St.Vincent - HELP Please!

[OCruisers]

HELP! Please tell us "What to do in St. Vincent"!!! :confused:

We don't mind excursions through the ship! Any suggestions would be very much APPRECIATED! :)

[leeleemarie]

What date & timeframe will you be here? Also, what interests to you have & do you have any restrictions?

I will be in St. Vincent on April 10th, , from 1-6pm, with my family, so if you’re going after me, I can give you a report when I return.

I have reserved a private tour boat excursion thru Wayne of Baleine Tours:
prosec@caribsurf.com Phone#: 1 784 457 4089. He called me back within 24 hours of my email & was very professional. I hope we can take this trip, as we still don’t have enough people for the minimum requirement.

Wayne will take you to the waterfalls of Baleine…you can’t get there by land as the trail is temp closed… there’s a 5 minute walk (60’ across boulders to get around to the falls); there’s swimming at the base of the falls; a stop at the Pirates of Caribbean set in Walillabou Bay; snorkeling….has snorkel gear, life jackets & noodles on boat; will see fishing villages along the way & black sand beaches; may see dolphins; 30’ offshore power boat w/ bimini top cover; drinks; …. ( min $350 for boat or 7 persons… max of 12 persons). Bigger boat: 40’…needs min of 12 people…max 20)…. USD $50-$60/pp depending on tour time & gas prices. Can customize & stop for lunch. Email Wayne with your phone contact info, as he will call you instead of using email. Payment at end of trip.

My in-laws are doing a tour of Kingstown & the surrounding area on their own….will hire taxi driver once they get off the ship. From my research, here’s the itinerary I pulled together for them…

The city of Kingstown consists of twelve small blocks that are considered to be easy to walk. You can pretty much do Kingstown without a tour guide. Market square is at the corner of Bay and Bedford Streets... in Kingstown Market and shopping mall you'll find jewelery to wood carvings. There’s the Artisans Craft Shop and The Bounty Restaurant and Art Gallery on Egmont Street. Edwin D. Layne & Sons Ltd.is a department store on Bay and Middle Street where you will find everything from clothing and fabric, to building materials and electrical supplies. The Voyager, on Halifax Street, is one of only a few duty-free shops in town and Gonsalves Liquors has a duty-free liquor store downtown as well. If you go up James Street, past the Rainbow restaurant (said to have good Rotis), and bear right you'll see the Craft Center. This is a cooperative and, while its stock is limited, everything is handmade by local craftspeople. The St. George's Anglican Cathedral has great stained glass windows (check out the red angel window - rejected by Queen Victoria so it ended up in SVG) and St. Mary's Catholic church is across from it. Drop in for a rum in the Cobblestone Hotel bar . Have a beer and visit the small art gallery in the Bounty Cafe (up a flight of stairs and a little hard to find).
If you're interested in a taxi tour, just outside of Kingstown, there's Fort Charlotte, which has great views at 600 feet above the sea... good photo op of views across Kingstown Bay & the Leeward coast. There's cannons and a small museum which describes the history of the Black Caribs with interesting paintings in what used to be the officers quarters in the Fort. There's also the Botanical Gardens... knowledgeable guides are available to identify and describe local uses for each plant. The small zoo there houses a few specimens of the endangered St. Vincent parrot. And there's a gazebo in the middle of the gardens that's a popular spot for weddings. Situated in the Botanical Gardens, the Archaeological Museum has a collection of stone tools and artifacts.
Also, just a little further inland, you should go to Mesopotamia Valley where many of the islands crops are grown. Almost vertical gardens line the slopes. The views are breathtaking. Then there’s Montreal, which is north of Mesopotamia. This is high up in the mountains and has magnificent views across ridges and valleys to the sea.
Ask before you take pictures of the vendors and be prepared to tip for the privilege.

Beaches:
If all you want to do is hang about on a beach, be aware that the St. Vincentbeaches you could reach during your stay ashore are not the greatest (narrow, black/golden sand, muddy if it has been raining). If you really are set on beaches, take a taxi to one of the hotels in the area called Villa, just north of the airport (Southern part of St. Vincent), about 10 minutes from Kingstown. The Villa beach is one of the only white (reddish/goldish) sand beaches on St. Vincent, directly across from Young Island. All beaches in St. Vincent are public. That includes the beach at YoungIsland Resort, also in Villa and accessible by a short ferry ride. Beachcomber's Hotel (www.beachcombershotel.com (http://www.beachcombershotel.com/)) is friendly to cruise ship passengers as is Paradise Inn (www.paradiseinnsvg.com (http://www.paradiseinnsvg.com/)). There is snorkeling around the rocks at the far right of the beach. “The Strip”: The Strip is located directly opposite Young Island resort, where you'll find popular restaurants, bars, and a nightclub. Beach bars can be found in Villa where the tender to Young Island is found. If you decide to go to Villa, you could skip the tour taxis at the cruise terminal and pick up a regular taxi at the large stand in Kingstown. Turn left out of the cruise terminal and walk along the waterfront road for about 5-7 minutes. The taxis are gathered at a stand on the right. The return fare to Villa will be about 20EC ($8US) less than the tour taxis charge, although the cars won't be as spiffy. You can

Snorkeling/Scuba: The best area for snorkeling and scuba diving is the Villa/Young Island section on the southern end of the island. Dive St. Vincent, www.divestvincent.com (http://www.divestvincent.com/) … will provide a combination scuba/snorkel tour if all in party are not scuba divers.

