DAY 31---ST GEORGE'S, GRENADA

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GRENADA BACKGROUND INFO: 

        This southern most island in the West Indes just 125 miles north of the northeast coast of Venezuela.  It is known as the “island of spice” because it is home to many nutmeg plantations.  It is only about 18 miles long and 8 miles wide with a population of 112,000.  It is also a British Commonwealth. 

        Tourism is the mainstay of the economy with its many beaches, water sports, and many waterfalls.  Its main exports are the spices:  nutmeg and mace (the sister spice of nutmeg).  They also export bananas, cocoa, fruits, vegetables, clothing, chocolate, and fish.  Despite all this the country suffers from a heavy debt problem.

        The colorful city of St George’s is the capital and main port of Grenada with a population of 35,000.  Like Barbados, Grenada is a very popular stop for cruise ships with 250 arrivals per year.

        You may recall back in 1983 President Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada as the Cubans were building a 10,000 foot runway which was believed to be used by Russia and Cuba for as a refueling stop for their airplanes loaded with weapons destined for Central American insurgents.  Within four days the Americans had removed the military government there.

LAST NIGHT:

Joeydeep was our sommelier and he is presenting one of my favorite red wines, Cashmere Black.

My entree was the pork medallions with asparagus and fontina cheese melted on top.  It was not over cooked but not tasty.  Rebecca had the broiled teriyaki salmon which she loved.  To start with I enjoyed some cajun seafood gumbo and mushroom risotto.  OINK!

We enjoyed Elaine Gray's show after dinner.  I had a hard time understanding her Scottish accent when she was talking.  Funny how that goes away when she was singing.  Great soprano voice.

TODAY:

  Our location today is docked in St George's on the island of Grenada.  Temperature in 84 degrees.

        We were docked and cleared by the local authorities by 8am here in St George's on Grenada.  I know I promised to go on my scheduled 8:40 tour but the thought of wearing a mask for 4+ hours just did not appeal to me when I got up at 7:30.  We will be back here on March 6th so will try again then.

        We are allowed to go into town independently today so I plan on doing that later.  Here are some photos I took from deck 12 at 8am.

                          The cruise terminal and small shopping mall just in front of our ship.

                                                  Shopping mall attached to the terminal.

                                                                    Cruise Terminal

Probably 30 shops in the mall.  Mostly T-shirt and touristy stuff but also some duty free liquor shops and a nice jewelry store.

        I went up to the gym with Rebecca at 9:15 to do our treadmill time.  There are just 4 treadmills and one has been inoperative since San Francisco.  Well today another treadmill was inop.  There was a lady on one of the two good ones so Rebecca took the other good one.  I decided to go into town and walk around some.  I had asked on the ship if we were allowed to walk around independently and they said yes.  When I got to the cruise terminal they told me I had to be on a ship's tour or take a taxi but I could not just walk around on the streets.  So back I went to the ship.  I finally got on a treadmill just after 10am.  By the time I had finished they had the 3rd treadmill working again.

        Tonight in Chartreuse (French specialty restaurant) they are having a special wine dinner.  It will be a 6 course dinner with special wines paired with each course.  The cost per person is $169.  The dinner is limited to just 35 people so it will be an intimate dinner with Emiliano, the head sommelier, introducing and describing each of the special wines he has selected.  We are looking forward to this dinner.  You will need to click on the photo of the menu to read it.

        We will be departing here at 6pm and sailing to Castries, St Lucia.  We will be overnighting there.

Another slow sail tonight as it is only 132 miles to St Lucia.