Getting to know Grenada...

Walking on the trail to the waterfall.

The first week we were here took a little adjustment to get expectation to meet with reality and somehow since then, we have quietly slipped into the comfortable cruisers life here and had opportunity to really see some of the incredible beauty of this island and it's people. They sure don't call it the "Spice Island" for nothing. Everywhere you go, your senses are treated to the most wonderfully exotic smells of the flowers, the trees, the sea and all the different spices and herbs that grow abundantly wild here. We got together with a few of the other cruisers we've met and did a tour of the island with one of the guides called "Cutty". He's spent most of his life here, but has also traveled and worked abroad. The day started with a stop at a local spice shack and a very informative demonstration of what grows here and it's various uses. We sampled cinnamon, lemongrass, coco, tumeric, mimo, noni, vanilla, nutmeg, ylang ylang, fig, bay leaves, citrus leaves and a few others - all fresh and growing on the sides of the roads everywhere. Our next stop was at one of three main waterfalls on the island. This was fabulous because we got to stop and have a swim and man, it sure felt good to dive into fresh water and not have to worry about turning off the tap to conserve!! There were a few locals jumping off the top of the falls wowing the few tourists that were there and happily taking a few EC dollars in return.

One of the waterfalls on Grenada.

Having a wonderful dip in the waterfall pool
After the dip, we were off to the Antoine Rum Distillery which is the oldest functioning rum factory in the world. It was founded in 1875 and is still in production today. The giant waterwheel turns the giant gears that turn the crusher that crushes the cane into liquid that gets boiled down that gets turned into 150 proof rum. The process is a great deal less than sanitary, but apparently that doesn't matter when your finished product is 150 proof liquid explosive. Absolute firewater, but who can tell when you mix it with enough fruit juice and coconut milk?

Another stop was the cocoa processing plant where local farmers bring their cocoa pods and sell them to the processors.

Learning all about the cocoa process - the cocoa bean starts out as a slimy sweet seed in a large pod...

...and ends up as a dried cocoa bean that looks like a dark almond. They are shipped all over the world like this and further processed into other things.

As we drove through the middle of the island, we passed through Grant Etang National Park which is part of the rain forest. This was a much anticipated stop for us as this is where the monkeys come out of the rain forest to greet people and hope for a mango or banana in return. We waited for quite a while and listened to Cutty'c monkey calls, but as luck would have it, this is mating season for the little guys and they were obviously more interested in that than our lousy little fruit offering. Fortunately, the regular island bus passes right through here, so it will be easy to make a return trip and hope to experience the monkeys.

Sugar Cane being pressed at the rum distillery.

This will eventually be something drinkable - not sure I'll drink rum anymore.


In addition to the island tour, we've also made several trips to downtown St. Georges which is the main shopping, financial and economic district. On one of those trips we were admiring the old brick buildings and learned from one of the locals that most of the bricks on the island came over as ballast in ships from England in the 17 - 1800's and were traded for rum and spices. Pretty good trade for the English, I'd say.

One of the many old brick buildings - bricks were originally traded for rum and spices.

It's become something of a ritual that we start the day with coffee in the cockpit and discuss plans for the day and watch the boats that are leaving the bay for other destinations and in the evenings we watch who is arriving into the bay from points north. Two weeks ago, we were enjoying the end of the day in the cockpit and had mentioned how nice it would be to see our friends from the boat LaLa. We thought they would be coming to Grenada at some point, but didn't know when, or if they would come to Prickly Bay or one of the other many anchorages here. A few days ago, while enjoying a sundowner in the cockpit and watching the boats come in, low and behold, there came Lala around the corner with Henrick posing on the bow. We were so delighted to see them and feel like we've run into old friends. Olivia and Lala (their 11 year old daughter is also named Lala) have been hanging out and really enjoying each others company also.

Olivia, Lala and Inanna playing on the beach.


Last week, one of the marinas held a "Boat Jumble and Craft Fair" so we went to check it out and socialize a little with the other cruisers. I bought a few small watercolor pictures from one of the artists I enjoy to bring to our house (when we figure out where that is). In conversation with the artist, she mentioned that she was putting on a water color class for children that week and that while most of the kids were a little older, Olivia would be welcome to attend. Anyone that knows our little girl knows that she LOVES to paint or do any type of artwork, so she was very excited to get to go to this class (which is held in a marine pub like every other social event). I got caught up on my email while she listened intently to the teacher and created her masterpiece and I have to say that for a four year old, she did a great job!

The teacher's painting.


Olivia's interpretation - not bad for a four year old.