The Most Beautiful Islands to Visit in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines by Boat

Sheer drama characterizes the main island of Saint Vincent. Lush and fertile, a steep volcanic landscape dominates the horizon, while the active La Soufrière volcano in the north spews ash and smoke. From the palm-lined coast to the cloud forests high above, hiking and exploring ashore is a wonderland of bright, tropical flowers and broad green foliage.

The second-largest island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Bequia’s beaches are unsurpassed in beauty. The island is surrounded by the calm, shallow waters of the Caribbean sea and wide swaths of white sand beach backed by towering palms. Among bushels of vibrant bougainvillea flowers, quaint Caribbean homes adorned with lace-like gingerbread trim dot the hillsides. The sprawling views of town and the azure coastline below are simply breathtaking.

Mustique is an island quite literally fit for royalty. A popular holiday destination for celebrities and members of the royal family, the entire island is beautifully landscaped. While the residential areas are closed to the public, the main town, beaches, spa and restaurants are accessible. Picturesque pastel buildings and local vegetable stalls line the narrow streets, soft white sand paves the way to chic beachfront restaurants, and elegant dining halls are open to the balmy Caribbean breeze.

For overall splendour, the Tobago Cays are unrivalled. Almost 3km (1.8mi) from the nearest inhabited island, four low-lying cays cluster around a shallow expanse of impossibly blue water. A sprawling barrier reef fringes the windward side, creating a refuge where sea turtles happily chomp on seagrass and bright tropical fish dart between coral heads. This is the heart of the Grenadine Islands.

Stalls of colourful beachwear billow in the tradewinds along the idyllic shoreline of Salt Whistle Bay. Two perfect crescent-shaped beaches come to a point at a narrow spit of sand, almost disappearing before rising up again into a protective headland. On one side, rough Atlantic waves crash over the barrier reef – while on the other, boats sit quietly on the Caribbean sea, the water so clear and calm they cast sharp shadows on the sandy bottom.

Sandy atolls rather than islands, there is only sand and a single umbrella on these cays, and sometimes not even that. The beauty here is in the simplicity; sun, sand, and sea. The blues of the cloudless Caribbean sky reflected in the crystal waters are punctuated by the white of the fine, powdery sand. The sun warms the water to almost bathtub temperature and the last of the Grenadine Islands sit quietly in the distance.

This tiny uninhabited island of coconut palms and white sand beach is so idyllic that the iconic Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) “Why’s the rum gone?!” scene was filmed here. Sun shining and blue skies overhead, gulls circle carelessly while fish dart between your feet in the shallow warm water. Time almost stands still in this tropical paradise – getting marooned here might even feel like a blessing.

One of the southernmost Grenadine islands, Frigate Island was once the base of a marine development project that never came to fruition. A single precipitous peak and trailing lowland sit at the edge of a large, shallow lagoon. Suspension bridges connect rocky causeways and, after a successful restoration project, wildlife flourishes in the azure waters. Egrets roost in the dark green foliage of red mangroves, while herons sit perched on the prop roots, awaiting their next meal.