Re-visit the Authentic Caribbean
Ever thought you waited too long before travelling to the Caribbean Islands?
Then come visit Carriacou.
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DO I GET THERE? |
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 Dr. Keith C. Mitchell Prime Minister Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique |
 Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves Prime Minister St. Vincent and The Grenadines |
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 Sankofa
Villa Click HERE
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making a visit or re-locating a life. Firstly, let's get to know a little of the island flavor..... that I have happily called home these past 17+ years. CLICK HERE FOR RESEARCH Carriacou Hotels, Cottages & Villas Brief history of Carriacou Geologic history Climate Land-use history Natural landmarks National parks Natural vegetation Protected seascapes HOTELS & GUESTHOUSES |
Carriacou seems larger than its 13 square miles. Click HERE for Carriacou Island map. |
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Visit our Travel Page |
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WHAT's It REALLY LIKE
ON CARRIACOU, JOHN?I have lived here for the past 17+ years and if you're looking for a tiny island surrounded by wide, white sand beaches with clear, clean and warm water seas filled with fish and healthy coral, with PERFECT weather year-round, then you have come to the right place. HERE the island is the attraction and we have not attempted to improve much upon nature with any fancy tourism infrastructure. We have diving. We have hiking and nature trails. Most people either walk or take island buses or ride bicycles. Hours will pass and you'll not see a transport and lastly, when we see three tourists standing on a corner we consider that a tourist invasion. We have no high-rise hotels. I think our largest is 18-rooms - most are 3-4 rooms. We have no casinos. We have no movie theatres.
Carriacou is also an island where:
~ Your neighbor can purchase a new stereo system and can play it 24/7 at full volume
aimed right into your own house's window and you can't complain.
~ A Local man can make a Farm on a vacant lot
right in the center of Hillsborough,
the main town on Carriacou,
and raise goats, sheep and even slaughter cows, pigs and sheep/goats and sell the meat.
Don't bother to complain about his roving animals eating your flowers and plants
as they roam freely throughout the town. Also watch your step as you walk though the Town or you'll be scraping the animal droppings off your shoes.
~ Dogs run wild in packs of 5-10 in the town streets, knocking over trash bins, relieving themselves on the buildings, chasing everything that moves
with teeth showing and barking to keep everyone from sleeping at night.
~ Those few people owning vehicles drive without speed limit, tossing a finished beer can out the window, and park on the sidewalks so we must walk in the street.
So now that you know what you're getting into...
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We have SOLAR Suites
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It's really difficult to relay the feeling
one gets here on Carriacou. The closest I can explain is to imagine any small community - yours perhaps - of around 5,000 friendly, hard-working people. We fix tires, sell food & drink, run small shops and all those things that 5,000 people need to function as a self-sustaining neighborhood. Now add-in some palm trees, miles-and-miles of wide, white sandy beaches. Connect everything with one lane country roads and a network of footpaths winding through the greenery surrounding the many villages.
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What you'll end-up with a perfect tourism destination.
IF... you want to experience this AUTHENTIC CARIBBEAN island as it is and as a welcome guest. Drop in for a few days, weeks or as in my case years. Treasure our nature. Socialize with the residents. Endure NOT having hot water, traffic, crime, pollution from industry, industry and the feeling that there are more tourists than locals. Here three tourists are considered an "invasion."
So come visit with us
and enjoy the AUTHENTIC CARIBBEAN.
It wll be our little secret.....
Ah...just another day in paradise.
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P.S.
If you MUST have those things
that we do not have ourselves as we go about our daily lives, just the basics really, then perhaps Carriacou is not for you.
Personally I hate a tourist
that stands in front of a perfect white sand beach that goes on for miles without as much as another footprint on it, seeing it sloping gently down into absolutely clear, warm water (83°F year round), with the gentle Tradewind Breeeeezes gently caressing his face.
And I hear....
"The water pressure in my room wasn't ....
"The markets don't have...
and....
Read what
Caribbean Travel and Life
has to say about Carriacou
Carriacou is the largest of the Grenadines in Grenada territory. It is seven miles long and three miles wide at the broadest point. The island is irregular in shape with a wooded ridge running the length of it averaging 750 feet in height with the highest point, a hill at the northern end called High North, reaching 850 feet above sea level. Numerous small settlements stud the landscape.
