Caribbean Cruise 2022: Wednesday 19 January

So, we’re coming in to Grenada which we have never visited before and this is as far south as we will get on this cruise as we dock at St George’s at 12.03° north of the equator.

A former British colony, Grenada became independent in 1974, but with the Queen as head of state and Grenada is a member of the Commonwealth. After a series of coups and much instability, the US invaded Grenada to restore order and prevent Grenada becoming an ally of Cuba and the then Soviet Union. Unfortunately, President Reagan didn’t think to ask Margaret Thatcher or the Queen if their invasion was OK by the UK which led to some uneasiness between the UK and the US.

Please note: a lot of today's photos were taken through the minivan windows while we were on the move, so do please take that into account.

Grenada is almost at the bottom of the hurricane zone but, after 49 years without one, the island was struck by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 which caused a number of deaths and widespread damage, only to be followed by Hurricane Emily a year later.

We’re on a tour this morning, leaving at 0830 and lasting until 11am. Called “Grenada at a Glance”, it promises to be a whistle-stop tour of the best bits. We will see. Our waiter told us that there is a beach within walking distance so Elizabeth might get another paddle.

Well, what a revelation this morning has been. Elizabeth’s old school friend, Janet Bird, did say to us that it was a lovely place and it so is. Corner after corner, there was a stunning view across such a tidy island such that it was hard to take it all in. Roger, our driver, was a most lovely guide who told us just enough about the island and he also knew when to keep quiet. We saw beautiful houses, fabulous secluded beaches and yacht marina after yacht marina. We stopped at a number of places for photos and a bit of a walk around, but there were so many more that we could have stopped at but had to drive by. If only there were more time.

Parliament Building

As we came to the end of our trip, we realised that we wouldn’t be able to go to the beach the waiter mentioned. First of all was because we couldn’t be certain where it was and second, we’re not allowed beyond the port terminal unless we’re on a P&O shore excursion.

We did have a look round the shops etc in the terminal building and there was a really good souvenir shop which would seem to satisfy all tastes. Even better, there was free WiFi, although it did take a bit of getting in to. And then I was able to satisfy an ambition on this cruise – to have a Carib beer.

There was an island bar in the centre of the terminal area which served the sought-after bevvy. I asked them if they would take a credit card and it meant I had to go to a nearby jeweller’s shop to pay! I asked which currencies they would accept as cash and the answer was East Caribbean dollars, US Dollars, Euros and Pounds Sterling. We really must bring some next time as it’s easier to pay for sundries using cash than a card and we tend to have some doing nothing as left-overs from previous adventures.

We remembered that in 1970, Miss Grenada, Jennifer Hosten, became the first black woman to win the Miss World contest, which, at the time was the most watched TV programme in the world. The competition is also remembered for protests by women’s liberation activists which has recently been the subject of a film starring Keira Knightley and Keeley Hawes called Misbehaviour.

Rain forest in the distance. Grenada gets 12 metres of rain a year.

Back on board, we had lunch in the dining room. It was too hot to sit in the full sun on our balcony, so we knew we’d have to seek an outdoor location elsewhere on the ship.

One of our guide books describes Grenada as famously known as the ‘Isle of Spice’ and that it is a lush, mountainous island carved by deep valleys with beautiful waterfalls and cool freshwater streams. The island’s 132 square miles is blessed with both tropical rain forests and a bevy of white and black sand beaches. Grenada as a country includes the inhabited islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique as well as a handful of uninhabited islands. It lied at the foot of the Grenadines islands which stretch from Grenada north to St. Vincent.

Another of our ageing guide books says that you may well smell Grenada before you see it. It’s the world’s second largest exporter of nutmeg and also grows more spices per square mile than anywhere else on the planet.

It goes on to say that sailors down the ages have rated St George’s , the island’s capital as one of the world’s prettiest harbours. It is flanked by two forts, Fort George and Fort Frederick. The cruise ship docking area is, like on a number of other islands, land reclaimed from the sea and here it’s called the Careenage. There is a splendid waterfront which we didn’t have time to stop at and fully appreciate. Another time perhaps. There must have been at least five different tours on offer today, so there’s a lot more of the island still to see.

Looking back on our tour today, I realise that it was confined to a small area in the south-west corner of the island around the prosperous areas of Grand Anse Beach and Lance aux Epines.

Like most other islands in the Caribbean, Grenada relies on tourism for much of its income, but perhaps not to the same extent as some of the others. It does of course have the spice industry which earns it export income, although the spice-growing industry was almost completely wiped out by the two hurricanes almost 20 years ago.

The other big thing on the island at the moment is the construction industry and our guide told us that there was quite a building boom going on these days and we could see evidence of that. It seems that it centres largely on tourism and Grenada is proud of the fact that it has its own 6 star hotel, the Spice Island Beach Resort.

As we came back into St George’s towards the end of our tour and our guide was showing us along the beautiful waterfront there, he pointed out the large number of fishing boats which he said concentrated especially on catching tuna.

Area gouged flat by Cuban construction workers

Maurice Bishop International Airport - with a very long runway. Built by the Cubans during the revolutionary period, it was one of the main reasons that the US invaded in 1983 as they said it was more than a landing length for tourism and that it could be used by Soviet cargo planes as a staging post for their insurgency activities in Central and South America.