Seahorse spotting in Caribbean waters

The seahorse’s fabled reputation for monogamy has been exposed as a myth and it appears that they have really been promiscuous flirts all along! The salacious revelations come from the National Seahorse Breeding Centre in the UK and they are expected to increase interest in the beautiful little creatures and one of the best places to see them is in the waters around the Caribbean island of St Vincent.

A good base for experienced scuba divers and snorkelers hoping to spot seahorses is Young Island (youngisland.com) , a truly tropical, 35 acre island resort 200 metres off shore from St Vincent. There are a number of Caribbean Slender Seahorse families resident along Young Island’s northern coastline where, according to this new research, they have been playing sex games and enjoying wife swapping for years!

The resort offers free use of small dinghies and windsurfers and provides snorkelling equipment for guests wishing to view the seahorses and other abundant sea life, while a number of nearby outfits can take experienced divers out on more ambitious undersea safaris.

Young Island is basically an enormous, exclusive tropical garden with cottage accommodation dotted about amongst the lush foliage. Recent developments at the resort include the addition of two new luxury Hillside Plunge Pool suites which join the other cottages, some situated along the beach while others are like giant tree houses on the hillside which offer incredible birds’ eye views over the island and the sea.

Also recently opened is Spa Kalina which sits amongst the colourful shrubs and offers a selection of pampering treatments in completely relaxing and peaceful surroundings.

Many leading tour operators offer holidays at Young Island. Caribtours (caribtours.co.uk) offers a week’s all inclusive accommodation at the resort from £1,462. The price includes return Gatwick-Barbados and Barbados-St Vincent flights and transfers.