The white crescent
Palms over the sand.
FishSpeaker — CC BY 3.0 · FishSpeaker — CC BY 3.0 · David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada. — CC BY 2.0 · FishSpeaker — CC BY 3.0 · David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada — CC BY 2.0 · Moiom — CC BY-SA 3.0
Salt Whistle Bay is a crescent of white sand between two seas at the north of tiny Mayreau, in the southern Grenadines. Leaning palms hang over the sand, with calm turquoise water on one side and Atlantic surf on the other beyond a narrow strip of sand. Mayreau is the smallest inhabited island in the Grenadines, about 1.2 square km, with about 270 people in one hilltop village. It can be reached only by boat. The village has a stone church from 1930, and the hill behind it looks over the Tobago Cays, Canouan and Union Island. The bay is a favourite yacht anchorage. You land by boat at the wooden jetty, then walk the sand under leaning palms and swim in the calm water. Small stalls on the beach sell bright cloth and serve food. From the sand strip you see both seas at once. The bay is 3.8 km north-west of the Tobago Cays and 7 km north-east of Union Island. The beach is free. The water is calm only on the west side, so do not swim on the Atlantic side.
Palms over the sand.
Calm and Atlantic.
Views of the Tobago Cays.
North of Mayreau island, southern Grenadines
By boat only, from Union or on a tour.
Only on the calm west side.