now I'm gonna admit before visiting I
knew little to nothing about st. Vincent
and the Grenadines so naturally when I
visited you guys got me drunk on what is
essentially illegal rum so strong it
could light up a barbecue you also made
me eat whale blubber and took a picture
of me in a pirate hat you Vincey
subscribers I like you I like you guys
[Music]
everybody I'm your host Barb's we have
reached the last and final brother of
the Caribbean triplets the Saint
countries we've done st. Kitts we've
done st. Lucia and now the end is here
st. Vincent and the Grenadines and huge
thanks to the st. Vincent and Grenadines
Tourism Authority and geography Gordon
for hooking up an entire experience
showing me as much as you could in two
days this is a country that definitely
has interesting people and backstory if
there was a pan caribbean party going on
you know jamaica would obviously be the
DJ barbados would be passing out the
drinks little quiet Dominica would be
reading a book in the corner but the
real fun wouldn't start until crazy
uncle Vinny pops in he's got the best
hookups and everybody wants to talk to
him and his crew welcome to the cool
uncle of the Caribbean the original name
of the country was high rune which means
land of the blessed sea in the Caribbean
you're either in the single main island
Club the double island Club and then you
get to st. Vincent and it's like oh you
got a crew maybe two islands and a few
small rocks off your coast that's a
that's cute well say hello to my 32
sidekicks not Sivan yeah oh geez Vincent
that is the creepiest visual effect
you've ever made on geography now why
would you make that well you've told me
to be creative anyway to the globe Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines are located
in the Caribbean just at the southern
tip of the windward Island which is part
of the Lesser Antilles which is
basically all the small islands east of
Puerto Rico the country is made up of
Saint Vincent the main island at about
88 percent of the land mass where around
90 percent of the population lives
the remaining 12% is made up of the
grenadine islands an archipelago of
smaller islands and islets shared
between st. Vincent and Grenada most of
which though thirty-two to be exact
belonged to saint vincent about
two-thirds of the entire grenadine
island chain eight of these islands are
inhabited or partially inhabited st.
Vincent's grenadine islands extend from
what is considered to be the very first
of the grenadine Islands young island
only about 200 yards
from st. Vincent's mainland all the way
south to the farthest island petite st.
Vincent which sits only about a mile
away from petite Martinique which is the
northernmost island of Grenada grenadine
islands the country is divided into six
parishes five on st. Vincent island and
the Grenadines all within themselves
make up the last and final parish when
you go to st. Vincent everyone will say
the island is shaped like a left hand
and the locations of towns and sites are
always usually referred to being either
on the windward side or the Atlantic
coast or the leeward side being the
Caribbean coast the capital and largest
city is found on the South leeward side
Kingstown not to be confused with
Kingston which is jamaica's capital
Kings town whereas the next largest
towns are Georgetown in the north
windward side and barley in the mid
leeward side the country has only one
main International Airport on st.
Vincent Island Argyle international from
there the country has four other
regional and private airports backway
mystique canna Wan and Union Island back
to st. Vincent though the largest
commercial harbor of course is in
Kingstowne where luxury cruise lines
dock and you can catch ferries to the
main inhabited grenadine Islands however
the largest cargo shipping harbour is
just a skip away in Camden Park
industrial zone there are two main
highways the leeward Highway that ends
in Walla boom and the windward Highway
that ends roughly in new Sandy Bay
Village however you can take a rougher
local Road all the way to the town of
fancy the northernmost point of the
country from there there are no roads
that connect the entire uninhabited
Northwest quarter of the country between
the two towns the government has
considered maybe building a road but too
many variables are at play and if a
potential volcanic eruption should occur
it is likely that this area would be in
the path of destruction so that's about
it all you need to know about the social
structure of st. Vincent and the
Grenadines wait you lied I'm looking at
the satellite view and it looks like
there's another airport on st. Vincent
Island you forgot about it yes there is
but that one is not functional that is
the former et Joshua International
Airport that used to service the country
it was closed down because it was not
large enough to accommodate the high
demand for visitors and long-haul
commercial 737 airlines prior to that
