Went with my wife for a 4 day stay in June on Bequia, which is the largest island in the Grenadines. June is the beginning of the "rainy season", which for us meant quieter beaches and lower prices. Based on our experience a couple years ago entering Costa Rica, we were wary about the food we brought in our luggage. We only brought USDA packaged meats and some USDA cooked meats as a back-up, figuring that if it is cooked it would be least likely to be an issue. Also, brought bread some packaged dry goods. We always take a pan with a plug-in burner and George Foreman and assumed that there would be some vegetables to add for some stir-fried dinners and chicken sandwiches. You can use $US or $EC, the exchange rate is set at $US1=$EC2.7. Using $EC is easier, available at the airport or at an ATM.
Day 1: Flew through Miami to St. Vincent. The only question they asked at Customs was if we had any fresh fruits and we were out of the airport without a problem. There is an organized taxi stand - $EC90 set rate - 30 minutes to get to the port in Kingstown. It was a Sunday and when we got to the ferry area it was an hour+ wait in the hot sun. Stores were closed since it was Sunday. (Recommendation: Have your hotel arrange a taxi to be waiting at the airport and give a tour of St. Vincent until the next ferry arrives). Caught the 30 minute fast ferry to Bequia. The Liming Bequia resort had their van meet us at the ferry for the 20 minute winding drive to The Liming, which is at the far end of this small island. When we arrived the check-in was at the pool by the bar overloking the beach and blue and green Caribbean Sea. We had reserved a small suite with a plunge pool, but they upgraded to a 2-BR suite. The outlets are European voltage with some adapter to work for US voltage, so it worked for our appliances well enough.
Day 2: Took a taxi $EC70 flat rate to Princess Margaret Beach and then walked 20 minutes to Lower Bay beach. We were the only people on the entire beach. Snorkeled and saw a massive school of fish and some other random tropical fish here and there. Returned by taxi to The Liming. Note that the 10,000 residents of the island are extremely friendly - the taxi drivers gave a friendly honk to every single car they passed, even going around windy curves and waved to every person they passed sitting along the side of the road. Seeing this civility was very refreshing. Enjoyed the resort premises which we pretty much had to ourselves.
Day 3: Saw the sunrise (kind of) and then took a taxi to the dock for an early morning yacht to Tobago Cays. $US130 The seas were perfect. It took 3.5 hours to get there, but was very pleasant and passed many other islands. Tobago Cays was a site to see with the unreal turquoise waters, swimming with numerous sea turtles, star fish, sting rays and an aquarium of fish. The yacht spent 4 hours, which included a BBQ at a beach, so we spent the time in the water. Again there were very few other people there because it was June. 3.5 hours back just in time to catch the sunset.
Day 4: Did not leave the resort, enjoying the hotel pool and beach which we had to ourselves the entire time.
Day 5: The Liming van took us to the 9:30 ferry. The hotel arranged a taxi to meet us in St. Vincent who gave us a bit of a tour, drove us to the Fort Charlotte with great views and then to the Botanical Gardens for a guided tour which we enjoyed very much. The Taxi was $EC200 and the gardens were $EC40 per person including the tour. Spent about an hour at the gardens. Again the taxi driver gave a friendly honk as he passed other cars and waved to everyone along the road. Then we returned to the (un-air conditioned!!) airport .
