Lost a ring in St Vincent and the Grenadines?

Villa Beach and Indian Bay, on St Vincent's south coast, are good for swimming and snorkeling. Both are about 20 to 25 feet wide, so pin where your towels were and where you went into the water.

Young Island, just off the south coast, is taken up by a private resort, and its beach, about 200 yards from the Villa dock, can be reached only by sea. Blue Lagoon, the last beach along the southeast coast, is surrounded by palm trees and used for swimming, diving and snorkeling. If something went on the boat ride across, say so.

Ferries come in at the main dock in the center of Port Elizabeth, Bequia's main town. The Belmont Walkway runs from there along the southern side of Admiralty Bay, past restaurants and dive shops at the water's edge. Just beyond it is Princess Margaret Beach, also called Tony Gibbons Beach, often calm, with an area for snorkeling.

Lower Bay lies within the protection of Admiralty Bay, and its long stretch of sand is excellent for swimming, so say which part of the beach your towels were on.

Friendship Bay is a sheltered, south-facing bay on Bequia's windward side, with a broad golden sweep of sand and a hotel right on the beach. At the western end, below the village of La Pompe, fishing boats are drawn up on the sand. Industry Bay, on the northeast side, is protected from the Atlantic waves by reefs, and people swim and snorkel there.

Britannia Bay, on the leeward coast, is a natural anchorage with the wharf and jetty, and Lovell Village at its northern end. Mustique is lapped by both the Atlantic and the Caribbean, and Pasture Bay is wild and windswept. A ring dropped off a tender at the jetty is a different search from one lost on the beach.

Charlestown Bay, also called Grand Bay, lies just off Charlestown, the main settlement, and visiting sailboats use it. Windward Bay on the east coast has calm water protected by the barrier reef, a great place for swimming. Friendship Bay on the south coast has a sweeping stretch of white sand and a resort hotel, and South Glossy Bay looks out over the Southern Grenadines. Bequia has a Friendship Bay too, so name the island.

Salt Whistle Bay is at the north end of Mayreau, and the ferry between St Vincent and Union Island puts in at the jetty in Saline Bay, in the south. East of Mayreau, Horseshoe Reef encloses the Tobago Cays except Petit Tabac, an isolated beach just outside it. Yachts anchor in the center of the main lagoon and at the northwest edge of Petit Tabac.

Clifton, the busier of Union Island's main villages, has the ferry wharf, with the airport close by. Chatham Bay fills almost the whole west coast, and Ashton Harbour on the south coast is a sheltered, shallow lagoon behind Frigate Island and an offshore reef. Palm Island, a short distance southeast of Union, is occupied by a resort, and day boats usually land at the southern end of its west coast beach, where a bar is open to visitors.