Grenada Trip Report
June 11th-25th

We had been planning this trip for almost a year. We originally were supposed to travel in March, but due to a death in the family, were forced to reschedule to June. The upside was we were able to extend our trip to 2 weeks as the kids were out of school. We then had another family join us to add to the fun, so for 1 week we were a family of 4, with 2 teenagers and then 4 adults and 4 teens!

Our original air connections for March were great, Chicago – Montego Bay – Grenada on Air Jamaica. Between our canceling and AJ changing routes, we had a tougher time getting there. We went Jet Blue to JFK (overnight), AJ to Barbados, and LIAT to Grenada. AJ is a real pain to deal with on the phone, but in person really helped us out. We missed our first connection to NYC due to weather and they rebooked us with minimal charges. Other than spending an unplanned day in NYC, all was good. Flights were all great and smooth.

We rented a villa through Spice Isle Villas. I cannot say enough good about Nick and his service. With all of our changes, he was stellar. Responsive, informative, handles everything. We rented Reefview Pavilions. We had Tradewind (the upper larger 3 bedroom villa) for 2 weeks and the whole compound, with the addition of Turtleback (lower 1 bedroom) for 1 week. It easily held all 8 of us and was even better than the pictures of it. The outdoor areas were huge and comfy. The tradewinds always blew and kept us cool. The owners were helpful, but not bothersome. We were a house away from Mt Hartman Estate, which we called the mushroom house since our view was only of the top peeking out with some grass growing on it, but from the front, WOW!! But we had the same view of 2 bays as them and found those spectacular as well.

We rented our cars from Y&R and they delivered them to our door. Michele was great and even brought her dad over one night with a bag of lobster for us to cook up and listen to some lively political discussion. They were each of a different “color” so it was very interesting!

We went to many lovely beaches. Grand Anse is picture perfect. We preferred the north end down by Lazy Days bar and the craft/spice market. The water seemed clearer and it was full of starfish for the kids to find and compare who found the biggest. It was hot there though – was there any shade there before Ivan? We spent most of our time either in the water or under the shade of a tree or bar/restaurant. The beach vendors were out on that beach, but were gone with a simple, it’s lovely but no thanks. Other than “the mango man” as we called him in the IGA parking lot, all the vendors were polite. We all were agreement that La Sagesse was our fave. We went their twice. It is almost Polynesian in its feel. The waves were breaking perfectly and the kids loved that. Mourne Rouge was great also. We brought a kayak along and did some of that, some snorkeling, some eating, just picture perfect as well. We went to Magazine Beach in front of the Aquarium twice. The kids enjoy the waves; the parents enjoy the beach bars. Something for everybody!! We went to LAE beach several times because of its closeness to us. Also a great beach, some shade to sit under, pretty water nice boats to look at. We went to Calabash a couple of time for drinks mainly and Veronika at the bar was very nice! (More on our lunch there later). On our monsoon day, as we were calling it, we went to Petit Bacaye hoping to snorkel there in the rain, but the weather really picked up then and we just had a great lunch instead. We would have gone back there on a better day but ran out of time! It is a great setting as well.

We also ate at many different places. We ate almost every lunch out, always breakfast in and we split on dinners. Our tastes tend to go more casual and relaxed so that may color our opinions some. We ate several times at the Dodgy Dock at True Blue. The kids thought it was one of the better burgers on the island, even the Mexican was good! Atmosphere was very relaxed and good scenery. De big fish was ok as well. Not as scenic as Dodgy Dock, but ok. We ate lunch at Coconut Beach and were not impressed with the food. The atmosphere is great, location wonderful; food for us was not so much. We ate a lunch at the Calabash and didn’t find it to be worth the money. Once again great location, views etc. We thought we were going to eat at the bar, but they made us sit at a table and the atmosphere was a bit much. Great nutmeg ice cream though! And the service/people were very nice there as well. We ate once at La Sagesse and while parents loved it, kids not so much. A very beautiful lunch spot, but we chose to go somewhere differently when we went back to the beach. It was extremely quiet there at the resort. We were told the Victory Bar had the best cheeseburger on the island (getting the cheeseburger theme of the kids yet?), but were disappointed. Besides the construction noise in the distance, we felt we were at a Disney version the Caribbean. (I know that is the rubbish tourist guy, but we decided to give it a try anyway).

