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.
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| Magazine Beach adjacent to The Grenadian |
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 30th in the
afternoon. The tour would include a stop at the reef in Flamingo Bay. Sabine
was also helpful with advice on my itinerary.
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| ScubaTech's Dive Boat |
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| 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!
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