No cookie-cutter holiday in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent - Millions of moviegoers have seen the picturesque shores of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the second and third installments of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film series. But it's lesser known that the island-chain country packs a lot of spunk that predates the Captain Sparrow swashbuckling variety.

St. Vincent's rich history of rebellion still echoes in its rocky terrain and roars in its crashing waves. The native Caribs of the main island - later joined by formerly enslaved Africans who had either shipwrecked or escaped from nearby Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada - aggressively fought back against European settlement until 1719.

Today the island continues to boast a certain air of individuality, having not quite bent to the mores of tourism and commercialism that have become the lifeline of many Caribbean nations. It's that nonconformist attitude - colorful coastline doesn't hurt, either - that makes St. Vincent uniquely alluring, and so unmistakably "Vincy."

No cookie-cutter holiday

The main island, St. Vincent, is a haven for tourist-weary travelers. When you land at tiny E.T. Joshua Airport in the capital city of Kingstown, you won't be greeted by laminate-wearing resort porters and package-tour buses. Outside of the jovial "good morning" - typically uttered no matter the time of day - you are largely left to your own devices here. The vibe is akin to visiting family during the holidays: Everyone is warm and welcoming, and happy to see you, but no one is really looking to cater to your every care and whim. (But if hand-and-foot service is what you seek, there are options: Buccament Bay Resort is the only five-star, all-inclusive hotel on the main island.)

My love affair with St. Vincent was born in 2011, when my then-boyfriend Jamaal took me on a trip to celebrate his mother's birthday, whose family hails from the island. That first time, I remember it as the site of a terrifying/exhilarating mountainous car ride to the countryside in a makeshift van-turned-city-bus with well-worn shocks, packed with five too many people and about as many seat belts. There were subsequent visits too, involving further exploration, memories and good times. Last year, Jamaal and I got married there.

Sights and sounds in Kingstown

If you're not just visiting for the sunshine and beaches (or even if you are), an ideal first stop on St. Vincent is to wander around and soak in the languid bustle of the capital's city center. No one is really in a rush, but your senses will be busy with music and lilting chatter; rush-hour honking (or honking as a means of saying "hello"); colorful dresses and prints hanging in store windows; smells of curry and goat meat and the Caribbean Sea; and multicolored market displays of fresh mangoes, bananas, plums, oranges (which actually are green), breadfruit and starfruit. If you do nothing else in Kingstown, stop by a street vendor for roti and a mango. You won't be disappointed.

There are a lot of intriguing places to check out in the capital - my favorite is Fort Charlotte, a rocky outpost that hugs the harbor and a relic of the island's colonial years. Visitors may notice that many of the fort's cannons face inland. I was told, with solemnity and a hint of subdued mischief, that the British were more worried about the island's blacks and Carib Indians (and collaborating French) than they were about seafaring invaders. The structure boasts paintings by local artists, depicting historical uprisings - and the subsequent deportation of many of the revolters to Honduras' Roatan Island in 1797.

Kingstown also is home to the Botanic Gardens - the second oldest in the Western Hemisphere - where Captain William Bligh planted St. Vincent's first breadfruit. Originally from Tahiti, it is now the island's national dish. The gardens house a variety of native plants, trees and birds, many of which are endangered.

Around St. Vincent

For the adventurer, hiking up the active volcano La Soufrière is a must. Though there are guided tours (recommended), my husband led an admittedly ill-advised trek up the volcano with a handful of our wedding guests. They were spared by their sympathetic taxi driver who, upon dropping them off, urged one of the resident mountain men to please find them "so they don't kill themselves."

I'm told that the hiking experience was dicey at times, but scenic and thrilling: The group saw huge palm fronds and were soaked by rain that "fell sideways," and a couple misplaced, slippery steps that led down to deadly ravines were narrowly avoided. (I, meanwhile, was on my third rum punch at a full-service spa nearby.)

Of all the lodging options in St. Vincent, I love staying at Young Island, a private escape that's just a short boat ride away from gorgeous Villa Beach near the southern tip of the main island. A 24-hour water taxi takes guests to and from the resort, where they're greeted by well-manicured, colorful gardens, rustic thatched-roof cottages and palm canopies - which, for the more modest, come in handy while using said cottages' open-air showers. The resort has a "Swiss Family Robinson," deserted-island feel; during our honeymoon there, my husband and I literally lost track of time. More than a few times we'd suddenly wake up to find that we'd fallen asleep while lazying around on a beachside hammock and listening to the tropical rain.

"Little Big Island"

A few words of advice for classical-Caribbean beach bums: The main island is not known for its white-sand beaches, though there are sandy alcoves throughout, specifically along Villa Beach and on Young Island. Rocky and volcanic, St. Vincent is a well-known sailing and diving destination. Even five-star Buccament Bay, with its immaculate white sand and luxury-resort offerings, has its sand imported to fit the vacationers' ideal of a beach destination. You may have read about the exotic, chic St. Vincent beaches frequented by the likes of Tom Ford and the British royal family, but it's likely their escapades took place on one of the country's other islands in the chain - perhaps wealthy Mustique, whose Macaroni Beach has been named one of the world's sexiest, or Bequia.

Bequia, called "the Little Big Island" of the Grenadines, is a popular destination for both the well-heeled and the barefoot traveler alike. A 30-minute ferry ride or short plane hop from the main island, Bequia has white-sand beaches, dreamy beachfront hotels and plenty of activity options.

Like the main island, Bequia has excellent scuba and sailing excursions. The ecologically minded may want to catch a ride in an open-air Jeep to Park Bay to visit Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary to see one man's ongoing rehabilitation project for the region's endangered green sea turtle - or take a stroll to check out the many quaint shops, fruit stands and restaurants off Port Elizabeth Bay, and haggle for a good price on handmade clothing and souvenirs. But with the temperatures usually a delightful 80 degrees year-round, you'll want to get your swimsuit and sunscreen ready to lie on Princess Margaret Beach with a rum punch from Jack's Bar and watch the sailboats skitter across the cyan waters.

A happy place

Quirk can be found at other spots in the island chain. For instance, a local man gathered up piles and piles of discarded conch shells to build his own island on the shallow part of a reef near Union Island's Clifton Harbour. Now a worth-a-visit bar and grill, it's called Happy Island, and owner Janti Ramage is happy to offer visitors tours of his handiworked home base.

On one of our recent visits to St. Vincent, my husband and I stayed in the same Kingstown hotel as Italian-born, New York producer Roberto Mitrotti and his crew, who were filming St. Vincent promotional travel videos for the CBS web series "Compulsive Traveler."

I asked Mitrotti for his thoughts of this oft-overlooked island chain. "St. Vincent is a magical, very special place, especially for dive sites," he gushed. "For the amount of marine life, coral reefs - it's as good as Thailand and the Polynesian islands.

"There's an untouched quality here, an authenticity. With some overly tourist places you can get some phoniness. But here, it's warm and open and genuine. And just happy."