St. Vincent

St. Vincent is the mainland of the country — eighteen miles long, dominated by the active La Soufrière volcano at the northern end, and the only Grenadine island with anything like a forest. It is the least-visited stop on a typical charter and the one that surprises guests the most: dramatic leeward bays cut into volcanic cliffs, a film-set fishing village at Wallilabou (where Pirates of the Caribbean was shot), and almost no other yachts.

Charters reach St. Vincent in a four-hour reach north from Bequia — usually as part of a longer northern-Grenadines week. Wallilabou Bay is the headline anchorage: a steep-sided fjord-like cove with the original Pirates of the Caribbean set partly intact and a small open-air restaurant at the head of the bay. The next bay south, Cumberland, is an even more dramatic anchorage — deep water right up to the cliff, lines tied ashore to local boatmen who hold the boat from drifting.

Inland, St. Vincent has the Caribbean's only working botanical garden (founded 1765) and the volcano hike to the Soufrière crater rim — a five-hour return walk for fit guests on a settled day. Most charters do not have time for the inland excursions; they're worth flagging if guests want a week with more shore time.