DAY 60---ST GEORGE'S, GRENADA

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TO VIEW PREVIOUS POSTINGS USE THE "BLOG ARCHIVE" UNDER OUR PHOTO ON THE RIGHT.  THEN CLICK ON THE DAY OR DAYS YOU MISSED.  ALSO CLICKING ON THE PHOTOS WILL ENLARGE THEM.  I RECOMMEND THAT.

        Our position today is on Grenada where the yellow arrow in a red circle is just off the coast of Venezuela.

        We were here on the first segment of the world cruise back on February 5th.  You have seen the background info on this port back then but I will put it on this post too.

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:

        We had a really nice dinner last night with Andy Hackbarth, the classical guitarist entertainer from Colorado.  Also at the table were Marcia and Jimbo & Mary Ann Todd.  We have dined with Marcia and the Todds before and it is always so much fun.  Andy has entertained on several other cruise lines but this is his first gig on a Regent ship.  He now loves Regent. 

This is the Komang's from Bali.  They are a really nice married couple working in the bars on board.

                                      Serving canapes in the Mariner Lounge was Sonia.

TODAY:

        Some of you may have noticed that I forgot to publish yesterday's blog post until this morning.  Sorry about that!

                 When we opened the curtains at 7:30 this morning we saw these rainbows.

Docked next to us on the same pier today on the opposite side of the ship we are on is Silver Seas Cruises--Silver Spirit.  She entered service in 2009 and hold 608 passengers and a crew of 412.  So she is a little smaller than Mariner as she holds 700.  During her 2018 two month long dry dock Silver Spirit was cut in half and 15 more feet was added in the middle.  With that, her passenger capacity went from 540 to 608.  Very interesting!

                                               Cruise terminal mall taken from deck 12.

        This morning after doing down to Coffee Connection to get Rebecca a couple cups of strong coffee (as I do every morning), I then went up to La Veranda to my Sunday morning caviar and a cheese omelet.  We had a rain shower pass over while I was having breakfast.

        I will be going on a 4 hour tour at 1:15 this afternoon.  This means I will be returning to the suite around 5:30 and need to shower and get ready for cocktail hour at 6pm.  So I will put my tour photos on tomorrow's posting.  We are overnighting here in St George's and I do not have any tours scheduled for tomorrow.  

        This evening I have arranged for a special Mexican dinner in Compass Rose.  There will be 7 of us at the table.  During next year's world cruise we will be going around South Africa so I have arranged a 4 day/3 night safari.  There are only 6 suites at the safari lodge and people who will be in 4 of those suites will be at tonight's "pre-safari" dinner.

        This evening's entertainment in the theater will feather Richard Ruben, our assistant cruise director.  He is a very good pianist and also a funny guy.