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Fast Facts:
Language: English (With each other, a local
Patois is
used.)
Currency: Eastern Caribbean Dollar (or EC dollar) which is pegged to the US
dollar. To convert most world currencies, click
€£¥$
(It opens in a pop-up window.)
Banks: There are two in town - Republic Bank and Grenada
Cooperative.
Shots: None required.
Visa: Issued upon arrival.
Driving: On the left. Requires a temporary permit issued at local
Police Station. Bring your driver’s license to apply. The cost is EC$60
for 90 days.
Additional Caribbean links:
click
here
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Where is Carriacou?
This is the first
question we get asked. Here’s the stats (you can also click on the
map): 850 miles -12.5° north of the equator, 23 miles north of
Grenada, and just 90 miles north of Venezuela (see “Things to do”).
Carriacou is also the
southernmost of the Grenadines, a string of nearly 200 islands (some
only tennis court size) between St. Vincent and Grenada. While some of
Carriacou’s sister islands (Bequia, Palm Island, Mustique, and PSV)
earned tony reputations years ago as playgrounds for the yachting crowd,
Carriacou’s always been a quiet, less touristy place for those who truly
want to get away from it all. (Although Oprah Winfrey was spotted here.)
What’s there to do?
On Carriacou, you’ll find
NO casinos, discos or boutiques. What you will find are delightfully
creative eateries cooking up dishes with fresh local ingredients,
great beaches, great hiking, beautiful views and, for all you divers,
(pardon the expression) breath-taking reefs.
Which brings us to the
island’s name. As every guidebook will tell you, “Carriacou” is
Amerindian for “land of reefs.” No surprise then that it attracts divers
from around the world. An extra special diving attraction is an active
underwater volcano.
What about beaches?
Ringing much of the
island (there’s even a beach in town), beaches are picture post-card
perfect. One of them, Sandy Island, even made it to the cover of
Germany’s prestigious GEO magazine which rated it “one of ten best
places in the Caribbean.”
When’s it best to
go there?
Anytime. While the
temperatures are the same year round (nighttime lows around 78°F/25°C
and daytime highs about 86°F/30°C), there are two distinct seasons: a “dry season,” generally from December 15 through
May 15,
and a “rainy season,” from June 1 through November 30. But these terms overstate the case. Even during the
rainy season, the sun shines 80% of the time, enough to give you a good
sunburn. Like a tropical car wash, the rains are heavy and short,
sweeping over the island and gone after just 10 or 15 minutes. Also,
most of the showers are at night.
Who owns Carriacou?
No, it’s not part of the ABC’s. (It’s often confused with
Curaçao.)
Carriacou is politically and economically part of the three island
nation of Grenada, Carriacou & Petit Martinique. The size of Key
West or Manhattan, just 5000 people live here.
What about its history?
Like most Caribbean islands, Grenada and its sister islands have
been tossed back and forth between the Spanish (they named it after their
Granada), and then the French and the British. For web visitors with an anthropological
or academic bent, the island is famous for its Big Drum Dance which has been virtually unchanged from
its original 18th Century African form. To see it, you have to be lucky ... or
invited to some special local occasion. Another local tradition
is the
Tombstone Feast,
a giant “block party.” On another historical note, Malcolm X's mother was
Grenadian and the "X" was his response to slave names. A short explanation
can be seen
here.
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Picture Gallery
(click to enlarge)
The Weather Today incl.
radar:
barbados
C'couans are just nice
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