The Spice Isle, Pt III - Final Preparations

Along with the planning for our three days of exploration of Grenada, I also planned; a half-day visit to St George’s, travelling via local bus; a visit to Bel-Air Children’s home, which is near The Grenadian, to drop off some donations, and a snorkel tour. Initially I also wanted to go on a sunset cruise on our last evening, but couldn’t find a scheduled tour and a private tour was beyond our budget, so I gave up on that idea.
 

Magazine Beach adjacent to The Grenadian



ScubaTech's Dive Boat

Over the internet, I contacted ScubaTech Dive Shop to book a snorkel tour to take us to visit one of the numerous reefs and the Underwater Sculpture Park off Moliniere Point. I found ScubaTech via the Skyviews Map site – it has links to a number of attractions and services embedded within the map. Reviews of the Underwater Sculpture Park left me feeling dubious about it, as some mentioned the statues were very deteriorated and the water was not very clear. When I mentioned this, Sabine at ScubaTech assured me it was worth a visit and my wife wanted to see it, so I booked the tour for Wednesday January 30^th in the afternoon. The tour would include a stop at the reef in Flamingo Bay. Sabine was also helpful with advice on my itinerary.

 

Praying Woman Sculpture at Moliniere Pt.

Getting some good photos of the sculpture park and the reef was a priority for me, so I decided to buy an underwater camera for the purpose. I had some previous experience using a camera underwater in St Lucia. I didn’t like having to hang on to the camera the whole time I was snorkeling so I bought a snorkel mask with an integrated camera – a 5MP Liquid Image Videomask 310, which is capable of taking video and photographs.

 

Lastly, I arranged the rental vehicle. I knew from experiences in Jamaica and St Lucia, renting a small 4X4 would allow us the most freedom to explore off-the-beaten-path places of interest. After checking prices, I first tried submitting reservations through the TravelGrenada website. When I didn’t hear back from Thomas & Sons or TravelGrenada Car Rentals, I decided to try Azar’s. When I didn’t hear back from them after submitting a rental request via an online form, I sent a follow-up e-mail, as I didn’t trust the online reservation request went through successfully. To be on the safe side, I also contacted Dabs Car Rentals. Dabs was quick (by Caribbean standards) to confirm availability, so I decided to book with them, which is just as well as Azar’s replied stating they were fully booked.

 

 

 

Getting the price-drop guarantee from Air Transat was a stroke of good fortune, when, at the end of December, I noticed the price for our trip had indeed dropped by $160 per person (pp). I e-mailed the travel agent regarding the price drop and she replied stating the price had actually dropped by $240 pp so we would be receiving a refund of $480; almost 20% of the total cost!

The Spice Isle, Pt II - Planned Exploration





Young St. - St. George's Town

Most of my research and planning for our trip to Grenada revolved around the 3 days I planned to drive around the island. Initially I planned to spend one day exploring the north end, one day for the central region and the third day touring the southern region. Grenada is not that big, however the list I accrued for the first and second days was very ambitious. When I posted it on the TA forum for Grenada I was advised to scale it back. The northeast of the island has an abundance of attractions that seems nearly impossible to visit all in one day.  



 


River Sallee Boiling Springs mudbath

 

In the end I decided on the first day we would try to visit Clabony Hot Springs, River Antoine Distillery, have lunch at Belmont Estate and play the rest by ear as I was interested in also visiting Pearls Airport, Bathway Beach, Lavera Beach and Pond, Lake Antoine and River Sallee Boiling Springs.

 



Lake Antoine - 1 of 2 crater lakes in Grenada



 

Lowest of the Seven Sisters Falls

Abandoned Russian aircraft at Pearls Airport

I reserved day two for the hike to Seven Sisters waterfall as I had read it can take a long time to hike down to it and even longer if you decide to hike upstream from the falls. I read several accounts of people who had been to the falls and climbed to the top only to find once you entered the falls, the only way down was to jump from one pool to the next. I particular, I read a blog entry on Zero to Cruising in which this was mentioned. Climbing doesn’t bother me, but jumping down the falls is not something I would entertain – it is too risky; if you land the wrong way it is like landing on concrete and good luck getting medical help in the middle of the rainforest, not to mention it would ruin your vacation. So I asked about hiking up and back on the Zero to Cruising blog site and was told it is possible. Based on that, I planned for us to visit Grand Etang, hike all of Seven Sisters Falls and time permitting check out Annandale Falls.

