The 23-mile ferry ride aboard Osprey Lines from southeast Grenada to Carriacou (carry-a-coo) takes two hours and a strong constitution, as there are often choppy waters en route, but the trip is well worth it.
The people of Carriacou are called kajaks, from the Amerindian word kayryouacou, which means "Land of Reefs."
It was on Carriacou that I met Anthony Lawrence, a 68-year-old shipbuilder.
Lawrence builds wooden boats. The one he was working on when I met him in the village of Windward was 65 feet long, 18 feet wide and 8 feet deep and made of mahogany, teak and white cedar.
"I've been working on it for two years," he said. "I will finish by the end of the year and will launch it in January. I will name the boat when it is in the water after the priest blesses it with holy water."
Fishing and agriculture are the mainstays of the island's economy, along with tourism, according to the tour guide who drove me around the island in his white van.
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"We get about 1,000 tourists a year, mostly daytrippers from Grenada, but we have about six hotels, and some people come and stay awhile," he said.
Tyrell Bay is a favorite anchorage for yachts and sailboats touring the Grenadines.
Carriacou has great snorkeling sites located at Sandy Island, a spit of land a five-minute boat ride from Paradise Beach.
I had a lunch of breadfruit, sweet potatoes, rice balls, beans and fruit punch at Joan's Beach Bar at Paradise Beach.
Carriacou is hilly, lush and dotted with small villages and settlements.
The Carriacou Museum in the capital of Hillsborough is housed in an old cotton mill and has exhibits depicting the island's African, French and British history.
The tour guide took me to High Point North, the highest point on the island, with views of Petite Martinique and other neighboring islands, and then to the Botanical Gardens, where the tropical foliage was a riot of colors and scents.
"We love our life and our island, and we welcome everyone," the tour guide told me as he dropped me back at the ferry dock for the return trip to Grenada.
Just the reason I would like to return, maybe skipping the ferry ride and opting instead for the 20-minute flight from Grenada.
Corrections: The ferry ride aboard Osprey Lines departs from southeast Grenada, not the northeast section of the island as a previous version of this article stated. Also, High Point North is the highest point on the island; a different point was named previously.