Petit St. Vincent

I

PSV is one of the St. Vincent Grenadines' great success stories. Back in the late 50s Haze Richardson and Doug Terman quit flying for the US Air Force and with what little money they could beg, borrow and scrape, they bought an old wooden yacht called Jacinta and set sail for the Caribbean. They chartered and one of their clients was Willis Nichols who thought it would be fun to buy a Caribbean island and build a hotel. Haze and Doug were asked to build it, and started together, though eventually Doug went his own way and before his death was the highly successful author of spy novels. Haze got the hotel finished and tried to find a manager. This proved harder than he thought and for years was still there holding the fort, though later as owner. 

Haze, mid 70's and in great health died in a swimming accident in surf in Costa Rica in February 08. Lynn, his partner and widow, ran it for a few years. In November 2010, Lynn sold it to Freedom Resorts, a company co-owned by British property developer Robin Paterson and Texas-based former oilman Phil Stephenson. Robin and Phil, like Willis Nichols found the island while sailing.

PSV is a very quiet and exclusive resort where the guests get pampered in secluded stone cottages. Each cottage has a flagpole, used to summon room service, which soon appears in a mini moke. The hotel usually keeps full with rates at over $500 a night for a double cottage in season.  The hotel has an excellent boutique, right next to the bar. They are happy to accept yachtspeople as dinner guests, but limited space means they can only take three or four groups each day, so book well in advance. During the season when the bar is busy before dinner, yachtspeople are sometimes prevented from landing as the facilities cannot handle the load. (Guests with dinner bookings are of course welcome). 

since august 05