Last time we left you in Union Island in St Vincent and the Grenadines. This time we sail south again and visit the island(s) of Grenada.
First stop was the Island of Carriacou, where we signed in to the country after dropping the hook in Tyrell Bay.
It felt like a partial return to civilisation after islands of the Grenadines. Tyrell Bay was full of yachts at anchor in front of a long sandy beach with a port at one side and boat yards. The town even had a couple of supermarkets and some nice restaurants that we took advantage of. It wasn’t the most inspiring of places though and maybe we have been a bit spoilt in the Grenadines? We did have a great dinner of red snapper though purchased still barely alive from the local fisherman delivered directly to the boat
We spent a few days here and then decided to move South again down towards the main island of Grenada. Our interest was piqued by the little Ronde Island on the way down and we decided to stop the night in a delightful anchorage.
We took the canoe to the little scrap of beach and landed in the swell and then spent a couple of hours snorkelling off the beach where there was a large reef teeming with fish.
The next day we set sail to Grenada proper. It was a glorious sail across smooth seas and down the west coast of Grenada which is a very dramatic island
We ummed and arred about an anchorage on the west coast but it looked like we would have to take a mooring buoy, so eventually we sailed round the south west corner and dropped the anchor in the attractive Prickly Bay where for the purposes of this post, we have been ever since.
Time to go and explore the local area. First stop, the marvellous discovery of decent beer!!! After a little stroll along the main road in Prickly bay we came across a place we had spotted in the guide book called the West Indian Brewery Company. It had to be investigated further and we were not disappointed!
As you can see, a proper micro brewery was hidden inside and the really friendly staff bent over backwards to make sure you sampled all the delights they had to offer! Real beer at crazy cheap prices is a recipe for success if you ask me and we have spent one or two visits enjoying the delights.
Just round the corner from this is prickly bay marina who have a great restaurant too and the promise of live music. So one Friday night we paid them a visit and enjoyed this steel band
We’ve taken a couple of day trips out on the local buses. They are as ever excellent value as long as you are willing to brave the crazy driving the cramped conditions and the distinct lack of suspension. Also great fun too, but it is sometimes difficult to talk over the large reggae sound system that each bus carries! So we took the bus to go and visit Grenada’s captial St Georges. It was a very vibrant place full of hustle and bustle. The main attraction for Ailsa had to be the Grenada Chocolate Museum and Shop. For me it was the vies of the town as we strolled around.
With our confidence improving, we decided to embark on a longer bus journey to go and explore the mountainous interior of this beautiful island. This time it would involve picking up a second bus from St Georges and working out where to get off to go and visit the Seven Sisters waterfall. We made it relatively easily with a tortuous ride up the mountain, reminiscent but arguably not quite as crazy as our previous St Lucian bus experience. We paid our 5 $EC entrance fee (about £1.50) where given bamboo walking sticks and sent on our way with some brief instructions in to a magical rain forest experience.
The temperature we realised was a much balmier 25 degrees compared to the 30 or so degrees at sea level. So it was a pleasant stroll through the bamboo, navigating our way down some precipitous and slippery steps towards the waterfall (thank goodness for the bamboo walking sticks). The sounds of the birds were pretty raucous and it felt altogether very prehistoric. Finally we came upon a river in the forest and walked up towards the sound of falling water
I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a swim and it was lovely and refreshing although I couldn’t manage to get right in to the falls as the current was quite strong.
We took our time enjoying the falls and then hiked back out to the road. A couple of miles further along and we came to Grand Etang, a crater lake in a volcano that has been extinct for 12000 years, and was now full of goldfish! It let us know we were in a rain forest and started tipping down with rain. So refreshing though in this heat.
We even saw a couple of monkeys in the park!
After the long bus journey(s) back to the boat, we were pretty exhausted, but it was definitely worth the effort.
Join us next time when we explore a bit more of Grenada.