St. Vincent lies in a beautiful chain of islands and is heavily forested, with pretty reefs and a good range of fish species.... Daytime temperatures are in the high 80s year-round, the low 70s at night; afternoon cloudbursts are common; St. Vincent is in the hurricane belt.... The Grenadines Bequia, Palm, Union, and Carriacou are a sailor's dream; they're islands with small hotels, little dive operations, decent Caribbean diving, and few surprises....

For full reviews of the following St. Vincent & the Grenadines destinations, see:

Dive St. Vincent - St. Vincent, In Depth- June 1996

Dive Bequia, April 1998, Ben Glick, Williamstown, MA. Picked us up from our chartered yacht. Good dive on uninhibited islet. Healthy reef. Vis: 75-100 ft., water: 82-86 degrees. Equipment old and in fair condition. Only small reef fish. (Ph: 809-458-3504, Fax: 809-458-3886)

Dive Bequia/Village Apts, July 1998, Lucy Muehleisen, Chesapeake Beach, MD. Village Apartments: Excellent; clean, no air conditioning but comfortable, and management accommodated all requests. (Even mailed left behind film). Limited variety of restaurants but good finds: Gingerbread House, Mac's Pizza and Sunset House. Unspoiled island, friendly people. Diving is limited and shaky, especially if you don't have your own equipment. All dive equipment was pre-assembled when we boarded the boat. No chance to try on a BCD or assemble the weight belt. I went in and immediately had trouble inflating my BCD. The guide remaining on the boat kept shouting at me to put on my mask and go down. The other guide fooled with the inflator and got some air in and told me it was OK to go down. Underwater, I had to struggle to keep from sinking because the weights were too heavy. It was an extremely disappointing and unnerving experience. I couldn't enjoy the beautiful corals and small tropical fish.

Dive St. Vincent/Young Island, December 1997, T. Lopatin, Lk Hopatcong, NJ. Unlimited opportunities to see/photo frog fish and sea horses along with a host of other macro subjects. Vis: 60-90 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Young Island is clone of Fantasy Island, complete with a greeting at the dock from the manager, accompanied by a tuxedo'd waiter with a rum punch. Only draw back is the all night barking of dogs from the main island. Stay in cabins on the north side of resort to avoid them. (Ph: 809-457-4714 or 809-457-4298, Fax: 809-457-4948,

e-mail: bill2@caribsurf.com, Website: www.divestvincent.com)

Young Island, November 1997, Roger and Donna Soare, Houston, TX. Young Island resort very nice but maybe not one of the best in the Caribbean as some claim. Food left something to be desired (particularly dinners) and beach is OK but outdoor band/parties across the narrow straight with St. Vincent makes for noisy evenings. Diving mostly done on leeward side of St. Vincent meant that seeing human debris was common (tires, bottles, concrete, etc.). Locals fish area and no fish larger than several inches. Vis: 60-70 ft., water: 80-81 degrees. Soft corals nice and divemasters pointed out several seahorses and frogfish. Divemasters friendly and let you go your own way, but did not brief you well enough to know where to go. Small open boat, crowded with six divers. No water or snacks for surface interval (on boat) and did not see O2. Nice trip if you are not hardcore diving.

Dive St. Vincent/Young Island, February 1998, Jean & Bob Kirkpatrick, Russellvile, KY. St. Vincent diving far better than expected. Comparable to Dominica. Reefs are healthy and colorful, many bright-colored sponges and soft corals. Reef fish plentiful, huge schools of black-bar soldierfish swimming in open water provide move color. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 80 degrees. Bill Tewes, owner of dive operation, lives up to his reputation. Excellent dive leader, expert at spotting frogfish, seahorses, scorpionfish, spotted snake eels, and unusual critters, such as pea crabs, box crabs, moon snail egg cases. I was doing a fish survey for REEF and he helped me find many species. Staff excellent. Did have an unexpected and dangerous current one day, which he says is unusual. . . . Young Island is a beautiful, pricey resort. Our hillside room was up 75 steps. Ask for beachfront for convenience or get a less expensive hotel on St. Vincent, with a dive package through Dive St. Vincent. Overall an exciting and spectacular diving experience.

Dive St. Vincent/Lagoon Hotel & Marina, February 1998, Pat Van Raden, Moorhead, MN. Locals eat all the big critters but lots of small stuff, especially sea horses and frog fish. Dive guides were helpful in finding critters and letting us pick sites. Occasional currents. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 79-82 degrees. Great for photography. Barking dogs at Lagoon Hotel kept us awake; Didn't have an air-conditioned room. Those with a/c slept through the noise. Staff at hotel were nice and went out of their way to change money at the bank for me. Lots of good restaurants. Take taxi vans and try them all-an experience. More than 20 people packed in on some trips. Climb the volcano, worth it. Botanical gardens are nice too.

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