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Style: Brightly painted Caribbean island villa with colourful décor and fittings, simple but classic holiday home and hideaway among shoreside trees
The Beach: At the end of Tom’s Beach, rocky directly below the villa, but a short walk to sand nearby
The Rooms: Two small, brightly decorated bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, master with a queen size bed
Key features: Delightful choice for Carriacou villa rentals; full kitchen, ceiling fans and screens, telephone, DSL broadband, wrap around veranda with loungers.
Children: Younger children not advised, otherwise children accepted
Staff: Twice-weekly maid service (can be arranged more often) |
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Description
Yellow Bird is a delightful two-bedroom villa in Carriacou, Grenada’s small and quiet sister island in the Grenadines. It is a small and fairly simple house but a classic Caribbean holiday home, with a delightful barefoot atmosphere in keeping with the very low-key island. Yellow Bird has a central concrete core, with breezy windows and doors, and a veranda on three sides. Its name comes from a cheeky local bird, the bananaquit, but it also reflects the theme of the house, a colour of bright yellow that appears in the outside walls and in occasional pieces of furniture and upholstery.
Yellow Bird sits just above the shoreline in the Snow Hill area of Carriacou, a very quiet community of private homes to the north of Hillsborough. Like many of the houses in Snow Hill, it has a lovely view west to the islands in Hillsborough Bay and to the sunset beyond. You arrive at the house along a simple road through the coastal woods and then come to a yellow picket fence which marks the garden.
A path through tropical greenery - crotons and bougainvillea, coconut palms and bananas - brings you to a rear corner of the house. From here the veranda, flanked by criss-cross trelliswork, heads straight ahead along the side of the house, but most people enter by the front door, which brings you into the open plan kitchen and living room. This has a white tiled floor with white walls and a wooden ceiling. The kitchen is well equipped and has all you need to look after yourself for a holiday including a stove and a fridge freezer. The colour theme of the name Yellow Bird extends to the yellow cupboards and open shelves in the kitchen.
The sitting area of the main room, which is at the front of the house facing the sea, is not large, but it feels light because of the large windows and French doors that give onto the verandas either side. These have wooden frames and are screened rather than glassed, and so they give the rooms an airy tropical feeling. The living room has two wooden sofas around a low table and a couple of safari chairs. The walls are decorated with fishing rods and paddles, which sets a tropical holiday scene.
The living room gives onto the large veranda at the front of the house. This is laid with terra cotta tile and has an attractive wooden balustrade in classic criss-cross pattern. It is partly covered by an extension of the large tin roof, which is supported by pillars, but there is also a section in the sun where you can put the loungers when you want to sunbathe. There is also a living aspect to the veranda. The main dining table, which seats four, is located out here, along with some comfortable armchairs.
The bedrooms, both of which are brightly decorated, occupy the other side of the house from the living room. The master looks forward onto the front veranda. It has a queen bed. Behind it the other bedroom has double bed with a roll-out single. This room also has its own entrance onto a wooden section of the veranda at the side of the house. The bedrooms each have a small bathroom with a shower and a loo, and like the rest of the house, they are fan-ventilated and have screens on the windows.
The view from the veranda at the front of the house is delightful. It carries through the trunks of the occasional trees onto the sea of Hillsborough Bay. The town itself is partly visible and of course so is the sunset, past the islands Jack Adam, Mabouya and the palms of Sandy Island. In the garden around the house itself you will find cultivated tropical plants, including bananas and bougainvillea, so it has a nice, tropical feel. There are even limes and oranges within picking distance of the veranda.
Yellow Bird one of a number of Down Island rental villas in Snow Hill, a former plantation estate in the north of Carriacou where plots have been sold on which people have built private homes and villas. The house is simple by comparison with what you might expect in say, Barbados, or even in Grenada, but it has a comfortable feel about it, and it is very much in keeping with what Carriacou has always been, a lovely and distinctly ‘barefoot’ island. |
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Beach & Swimming
Yellow Bird is set on the shoreline just above Tom’s Beach. Beneath the house itself the beach is rocky, but if you walk farther along you will come to a stretch of sand. There is snorkelling not far offshore at both ends of the beach.
The closest of the island’s excellent beaches is at Anse la Roche, just north of Bogles. Although development is possibly on the cards, the beach has no facilities at present and so you will need to take all you want in the way of water and food. Alternatively you can head down to Paradise Bay on the other side of Hillsborough, another excellent stretch of sand, where there is a beach bar.
There is no pool at Yellow Bird. |
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Sports & Recreation
Watersports are limited on Carriacou. The scuba diving, however, is pretty good and there are several companies. Try Carriacou Silver Diving in Hillsborough, which is not far away. They will also rent you snorkelling gear.
