Sail St. Vincent.

St. Vincent is the main island and southern gateway to the Grenadines — a chain of more than thirty islands and cays running south towards Grenada. Sail out of Blue Lagoon on St. Vincent's south coast and you're within a day's reach of Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, the Tobago Cays and Union Island, all in sheltered water with short hops between anchorages. St. Vincent itself is volcanic, La Soufrière rising green behind Kingstown; south of Bequia the islands turn lower, drier, with coral reef and white sand. It's a cruising ground built for island-hopping — nowhere is more than a few hours' sail from the next, and you can change the scene daily without ever committing to an open-water passage. Right for sailors who want variety in a week; less right for anyone chasing a single long beat.

Charters start from Blue Lagoon Marina on St. Vincent's south-east tip, a protected lagoon behind a reef with straightforward customs clearance for boats based here year-round. From there the route runs south through the Grenadines: Bequia's Admiralty Bay, Mustique's Britannia Bay, Canouan, the Tobago Cays Marine Park, Mayreau, and Union Island, with onward links to the private-island anchorages of Palm Island and Petit St Vincent. Distances between stops are short — most legs run two to four hours under sail — so days tend to mix a morning's sailing with an afternoon in the water. Reef and shoal water around the Tobago Cays and the passes between islands call for a proper chart and some care; crewed boats handle it without a second thought, bareboat crews should study the pilot beforehand.

The Grenadines sit in the belt of the north-east trade winds, blowing a steady 15-20 knots for much of the year and often stronger, gustier, from December through April. The Atlantic-facing channels between islands can build a short chop even when the anchorages themselves stay flat calm, so passages feel brisker than a lazy day at anchor suggests — reef early rather than late. The dry season, roughly December to May, pairs the most reliable wind with the least rain and is the busiest stretch on the water. June to November is the Atlantic hurricane season; charter operations continue, but storm tracking, flexible routing and shorter passages matter more through those months.

Both bareboat and crewed charters sail from St. Vincent. Bareboat suits sailors who are comfortable with reef navigation, Med-mooring or picking up moorings in open roadsteads, and reading a chartplotter under pressure — a coastal skipper qualification or clearly equivalent experience is expected before you're handed the keys. Crewed charter puts a professional skipper aboard, and it earns its keep here: local knowledge of reef passes, which mooring fields fill up by mid-afternoon, and where the wind funnels hard between islands saves real time and worry. Many first-time visitors to the Grenadines start crewed and come back bareboat once they know the ground.

Bareboat monohull and catamaran rates in the Grenadines typically start around €2,500 a week in low season and can run past €7,000 in peak season (December to April), depending on boat size, age and layout. Crewed charter adds a skipper's fee and provisioning on top and usually starts higher again. Mooring fees in the Tobago Cays Marine Park and other national park charges are levied separately and generally paid in cash locally, so budget for them outside the headline charter rate. Exact pricing depends on the boat, the season and the length of charter — price on request.

Fly into Argyle International Airport (SVD) on St. Vincent, around 20 minutes by road from Blue Lagoon Marina. Most charters begin with a check-in and provisioning morning before casting off in the early afternoon, so plan an arrival the day before departure if your flight lands late. Boats sailing in from outside St. Vincent and the Grenadines need to clear customs and immigration on arrival; charters starting and ending here skip that step on turnaround day. WhatsApp is the fastest way to confirm berth times, provisioning lists and any last-minute weather questions before you fly in.

Day 1 — Clear Blue Lagoon Marina, sail 2-3 hours south to Bequia's Admiralty Bay; anchor off Port Elizabeth for the evening.

Day 2 — Bequia to Mustique's Britannia Bay, a short beat with the trades steady on the beam.

Day 3 — Mustique to Canouan; anchor at Charlestown Bay and walk the reef at low tide.

Day 4 — Canouan to the Tobago Cays; anchor inside the horseshoe reef and snorkel with turtles feeding on the sea grass.

Day 5 — Tobago Cays to Mayreau, a short hop; walk up to the church above Saline Bay for the view back over the Cays.

Day 6 — Mayreau to Union Island; clear out formalities here if you're continuing further south, and browse Clifton market.

Day 7 — Union Island back north to Blue Lagoon, a longer day's sail with the wind mostly astern.