Grenada, as I remember from just four weeks ago, is another attractive island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, St. George’s being the island’s capital, situated on its southwestern coast. The town was founded as a French settlement in 1650 and was capital of the Windward Islands from 1885 to 1958. Exports from here include cacao, nutmeg, mace and bananas. As at previous ports on this cruise, already the temperature is 25°C with partly cloudy skies and the occasional shower. During the day, it warms further to around 28°C and that is the case today. A very brief stroll on decks 12 and 13 late last night saw very little actual cooling down.
Today, Jo, Trevor and wife Lorraine, who we met a few days ago, and I will hire a minibus to show us around. They explained that it is not unusual for minibuses or taxis to fuel up on each trip. The drivers themselves hire the transport on a daily basis. And actually, yesterday’s taxi ride, although not overly scenic, did give an insight into the difficult circumstances of the average ordinary people who live here. We all meet up in the Grand Lobby. St. George’s is the penultimate call before we head north to New York, and east to reality. Our final call at St. Kitts follows a welcome day at sea.
17.29 hrs. Today’s minibus trip was excellent, a well rehearsed and carried out journey into the hills, the rain forests and a pretty detailed account with interesting demonstrations of the local spices, how they grow, are prepared and used. The two to two and a half hours trip actually took well over three hours, and represented excellent value. There were twelve of us today, which actually filled the 19 seater vehicle. Our driver-guide gave excellent value. I enjoyed my second visit to Grenada in four weeks, but still found few things familiar.
I did enjoy visiting Grenada for a second time. During the day, it had become extremely hot. Our minibus took us to some places visited on a Cunard Shore Experience four weeks ago, including reaching the highest point accessible by road at 1,910ft above sea level. There, a welcome cool breeze was welcome relief from the stifling heat below, which in just days from now, I will be longing for! While cruising is an ideal way of visiting many places far and wide, sometimes, I do wish I could stick around for a number of days before moving on. But of course, that generally wouldn’t be practicable.
Tomorrow, we have a day at sea. We are on our way to Basseterre on the isle of St. Kitts. A Cunard Shore Experience has been booked for our final Caribbean port of call, before returning to New York and Southampton with its more realistic climate.
In the meantime, thanks for reading, David, 19.10hrs, Wednesday 2nd March 2022.
David's Cruise 