 

Orchids at Belmont Estate

Day three was to consist of a visit to Royal Mount Carmel Falls, La Sagesse Beach and Nature Reserve, where we would have lunch and go swimming and possibly snorkeling. And we would end the day in St George’s at Fort Matthew for drinks at the bar while we took in the sunset. In the final days leading up to our arrival, I read several more reviews of La Sagesse and I heard from a Trip Advisor friend who advised La Sagesse was ok but not a must and the restaurant was a bit pricey. Botanical Gardens are always interesting and great for photography, so I decided we would visit Jessamine Eden rather than La Sagesse. From the description on the website and the reviews, Jessamine Eden sounded quite special and worthy of spending some significant time exploring. http://www.jessamine-eden.com/home.html

The Spice Isle, Pt I - Booking and Research

 



One of many small gardens on the Grenadian

I first read of the enchanting island of Grenada, while researching our first trip to St Lucia. Enticed by visions of a tropical paradise, lush with rainforests, majestic waterfalls, rugged coastline and beautiful beaches, I put the Spice Isle on my list of future vacation destinations. Being nature lovers and amateur photographers it sounded perfect for us. That was in 2009, in the interim, I kept my eye on pricing for a one-week vacation in Grenada. Prices were always a bit higher than other destinations such as Jamaica and my beloved St Lucia. 

 



Upper Royal Mt. Carmel (Marquis) Waterfall



Being mindful of our travel budget and with our preference for winter vacations to sunny hotspots means there are only certain times of year we will travel; usually just before high-season in late November or early December, in late January or early April. I regularly check Trip Central for pricing on destinations we like.

 

 



Magazine Beach - south end



In August of 2012, when I noticed some great pricing from Air Transat for January 2013, I booked our trip through Sears Travel, taking advantage of Sears’ no interest, equal payment plan and the early booking special offered by Air Transat. Booking early with Air Transat gave us; a price-drop guarantee, seat selection, priority boarding, an extra 10kg baggage allowance, complimentary alcoholic drinks, comfort kits and no penalty cancellation up to 3hrs in advance of the flight; at no extra charge.

 

Prior to booking, I read many reviews of The Grenadian by Rex so I had a good idea about what to expect at the resort. The price was already better than anything I had previously seen and though I was booking for the last week of January, the early booking special made it a no-brainer for me. I contacted our agent at Sears Travel to complete the booking and set up the payment plan. I requested a king-sized bed and a top floor room: ever since being wakened at 4 am by some inconsiderate people staying in the room above ours, on a vacation in Cancun, I have made a point of asking for a top floor room.

 

The Grenadian - pool patio

 

Reviews of the Grenadian rated it as a 3.5 star resort: a beautiful property, dated but clean, friendly staff, nice beaches, decent rooms and the food is good but the buffet selection is very moderate. The pond on the property was an added bonus as it attracts many shore birds, which are always great subjects for photography and interesting to watch. I booked a hillside room with a garden view. Many reviews mentioned the numerous stairs up to these rooms, which had me a bit worried as I pictured trekking an endless succession of steps up to the room and back. I accidentally overlooked the dinner dress code for men – long pants and a collared shirt - which I think is antiquated, unnecessary and inconvenient as it forces men to bring extra clothing just for dinner.

 




St. George's - view from Ft George

Researching new destinations and planning our vacations is fun for me as I enjoy learning the history, culture and geography of other countries. I like to make the most of the time we spend exploring and visiting attractions, so I began scouring the internet for sites with travel information on Grenada. Of the many sites about Grenada, I found the following to be the most helpful: Grenada Tourism -http://www.grenadagrenadines.com/, Caribbean Outdoor Life - http://www.caribbeanoutdoorlife.com/pages/grenada.htm, Grenada Explorer - http://www.grenadaexplorer.com/General.htm, Trip Advisor (TA) - http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Tourism-g147295-Grenada-Vacations.html and Skyviews Grenada - http://www.skyviews.com/skyviews/maps/grenada/ which offers a decent map of the island.  After numerous hours of research, I decided on an itinerary that would see us visit the major attractions and several other points of interest.

 

 

 

 

A Primer on Driving in Jamaica

The purpose of this blog is to give others the benefit of my experience when I drove primary, secondary and the worst imaginable roadways in the western end of the island, through the parishes of Trelawny, St. James, Hanover, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth.

Before I delve into the physical aspects and mentality of Jamaican motorists let me caution you that you need to be confident in your driving skills – if you are not a skillful driver with many years experience driving a variety of roads you should probably not drive in Jamaica upon your first visit.