Red flamboyants and creamy white frangipani blossom among the mahoganies, acacias, sea almonds, and cacti. While it is at the sea, with its exquisite spectrum of blues, that makes Carriacou a holiday destination (the name is said to come from the Carib for "land surrounded by reefs"), the island's rich heritage, still evident today, is what makes it distinctive.
I like to use the term: AUTHENTIC.
Carriacouans are industrious and most are self-employed, announcing their services in hand-lettered signs: They fix tires, make furniture, print menus, shoot passport photos, straighten ladies' hair, and record music, all in the span of just a couple blocks. The island's architecture shows both whimsy and practicality and says a lot about island life. Hand-sawn fretwork and hand-chipped stone embellish simple houses whose jalousied or glassless windows let in the cool tradewinds. Planters, recycled from plastic buckets, trim cottage stoops, and front yards are furrowed into rows of corn and pigeon peas. Though many of the islanders don't have much in terms of material goods, they express well-being.
You will see babies delighting in their morning sea bath, men playing earnest games of soccer on the beach, and night-time gatherings at the crossroads for conversation.
Carriacou's obvious attractions are the gorgeous waters - clear, warm, with white-sand sea floors, and there are always local boat operators willing to take you to the many nearby,
uninhabited off-islands
if you have already taken the time to explore the beaches around the island itself.
The close-in reefs abound with fairy basslets and stoplight parrotfish, even queen triggerfishes and schools of squid.
Extensive coral beds that a snorkeler can reach from the beach provide hours of enjoyment. Explore the island and find the santa maria trees whose fragrant leaves are used in herbal remedies. Walk the often sylvan roads and trails.
Greet the women in their gardens, children wheeling hand-made toys, young men playing soccer in the road.
Aways take plenty of water and don't pass-up one of the 100 rum shops
where you can get - besides rum and conversation - beer and sodas
An impressive number of Amerindian artifacts have been found here, (a few years ago a dig in Harvey Vale uncovered several complete human skeletons, burial masks, a drinking well and other remnants leading speculation toward a 1,000+ year old Taino site) including ceramic body ornaments and loom weights.
Roads built by the French in the seventeenth century, now bowered by overreaching trees, crisscross the island and make wonderful walking trails. Summer Year 2001 was the reconstruction of the major commercial road network islandwide. Until its completion we had patience and endurance as the old roads were removed and replaced with concrete. The cotton, sugar, and indigo plantations established by the English in the 1700s and 1800s may be long gone, but there still remain their great houses and outbuildings (in various stages of repair) in cow pastures and trackless woodlands.
And in the Villages of Windward & Harvey Vale, you can watch men, some with Scottish surnames, build schooners the way their 19th-century forefathers did. But it is the island's African ancestors, who picked the cotton and crushed the cane, who have left the most vibrant legacy here -- the traditions and beliefs that define this remarkable island.
Hillsborough, Carriacou's one town, has an unprepossessing Main Street: some storefronts are empty, paint is peeling on others. But take a closer look and you will see its history in the stone and shingled buildings, balconied second floors, and the beautiful, dressed-stone remains of a lime warehouse, being carefully and conscientiously salvaged in an overgrown lot.
Carriacouans also like to celebrate:
"Fisherman's Birthday"
is a once-a-year, three day fête at which everyone seems to join in the swimming races, tug-of-war, domino games, and dancing.
For Carnival, villagers competitively recite Shakespere, and at weddings, four-piece bands play intricate quadrilles for which spouse will dominate. Even a foreboding dream may be a cause for a festival: To avoid a drastic event a "Maroon" is held with "smoke food," hymns, and the playing of Big Drums.
Nonetheless, Carriacou is on most days a quiet place where you get up with the sun and go to bed with the moon's rising. Time has no meaning; thermometers do not exist. Cows cool themselves on the beach and braying donkeys graze at roadsides. And though Canute Caliste's naive paintings have been internationally recognized, he was proudest of his 23 children and more than 200 grandchildren.
Even with just a little over 200 "beds" on the island, Carriacou has an astonishing range of accommodations, from plain guesthouses with shared facilities to airy mountainside suites to private cottages and villas. Simplicity, however, is the order of the day: Closets are routinely minute, soap is the only amenity, showers are most often without temperature controls.
Carriacou has perhaps a dozen restaurants
but a multitude of eating establishments.
However, daily research is required: Stop by the restaurants, bars, and rum shops. Ask what they are cooking that day, for even in season what you see on the menu is not necessarily what you'll be offered - menus merely suggest the range of the cook's skills. Since they rely on fresh foods, their repertoire is determined by availability.
