That was Grenada

We arrived, we saw and we conquered, sorry departed. Valent spent a very enjoyable 2 weeks in Grenada. We have now left and are making our way North to join up with our friends from the ARC+ in Admiralty Bay, Bequia. Port Louis Marina, Grenada was very welcoming. Not only did it differ to UK marinas in the fact that it was warm, but also small farmer’s markets popped up, the wildlife was a lot more exotic and there was a small private beach full of interesting objects and much more inviting than Lee-on-Solent.

During our stay in Grenada we took in an island tour, a short hike to the north of the island and also the cricket. On our hike we were able to pick bananas and nutmegs from the trees, see cacao pods, limes, papaya, roucou (lipstick tree), starfruit and sour cherries. The girls found the sour cherries particularly tasty. These differ from traditional cherries in that they have 4 pips inside instead of the single stone.

Our tour took in a large swathe of the island and included swimming in waterfalls, seeing rum produced in the traditional way (still with a working water wheel), chocolate production, monkeys in the rainforest and a swimming opportunity.

The River Antoine Estate Rum Distillery was established in 1785 and still uses the traditional rum production methods. They use a water wheel to crush the sugar cane. The juice is crudely filtered before being reduced in huge vats to make a syrup. This syrup is transferred by hand to the fermentation drums before being transferred to the distillation pots. After distillation it is transferred to barrels to await bottling, but not before the taster had checked it for alcohol content and taste. The resultant rum is 75% alcohol. This alcohol content is high enough for the product to be labelled explosive. Following a change in aircraft regulations following 9/11 aircraft are no longer permitted to transport spirits with this high an alcohol content. The distillery have therefore developed a second rum at a mere 69% proof that meets the regulations and can now be bought and flown home by tourists. Of course aircraft regulations don’t affect our purchasing choice, but I preferred the smoky taste of the 69% version.

The chocolate production is a mixture of the old and new, with bean sorting done both by hand and machine. Fermentation and drying are done on big trays outside. Unlike the rum production the manufacturing is done using more modern techniques and we were not permitted into the production area. However, the girls were able to taste this product!

The girls have also enjoyed some wonderful swimming and continued their education at the cricket – though Sophie thought it was just an expensive place to go and read.

We’ve now left Grenada, and after a short stopover on Carriacou, we proceeded to Union Island to check into St Vincent & The Grenadines. Once checked in we have moved up to Tobago Cays and plan to stay here a couple of nights before continuing north to Bequia for Christmas.