Grenada was the next Caribbean island we visited after arriving in Barbados from our Atlantic crossing. We did not explore Barbados much, because we were sort of jet-lagged after our epic sail there. So Grenada felt like the first real Caribbean island to us.

After dropping our anchors in Prickly Bay, we caught up with our buddy boats Boag, Mrs. Chippy and Nikau. The first afternoon we spent checking into the country, shopping and making plans for a fun day of exploring. Jasmine from Nikau organised a bus trip around the island for us for the next day.

Bright and early, our guide for the day Ian picked us up at the Spice Island marina. We piled into his bus and off we went. Grenada is hilly, lush and green. All sorts of exotic fruits and spices seem to grow everywhere, even just by the road side. That day we would learn how cocoa, cinnamon, and nutmeg grow and what their trees look like.

Waterfall swimming

First stop was a forest with lovely streams and impressive waterfalls. We clambered along some rocks to see the tallest part of the falls, then followed the stream back to a gentler section. Time for a swim! The kids – and grownups – had fun sliding off the falls then climbing back up again. We ripped a few swim shorts and learnt a lesson: to wear our oldest swimwear next time!

Chocoholics rejoice

Next up was a chocolate factory! Well, factory is a big word. The place was quite small-scale and everything is done by traditional methods. That made it all the more interesting, and our tour guide was one of the founders. He took us through the different rooms explaining the steps they take to turn the cocoa bean into the product we all know and love… chocolate! Off course there was a tasting session as well. We tasted different percentages of chocolate. The 100% was crazy bitter!

Rum Distillery

We were all pretty hungry at this point. Luckily our next destination was the River Antoine rum distillery, which has a lovely restaurant on the estate. A delicious buffet lunch was awaiting us and we attacked and finished it in no time! There was plenty of time left for the kids to play tag and hide-and-seek on the grounds before we would start our tour of the distillery.

River Antoine rum distillery has been producing its rum since 1785 from locally grown sugarcane. For more info on the two rum distilleries in Grenada and how they work, have a look at this blog. We were very impressed with the waterwheel that powers the sugar cane crusher. All the heavy machinery has been used since the start of their rum production and the methods are still the same. What a difference with the modern Arucas rum distillery we visited in the Canary Islands!

Again, we sampled the goods at the end of the tour. We tasted 2 strengths of rum and a rum punch. They all had a very fiery, smoky flavour. The pure rums were a bit much for me but when mixed into the rum punch it tasted pretty good.

Airplanes and apes

On our way back towards Prickly Bay, we would make 2 more stops: first up was the old airfield. In 1983, the United States invaded Grenada to rid the island of its Marxist government. Remnants of the invasion can still be seen at the old abandoned airport. Among tall grass and grazing goats, we saw skeletons of Soviet and Cuban planes. An eerie site, but it was pretty cool to be allowed to wander around and even climb inside.

The last stop on our way home was a visit to the monkeys! The monkeys on Grenada are Mona monkeys, which were transported to the island from West Africa during the 18th century, aboard slave ships headed to the New World. When we got to the place where they usually hang out, there were two monkeys waiting for us. We fed them some fruit, they pulled some hilarious faces, and we went on our way again.

Back at the bay, we all headed for the fancy beach resort for a quick sun-downer – a rum punch off course. The kids enjoyed running around the manicured lawn, and then it was time to head back to the boats. We all slept well that night.