Most, if not all produce
is imported from Grenada, St. Vincent or Trinidad, so don't expect California-size salads.
But the fish is always wonderful -- usually two or three kinds, almost always including the local specialty lambi, or conch, or lobster when in season (after 1 September).
I suggest you always take TODAY'S SPECIAL
- not only a way to eat what we eat,
but also to recognize
that you are NOT home
so why eat what's eaten
there?
The owners and managers of the businesses here on Carriacou Welcome You! Carriacou "The Isle of Reefs" is often called the island with one gasoline station and 100 rum shops. The 5,000 residents on this little island just five miles wide and 15 miles long are hard at work to take care of your every wish and the following commercial directory will allow you the opportunity to see what I mean. The information is organized into land-, sea-, travel-, music- and yellow pages-related activities. Click on graphics to enter.
Land Activities
Sea
Activities
Carriacou
YELLOW PAGES
Windward Bible Church
Walter Robinson II, Pastor
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Brief history
of Carriacou Geologic history Climate Land-use history Natural landmarks National parks Natural vegetation Protected seascapes |
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Its climate is tropical with temperatures between 75-85°F. The electricity supply in Grenada is 220 volts, 50 cycles. Appliances rated at 110 volts (US Standard) usually work satisfactorily with a transformer. Most hotels provide dual voltage shaver units. Bring an adapter plug for small appliances. US, Canadian and British citizens need only two documents proving citizenship, one with a photo. An onward or return ticket is usually required as well. Intransit passengers must have a passport. There is no restriction on the amount of foreign currency
which can
be brought into Grenada. Personal clothing and other belongings are
also
admitted freely. |
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The Grenadine Islands and Carriacou represent the exposed summits of peaks on a single narrow bank of submerged volcanic mountains. RELIEF MAP HERE The Island of Grenada is separated from Carriacou by a channel 600 feet deep. The Grenadine Islands came into existence in the late Oligocene period, sank or eroded away during the Pliocene and were completely submerged during the Pleistocene period. Since that time, a regional uplifting of the sea floor has raised the Islands above sea level (Howard, 1950). The diversity of the geological
formation of
the Grenadines is fascinating. Bequia is characterized by pyroclastic
rocks
preponderant over massive. Some islands have red and white clays due to
laterization and kaolinization of the volcanic andesites in situ. Other
islands are weathered rugged Carriacou, an Island of 34 square kilometers has been studied by geologists since the 19th century. The most recent studies have indicated fossiliferous limestone formation ranging in age from upper Eocene to Pleistocene. The Island can be divided into two
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The climate of the Grenadines is a relatively uniform one characterized by a northeast breeze which prevails most of the year. The temperature averages about 80 degrees F. in the dry season and 74 degrees F. in the rainy season. Significantly less rain falls on the smaller Islands; from 50-70 inches per year. These drier conditions predominate because of their inability to cause condensation due to a lack of a high cordilliera. On Union Island for example, a high rainfall count of 62.24 inches was tabulated, and a low of 25.7 inches with a 13 year average of 37.67 inches. |
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The Islands had a deep fertile soil at the time they were settled, which was utilized first primarily for cotton, a short time for sugar cane and thereafter for cotton. Sugar cane was phased out with the abolition of slavery and with the decline of the world price of sugar. Old windmills such as this one found near the Belair Cultural Landmark serve as monuments to the agricultural productivity of Carriacou in the 1800's and early 1900's. Cotton is no longer an agricultural
product,
production having tapered over the last 40 years. As with any
monoculture
agriculture, insect infestation developed. The necessity of controlling
the insect pests without insecticides led the farmers to rip out the
annual
crop and burn it thereby killing the insects and eliminating their food
source. Even wild cotton was removed. The result was Limes were also grown on Carriacou up until the turn of the century, but production per acre was less than the yields realized in Grenada. Lime production was profitable until 1920 when many of the groves were abandoned. This well, built to provide a constant source of water for livestock, can be seen in the Limlair-Thibaud Protected Seascape. Coconuts were planted in the 1870's
but were
depleted in the late 1870's. Livestock were subsequently introduced on
the smaller islands once soil fertility was depleted. Finally goats and
black-bellied sheep were introduced and still provide improved breeding
stock for Grenada. Sheep, cattle and goats are causing significant soil
erosion resulting in decertification on the island. |
