The Last Paradise Islands of the Caribbean

White Island of Carriacou

The last paradise islands: places none of the guidebooks mention! They really do exist: untouched by civilization, with gently swaying palm trees, glistening white beaches and the turquoise-blue sea. Off the north coast of Grenada and in the midst of the Grenadines lie a handful of islands that seem as though they’ve been taken straight from a picture book: each of them a Caribbean dream. But the route to paradise is not easy.

By yacht or fishing boat - that’s the only way you’ll get to see the islands. Two of them are occasionally visited by day-trippers: Petit Tabac in the Tobago Cays and Sandy Island off the west coast of Carriacou. They have both been declared nature reserves which has made them fairly well-known.

The others are known only to a few locals and insiders: the second Sandy Island off the north coast of Grenada and the magical White Island. The latter is part of a deserted archipelago south of Carriacou - and inhabited by amazing primeval creatures.

"It’s a small Galapagos with a very special kind of flora and fauna", raves biologist Don Dorfman of Monmouth University in New Jersey. "The dominant species is the Morrocoy land turtle, a remote relative of the Galapagos turtles." Its habitat is a paradise. But time is running out.

"These islands are highly sensitive ecosystems", warns Kurt Cordice, manager of the Tobago Cays Marine Park. "A hurricane or underwater quake could destroy them anytime."

Maybe that’s the reason why the owner of White Island wants to sell his paradise. He is putting the island up for sale in the Internet for a seven digit US Dollar amount.

But there are also cheaper ways to a private Caribbean heaven. Russel Douglas bagged tiny Green Island without asking anyone and now leads a solitary life there. And a few hundred meters further on the same outer reef of Union Island, a clever resident built himself his own island made of snail shells. Overall costs: 1,500 dollars.