getting into st. Vincent was much more
limited it was like oh yeah we're
typical lame tourists from the USA in
Canada and we want to go to st. Vincent
Oh
but alas there are no direct flights to
their small airport we have to stop in
like Barbados or st. Lucia for the first
layover
holy cow these countries are amazing it
totally has my attention
let's divert most of our time and money
in these places since we are already
here okay that is it I am literally
going to demolish an entire town build
an International Airport using half of
my nation's GDP right now they can take
in the demand for trips up to 1.5
million passengers a year four times
more than et Joshua if you visit make
sure you visit at least one of the
grenadine islands keep in mind many of
the grenadine Islands are either luxury
resorts or privately owned and access is
limited to a certain degree to outsiders
we don't have time to explain everything
about every single island or key in the
Grenadines but if you want the
incredibly condensed rundown back way
yes pronounced back way it is the
largest and most populated grenadine
island at about 6,000 people they even
have their own flag that alludes to the
whaling industry that they are famous
for mystique the millionaire's Island
privately owned by the British mystique
company and it even has a small village
for the citizens Kenna Wan the
billionaires Island privately owned by
the bhajami and Khan Wan resort
development company this is where the
stupidly rich people go to avoid the
annoying millionaires Union Island is
like the place where the actual people
from saint vincent go to Gavit getaway
down-to-earth vibe with people that
celebrate their own festivals and
traditions my row the smallest
permanently inhabited island the main
town everyone lives and doesn't even
have an official name and there's a
small resort in salt whistle Bay and my
row is technically part of the Tobago
Keys which is a Marine Park uninhabited
but totally popular for some of the best
diving spots all of Palm Island was
leased for $1 a year by an American
couple as long as they agreed to build a
resort and employ the locals petite st.
Vincent the southernmost island is
privately owned by the us freedom
resorts company it has 22 Balinese
inspired luxury cottages
Vittoria and Bala so are uninhabited dry
shrubby islands that hold a dark and
important historical place in the
nation's history and petite mystique has
a funny story about a dude that got
caught in a real estate fraud scam then
you have the smaller empty islands with
pretty much nothing on them and so yeah
that's just about it for all the
grenadine Island clusters if you decide
to visit here are some of the top spots
you might want to consider checking out
these forts a man-made happy island
there are 18 petroglyph sites the most
famous ones probably being in Connery
and lay you Walla poo Heritage Park
orange hill biotechnology Center
Iron Man stat
you Kingstown market Blackpoint
recreational park and tunnel while the
bubay is basically where portrayal from
Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed and
you can also see the Hanging arch there
as well whoa peon Island which has just
a single fetched umbrella on it and
probably the top site of the entire
country the Botanical Gardens with over
500 species of plants and that's the
thing about st. Vincent and the
Grenadines they bank a lot of their
tourism on nature and they take
conservation pretty seriously let's
discuss more of that in when you enter
st. Vincent you'll notice that the
country is noticeably greener and lush
compared to more commercialized bustling
Caribbean nations I mean their tourism
motto is st. Vincent the Caribbean
you're looking for and it's no wonder I
mean not far from the airport you have
the most pristine black volcanic sand
beaches first of all the country sits on
the Antillean arc a volcanic Ridge that
essentially created all of the lesser
antilles islands in the Caribbean this
means that the main island of st.
Vincent is also volcanic at the tall's
Peaks who Frey being a stratovolcano
that last erupted in 1979 the year of
Independence oddly enough the country
has no main natural inland bodies of
water but the largest thing close to one
would probably be the crater lake in
Sioux phrase caldera from there a small
mountain spine runs along the island
north to south which collects enough
water to create a wide network of
streams and small rivers including the
longest one that empties into the
Atlantic Nicolle inari River just south
of the river lies the Mesopotamia Valley
known as the breadbasket of the country
this is where the heaviest concentration
of agriculture can be found mostly in
fruits and root vegetables when we go to
the south to the Grenadines though you
start to see a slight contrast because
of their size topography and location
the grenadine Islands do not have any
permanent streams or bodies of fresh
water and are generally drier than st.