We ate at the Aquarium on Sunday night. We messed up abit on that one. We called and they told us the music started at 2:30 or 3pm and we were also told to go at night to eat so we decided to get their at 5pm or so figuring that the music would be going good (3pm island time could be 4pm!), but got there to the music breaking down and our family and a couple of honeymoon couples holding hands over their dinners! Should have gone during the day! The food was good, just not the atmosphere we were looking for. The Prickly Bay marina proved to be a good close pizza spot. Picnic tables, cold beer, good pizza and trivia competitions on Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun! We had a great dinner at Turning Point/Jennys Place. We had jerk and creole chicken some conch fritters and soursop cheesecake. The chef came out to talk to us and they were trying very hard! I wish we would have gone back there again. A great lunch spot was BB’s Crabback on the harbor. We had sort of an appetizer lunch with crabback, sizzling lambi, prawns, ribs, bakes, mac and cheese and barracuda I believe and it was all excellent. They stayed open late for us after we called them on our way down from Grand Etang and we were very impressed. We ran into the owner at the Aquarium one night and she was very nice/helpful. We ate at Petit Bacaye and also all loved our meals! Their salad had the most impressive flavors, carrots with passionfruit, green beans and ginger and more I can’t remember. The kids all had bakes stuffed with tuna, cheese or chicken and they were great. It was raining and I would have liked to eat in the treehouse, but the dining room was bright and cheerful. At Mourne Rouge we ate at Sur la Mer and loved their roti and their atmosphere! It doesn’t hurt that the view is spectacular from the bar. Last but not least we enjoyed a quick lunch in town at Rick’s and a quick dinner at Banana’s. Both were fine, very casual, and a bit hot without a breeze, but good food. Neither place breaks the bank, so that help too.

Besides the beaches, we went on some outings as well. We drove as far as Grand Etang and did some short hiking – the kids were not too pleased by the hiking, but wow it is lovely up there and very different than where we were staying on LAE - green everywhere. We went to Annadale Falls and enjoyed it, but should have gotten a guide to visit more. It was harder to navigate to some of those places, even with directions, than we anticipated. We drove in circles abit before calling it a day. I would definitely get a guide, Mandoo or other if I were to do it again. On our monsoon day, a tropical wave I believed they called it, we went to Laura’s Spice Garden and the Westerhall Rum tour. Both were great! I would highly recommend the spice garden – it was very interesting. The tour guides at both were very informative and even took us around in the rain. We learned a lot from both places. At the end of the rum tour where you get to sample the product, we laid back some having taken in too much of the firewater previously. I now understand the need for the water chaser!

We also went to the Grenadines on the Scaramouche tour. It was fantastic!! Since there were 8 of us, it was a private jet to Union Island and transport to the boat and since they had no other bookings that day, it was just us. We booked through Sunsation tours and they also were great. The whole affair went seamlessly. The boat made 3 stops, Mayreau, Tobago Cays and Palm Island – all great. We snorkeled, ate a fabulous lunch and learned about the area - very different than Grenada. We played up the whole pirates theme, fun for everyone! (The boat was in the Pirates movie and one of the hands was in the movie as well for those who don’t know). That trip definitely whetted our appetite to try that area in the future. When out non-boat loving son goes to college in a few years, I want to be on one of those boats hanging there for a few days!

The general things we found was it was pretty easy to get around, though the one way streets in St. George’s will kill you. Every corner though had a nice local pointing which turn we should take to get out though. The market was busy and we were enjoying it until the man in red underwear starting running up and down the street yelling fire, fire! Think he was overserved! We parked on top of Market Hill – that was a challenge!! The IGA was better than the Food Fair, though for the first few days they had no meat and the last few days they were out of milk – we just ate dry cereal and lived though it! Some things you have to suffer through to be so far from home! Cateye was our arranged taxi through Spice Isle Villas and he was great, timely and safe

Our trip home was ok but tiring. We left Grenada on LIAT 1 hour late, stopped in Tobago and landed in Barbados. We had a 4 hour layover to JFK, so we were in no hurry. When we went to check in at AJ, they told us the plane had to make one quick stop before heading to NY – Grenada! So 7 hours after we left Grenada, we found ourselves sitting on the runway there again! That got us into JFK and heading to the hotel at 2am, with a 9:30am Jet Blue to Chicago. At some point I think you wish you could drive it!

Overall it is a beautiful island. We found it to be very clean – the people take an obvious pride in their island. The people were very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed it very much and wouldn’t hesitate recommending others to visit.

I have pictures as well and as soon as I figure how to do that, I will post them as well.

Ellen