Canouan Island is located in the beautiful Grenadine Islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is a small island measuring only 3.5 miles (5.6 km) by 1.25 miles (2 km). It is located between the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans approximately 25 miles (40 km) South of St. Vincent and 99 miles (160 km) west of Barbados. The name “Canouan” comes from a Carib word meaning “island of turtles.
Canouan is a crescent-shaped island, surrounded by wide shallows and coral reefs, making it a snorkelers and SCUBA divers dream.
Canouan in History
In 1498, during Christopher Columbus’s third voyage to the Caribbean, he came upon a few inhospitable islands, one of which he sighted on 22nd January 1498 and named it St. Vincent after the Spanish Saint. The mountainous terrain of St. Vincent allowed the Caribs to resist settlement of the Europeans longer than any other Caribbean island.
Today, Canouan is inhabited by a population of 1,700 people, who happily reside in peace and tranquillity.
