Title: Preface (Page 2)Caribbean islands mostly come in two kinds: "green" and "dry". The region is near the equator, i.e., it is tropical, with the sun in the sky 12 hours a day year round. That can be hard to live with in the desert, but on a Caribbean island it isn't too bad because the islands tend to be breezy, with that fairly constant flow of air they called the "trade winds" in the days of sail. But if the island is based on a coral reef so that the winds just flow across and dry out everything, it can have the same kind of ambiance as a desert. Admittedly it is a desert with beautiful sandy beaches fringed with palm trees, but we prefer it green.
The green islands are built on volcanos. A volcano will push its way up through the sea and eventually build up a mountain. Then the moisture-laden winds will blow up the sides of the mountain and get cooled by the high altitude air masses, and their moisture will precipitate out as rain. Eventually the rain will grind down the lava to soil and the constant rain will nurture a rain forest. The green islands have rain forests and plenty of nice clean water. If you take a Caribbean cruise, the odds are you are drinking water bought from one of the green islands.
There are intermediate, hilly islands, too, like Barbados and part of Guadaloupe, but most of the caribbean islands are either dry or green and we like the green ones.
St. Vincent is very green. In addition to the extinct volcanos whose craters are the sites of banana and coconut plantations, it even has an active volcano to add a bit of spice to life.
But besides being "green", St. Vincent wasn't a "tourist island". To continue, click on "Next" below.