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Published: August 19th 2008
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St. George Harbor
St. George Harbor, the capital of Grenada. We have been sailing around the Grenadines, jumping from island to island and traveling back and forth. After our short stay in the Tobago Cays we went back up to Bequia for a reunion with S/V Verna Breeze- which was great fun! But then hurricane Bertha started forming and was going to create some nasty weather, so it was time to turn back and continue south again. We did a quick sail down to Carriacou and spent the night in Tyrell Bay. We decided to throw the Q flag up, Q for quarantine, and agreed to set sail for Grenada the next morning. Even though Grenada has been hit by a couple of hurricanes in the last decade, it is still considered to be a safe harbor for hurricane season and the final destination for many boats. And we can see why many cruisers spend the hurricane season here, it is a lovely island to explore. It is very lush and green with hikes thru the rain forest up to cascading water falls. And don't forget to visit the rum distilleries along the way, which make some of the strongest rums in the world (81 percent which is 162 proof- enough
Farmer's Market
All the exotic foods, like breadfuit and callalou and shadon beni and red figs, at the local farmer's market. to knock your socks off). But Grenada is also known as the Spice Island, not only for it's important role in the spice trade but because it is home to many exotic foods and spices.
So we decided to rent a car for a couple of days with Chris and Kelly to explore the Spice Island. We had a lot of fun driving thru the lush island, stopping to get roadside bbq and corn on the cob cooked right over the open flames of an oil drum grill- delicious. And we went to the farmer's market to pick up breadfruit and callalou and shadon beni and red figs. The local produce is amazing and mangoes were in season- what a treat. But what makes Grenada so special is all the spices grown on the island, acres and acres of nutmeg trees and cinnamon trees and coco trees. We stopped at Laura's Spice Co-Operative and got a tour of her spice garden, where we learned a lot about the the local flora. We also went to Belmont Estate, which is where the coco beans are processed into organic dark chocolate- so rich and velvety and delicious, truly some of the
Lush Countryside
Driving thru the lush countryside of Grenada. best in the world. We bought many wonderful and exotic foods along the way and had fun cooking with the local ingredients back on our boats. One night we went to the fish bake in Gouyave. The town was closed off to traffic for this street party and the sidewalks were lined with vendors selling all kinds of delicious foods. Here we got to sample many local favorites, like tuna kabobs to chicken rotis to fish bake (the name is a bit confusing because there is nothing baked about a fish bake- it is all fried). It was a culinary delight! We love trying local foods when we travel, we feel like food is a huge part of any culture and is an important part of experiencing a foreign country.
But no visit to a Caribbean Island would be complete without a visit to the local rum distilleries. And Grenada has 4 rum distilleries to visit, so we had to pace ourselves because this rum is some of the strongest in the world- 162 proof, and we thought Bacardi 151 was strong! The rum in Grenada is made from the pure cane juice, not molasses, so it has a
Laura's Spice Garden
On our visit to Laura's Spice Garden our tour guide grabben a coco pod from the tree and cracked it open for us to see and taste the coco beans that are inside- very cool! very distinct taste. All the locals drink the white rums like Iron Jack and Rivers, which are the very strongest rum. But we were happy to learn that the distilleries also make a "tourist rum" which is more what we are accustomed to- lower alcohol content, closer to 80 proof, and often aged in barrels to mellow out the flavor. But we had to try it all. The Rivers distillery was fascinating to visit because they still make rum the old fashion way, using a water wheel to run the mill that crushes the sugar cane. We took a tour of the facility, making our way thru piles of discarded sugar cane husks, and was overwhelmed with the sweet fermenty smell of rum. This is the real deal, everything from the coppers to the condenser has been operating to make Rivers rum for the last 200 years. We enjoyed our tours of all the rum distilleries, picked up a couple of bottles along the way, and continued with our trek around the island.
On the last day that we had the car we decided to go for a hike, up thru the rain forest to Concord Falls. It was
Belmont Estate
These are the coco beans and nutmegs drying on the racks at Belmont Estate. The coco beans are first fermented for 7 days before put out in the sun, which gived the coco beans there brown color. The red spice on the next rack over is mace, which is made from the outer shell of the nutmeg. amazing! The clouds would fall down the mountainside like mist and the ground was so lush and green. At one point we were hiking thru a forest of birds of paradise, totally surrounded by these exotic flowers. It was like a scene out of Jurasic Park. But it was also a very technical hike, very slippery and muddy, and we had to cross the river 7 times on the way up. Unfortunately I wasn't wearing hiking boots and I slipped on the lush terrain. I almost fell down the mountainside and was in severe pain, I had torn a ligament in my knee and could barely walk. Luckily I was able to make it down the mountain with Jay and Chris' help, but it was quite scary. When we got back to the car we had some local rum to help dull the pain. Needless to say, there won't be anymore rain forest hikes in my near future. But that's okay. There is plenty more to see and explore in the Caribbean Islands yet, even with a bum knee.
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Nancy Rodger
non-member comment
bummer about the bum knee
The place looks awesome! You guys are building so many fabulous memories in your bank. How adventuresome are you! Thanks for letting us all live through you vicariously. We miss you. Nancy