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.