Monday, April 6, 2026 – Grenada
Today we circumnavigated the island of Grenada – at least the Northern part. Our first 19 miles were on a windy, steep and often one lane road that took us over an hour. I guess it is the island telling you, imploring you, to slow down. We enjoy the small communities we pass through with brightly painted bus stops and stores in red, green and gold – their national colors – celebrating their 52nd anniversary of independence. We appreciate the double rainbow that was sooo bright we backtracked to get a photo, but the moment had passed. Enjoy the start and stopping as you play chicken with cars coming at you with no place to pass. Remember, you aren’t in Kansas (or Seattle or Mountain View) anymore.
First stop was the Belmont estate – a 400 acre farm with over 300 years of history, from growing sugar cane, to cofeee, to nutmeg and now oragnic chocolate. Our guide, Ray, grew up in the local choclate business and walked us through the whole process of cutting the yellow cocoa pods, to fermintation, drying, and then mixing into the chocolate we know. Pretry amazing journey and here much is still done by hand. Of course we got to taste the cocoa tea (hot chocolate) and the finished product of dark chocolate with cinnamon and ginger. We learned a lot. We brought a few bars home so we could continue our studies.
We then tried to stop at a rum distillery, but this being another national holday, it was closed. We may have to wait till Barbados to tour a distillery. At lunch, Mike and I took it upon oursleves to personally taste the rum – in a shark bite. We may need additonal studies.
Next stop was the most northeastern corner of the island, which was supposed to be remote and protected. We beiefly stopped at a rockin’ local beach party – the bass actaully shopk our small car as we passed – and continued onto Levera Beach, which has one of the largest protected wetlands and leatherback turtle sanctuaries – and a new mega development with three 15-story hotels and at least four pools being built just next door. It was quite the site to see a construction tower crane and a 15-storey concrete hotel/residence jump out of the deep jungle and sandy beach.
We stopped in at Suaters (NE corner) at the memorial to the warriors who lept to their depth rather than be captured by the Fench army in the 1600’s by the French invaders. We stumbled upon the high-end hotel The Petite Anse (Grand Anse was the southern beach) with a fabulous restaurant. We took our lunch on the balcony and enjoyed our Roti – Caribbean style – a breadlike tortilla dish that is filled with chicken, curry, and local spices. A full day already and still had to get back home.
We stopped at a few roadside attractions – peteoglyphs (where are they?), rock faces chiseled into the roadside cliff, and missed a few (shipwreck) since we could find a safe place to pull off on the sometimes one land road. There were lots of festivals on this Easter Monday holiday, from the church picnic on the beach blaring christian music through the speakers, to the basketball court taken over by pop up tents eith colorful flags and banners – and pounding music. The too loud of music does seem to be key.
We make it back in time for one more sunset and a refreshing breeze on our balcony. Tomorrow we are planning a beach day on a nearby island – we will see if the torrential rains, that came in the evening, will hold off.
Siri and David Adventures 