So why think about Carriacou? On a day like this, watching the rain come down in sheets from a sky the color of old dishwater, and feeling about as full of the joys of life as a wet rag, what do you do?
If you’re anything like most people you’ll be irresistibly fantasising about sunshine and long, deserted beaches. But not beaches in the usual tourist places. In your imagination you’ll be pulled to the extremes of solitude and peace, to desert islands scattered in the middle of wide, blue seas: to a castaway existence beyond the reach of unsolicited and crass emails, phone calls and bosses.
Paradise on earth really does exist, and it’s not just a legend either. It’s in the Eastern Caribbean, and clearly marked on the map. But it’s so small that you’ll need a magnifying lens to see it.
Imagine being transported magically out of this miserable daily toil of deadlines and chores, and suddenly feeling the hot sun on your face and warm water lapping gently at your feet. Wriggle your toes experimentally and you feel sand sifting between them. Take off your sunglasses, open your eyes and you see a wide, long, white, crescent-shaped strip of beach with a margin of palm trees bending in a cooling breeze.
Have you died and gone to heaven? Not at all! This is Carriacou, 13 square miles of unspoilt loveliness, a tiny but flawless diamond lying in the clear waters of the Caribbean.
Carriacou is part of the Grenadines, a group of 200 small islands between Grenada and St Vincent that looks like a trail of precious jewels flung across the sea by some jovial, sparkling-eyed god.
Carriacou means ‘Isle of Reefs’ and you can see why as you shade your eyes to watch white surf breaking lazily in parallel lines just off the coast. This is what Robinson Crusoe must have felt like.
Carriacou Grenada has not been targeted by the international jet set in the way that some of its neighbours have, like Mustique and Palm Island. It’s one of the few places left where you can rediscover your centre of gravity, which tends to get lost in a storm of petty concerns back home; a place to truly chill out and recharge your drained batteries.
Within the Grenadine chain, Carriacou forms a mini-group with its two closest neighbours, Grenada and Petite Martinique, and has a dry and a rainy season. But even in the rainy season the sun still blazes down most of the time, and the rain lashes the palm trees only in short bursts of fifteen minutes or so, and usually at night. Nature here has benignly conspired to make life as pleasant as possible for the island’s 5,000 residents.
So next time you find yourself wondering what you’re doing stuck in a meaningless nine-to-five job in a city that seems to be hell-bent on destroying your soul, let your imagination take wing and make a date with Carriacou Grenada. A couple of weeks here and you can return home ready to take on anything civilisation can throw at you.
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