Map › Saint Vincent and the Grenadines › Union Island / Grenadines
Destination · tier 2 · medium guide
Union Island / Grenadines
Union Island is a tiny (9 sq km), quiet, yacht-and-sailing-culture island at the southern end of the Grenadines chain, with its own small airport and easy boat access to the Tobago Cays Marine Park and neighboring islets. It suits travelers who want a slow-paced, mostly car-free island as a base for island-hopping by boat rather than a built-up tourist destination — and note the island took a severe hit from Hurricane Beryl in July 2024, so it's worth checking current on-the-ground conditions before booking.
in-season months (from spot data)
How it scores for you
Persona presets weight the scores below for one kind of rider. Each carries the weakest confidence among its parts — never an average that hides a gap.
score-spec v1 (shrunk to coverage) — a score built on little evidence is pulled toward the middle rather than shown as a confident extreme. Hover a tile for its confidence.
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What nobody tells you first
- Given the July 2024 Hurricane Beryl damage, confirm the current status of accommodation, ferries and infrastructure directly before traveling — recovery timelines were not verifiable from the sources used here.
- Ferry schedules to/from Kingstown are infrequent (fast ferry roughly daily; slower cargo boats a few times a week) — plan connections loosely.
Spots here
Tobago Cays / Mayreau tier 3
flat water over a shallow reef bank, with seagrass and coral · 15-25 kn · not for beginners
The Tobago Cays are five small, uninhabited islands (Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau, Baradal, Petit Tabac and Jamesby) protected within the Tobago Cays Marine Park,…
Union Island tier 2
flat water lagoon plus open flat-water riding area · 15-25 kn · beginner ok
Union Island is the southernmost inhabited island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a small (about 9 sq km) volcanic island with its own international airpor…
Moonhole tier 3
chop · · not for beginners
Moonhole is a kite spot on the south-west tip of Bequia, in the Grenadines, a short walk from the island's airport. The NE trade winds get turned to SE/ESE and …
Mopion Island tier 3
flat · · not for beginners
Mopion Island is a minute sandbar islet in the far southern Grenadines, near Petit St Vincent, accessible only by boat and with no facilities of any kind. It of…
Getting there & getting around
| airports |
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|---|---|
| transfers | The MV Jaden Sun fast ferry runs from Kingstown (St Vincent) in about 2.5 hours, stopping at Bequia, Canouan and Mayreau; slower cargo/mail boats (MV Barracouda, MV Gem Star II, MV Guidance II) take 5+ hours. A local ferry connects to Carriacou on Mondays and Fridays. |
| car needed | no |
| road quirks | Described as 'a very quiet peaceful island with little traffic' — small enough to get around on foot, by golf cart or taxi; the outer cays (Tobago Cays, Mayreau, Palm Island, PSV) are reached by boat, not road. |
Where to stay
| zones |
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|---|---|
| better base nearby | Mayreau (tiny, closer to Tobago Cays for day-tripping) or Bequia (bigger, more infrastructure, reachable by the same ferry line) as alternative bases along the chain. |
Practical
| money | Eastern Caribbean dollar (XCD), the currency across Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. |
|---|---|
| sim internet | Internet access is available in Clifton town; coverage is thinner on the outer cays. |
| language | English is official; some merchants also speak French or German given the yachting trade. |
| costs | examples: |
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| seasons beyond wind | Semi-arid climate with a dry season December–June and a rainier season June–December. |
Scene & life
| vibe | Slow-paced, sailing/yachting culture rather than a party scene. |
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| rider hangouts |
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| activities |
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| day trips |
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| pairs with | Island-hopping the Grenadine chain — Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Carriacou and Grenada are all a short flight or ferry away. |
Events
- Easterval (a multi-day Easter festival)
- Marron/Maroon Festival (May–June, a rain-blessing celebration)
- Full Moon Party
- Boxing Day Fair (December 26)
- Carnival
History & trivia
- Union Island's volcanic peaks have earned it the nickname 'the Tahiti of the West Indies.'
- Hurricane Beryl struck in July 2024 and devastated the island, leaving most residents homeless and infrastructure badly damaged — the scale of the ongoing rebuild as of 2026 was not confirmed in the sources checked.
What riders say
Wind micro-knowledge
Open questions — know the answer? Propose an edit
- No rider-forum, Reddit, or blog content could be retrieved this session (see batch-level tooling_note).
- Unknown current (2026) rider reports on post-Hurricane-Beryl kite conditions/infrastructure at Union Island and Tobago Cays.
- Unknown whether the sailing/yachtie community that dominates Union Island chatter (Facebook groups like 'Grenadines Sailing') carries meaningful kitesurf-specific discussion or if kiters there are a marginal, unorganized minority.
- No rider forum/community content could be retrieved at all for Union Island/Tobago Cays kiting - needs a retry with a different network path (residential proxy, authenticated Reddit API, or manual browser session) or targeted URLs supplied directly rather than discovered via search.
- Are there any active Grenadines-specific kite/sailing Facebook groups or WhatsApp communities riders reference?
Schools
Itinerary idea
Base in Clifton, day-trip by boat to Tobago Cays and Mayreau, and use Union's airport/ferry links to hop onward to Bequia, Mustique or Grenada.
Sources: en.wikivoyage.org · en.wikipedia.org
Last verified: research pass of Aug 2026. Prices and rules drift — propose an edit if you know better.