainland
and the island. On the island the only schedule that it follows is if there
is someone waiting at either dock. On the St. Vincent side, a phone is
available for guests to contact the ferry at night. The phone is also connected
to the front desk. There are also large ferries available to visit Bequia
and Mustique that are not run by the resort, but can be arranged through
the front desk.
Diving trips can booked through Young Island when making reservations. However, the dive shop prefers to have the arrangements made directly with them. This helps with scheduling. For those wavering or more impulsive, someone from the Dive shop is usually at the bar between 7 PM and 8 PM every night. If you have questions or requests they will be more than happy to answer them over a tropical drink. The dive boat usually leaves Young Island around 10 AM for dive trips. For the Falls of Baleine, the boats usually leave around 9 in the morning. Dive St. Vincent has everything available for rent if you don't have your own gear. On your first day out for diving, you need to go to the shop early via water taxi to fill out paperwork and to get outfitted with gear. Dive St. Vincent Our dive master for the week is Dowie Cato, a larger than life native St. Vincentian. Dive St. Vincent is a no-frills operation -- the boats are simple, small, and fast, and even Dowie donned just a simple BC and computer (no weight belt, no wetsuit). The fast boats enable you to visit two dive sites each morning and still be back in time for lunch. This simple yet effective approach keeps the focus  on
what's most important: a concentration on the divers and the diving experience
itself -- the rich diversity of critters, corals, and other sea life.
Amazingly, the coral reefs around St. Vincent are not protected as of yet,
but then there really isn't a lot of pressure on the reefs other than fishing
at the moment. In a teasing and yet supportive manner, Dowie encouraged
us to "quit watching our dive computers so much" so we could relax and
enjoy and experience the small critters – frog fish spotted with hues of
orange, yellow, and browns to blend in with the sponge, sea horses colored
that same sponge colored bright orange and some that had more of a mottled
tortoise shell look, pipe fish of many colors and sizes, lots of eels including
golden moray eels with their lemon-yellow spots and light coffee- and-cream
coloring. There aren't a lot of big fish, since there is fishing
pressure, but there is a heck of a lot of stuff for those interested in
smaller reef creatures.
9:30 am The sun shines brightly over the relatively calm waters off the western coast of St. Vincent as we speed north towards the first dive site stop on our way to the Falls of Baliene. The trip to the falls takes you from the southernmost tip of the island where Young Island is located to nearly the northern most point of the island. The boat is just big enough to hold Max and I and another couple plus Dowie and Larry, our two Dive St. Vincent guides for the day. We speed past Kingstown, nestled in a valley by the shore, and continue riding up the coast catching vistas of gardens terraced on top of lush hilltops and quiet inlets housing small sailboats or small groups of fishermen out in long boats. Max: The boat had a “Bimini” top, but it stayed down during transit since that would have slowed the boat down. Bring plenty of sun lotion for the trip, since there are lots of opportunities for the sunscreen to get washed off during the day. The boat has a small cooler where there is water, soda, and “punch” for the return trip. Since you're out in the sun all day, it doesn’t hurt to bring along some extra water that they can keep in the cooler. The boats move really fast so watch those hats! 10:30 am - first stop We stop at one of the many small inlets and Dowie explains that we'll be diving along the rocky shore and turning around the corner, and after scaling a coral encrusted wall, we will return to the boat. We don our gear and easily roll off the side of the boat and into the aquamarine waters. Max: While we were diving, the other couple, who weren't divers, snorkeled the reef with Larry. If you don't want to dive or snorkel, you can also arrange a shorter trip that takes you to directly to the falls.  