Vincent cacti and shrubs are more
commonly seen growing in these areas as
well nonetheless the convergence of
cooler rougher Atlantic jet streams
mixed with the warmer calmer Caribbean
air fronts causes the underwater
biosphere to mix elements of both seas
and flourish in a myriad of unique
colorful reefs and marine wildlife
hotspots yeah basically if you want a
rainforest stay on st. Vincent if you
want snorkelling go to the Grenadines
and if you want to just chill at a cafe
try some of that really interesting sea
moss tea that they make or actually I
just found out that that stuff is
actually an aphrodisiac so maybe if
you're feeling freaked a drink that
stuff well you know me with drinks all I
need is my triple shot of espresso
which means Noah comes in for this
second eye black child to worry about
getting your hair lines all straight now
miss tensions have always been in
industrious people but essentially it
comes down to three industries that
drive the country's economy seasonal
agriculture tourism and construction
services agriculture makes of about
seven percent of the GDP and today st.
Vincent and the Grenadines is the
leading producer of arrowroot and
arrowroot flour on earth funny enough as
it has been decriminalized st. Vincent
is also known widely throughout the
cannabis world for having some of the
highest grade marijuana the world known
as fin seaweed or insi ganja what why'd
you cut to me am I supposed to say
something huh
speaking of which one problem many of
the grenadine islands face is the demand
for fresh water supply other than the
luxury islands like mystique in Kenya
Wan Ouma desalinization plans for a
consistent water source Lois
Island ka DS and the Grenadines rely
entirely within rainwater collection for
fresh water and solar heaters installed
on their roofs for hot water once the
reservoir runs out there's only two
options ah well I'm done the wells are
all dry it's not raining much I'm all
out of fresh water sorry to hear that
buddy what do I do
oh you could celebrate the maroon
festival or the bigger islands can't
either sell you water bottles or they
can ferry a water truck over to restock
your supply for a fee
so to sustain our country's outskirt
areas you make the residents pay for
their own supplies when they need it
yeah pretty much it's not an uncommon
practice hmm anyway a long time ago
whaling was a more prevalent industry
especially on back--we Island and today
they still practice hunting whales and a
manner regulated by the International
Whaling Commission now we really need to
hang out sometime this is partially on
the town of barley became famous for
their blackfish dish yeah whales they
can be found here and here's our animal
correspondent Caleb Gary Harlow whatever
he's calling himself these days off the
coasts clear waters give life to reefs
teeming with moray eels angelfish
barracuda sea turtles is even a really
cool turtle sanctuary on big way islet
inland though the wildlife is mostly
concentrated around be
and reptiles and in fact a new species
of gecko with devious looking red eyes
was discovered on Union Island in 2005
otherwise the national animal is the
amazona ghoul organ Ingham commonly
known guilding commonly known as the
Vincentian or Vincey parent there are
only about 500 left in the wild
but fortunately breeding programs have
helped revive the little guy and you can
even see some of them at the Botanical
Gardens in Kingston
thank you Gary so as we come to a close
this segment you know what the deal is
it's time to discuss food in st. Vincent
the breadfruit is probably the most
important source of nourishment is even
a common saying in Saint Vincent don't
cut down my breadfruit tree meaning
something like don't rip me off man is
also a black cake and Pujol and the
national dish being roasted breadfruit
and fried Jack fish on top of that they
have the strongest Rome in the Caribbean
sunset slash steel bottom rum at about
eighty four point five percent it's not
even allowed to be brought on planes
they literally even have signs that say
it at the airport at chicken so
naturally you guys made me drink it when
I visited this fungus in the Caribbean
I'm gonna stop you in a little bit first
yeah the sentence have a saying we don't
party normal speaking of which that
brings us to Thank You Noah come to me
Melia Heimdall open the Bifrost just
Noah's such a nerd now keep in mind a
person from this country is called
either a Vincentian or Vincey like with
a why anyway what does it mean to be of
intention I ask some of you guys the
Vincey geographies and here are some of
the things you guys said being a
Vincentian would involve one being able
to meet the best use of every situation
and challenge so some of the things that
make us unique has been sentience we are
quite friendly and hospitable people our
Creole is is quite distinct is
it's to be to be big and small at the
same time is to be diverse to be like
dynamic vim sanctions are resourceful
resilient and self-sufficient we the
rhythms of Africa melodies of Europe
chords of Asia and homegrown lyrics of
the Caribbean itself thanks guys anyway
