This seventh segment got us to briefly experience island living for five nights in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

2026.02.17 – [VD] Arnos Vale ==> Arnos Vale

This country encompasses 32 islands and is very popular with the global yachting and sailing community. The island of Bequia is highly recommended by locals although it does have a few upscale spots. Mustique caters to the rich and famous, while Canouan is even pricier. As the local Vincy saying goes, “The billionaires go to Canouan to escape the millionaires on Mustique.”

We simply hope the chefs at the Sandals resort in St Vincent — along with the millionaires and billionaires from the other islands — do their supermarket shopping somewhere other than where we stopped. Our supermarket visit the previous evening left us wondering whether the shelves hadn’t been restocked after the weekend. However, when we visited two other large supermarkets today, we found the same empty shelves. Not even frozen pizza — it felt slightly reminiscent of Cuba.

As we mapped out our sightseeing plans, we realized it wouldn’t be possible to drive around the entire perimeter of Saint Vincent—there’s no road in the far north connecting the island’s east and west coasts. So, we decided to begin our exploration along the west coast.

After breakfast, we set out on a two-hour drive to cover the 42 kilometers to Dark View Falls, factoring in traffic congestion in Kingstown. Thankfully, the roads were in excellent condition, though narrow in places.

The short walk to the falls required crossing a bamboo bridge, which happened to be under maintenance at the time. The falls themselves were beautiful, but the drive—winding through steep hills and countless hairpin turns—was perhaps even more exhilarating.

Along the way, we passed clusters of tourists gathered by the roadside near Wallilabou Bay. We later discovered that this picturesque spot served as the filming location for the opening scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

2026.02.18 – [VD] Arnos Vale ==> Arnos Vale

Today, Google held a pre-release launch of its Pixel 10a at 11am. After some research, I had decided on this model to replace my 6½-year-old Huawei Honor View 20. Once I placed the order on-line and we had finished breakfast, we left our accommodation shortly after 11 a.m. and drove about 20 km to the Vermont Nature Trail and Rain Forest site.

We thoroughly enjoyed the two-hour hike, with informative interpretation panels about the rainforest lining the trail. By the end, we were completely soaked—both from our sweat and the occasional light rain. The trail was well maintained, and we found it an easier hike than the shorter Seven Sisters Waterfall trek we did in Grenada.

As we were leaving the car park, we learned about a waterfall further down the road where we could take a refreshing dip. Less than 2 km away, we found the trail-head, which led us just five minutes later to a beautiful river cascade with natural pools. It felt like a hidden gem and was a perfect way to end our day’s excursion.

On the drive back, we stopped at another supermarket, but it had neither large water bottles nor frozen pizza. Back at our accommodation, Jenny multi-tasked once again—doing the laundry while preparing our evening dinner.

2026.02.19 – [VD] Arnos Vale ==> Arnos Vale

Today, we set out to explore the island’s east coast, driving about an hour and a half to reach Owia Salt Pond. Along the way, the views of powerful waves crashing against the rugged shoreline were captivating—if slightly intimidating.

The salt pond is formed by a natural volcanic barrier that acts as a wall between the sea and the pool. When larger waves strike the rocky formation, seawater spills over the top, replenishing the pond with fresh salt water. We had to tread carefully on our way from the shore to the pond, as the volcanic rocks were quite slippery in places.

We spent about an hour soaking in the warm salt water, chatting with other visitors and taking in the dramatic surroundings. Later, we retraced our route back to our accommodation, where more laundry and dinner awaited us.

2026.02.20 – [VD] Arnos Vale ==> Arnos Vale

On our last day in Saint Vincent, we planned to visit the Saint Vincent Botanical Gardens in nearby Kingstown—the island’s capital—and then spend some time relaxing at a beach.

After our usual brunch, we drove to Kingstown and stopped at the oldest botanical garden in the Western Hemisphere, established in 1765. Although it was a pleasant garden and a worthwhile visit, it didn’t quite rival the one in Montreal. We spent about 40 minutes strolling through the grounds alongside many European cruise ship passengers—mostly Germans.

Later, we decided to take a chance and enter the grounds of Fort Charlotte, which was officially closed for renovations. Thankfully, as we had hoped, the construction gate wasn’t locked, allowing us to enjoy some spectacular views of the sea and the city of Kingstown.

Earlier that morning, we had visited the beach near our accommodation but found the waves a bit too strong. So we ventured along a rough road to reach another beach farther up the west coast. When we arrived at the remote local beach, however, we realized the waves were still stronger than we were comfortable with, so we decided to head back.

On the way, we stopped at a Subway to pick up pizzas for an early lunch the next day before our 2:00 p.m. flight to Trinidad and Tobago.

2026.02.21 – [TT] Arnos Vale ==> St. Helena

It seems that every time we plan an island hop, our sleep the night before suffers. Perhaps it’s the nagging thought of what might go wrong on travel day between islands. As usual, today’s commute delivered its share of challenges.

We started the morning with coffee and reheated Subway pizza for breakfast. At 10:45 a.m., we left our accommodation for the airport, stopping along the way to fill up the rental car. The return process was smooth—the agent greeted us promptly—and since we had checked in online the day before, we passed quickly through security. The departure area was fairly busy.

This was our first time flying with Caribbean Airlines, which operates a modern fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. For the first time on this trip, we actually had assigned seats—our previous flights on Embraer planes had been open seating. To our surprise, the flight was quite full. Upon arrival in Trinidad, we went through a fairly stringent immigration process before heading to the car rental booth, where we were pleased to receive a brand-new Hyundai Venue for our stay.

The hiccups began when we tried to connect Jenny’s phone to Apple CarPlay. We quickly realized her phone no longer had mobile data access. Undeterred, we navigated to our accommodation using our trusty Organic Maps offline app.

After locating our “luxury” condo, we ran into trouble opening the lockbox. Without internet access, we couldn’t contact our host for assistance. Thankfully, Jenny reached out to a neighbor who happened to know the owner well. It turned out the host had provided the wrong code for the key lockbox. Once inside, we still couldn’t connect to the internet using the details provided. Once again, the neighbor came to our rescue with the correct information.

Later, we contacted the host to express our disappointment with the inaccurate check-in instructions and the various issues with the so-called “luxury” offering. Once we finally gained internet access, we discovered that Jenny’s eSIM—advertised as covering 28 Caribbean countries and territories—did not include Trinidad and Tobago. After some research, we purchased an eight-day eSIM from another provider that supported the island’s telecom network. Before heading to the supermarket, we also had to deal with yet another fraud alert on our credit card.

When we arrived at the shopping mall where the supermarket was located, we immediately noticed that this island appeared considerably wealthier than many of the others we have visited.