Mention a Caribbean Island Resort on Canouan in the Grenadines to anyone and they automatically think of Raffles, but the Tamarind Beach Resort and Yacht Club is very well worth checking out, and apart from the fact it is a lot less money, it is in fact a very good place to spend a Caribbean Island Vacation.

It has just forty rooms, so if you prefer small and beautiful to big and glitzy this could be right for you. Tamarind Beach sits on a long white sand beach surrounded by tropical gardens, and the location is absolutely stunning.

To get to this Caribbean Island resort is just a short hop by a small plane from St Lucia, and you will be met by someone from the Tamarind who will drive you the ten minutes it takes through the main village to the resort. You will quickly be aware of the mossies, so you will need your bug spray. Greeted at the Tamarind by a nice cooling drink, you will realise very quickly how friendly the staff are, and this compares very favourably with many other Caribbean Island Resorts.

The regular rooms are completely lined in lovely polished wood from the floor to the walls, to the decking that leads straight out onto the beach, as all rooms are beachfront. If you can afford it, and if you were even considering Raffles then you will be able to afford a Suite at Tamarind Beach Hotel. The suites are lovely, and they include a microwave and a coffee maker, a living room and a separate bedroom. The living room has a day bed and a coffee table, and a large balcony with chairs and loungers. Being up on the second floor there is more breeze, and there is no need to leave the air-conditioning on when you go out, just leave the shutters open. The screens will keep out the bugs, and you will only need air conditioning to sleep at night. There is a king size bed and a nice bathroom.

A Caribbean Island Vacation would not be complete without a great beach, and the beach at the Tamarind Beach Hotel and yacht Club is one of the nicest and best swimming beaches in the whole of the Caribbean. There are several beach loungers for the guests of the Tamarind, and a beach area valet to look after you. Non guests, mostly visiting people from the yachts which are moored offshore have to pay for the privilege, so the lovely white sand beach is hardly ever remotely busy, and the water warm and clean with no dangerous rocks to stub your toes on.

There is complimentary sunfish sailing, snorkelling, and windsurfing.

Food is another important consideration in any resort never mind a Caribbean Island resort, where lets face it the food can be quite mundane. Not so at the Tamarind Beach where the food is very good, whether you are eating a beach snack at the Pirates Cove Bar, or a meal at the Palapa Restaurant, an open air restaurant right at the waters edge.

Be clear, Canouan as a Caribbean Island vacation spot is not the kind of place for frenetic partying, and there is very little shopping. The Tamarind beach Hotel Resort and Yacht Club is a place for peace and quiet, and gentle unwinding.