First off, driving in Jamaica is on the left side of the road and almost all the vehicles are right-hand drive. I found driving on the left side of the roadway in a right-hand drive car is not all that difficult, as right-hand drive orients you to the left side of the roadway. Just remember this saying: “Passenger to the curb.” The most difficult aspects of the transition to right-hand drive are the rearview mirror location and the reversal of the signal and wiper switches on the steering column - a few times I turned on the wipers when I meant to signal.

Rules of the road and local motoring etiquette are different from other locales. Jamaicans are very expressive with their horns. Polite beeps (a couple of taps) can mean “Hello!”, "Thank You!”, “Pay Attention!” or “Let me pass!” Angry beeps or beeps expressing annoyance are longer and can mean you’re taking too long to react to a green light, make a turn or you’re blocking traffic. Drivers will also use it to let you know you’ve been rude or inattentive to them. And honks can serve as a warning such as going the wrong way on a one-way street. The horn is a form of communication, so please do not get angry or take offense when you hear someone honking at you.

With the exception of a couple of sections of A1 where there are four lanes, all the roadways in western Jamaica are two lanes. As mentioned earlier there are many different types of roadways in Jamaica. Primary roadways such as the A1 from Ocho Rios to Negril are in the best condition of all roads – there are a few rough sections through the various towns but otherwise it is easily navigable by any vehicle you choose to rent. The A2 along the south coast which is also a primary roadway is not particularly bad but there are some spots where you must drive cautiously to avoid major potholes – a local woman described it as “a little rocky in spots.” Passing other vehicles on the two lane sections requires you to pull out into the oncoming lane. Give yourself lots of space/time to pass and never cross a solid white line in attempt to pass. Bear in mind that along the four lane sections of the A1, the right lane is to be used only for passing. I found the biggest hazard on these roads was oncoming drivers overtaking/passing other vehicles along the two lane sections as they weren’t always allowing enough space or time to do so. Faced with a situation like this, it is best to slow down and move to outside of your lane to create some extra space in the roadway and give the oncoming driver more time to complete his maneuver. 

Driving the secondary roadways through the mountains is much more challenging as it requires you to be very focused on your driving and the roadway – DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE ROAD.  The winding roads change quickly, are narrow and hold many hazards such as blind curves where you can chance upon dogs, goats and people in the roadway. It is not for the faint of heart – crumbling curb walls and corroded roadbeds with crater-sized potholes are the norm here – you must constantly scan the road ahead for these as you could easily blow a tire if you hit one of them hard. Pay attention to traffic ahead of you – if they seem to be slowing for no particular reason it is likely they are negotiating a rough section of the road. Another telltale sign of a bad section is when you see other drivers weaving down the roadway. You will also find it to be rather slow going at times when you are negotiating tight bends  – the basic rule of thumb for these is to be able to come to a complete stop within the amount of roadway that is visible to you. It is very dangerous to speed on sections that wind through the hills as you never know what’s around the next bend, which is why I implore you to use your horn to let others know you’re coming. Just a few beeps at regular intervals as you round the blind curves. I’ve never used the horn so much in my life as I did when driving through Cockpit Country from Clark’s Town to Albert Town, but it saved us from hitting a dog at one point during our journey.

Like every other country in the world Jamaica has good drivers, crazy drivers, bad drivers and downright dangerous drivers. Good drivers signal right when moving to pass on the two lane roadways and they will beep to warn other drivers of their presence when passing multiple vehicles. They will also pull over to let you pass when driving the mountain roadways and they are slowing you down. The crazy drivers are usually people who make their living plying the routes as their pay is relative to the number of trips they make - in most cases these will be route taxi drivers. They drive very fast but, next to the truck drivers, are probably the best drivers on the road. I made a practice of letting them pass me and even signaled them at times to let them know they can pass as I knew I was slowing them down and I hate it when someone is tailing me. Bad drivers are most often encountered on the primary roadways – these drivers just take their own sweet time and seem completely oblivious to the traffic that is backing up behind them. They also neglect to use their turn signals so you never know what they're going to do. Dangerous drivers are the ones who routinely perform high-risk maneuvers such as unsafe merges and passes – mostly pro drivers and in particular I found most often it was the mini-bus drivers who were guilty of these infractions. On the secondary roads, you will also encounter oncoming vehicles, at least from my own perspective, that do not move over enough to allow both vehicles room to pass comfortably – they tend to hog the middle of the roadway as this is where there are the fewest potholes. Worst case scenario: you may have to come to a complete stop as you pull a bit to the side, but do not veer off the roadway as you could end up in a ditch or worse. Most dangerous of all are the drivers who speed along the mountain roads as they also tend to drive near the middle of the lane and can startle you as they whiz past in the opposite direction.