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Beard's 1949 work, The Natural Vegetation of the Windward and Leeward Islands discusses "seasonal formations". When the evaporation from freshwater ponds and streams and the transpiration from plants exceeds the rainfall, a drought begins to occur. This is estimated to be at around 4 inches of rainfall per month (Charter, 1941). If the period of drought is short, the vegetation will be little affected, but longer droughts, as are characteristic during the dry season December through June, will adversely affect the diversity of flora. As a result, the smaller Islands are represented by a Dry Thorn Scrub - Cactus - Legume Association at its best developed stage. The plants have leaves during the rainy season, and with the exception of a few species, are leafless during the dry season, hence the plant association Dry Deciduous Seasonal Forest. Areas deforested and left to "old field succession" generally come back in pure stands depending on adjacent seed source, relief, and soils. Vegetative tufts of Croton, Cordia, or Leucaena can be found, as can Bauhinia ungula and Cuidosolus ureus (Howard, 1950) (Beard, 1949). These forest type sub-climaxes are found primarily on the leeward side of the Islands. On the windward side of the Islands,
Coccoloba
uvifera, Hippomane manchinella and Cocos nucifera are found on the
beaches
on the moist lowlands which descend to sea level. On the slopes which
begin
from the wave cut cliffs, the contorted, wind sheared and salt sprayed
growth of Randia aculeata, Tabebuia pallida, Coccoloba caribaea, and
various
species of Capparis Dominants in the open woodland are Bursera simaruba, Brosimum alicastrum, Pisonia fragrans, Ficus lentiginosa, in order of frequency. Three epiphytic air plants are noted. These are Aechmea lingulata, Tillandsia utriculata and Tillandsia flexuosa. The latter two are in the pineapple family. Two rare and unusual plants found on Carriacou are Morisonia americana or jumbie sapodilla and Lemna perpusilla which has been found growing on the surface of ponds. |
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* The following section is adapted from Howard, (1950) Carriacou is the largest of the Grenadines in Grenada territory. It is seven miles long and three miles wide at the broadest point. The island is irregular in shape with a ridge running the length of it averaging 750 feet in height with the highest point, a hill at the northern end called High North, reaching 850 feet above sea level. Carriacou with a population of 5,000 or more is the seat of Government for the Grenada Grenadines. The largest town on the island is Hillsborough. Carriacou is composed mainly of subsistence agriculturalists who cultivate vegetables including sweet potatoes, pigeon peas, and corn. Tomatoes and lettuce are grown in very small quantities. Small amounts of peanuts are grown for export. In the past century Carriacou produced limes as the principal crop. Today, sugar is no longer grown and the lime industry is intermittent. Throughout the island one finds ruins of old houses and windmill towers which were used in grinding cane. Some of these features will be protected as cultural landmarks. Water is a chronic problem on
Carriacou. According
to the historic documents the land was once forested and sugar was
grown
at the lower levels. Irrigation channels were established in the late
1700's
and used to direct rainwater from the hills for agriculture. In 1891,
according
to Dr. Nichols' The middle of the island is a designated forest reserve under the supervision of the Forestry Department. A representative of the Forestry Department patrols the area to prevent the inhabitants of Carriacou from cutting wood and quarrying in the area. The volcanic Mabouya Island off Carriacou has a dry thorn scrub vegetation with cactus and fragipani. It is part of a Protected Seascape. The agriculture of a century ago covered practically all of the lands on Carriacou. Nichols reports cotton fields extending from the town of Hillsborough to the top of the ridge and continuous to the eastern coast and extending from one end of the island to the other. As a result, the intensive agricultural practices of over 200 years have left the island mostly deforested with eroded and infertile soils. Nevertheless, there are some commercial operations on Carriacou both in vegetables and fruits. The Forestry Department has initiated a Watershed management Program. The coast of Carriacou is largely coral or shoal formations and is wave-cut in the majority of places. Manchineel Bay and Carenage Bay near Harvey Vale have limited areas of beach, spectacular because they are of black sand formed from volcanic rock. By contrast the beaches at Grand Anse on Hillsborough Bay are of white coral sands. While the limited black sand beaches support an Avicennia plant growth, those white beaches on the western side of the island are dominated by Hippomane, Coccoloba uvifera and Erithallis fruticosa. Some specimens of Caesalpinia bonduc scramble over the shrubs. Crotalaria verrucosa is a conspicuous blue-flowered herb in this beach association. |
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Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. |
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