here's the demographics graph first of
all the country has about 111,000 people
and it is the birthplace of the Garifuna
people found throughout the Caribbean
the country is relatively more diverse
than other Caribbean States the majority
of the population is afro Caribbean
black at about two-thirds about a fifth
of the country is mixed mostly between
black and white about 6% are Indian as
in from India brought over during
colonial times about 4% are white mostly
British and descent and many are
actually transferred from Barbados and
are beige and white about 2% are Island
carob Kali Naga or black Garifuna carobs
and the remaining population is made up
of other groups such as people from the
Middle East and the rest of Asia they
use the Caribbean dollar as their
currency which by the way is pegged to
the u.s. dollar and a 2.7 ratio they use
the types a and B plug outlets sometimes
British style G and they drive on the
left side of the road the official
language of course is English however
when they talk to each other they
quickly switch it up to Vincey Creole
it's a very fluid Creole that has its
own varying degrees of intensity and
intelligibility depending on the context
and person you speak to for example
here's a conversation kind of sounds
like you're making patois but don't say
that to them they swear it's not the
same today of intentions are diverse but
people of all kinds have a connection to
the native roots of the island and
especially the Garifuna who are the
Garifuna basically in 1675 a slave ship
carrying people from the local group of
what is now Nigeria crashed near st.
Vincent survivors of the shipwreck
mostly Africans eventually intermarried
with the native kali Nago people thus
created the new people group known as
the Garifuna especially with this guy
who led the biggest revolt and he's kind
of like a hero of the nation and there's
a lot more that goes into the story of
this nation to expound a little bit more
here's random head-on with culture stuff
I wanted to do that as mentioned the
Garifuna played such an important
historical role that all of march is
considered heroes month and March 14th
being heroes day on this day there is a
pilgrimage from Garifuna all across the
Caribbean to visit the sites of their
ancestors including Bala so island where
five thousand were exiled to die st.
Vincent is also famous for its eco art
made of sustainable products found on
the island this guy being one of the
prominent figures of the movement st.
Vincent also celebrates some of their
own unique holidays like 9 mornings and
9/9
which are the nine days leading up to
the day they celebrate Christmas in many
of the grenadine islands you can witness
the wedding cake dance done by the
families of the bride and groom parading
to each other's homes and speaking of
homes Vincentians are kind of known as
the builders of the Caribbean whenever
there's a construction project going on
in any country in the Caribbean it's
usually safe to assume they were most
likely beefing sentience involved in its
own home and with construction they take
their own personal homes very seriously
for most Caribbean countries cars are a
status symbol
but for Vincentians it's their house
often every home even small ones are
almost always built with a guest room so
that they can have people over and show
off Finn's engines are famous for not
only having some of the most beautiful
pastel colored dwellings but also some
of the most structurally Integris homes
in all of the Caribbean I can withstand
class 5 hurricanes ease reasons being
because well it's kind of like I just
love wood paneled bungalows with tiled
roof tops they just look so nice don't
you think
yeah I mean I don't really have the
lumber industry for that type of house
though then how do you make your homes
actually do this cool thing where I
infuse the volcanic soil into the
concrete for stability it works you
should try it
hmm no thanks shut up I still prefer
building with what the majority of
intentions are Christian at around 82%
the three denominations most people
claim to be a part of our Anglican
Methodist and Roman Catholic in fact you
can even see a street block in
Kingstowne with churches of all three
denominations facing each other and
finally out of all the Caribbean
countries it's often claimed that saint
vincent and the grenadines has one of if
not the most seafaring culture out of
all the islands due to the geographic
layout of 32 islands and keys positioned
close to each other the Vincentians have
had centuries of water transport
starting with Colleen ah go canoes that
date back over a thousand years and the
techniques still are used today and some
of the most world-renowned scaled model
boats are hand made at the famous
sergeant leather shop otherwise Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines has a
wonderful vibrant music scene and with
that I bring you Florida man Keith okay
now each Caribbean country kind of has
their own specialty when it comes to the
main genres you know I'm saying you know
to make a pioneered reggae Trinidad
pioneered calypso and although st.