Many reputable taxi drivers or tour companies to give you an island tour:
Norris Tours (Comes recommended on these boards): gotalife@caribsurf.com
HazECO Tours: www.hazecotours.com (http://www.hazecotours.com/)
Sailor's Wilderness Tours (ask for Oswald): http://www.sailortours.com/ …give dolphin watching tours for the ships.
Fantasea Tours: www.fantaseatours.com (http://www.fantaseatours.com/)
Sam’s Taxi & Tours: Email: sam-taxi-tours@caribsurf.com
Treasure Tours: Email: treasuretours@vincysurf.com
Robert Taxi (Recommended by Norris Tours – ask for Elvis): cell phone is 784/593-6009

Taxi’s: You can hire taxis to take you to the island’s major attractions. Expect to spend EC$40 to EC$50 (US $16 to $20) per hour for a car holding two to four passengers. Tipping is suggested at 10% of the fare. Be sure to check the published rates at the tourist information booth at the pier. When you get off the ship, you will see a line of spiffy cabs and well-dressed cabbies. All these guys have been trained and are licensed for tourism. Their rates are higher than 'local taxi' rates because of this. If you want to pay local rates, find out what the 'tourist taxis' are charging per hour, then go out of the dock area, turn left on the first main road and keep walking about 5 minutes until you come to a larger area on your right (next to a demolished building/building site). This is where you will find the local taxis. Pick one and negotiate a price. You can also catch a bus from/to town, and they stop right outside the hotels in Villa and cost EC$1 (25p or 40 cents).

Websites:
http://www.svgtourism.com (http://www.svgtourism.com/)
http://svg.8m.net/ktown/Kingstown.html (http://svg.8m.net/ktown/Kingstown.html)

Maps:
Best road maps I’ve found: http://www.skyviews.com/stvincent/svgmap.html (http://www.skyviews.com/stvincent/svgmap.html)
…go to the bottom of this page for road maps of Kingstown & other areas. Notice the yellow highlighted areas on maps…those are the tourist attractions. The northern areas are approx a 2 hour drive.

[OCruisers]

Thanks LeeLeeMarie for ALL of this wonderful information. So very nice of you and much appreciated!

Yes, our port stop there will be after yours so any additional would be welcomed!

So many thanks for what you have already provided!

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[leeleemarie]

I'm definitely booked with Wayne of Baleine Tours now & my in-laws are going to do the Kingstown & surrounding area thing. So I'll be able to give you a report on both of these when I return.

Wayne worked with me to customize our boating excursion. Since we're only in St. Vincent for 1/2 a day & allow plenty of time to get back to our ship, we decided on a 3 hr tour. This meant we had to cut out the part of the trip to Baleine Falls. So our trip now is as follows.... Wayne will take us on a scenic tour by boat to include a stop at the Pirates of Caribbean set in Walillabou Bay; a beach stop & snorkeling…. he has snorkel gear, life jackets & noodles on the boat; we will pass fishing villages along the way, motor pass the volcanoes & view lava flows, & if we're lucky, we may be able to see some dolphins. He will have refreshments on board & has a head (toilet) on the boat. He said it would be a calm ride & very relaxing.

Researching a trip is my specialty, I really enjoy it. I hope that many will be able to benefit from the info I pulled together... just note that anything that from my post above that sounds like an opinion came from research & not first hand experience...yet:D ... 19 days to go:p !!!

[jlines]

Le Anne,
Thanks for sharing this info. We were having a tough time deciding what to do with the short time at this port. Although we aren't interested in the boat tour (sorry) the other detailed info you gathered for your in-laws is wonderful. Hope to maybe meet you on the ship. Just one more sailing after the current one and then its our turn!

[leeyahyun]

Thanks for the info. We are also on the Sun Princess and in St. Vincent on April 10th. We were wondering if we could join your trip. I have emailed the excursion operator but am waiting to hear. Usually my husband handles booking our excursions but he has been really busy and I know we are getting a late start.

[leeleemarie]

leeyahyun.... that would be great! How many are there in your group? I see this is your first post here...welcome!

We are a family of 5 from Maryland, my husband & I are 40, with our 11 yr old son, & my in-laws who are in there 60's. There will be another couple that will be joining us on this tour too.... we met through these boards on the roll call for our sailing...you should join our roll call:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=215826
Just go to the last page & post an introduction of your group. We are having a sail-away party just after the muster drill at Sundowners bar...everyone in our group is wearing something red to help us find each other. We can meet & discuss the excursion here.

When you e-mailed Wayne, did you provide your phone contact info? He will call you back, as he does not e-mail. If you contacted him over the weekend, he should get back to you Mon/Tues. Let him know you read about our tour & use my name
....Le Anne

[akia29]

Hey Just a note to be aware that the waters into the falls coming from off shore are ROUGH.

(when I lived there, there was no way to get to the falls via foot or road, but from other posts it sounds like thats changed?)

I always entered/tendered by boat into shore and then a short walk to the falls, every time people would get really really sea sick.
So just be aware that its a very undeveloped country, and the boat ride may be rough.

Its a beautiful spot and well worth the trip though.