With 15 years experience diving in these St. Vincent waters, Dowie knows every inch of every reef, and has each dive profile memorized. After two days of diving with him, we learned to relax a bit more to let him show off impressive reefs and creatures that he has come to know over the years. At about sixty feet off the wall, he points to a large orange sea horse curled up along the root of a whip coral and then finds another smaller sea horse a few minutes later. We continue diving, observing the small sea creatures darting in and out of the coral and sponge encrusted nooks and crannies of the wall. Dowie scribbles lists of fish and crustaceans on his slate as he comes across them. He stops at one large group of rocks and writes, “Find the frog fish,” and we spend a few minutes examining each rock and sponge and coral head until, our perception shifts and the frog fish – looking like all the other orange and brown sponges it rests near – becomes obviously apparent. We stare for a while and Dowie waves his hand and signals that there are two frogfish – a smaller black male rests right behind the larger female. Max: The vast majority of dive sites on St. Vincent are within a 15 minute boat ride from the resort. With the fast boats that they have, the boat rides are not long.  Dive sites are varied, in the three days of diving we were treated with a wall dive, a small wreck dive, sloping corals shelf, sandy bottoms, and canyon-like dives. Nothing overlapped in terms of diving. In our dives, Dowie was able to find seahorses and frogfish regularly. We saw eels of all types, mainly green and spotted morays. On one of the dives, we found brotula, a fish that Dowie claims to have only seen 10 times in his many years with Dive St. Vincent. Hidden in a small crevice, the brotula was a small black flat fish about the size of an index finger. "It's as if it is a flag gently waving in the breeze," Dowie eloquently described it.  When we return to the boat, Dowie recollects the animals we encountered on the dive. "That big sea horse we saw at sixty feet?" he said, "Now he's a big male, he's likely to move around a bit, and so sometimes it takes me a while to find him . That smaller sea horse, the tortoise-shell colored one that looked like it was made of plastic?” he chuckles, “That one's a female, and she's more likely to stay in one place.” Because of Dowie’s familiarity with each reef and the critters living there, we experienced a unique and intimate glimpse of the aquatic flora and fauna of St. Vincent. Max: Dive St. Vincent is a full service dive operation. They set up everything for you for your dive. You can store your equipment with them if you would like during the course of your visit. The shop uses steel tanks rather than aluminum tanks. These tanks are a little bit heavier so they will subtract a few pounds of weight. In addition, the steel tanks are not filled to 3,000 pounds like the aluminum. This really doesn’t make a difference to the diving since most dives rarely go deeper than 80 feet. In addition, most of the time, the dive sites are right below the boat. Dive St. Vincent and the only other dive operator maintain a system of mooring for the most popular dive sites on the island. This helps alleviate some pressure on the reefs. 12:00pm - on our way to the falls As we continue boating up the coast of St. Vincent, Larry points out old lava flows – seemingly innocent pathways emerging from the jungle and leading down to the ocean. The northern third of the island is dominated by the volcano of Soufriere that last erupted in the 1920’s. Except for a few lava flows, some spectacular gray and black rocky cliffs, and a few beaches here and there, the jungle seems to cover every inch of the hills and valleys. Most of the area around the volcano is park land and uninhabited. When we reach the small Baleine inlet, it seems as if the jungle has folded in upon itself somehow to make room for the falls.  Dowie drops us off at a dock and we scramble up a small hill and down a short stairway to the beach and walkway below. Larry tells us that to reach the Falls of Baleine, you either have to come by boat, as we have done, or spend the afternoon hacking through the jungle laden hills. There are probably trails to the waterfall, but it is discouraged to hike there. “Some locals do this every once in a while,” he said, “but boating in is a much easier way to see the falls.” The waterfalls are a short three or four-minute walk from the dock. We followed a stream of smaller ripples and rapids back to the thundering sound of the falls plunging into a blue-green pool of water.  The trail to the waterfall is very wide and flat. When we were there, the only other group of people was from the other dive boat that had gone out a few minutes before us. We essentially had the whole area to ourselves. During the winter high season, it may be a little more crowded since this is a very popular day trip destination.  