TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) Trip Report and Photo Archives Day 7 - Carriacou

Feb. 7, 2012

the beach off Hillsborough

Today is Independence Day and just about everything is closed, we started the day with a long walk down the beach in Hillsborough enjoying the cool breeze and sunshine. The beach was mainly empty, save for a family playing in the surf and a lone fisherman trying his luck along the reef. This is the best beach we have ever seen for beach glass, and it wasn’t long before my pockets were full of pieces that we picked up.

Our original plan was to walk to Paradise Beach, since we knew the bar was open there. The map shows the road from Hillsborough going all the way to the beach; however it must be an old map since there was no direct way through. We did manage to negotiate our way through the mangroves right up to the point but we would have had to wade through the surf and being it was kicked up we decided otherwise. Instead we found ourselves a nice little spot where Kim could get some sun and I could swim. We were happy to find the Sandy Strip Bar was open for drinks and lunch so we stopped in there. It is one of those small bars attached to someone’s house and was fixed up rather nicely. Kim had chicken and fries, I had fish and fries, both were served with a garden salad. The food was freshly prepared and the portions good. As we were eating a man came down the main road on his donkey, tied him to a tree along the beach and then went into the field next door to the restaurant to pick pigeon peas; welcome to Carriacou.


After lunch we walked down the road and sat on the breakwall taking in the sun and watching some pelicans diving in the water after fish. After a while we walked back to town past a huge cactus that had to be over 20’ tall; how it grows that tall right on the coast with the constant trade winds is beyond me. We also passed an old church, with some nice quaint architecture. We spent some time on the balcony and then went for a walk around town. One bar a couple streets over seemed pretty lively, but the music was extremely loud so we opted for the small one across the street from the hotel. After a couple beers we went back to the hotel and sat on the main balcony out front with a nice cool breeze blowing off the sea. Tonight will be an early night as we have a full day planned for tomorrow.