Saint Vincent (island) - Geography of The Island

Geography of The Island

Saint Vincent is 18 miles long and 11 miles wide and is located 100 miles west of Barbados. It is dominated by the 4,048-foot-high, active volcano, called La Soufriere, which erupted violently in 1812 and 1902. The most recent eruption was on "Black Friday", April 13, 1979. The island is very mountainous and well-forested. Saint Vincent island belongs to the Lesser Antilles chain. The island has a total surface area of 344 km² (about 88% of the total country area), 19 times that of the country's second largest island Bequia, and the coasts measure about 84 km, The island is tropical humid, with an average of between 18 and 31 °C depending on the altitude.

Mainland St Vincent is one of the few places on Earth that can boast having black-sand as well as white-sand beaches in the same country.

There are places where there is just a rock that borders the black-sand beach from the white-sand beach. The black sand, which was formed by the action of the volcano, is said to be able to provide one of the minerals that is needed by the human body. The majority of the beaches on the mainland have black sand (more than 95%). Most of the beaches in the Grenadines have white sand.

For many years the black sand was used in the building industry. During recent times, because of the destruction to the coastal areas, the government has restricted the amount of sand that can be removed from the beaches, and the beaches from which sand could be removed. This sand is still used in the construction of pitched roads, as it blends in nicely with the colour of the asphalt used for road construction.