Courteous driving is very important in Jamaica – there are relatively few roadways so everyone has to share and share alike. I suggest you be super-courteous, especially when passing through towns – you will have to slow to a crawl to allow foot traffic, bicycle traffic, animals and push carts to make use of the roadways – crossing in front, around and behind as you drive. These slowdowns are short lived as most towns are quite small and they are rather interesting as you get to see Jamaicans going about their daily business.

Traversing the bad sections of the roadways is a skill unto itself. Some are so bad that you have to slow to a crawl, whereas others may require you to only slow enough to dodge and weave past the worst of it. It is a judgement call but be careful in your approach.

My personal driving style is very assertive. I will speed where I can but never excessively and I am not afraid to overtake cars on the 2 lane roadways, but do so only when it is safe. I scan the roads for hazards but it is not always possible to notice them in time so I am very quick to hit the brakes whenever I feel it is necessary – drivers in JA don’t tailgate on secondary roads so I had no fear of someone rear-ending me when I was forced to come to a sudden stop or slow very quickly. I also needed to be a little creative in my driving to navigate the rough patches – sometimes driving in the right lane to avoid the potholes without slowing too much.

General advice:

• Be sure to purchase liability insurance, in addition to the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). If you use a credit card (CC) to rent, depending on the card, the CDW may be covered, but no card will cover you for liability and given the numerous hazards it is better to be safe than sorry. If you decide to use a CC that covers the CDW check to ensure it provides coverage for Jamaica – many do not.
• Get a good map or rent a GPS – JAMNAV is the Jamaican GPS map which is updated regularly. I prefer a map so I purchased one from the rental agency.
• Safety first. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the locations of all the controls in your vehicle before you start driving. 
• Make a practice of using your signals as much as possible in order to become accustomed to locating the switch on the right side of the steering column.  (Using your signals at all times is a good habit which should be practiced no matter where you drive.)
• Where possible, to help acclimatize yourself to driving on the left side of the road, practice scanning your mirrors as you drive.
• Know where you’re going before you start out.
• Do not be afraid to stop people to ask for directions – Jamaicans know the roads very well and will be able to get you pointed in the right direction. Throughout my travels I must have asked 30 or more people for directions, not because I was hopelessly lost or anything but simply to confirm I was on the right road. Invariably the people we stopped gave us good directions or “showed us some love” as one Rasta put it. Be cordial when stopping people – good manners show respect. (We should all have respect for each other no matter our stations in life.)
• When you encounter a roundabout, if you are unsure as to which exit to take, keep circling to find the sign. If there’s no sign take your best guess then stop to ask for directions – do not continue blindly down any road – you never know where you could end up.
• Avoid driving any roads except the primaries after dark.
• If an oncoming vehicle flashes its' lights it is to warn you that there are police ahead. (Once you have passed the police you can similarly warn other drivers on the approach.)
• Avoid excessive speeding – the police love to catch speeders, so don’t go more than 10kph above the speed limit. Speed limits are 50kph through towns and 80kph on the highways
• If you’re planning to drive secondary roadways I recommend getting an SUV or similar high clearance vehicle as the road conditions vary greatly – some are not so bad, others are  horrendous.

Special mentions:

• The roadway leading from the A1 to Anchovy is particularly hazardous along a couple of sections as you come down from the hills where the northbound lane is half missing, forcing you to drive mostly on the right side. And at one point the lane has a huge hole in it where the land had slipped forcing it down to a single lane with the installation of guardrail around the hole. 
• During our tour of Cockpit Country I used an abandoned or “seldom used” roadway to take us from St Vincent to Burnt Hill. It is more like a rocky shelf than a roadway - you can tell it was built during colonial times however it seems like it has not seen any maintenance since Jamaica gained its’ independence in 1962. I would not recommend venturing up this road unless you have plenty of time – max speed was maybe 15kph but I think we averaged about 8kph so it took almost 2 hours to crawl to the end where we came across a miniscule settlement.
• The worst roadway was just off the aforementioned road to Anchovy. A crater-filled, pockmarked, treacherous abomination that is even worse than the abandoned road in Cockpit Country leads you to Rocklands Bird Sanctuary. It has quite a steep ascent so coming back down I had to gear down to L1 to ensure we didn’t get moving too quickly as this road would have easily ripped the undercarriage from the Suzuki Jimny we rented.

And so ends my primer on driving in Jamaica. I hope that this information will help you to make your decision as to whether or not to rent a vehicle. I have tried to be very honest and in doing so it is also my hope that I have not scared anyone off driving. Yes driving in Jamaica can be challenging but if you like driving and don’t mind a bit of a challenge then you should have No Problem Mon!