There are several excellent day sails based in the island (people come from as far afield as Grenada for them), which visit the islands off Carriacou and also the Tobago Cays a few miles to the north. If you would prefer to travel independently, you can get one of the water-taxi men to run you out to Sandy Island off Paradise Beach. They are happy to pick up from the beach at Yellow Bird. |
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Locality
Yellow Bird is in the north of Carriacou, in a small villa community called Snow Hill close to the village of Bogles. Hillsborough, the island’s capital town (more of a village, really) is just a few minutes away. Here you will find supermarkets, a couple of ‘sites’, including the small museum, and a handful of restaurants, including Callaloo and the Garden Restaurant. Close by, towards Bogles is the Round House, a very nice restaurant set in a private house.
Beyond Hillsborough along the coast is Paradise Beach (though you have to go inland to get around the airport), which the liveliest beach on the island. And not far beyond here is Tyrell Bay, where there are several restaurants and bars to go with a fantastic view of the sunset through the yachts and local trading boats. Try Turtle Dove and Lambi Queen, or the bar on the pontoon in the bay.
There are also a number of islands off Carriacou, many visible in the distance from Yellow Bird, which make for excellent day trips. It is also possible to go there independently - the easiest to reach is Sandy Island, a ribbon of coral and sand just off Paradise Bay. You can arrange for a boatman to take you out there – and collect you again later in the day. |
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Useful Hints
Down Island Villa Rentals can arrange for a cooked meal to be delivered to Yellow Bird on your first evening so that you do not have to think about it on your arrival. They can also stock your villa with groceries in advance if you wish. After your booking is confirmed, Down Island will send out a provisions list so that you can choose what you require. Alternatively please see the Provisions List and email it to Down Island Villas when you confirm your reservation. The cost of the shopping will be added to your account. These services are subject to a service charge of up to 15%.
Getting to Carriacou
Getting to your villa in Carriacou can be a little complicated. The easiest access is probably via Grenada, from where there are about three daily flights on SVG Air. However the latest flight is at about 4pm, so (depending on your international connections) you may not be able to make the island on the same day. You might consider a two-centre holiday with a villa in Grenada. Another option is the fast ferry, the Osprey, which runs twice daily both ways between the islands. The last sailing to Carriacou from downtown St george's is at about 5.30pm.
Barbados is better served with international flights than Grenada and so it may be easier to route your journey via there. Inter-island flights are not ideal, but you can take a share charter flight to Union Island. From here there are two different options, a short hop by plane (be aware that the last flight usually leaves by about 4pm) or a water taxi ride from Union Island to Carriacou. Another option to consider from Barbados, the most direct of all, is to take a private charter in a small plane. This is obviously convenient and if there are enough of you, prices will be comparable. The option of a private charter probably gives you the best chance of getting to Carriacou on the same day. Contact SVG Air.
A couple of days a week there are also services from Carriacou via Canouan, which is not far away in the Grenadines. Canouan can be reached from San Juan in Puerto Rico.
For more details on flight times, please see Getting to Carriacou. |
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Rates
| | 16 Apr-15 Dec 2009 | 16 Dec-15 Apr 2009-10 | 16 Apr-15 Dec 2010 | | Yellow Bird (sleeps 4) 1-2 guests Extra persons Child 2-12yrs | 120 20 10 | 150 20 10 | 120 20 10 | Rates are quoted in US$ per night and are subject to 10% service charge. All rates are subject to change without notice. Minimum rental 6 nights between 16 Dec-15 Apr. A deposit of 25% of the total rental cost is required to confirm bookings and is refundable less 10% if cancelled 60 days prior to arrival and is non-refundable if cancelled within 60 days of arrival. Full payment due 60 days prior to arrival. |
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How to Book
If you wish to make further enquiries or a reservation, please use the WEB LINK or DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility at the top of this page to make contact with Down Island Villas in Carriacou, or if you wish to telephone them, their telephone number will be revealed if you click on the CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER link. If you wish to see more villas available for rent on Carriacou, please see our review of Down Island Villas. |
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Meet & Greet
Down Island Villas will meet you at the airport or the ferry dock in Hillsborough when you arrive on Carriacou. They will take you to Yellow Bird, where the housekeeper will settle you in and answer any questions you have about the villa or about the island.
On departure, most guests drive themselves back to the ferry dock or the airport, but if you would prefer, Down Island will arrange transport for you free of charge. |
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Getting Around
A car is a useful addition to a Carriacou villa rental. You can explore the island, visit the beaches for the day, eat out when you do not want to cater for yourself and collect your groceries. We recommend a rental car with every Caribbean vacation villa rental and suggest that you make a reservation in advance through Down Island Villas, who use our recommended Carriacou car hire company, Martin and Wayne Jeep Rentals. Or you can do so through your travel organiser.
Down Island’s delivery driver will bring the jeep to Yellow Bird so that you can complete the paperwork. They will then accompany you to the Police Station in order to get you your local Grenadian driving licence (price EC$30 for each driver), and give you an orientation tour of Hillsborough and the area at the same time. Be aware that at the height of the season between December and April, as well as during August and Thanksgiving (November), cars on island can be booked up, so it is a good idea to reserve one in advance.
Buses do run around the island, from Hillsborough past Snow Hill to Bogles and across to Windward. You will need to walk down to the main road. Services are unpredictable. |
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