Loitering around in Grenada

At some point during the evening I am pleased to report that our suitcases did get delivered to our room. This meant that we could properly make ourselves at home including fixing our specially purchased magnetic hooks to the wall. This was a great tip from my lovely friend Sarah who had done this trip in the past. Unfortunately I’d purchased super strong magnets which meant that basically once they’d stuck to each other they’re virtually impossible to separate. However, they’re now doing a great job of holding up my hat and dressing gown.

Anyway…once we’d unpacked we had a reasonable nights sleep before waking up with the alarm at 6-30am. This may seem a little early (it is) but the trips ashore all start at about 8-30 to 9 so in order to be ready this is what’s required. We had breakfast back in the Islands Restaurant and then made our way off the ship and along the pier. Here we were greeted by the steel band and lots of people waiting for our various trips. Today we’d selected the Grenada Heritage tour. This involved us getting on a small traditional bus with wooden seats and open sides. We had a lovely lady tour guide who gave us interesting information about the island as we drove along. We started in St George’s weaving our way slowly through the narrow and steep streets. It was really colourful especially as the next day was Independence Day. In 1974 Grenada became independent from the UK and today they celebrate by covering everything, including themselves, in the islands colours of red, green and yellow. There were lots of interesting little stores with amazing colourful signs and it was very busy.

Once we left the town we wound our way up the mountainside through lush vegetation and colourful houses. There were plenty of roosters and a few goats to be seen along the way. At the top we made it to Fort Frederick which had 360 degree views back down to the port and our ship and over to the rainforest behind us. Our guide explained a little about the politics of the island. Basically after independence some friends from Aruba came over and decided they’d run the country. But they fell out and ended up having a bloody massacre in 1983 which then led to Ronald Reagan sending US troops in to stop the chaos. I couldn’t quite follow what happened next but by all accounts it didn’t go terribly well and our guide said that to this day, whilst it’s peaceful, lots of people are still afraid to talk about what happened. I’d thought it strange that, as we arrived at the fort, there was a lady with a rifle hanging casually over her shoulder. She didn’t seem to be wearing a uniform but it seemed a bit heavy handed for a parking attendant.

Next we continued our drive through the countryside. Stopping every now and then to look at a particular tree or other. Breadfruit, mango, avocado, nutmeg, cocoa and Akee. We passed the locals favourite beach which had beautiful milky turquoise waters and we stopped in a lovely park overlooking this where we got ripped off for $10 US for a couple of ice creams. But they were very welcome in the heat and mine was a particularly pleasing blue colour and Cotton Candy flavour.

Next stop was Grand Anse Beach. This is a spectacular stretch of beach with beautiful warm water and soft white sand. We sat in the shade of the palm and sea-grape trees drinking a Carib Beer. Stunning. We chatted to our new friends Shami and Jo who are sisters from Birmingham and the hour soon disappeared but it was lovely.

After this we joined the total gridlock on the way back to the port. We boarded the ship and spent the afternoon on the pool deck. I’m not a fan…it’s too busy and too noisy but at least we got sun beds (there are plenty) and discovered the indoor pool in the Glass House. This is a lovely cool and refreshing pool and very quiet. Hurrah.

Jane was intrigued by the fact that even this area had a restaurant offering. There is food on offer EVERYWHERE it’s really quite incredible.

In the evening it was the ‘Dress to Impress’ night so we did get all dressed up and gathered in the Atrium to watch the Captain introduce his crew leads. We met up with Jo and Shami and had dinner in the formal main dining area. We had a lovely evening getting to know them and as they are now our new best friends, we finished the evening off by going to the Silent Disco….but that’s another story….