The capital of the Grenadines — kite-surfing on the world-class Ashton Lagoon, the gateway to Tobago Cays, and the sailing hub that local skippers actually use
Union Island is the southernmost inhabited island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — a hilly 8km² island functioning as the practical capital of the central and southern Grenadines. Its location 13km north of Grenada, with daily ferry connections to Palm Island, Mayreau, Canouan, Bequia, and the Tobago Cays marine park, makes it the hub of a Grenadines sailing circuit that most visitors pass through but which rewards staying. The Ashton Lagoon is a consistent trade-wind kite surfing destination. Clifton town has the best provisioning infrastructure in the outer Grenadines.
Union Island was settled by the British in the 18th century as part of the Grenadine plantation system — cotton and sugar, worked by enslaved Africans, on the island's limited flat land. After emancipation (1834), the economy shifted to fishing and subsistence farming; the population today (around 3,000) is predominantly of African descent. The most significant modern event was the 'Union Island Uprising' of December 1979 — a short-lived armed insurrection by the Rastafarian movement against the newly independent St Vincent and Grenadines government, suppressed by Barbadian troops within 48 h…