Canouan is usually said to take its name from a Carib word for turtle, and turtles are still what many visitors remember: hawksbills and greens feeding over the seagrass at the Tobago Cays, a short boat ride to the south. The island itself is a few kilometres long, hooked in shape, with a barrier reef running down its Atlantic side. It belongs to St Vincent and the Grenadines and sits roughly midway along the chain. What to wear on Canouan is a question with a narrow range of answers, because the island offers a narrow and very agreeable range of things to do.

Geography divides it in two. The northern part is a private estate of hills, villas, a golf course laid across the ridges and a resort on a long white beach inside the reef. The south holds the village of Charlestown on Grand Bay, the airstrip, a second cluster of hotels and beach houses, and at Glossy Bay a marina built for large yachts. Guests move between these by golf cart and by boat. There is very little walking on hard ground and almost none in shoes, which makes this one of the few destinations where a wardrobe can be built entirely around heat, salt and wind.

The wind is the defining condition. The north-east trades blow across the Grenadines for much of the year and are strongest in the dry season, from about December to May. On the windward lagoon they keep the kitesurfers busy; on the leeward beaches they take the edge off a sun that, at this latitude, is fierce from mid-morning. Linen is well suited to both facts. An open weave lets the breeze through, and a long sleeve keeps the sun off the forearms without adding warmth. The Bliss Linen Shirt, cut with a long sleeve, in Vanille or Sky Blue is the garment for a day that includes lunch in the open.

Most days include the sea. A boat to the Tobago Cays, a group of small uninhabited islands inside a horseshoe reef, is the excursion nearly every visitor makes, and it usually takes in a swim with the turtles and lunch on a beach. Swimming is done in PP natural swim shorts, in Sapphire Blue, Oatmeal or Roosewood Pink, and the linen stays aboard. A linen shirt is for the deck and the beach afterwards, kept dry in a bag while the snorkelling is going on. The natural swim shorts close with a walnut button at the back pocket.

For women the daytime pieces are the ladies linen set and the PP linen blouse. The set, a blouse and shorts in the same cloth, comes in colourways that suit Caribbean light well: Coral Orange, Mint Green, Sky Blue, Lemon. The blouse on its own, in Pink or Orchid, goes over a swimsuit for the golf-cart ride to lunch. The Amelia linen dress shirt is the piece that crosses into evening. With its classic collar and curved hem, it is at ease at a beach bar at six and at a dinner table at eight, and its Hibiscus and Coral Orange colourways sit well in this kind of sunset light. All are shown in the women's linen collection.

Evening on Canouan is more considered than the daytime suggests. The island's smarter restaurants generally expect men in long trousers and a collared shirt at dinner, and beachwear is not worn after dark. It is worth confirming the code with the hotel before travelling, since it varies by venue and season. PP Trousers 100% Linen in White with a Monte-Carlo Male shirt in Vanille is a composed answer; PP Casual Linen Trousers in Sapphire Blue or Oatmeal with a Laos Short Sleeve Linen Shirt in White is a more relaxed one. Sleeves are a matter of preference. The nights stay warm throughout the year.

Rain needs a brief mention. From roughly June to November the Grenadines have their wetter season, with showers that tend to arrive quickly and pass. Linen in humid weather, and in a shower, behaves well: it becomes heavier while wet, dries in moving air and is none the worse. What it does not enjoy is being packed away damp, so a shirt caught in the rain should be hung in the breeze before it goes back in a bag.

There are tennis courts at the larger properties, and the PP Natural Tennis Set, a shirt and shorts in certified Belgian linen, suits play in warm air; White, Oyster and Vanille are the classic choices. The garments are handmade in PP's Dubai atelier and in Belgium. PP is not presented on Canouan; the nearest place to see the collection in the Caribbean is Four Seasons Resort and Residences Puerto Rico.

A week here leaves little impression of having dressed at all, which may be the highest compliment an island can pay to a suitcase. A few linen shirts, something for the water and long trousers for the evening cover every hour Canouan has to offer.

What to Wear on Mustique  ·  What to Wear on Bequia  ·  What to Wear in St Vincent and the Grenadines