Although I'm a native Texan who likes her bath water warm, as I dipped my toe into the chilly Baleine pool, I couldn’t help but wade in and to bask in the beauty and serenity of this tropical grotto. This was definitely a sight worth our whole mornings travel. After spending the morning in the sun and the salt, the waters of the pool were invigorating. 1:45pm Lunch After our second dive, we stopped off at a local restaurant to have lunch and to rest a bit before heading home. We had large heaping plates of rice and beans, stir fried plantains, stewed greens, and a large piece of either fish or chicken depending on what we ordered. I relaxed and sipped my ginger juice as we looked out into the bay and discussed our morning dives.  Max: Lunch at the restaurant is not included in the price of the boat trip. The menu is Creole fish, chicken, or vegetarian. The food is good and affordable. Cash is always good, but the restaurant does accept credit cards. Local vendors will hawk their wares after lunch, so bring additional ECs for island trinkets. Prices are negotiable, but they are pretty reasonable to begin with. Cost of items run about $6 to $8, although the prices work out a little better in local currency. We found that our little waterproof money container worked well. It could hold a credit card and a small wad of money. We took it down diving to 80 feet without any leakage. While we ate, we also had time to hear about the other couple's three day sailing adventure to Mustique and Bequia from Young Island. They raved about how good the food was, and how exciting it was to sail to some town markets and some fairly remote beaches on both islands. With the few EC's that we brought with us, we bought some beads and nutmeg from local vendors who had set up shop outside the restaurant, and after toasting the end of a perfect day trip with complimentary rum punches, we headed back to Young Island. 4:00pm Manager's Party As we got off the dock with our day gear, a staff person greeted us and hand delivered an invitation to the manager's cocktail party held every Friday evening. This gave us time to go back to the room to bathe in our wonderful open-air shower, and to rest while rocking in our hammock overlooking the sailing bay before coming down to cocktails and dinner.  Max:
Each room has a private deck, some with a hammock nearby. The size of the
deck is dependent on your room location. Beach rooms have access to the
beach, but are private enough so that you won’t feel like being in a fishbowl.
Other rooms that are not on the beach have larger decks, but the walk to
the beach and other areas of the resort is a little longer. The furthest
cottages from the beach are near the top of the island. It can be a bit
of a hike, but the views from the hillside rooms are spectacular.
6:30pm Held alongside the saltwater pool, the manager's party (every Friday night) is a great way to meet and talk with other island guests while enjoying a tropical drink and listening to live music. The band was local and very fun: it featured a kazoo player, a ukulele, a guitar, and a lead singer who also played the maracas. We joined a variety of guests from an eclectic array of backgrounds: we met a couple who were both army helicopter pilots stationed in Killeen, Texas, a couple from London in the UK, and even two sisters who were friends of some of our own friends from the D.C. area.  7:30 pm Dinner For dinner, we found a little table tucked close to the ocean. Max ordered a roasted pheasant that had a nice spicy sauce, while Corinne ordered a broiled filet of kingfish presented with a splash of tropical fruit salsa. As always, our server wielded a long breadboard with a selection of homemade fresh breads: traditional whole wheat and white, banana, cinnamon, coconut, and raisin. For dessert, we shared a delightful banana crisp.  Max:
Evening menus at the resort are changed daily. Dinner always has a fish
choice and another selection with West Indian influences in the dish. The
seafood is generally really fresh, unless it is something that is not obviously
from the Caribbean, like sea scallops. They were good, but did not compare
to the fresh Caribbean fish specialties that regularly appear on the menu.
For non-fish eaters and vegetarians, there are plenty of other alternatives.
Saturday night features a fish and steak barbecue dinner buffet. On Sunday
there is a Caribbean buffet for lunch. Otherwise, the lunch menu is the
same each day. The six different types of fresh bread at every meal is
also constant.
 The
bar stays open after dinner, but most people retire to their rooms or go
for a moonlight walk on the beach. A few play board games with
an evening cocktail; there is a wide selection right by the bar.
