2 Best Sights in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

In 1815, under the supervision of British Colonel Thomas Browne, Carib and African slaves drilled a 360-foot tunnel through solid volcanic rock—an engineering marvel at the time—to facilitate the transportation of sugar from estates in the north to the port in Kingstown. Today, Black Point Tunnel (also known as Jasper Rock Tunnel) is the centerpiece of Black Point Historic and Recreation Park, which also has an interpretation center, children's playground, and bathrooms. The tunnel, just off beautiful (black-sand) Black Point Beach between Georgetown and Colonarie (pronounced con-a-ree), links Grand Sable with Byrea Bay. The park—a film location for the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl—is about an hour's drive from Kingstown and is open daily, 7 am to 5:30 pm.

Swimming at Black Point Beach is unsafe due to high surf and strong ocean currents.

In the village of Owia on the island's far northeastern coast and at least a two-hour drive from Kingstown, Owia Salt Pond is a natural saltwater pool created by the pounding surf of the Atlantic Ocean overflowing a barrier reef of lava rocks and ridges. The Owia Salt Pond Recreational Site, 217 steps up from the pond, has a peaceful garden with gazebos, a children's play area, and a surrounding forest that protects the steep slopes. The village itself is the home of many descendants of the indigenous Kalinago (Carib) people, as well as the home of the Owia Arrowroot Processing Factory (one of six such plants in St. Vincent). Long used to thicken sauces and flavor cookies, arrowroot is now also used in pharmaceutical products. St. Vincent produces 90% of the world's supply of arrowroot, but that is only a tiny fraction of the maximum levels exported in the 1960s. Take a pleasant swim in Owia Salt Pond and enjoy a picnic lunch on the adjacent grounds before the long return trip to Kingstown.