Day 14 Grenada

Grenada – known as the Spice Island - is the southernmost of the Windward Islands and is located 90 miles north of Trinidad and 68 miles south west of St Vincent.  It covers an area just 4/5 the size of the Isle of Wight, measuring 21miles long and 12 miles wide.  Its main industry like many other islands is tourism, but bananas, coconut, mangos, cocoa beans and of course various spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon etc are important exports for the economy.

By the time we woke and got out on deck it was around 7.30 and the ship was pretty much alongside the new jetty that has been built to accommodate cruise ships in St Georges.  Previously passengers would have to go ashore in tenders, making it a long a tedious process to get everyone off and back on the ship. 

It’s been a few years since we were last here, so we thought we’d do a short trip round just to see what has changed and whether there was any aftermath of hurricane Ivan, which devastated the island in 2004.  After the statutory full English, we were away early and into a minibus just after 09.00.  Driving through St Georges, the capital of Grenada, it was clear that some houses have simply been left to go to rack and ruin after the hurricane but most show signs of having been repaired or rebuilt.  Lots of buildings have clearly had new roofs.  St Georges itself has had some major building work done, mostly by some extensive land reclamation to build a new dock are for cruise liners and duty free shopping areas.  Having said that, the area around the old harbour, the Carenage, looks just like it used to, but with new shiny roofs on many of the old buildings. 

Our tour took us through dense forests, which have clearly re-grown after Ivan ripped many trees and shrubs out of the ground and up to Annandale Falls.  Strangely enough, we have never been here before.  Whist this is the rainy season in the Caribbean, Grenada has not had too much rain recently, so the waterfall, whilst impressive, was not at its best.  What was impressive was the young guys who climb to the top of the waterfall, probably 50-60 feet up then jump into the pool at the bottom.  Complete nutcases!

From the falls we went back into the rainforest to Grand Etang, where a green lake has formed in the crater of the volcano that once formed the island.  Again, there had been a lot of damage done by Ivan, but there was little or no sign of it as the forest had rejuvenated itself.

We headed back to St Georges then drove down to Grand Anse beach, which is about 2.5 miles of light golden sand.  Along the length of the beach are housed some of the premier hotels on the island, which according to the driver have been very under occupied this year.  He also reckons that La Source hotel, where we used to stay, is going to be sold out to Sandels Group.  We would have liked to go back to La Source, but the prices have been ridiculously high this year.  Perhaps that’s why occupancy has been low. Perhaps also, we should have done what we have done in the past and dealt directly with the hotel.  Too late now, we’re cruising, but Grenada is still remains our favourite Caribbean island.

We arrived back on the ship around 1.15pm and after cooling off we decided to do a bit of afternoon sun worshipping.  The temperature today has been just over 32 deg C (90F in old money), so it was bordering uncomfortable on the sun deck, but hey – we’re British, we can lay there and suffer in silence.

Captain Carr from Wigan’s words must have worked as all passengers were on board by 5.30 pm and we were soon casting off and heading into the sunset bound for Barbados.  This is the last port of call for the cheapskates who are only on board for two weeks.  It also means there will be a fresh intake of anaemic, pasty bodies wondering around the ship trying to work out where the hell the dining room is.  Then, after dinner, making the lifts work overtime trying to find the appropriate club or theatre for their evening’s entertainment.  However, it does seem strange getting to the end of two weeks, then finding you have another one to go – great.

At 7.20pm we have travelled 42 nm from St Georges, Grenada and have 133 nm left before arriving at Bridgetown Barbados at around 08.00 tomorrow.  We’re cruising at 12 knots and have just a 14 knot wind and 28 deg C.  The sea is pretty much flat calm.

After another sumptuous 5 courses, we headed off to the theatre for another dazzling display by the ships song and dance troupe, The Headliners.  The alternative entertainment this evening was the final of the passenger talent contest, Simply Red tribute act, which we were none too enamoured with earlier in the week or Karaoke in the pub.  Bit of a no brainer really.  The only problem with the show this evening was that the temperature in the theatre was rather warm and all 4 of us were imitating nodding dogs at various times throughout the performance.