Most nights, we were in bed by 9:30 PM. Typically we would be woken up by the rising sun, since we left our windows and blinds open (lots of privacy on the island). Although it sounds really early, we woke up completely refreshed. |
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We slept in this morning. While I would never consider 7:00am “sleeping in” at home, it seemed as if I had sequestered enough sleep to last me a lifetime. Our biggest two activities that we had planned for the day were late morning massages and an afternoon hanging out at the Young Island beach. Max: One of the best things of the resort is that you don't have to do anything to relax. Having nothing to do is not a bad thing. There are plenty of things to do on the resort. Young Island has a tennis court, snorkeling gear, and sailboats for those inclined to do something active. However, we decided that the most active thing we would do that day would be to get a massage. 8:30am Breakfast On our way to breakfast, we looped around the top of the island and back down a sloping and winding road that led back to the restaurant. While Young Island is small – 33 acres – no two walks ever seemed the same.  Each moment of the day brought new encounters, vistas, and experiences. At the hilltop gazebo near our cottage, for example, we saw a variety of different sights and sounds depending on the time of day. In the morning, we could hear the faint sounds of songbirds, parrots, and peacocks calling their praises to the new day. The sky slowly lightens as the sun rises over the horizon.  At the gazebo at mid-day, an iguana sunned itself on a nearby rock as the clouds roll by, and the winds pick up from the east to gently rustle the palm fronds.  At
dusk, a cautious black agouti, a relative of the guinea pig, roots around
under the cover of some bushes, and then darts like a streak to the next
clump of bushes nearer the cottages.
At night, the full moon glows with an iridescent sheen, and the tree frogs begin their nightly chorus of gleek, gleek, gleeks. 10:30 am Massage The masseuses knock at our door, and set up their massage tables in our room alongside the edge of our long wall of windows overlooking the ocean. We had choices of unscented, mint scented, or lavender scented oil, and for about 60 minutes, had an extremely relaxing and therapeutic massage. One worked with Corinne, and suggested a few extra sleeping positions to help out her sore shoulder. Max: To arrange a massage, check with the front desk. Payment for
the massage can be done at the time of the massage or can be billed to
you room. The resort will include a 10% surcharge if the massage is charged
to the room. Massages can be conducted on the porch with the sea breezes
if desired.
 Max: The restaurant will also try to handle dietary requests. One little girl on the island had her daily grilled cheese sandwich. 2:00pm Beach and Coconut Bar Max has built his fourth sand castle and I am 150 pages into my book. Sweat is beginning to drip across my brow despite the cool summer breeze. We head for a refreshing dip in the ocean and find ourselves hoisting up the ladder of the coconut bar -- fresh coconut juice drawn from many coconuts hanging around the bar and a splash of rum makes for a refreshing cooler. As we dangle our feet in the water, we chat with a guest from London that we had met at the manager's cocktail party the day before.  Max: The coconut bar is about 10 yards off the beach in about six feet of water. A short refreshing swim. The coconut bar gets its name from the number of coconuts that are at the bar. The bartender will gladly make any type of drink from a fresh coconut. We had one drink that had coconut and rum. We had no idea what else was in it, but it was delicious. 3:30pm Relaxation We headed back to the room. One shower later we decide to take a nap before dinner. A band of peacocks, like a click of adolescents, descends upon our porch, and the most dominant male spread his long but fading tail for a spectacular show of prowess and grace.  The two females are not as impressed and watch from the corners of our sloping roof. Undaunted, he preens and plucks and makes a terrific howl of himself before deciding to look for better roosting prospects elsewhere.  6:30
pm Dancing to the sounds of Steel Drums
Before dinner, Max and I head down to the bar area to sip tropical drinks and to listen to the sounds of a local steel band. Dowie tells us that the head drummer has been playing since he needed a stack of telephone books to reach the drums. Needless to say, he, and the rest of the band, were spectacular musicians. As the sky darkened and the lights began to twinkle in the treetops, we wished we could linger a bit longer in this tropical castle. Young Island is a great resort for enjoying by itself or making it your base camp to explore the rest of the Grenadines. Whether it is diving St.Vincent, trekking through the rainforests, or yachting to the other islands, there is plenty to do or not to do. Young Island makes it very easy to do as much or as little as you like. |