Vincent didn't create it they are a soca
country and totally reinvade of the
genre in the 1980s they started the raga
soca movement with producer Frankie
McIntosh being one of the leading
figures raga is described as a slower
paced style with a heavier emphasis on
melodies and harmonies Asian vocals in
the 2000s though they switched up the
game and created power soca which is
like an aggressively rushed style of
soca with nice bass riffs you know the
soca is the musical lifeblood of the
country they play it at all sorts of
carnivals music festivals held in the
last few weeks of June and the first
week of July called Vincey MAS and
everyone knows the song turned me on by
award-winning artist Mads art featuring
thank you I'm Keith and here's my
awesome bass riff that you'll never be
able to play because I'm so awesome
Thank You Keith and now it's time for
the incredibly condensed history segment
of the episode in the quickest way I can
summarize it Caribes of south america
take over the indigenous era walk
Christopher Columbus briefly visits
shipwrecked Africans brought for slavery
land on st. Vincent intermarry with the
locals and create the new Garifuna black
Arabs French come in create the town of
barley Wars with British it ends up
being taken over by British more slaves
brought in first carob war with British
second carob war Garifuna is exiled to
ballast o island survivors were deported
to Mosquito Coast modern-day Honduras
slavery abolished Indians and Portuguese
come in 1902 Sucre eruption self-rule
and independence mystique becomes the
first luxury island volcano erupts again
in 1979 independence year other islands
follow the pattern of becoming luxury
resorts agriculture industry starts
waning in favour of tourism Pirates of
the Caribbean filmed here which boost
more tourism new airport built to
accommodate travel demand and here we
are today some of the most famous people
you guys the Vincey jogger people
suggested I mentioned in this episode
include Duval Reverend Lansdowne gilding
Eponine Sura Theodore Joshua captain
Hume old Zack Reginald Mitchell Bridget
Blue Chair these athletes
Rafi Gonsalves and Susan Dugan so by now
hopefully you can kind of get the feel
of the Vincey vibe seafaring
construction experts that might
occasionally go whaling and definitely
love their drinking okay this is just
getting weird seriously I'm buying you a
drink and speaking of people that have
ties to saint vincent and the grenadines
st. Vincent uncle Vinny when the
Caribbean needs a guy they go to uncle
Vinny I mean there's a reason why
they're the smallest country on the UN
Security Council and that's kind of how
they play their diplomatic game for one
the US Canada and UK are the top
visitors for tourism which make a
significant portion of their GDP and of
course the u.s. is the top country for
imports as well interestingly enough
though they keep things neutral and
maintain relations with Venezuela and
Cuba as well the presidents have met
each other in person they even have
portraits dedicated to the friendship in
their Airport and many bilateral trade
deals have been established especially
in the petroleum and energy sector as
members of CARICOM they generally get
along with other Caribbean countries and
have family members in many of their
neighboring islands as well most
Vincentians will claim they have at
least one parent or grandparent that
came from another island so the populace
is very intertwined when it comes to
their best friends however the two I
have heard most while interviewing
Vincentians are Taiwan and Grenada they
are one of the few countries that
recognizes Taiwan sovereignty over the
People's Republic of China and Taiwan
invests heavily in st. Vincent's
infrastructure including the orange Hill
biotechnology Center where new crops are
being grown to diversify the agriculture
sector and also the construction of the
new airport which was like a big deal
Grenada is kind of like the twin that
blends in with st. Vincent and the
Grenadines as they share the last third
of the grenadine Islands with them and
people have been moving back and forth
between the two countries so often it's
almost hard to tell who is from where
anymore people in the south close to
Grenada even have a similar Grenadian
accent in the end they will always be
close to each other
in conclusion st. Vincent and his
thirty-two grenadine sidekicks are kind
of like the guys with the hook up in the
Caribbean you need a house built hit up
uncle Vinnie you need a boat ride hit up
uncle Vinnie you need the party rum DUP
or you better hit up uncle Vinnie stay
tuned Samoa is coming up next
[Music]