LAST WEEK as I was commencing a one week stay in a part of St Vincent and the Grenadines that is irresistible, I learnt some Vincie farmers were welcomed by the Barbados Coast Guard while attempting to bring in their irresistible produce under the cover of nightfall.
I was struck by the irony of our respective visits, my stay at their premier resort ensured that I was cut off from the rest of civilisation, no access to life’s usual and humbugs, cars, traffic, crowds, music, radio, TV and burglar bars.
Their stay at our best known resort will equally ensure that they have no access to cars, traffic, crowds, music, radio, TV well maybe not the last three, and with the burglars they will be behind bars. And while my stay was entirely voluntary, theirs is unlikely to be.
Another irony is that we Bubbajans always looking to spend the summer vacation in some exotic place like a Mall in Puerto Rico, Saw grass (Baje, please note it is not Sour Grass) or Aventura in Miami, when we get back we flat broke tired and need a holiday, yet right here in the Caribbean is a place that is the closest thing to paradise I have ever found, Young Island!
Young who? I could here de Bajans shouting, ‘whey that is?’ 30 minutes away by LIAT and once you arrive at the jetty on the mainland of St Vincent it is a mere two minutes or less across to paradise. The whole island is the hotel, 29 cottages spread across 32 acres of terrain, part flat and part hills, white sandy beach, no cars, no traffic, no crowds no radio, no TV (unless you bring yours), no burglar bars either, in fact, no need for a room key cause no one bothers to lock the doors. At the dock you are met with complimentary fruit punch and then ushered to your cottage, with semi enclosed outdoor showers and in some cases your own swimming pool.
Put away the cash and credit cards, this is an all inclusive deal where the price includes meals. The food is out of this world, seafood to die for from breakfast till dinner. The breads – Banana, cinnamon, whole wheat, white, raison and coconut – are baked fresh daily. I does buy and take home. The staff make you feel like this is your home which it is for the time of your stay. A tennis clay court and top class Jamaican coach Kenny Reyes will keep you fit, or try the Nature trails and Spa Kalina for a massage to die for. Ivan at the bar will mix you any concoction to delight the taste buds or simply swim up to the bar in the middle of the ocean and Tyrone will fix you while you literally sit at a bar in the sea. The views from Young Island are breathtaking. Here I am at 5.30 in the morning looking up to the majestic and lush mountains of mainland St Vincent. Later I will stroll up the hill chatting along the way with the parrots to enjoy the Grenadine islands of Baliceaux and Battowia, Bequia, Mustique and Union.
Young Island offers a package where you can spend part of your holiday on the island and part sailing the Grenadines with your own yacht and staff, awesome! If you are crazy enough to want to go onto mainland St Vincent, the Young Island ferry runs 24/7. For the more adventurous Kim and Earl at Fantasea tours can take you on a trip to see the whales and dolphins and the Falls at Belaine, dive into the icy cool waters under the falls or Ricky from Ricky taxi tours can get you to the base of the Volcano for the climb to the top, but he ain’t gwine up there wid you, that is serious climbing! Fruit in abundance, is mango season and de Vendor gone on a mango diet, in between Young Island meals. Everything and I mean everything here is cooked or made fresh, down to the Jams and Yogurts. I swear the dolphin steaks does be still trembling when they hit my plate!
Ironic that this is right under our noses. Ironic too that Vincie farmers would give up this for a staycation in Bubbadus! check out the website, youngisland.com, then call them I am sure you can get a good rate as I am about to end my stay and the Vincie farmers are about to commence theirs in Bubbadus’s biggest hotel. A group from Bubbadus have taken over the entire resort here at Young Island for a birthday party. That lady must be very special, these folks have found paradise! I Market Vendor gone fuh now, you have a blessed and a wonderful day, yuh hear!
