Carriacou Island, Grenada
March 10 -20, 2023
From Union Island in the Grenadines, we organized a boat to take us the short distance to Carriacou Island, Grenada. There was some debate online about what boats were available to make this trip, but once we made contact with the MV Pride vessel, it all was very simple and straight forward. Arriving in the port of Tyrell in Carriacou, the feeling was not much different than the island we had just departed. But we did find the people more friendly and the supermarkets were better stocked giving us more options with food. Carriacou has one famous beach called Paradise Beach and otherwise, is a sleepy little village. Lots of travelers told us how much they really liked Carriacou so we looked forward to discovering its charms.
Our Accommodations
For our first few days we booked at April's Guesthouse. An old heritage home close to Tyrell Bay and walking distance to Paradise Beach. It was a cool property but we felt it needed some refreshing and some maintenance. Otherwise totally fine. We enjoyed the goats that would walk through our yard every morning.
Our Accommodations
For the remainder of our stay we opted for a Airbnb apartment in the hills with amazing panoramic views of the island.
On our way to Carriacou
It was a simple process organizing a boat from the Grenadines to Grenada. We made contact with a guy name Mario who is associated with the vessel MV Pride who makes the trip over to Carriacou, Grenada on Mondays and Fridays. We met the day before at the customs building to "check out" of St Vincent and the Grenadines, where we were told they would hold our passports and not get them back until we docked in Grenada. That was a little unnerving but what can you do. We met the next morning at 9am, boarded the boat, and made the short journey. Once we docked, the Grenadian customs took almost 2 hours to slowly process everyone's passports but everything else went smoothly. All in all an easy way to travel.
Arriving in Carriacou
People were telling us that Carriacou has become very busy with boats in the last number of years. Many boats now dock permanently and ones that break down are left to rot in the sea. It's an ongoing issue. You can see in the video how many boats there are and that was only filmed as we were almost at the end.
Around Carriacou
Hillsborough is the capital of Carriacou and offers various restaurants and services. Tyrell Bay is where the ferry and boats dock since the waters are calmer and offers the best supermarkets. Paradise Beach is nice - but is it amazing? We'd say no..We also visited the northern beach of Anse La Roche which was an easy bus ride to the drop off junction followed by a very long and difficult walk down to the beach. There was only a handful of people here eating at the one shack on the beach. Luckily we caught a speed boat back to town.
We can't say we loved it like so many travelers said they did...but its quiet and the locals are indeed friendly.