Our
first encounter with the Caribbean took us to the Spice Island; Grenada, which
could also been known as the island of rum...but more on that later!
Thanks
to the generosity of Chris' Mum (Carol) we were about to experience our first
ever all-inclusive holiday with Chris Sister (Sarah) and partner John. Well if
you're going to do an all-inclusive anywhere, the Caribbean is most definitely the
place to do it!
Home from home
Grenada
is one of the southern Caribbean isles and because of this it wasn't swarming
in package holiday goers, mainly retirees staying for one – two months many of
whom came back year on year because of just this reason (they’d practically
moved in!). It's also known for being one of the safer and most friendly so
when it came to choosing which island to make our destination we were easily
swayed by the sound of this little paradise.
On
arrival we were hit by the hot air, with temperatures averaging 30 degrees, we
were very grateful as our rep met us with bottles of ice cold water as we
transferred to our resort of choice The Cobaya Beach Resort.
Coyaba Gardens
If
you go to Grenada, I highly recommend staying at the Cobaya. Owned and run by
the Grenadian Cherman family, this resort really does live up to its name;
‘heaven’ in Amerindian. It was relatively small (80 rooms) in comparison to the
other choices on the island (Sandals, Radisson etc), yet it had everything
you’d expect from an all-inclusive (Restaurant choices, Poolside Bar,
Entertainment, Water Sports, Excursions, Spa Treatments, the best game ever -
Shuffle Board!) and so much more.
Shuffle Board!
The
warmth and friendliness of the place as we arrived continued to grow through
the week and we felt so at home (we ate at ‘our’ table every night) and were so
well looked after by the staff (who made a rum and lemon drink for Sarah’s
cough) that we were on first name terms before the end of our trip. The bottle
of rum in our room on arrival and rum punch on tap might have had something to
do with it, but I’m certain that had we avoided the rum (this is impossible!) we
still would have come away feeling the same way.
Our 2 mile paradise
The
hotel was located right on Grand Anse Beach; a 2 mile stretch of the softest
white sand and clearest turquoise blue sea I have ever experienced (this is
definitely our top beach to date!) and with so few beach goers, we felt we had
this paradise to ourselves and we made the most of it every day! Getting up for
Yoga and Tai Chi by the beach before breakfast, taking a gentle jog from one
end to the other, exploring the bay on the water in the kayaks and little
catamaran’s included, swimming with the starfish, snorkelling, enjoying a
massage by the beach, watching the fisherman bringing in their nets, lounging
in the sun with a book and of course watching the sunset with a rum punch in
hand!
We also made the most of sampling the beverages from the bar – savouring all the cocktails on the list from the purposefully layered ‘Beautiful Grenada’ to our new found favourite a ‘BBC’ (Banana, Bailey’s and Coconut Cream) we quickly became good friends with the bar staff! And were known in the hotel for getting the dancing started on the evenings when there were Caribbean bands – I even got to have a go on the steel drums!
Grenadian coloured cocktails and the BBC
With
all this on our door-step it was hard to think about leaving it and exploring
the rest of the island, but being the adventures that we are, we always found
time to do both! And I’m so glad that we did – as the island really came to
life.
Spice up your life
We
walked one afternoon over to a beach just one bay around (Mourne Rouge Beach,
also known as BBC beach) which had a lot more shade and shallower waters and La
Plywood Beach Bar! This beach also was a focus of their Easter celebrations – a
kite flying festival – for which you could buy kites from stalls located along
the road sides around the island.
We
spent a day in the main town of St George taking in the sights and smells
from this little fishing harbour and its markets filled with locals going
around their daily business.
And we also
hired a driver for a day to take us around the highlights of the Island (the
best way to see it in my opinion!) Our tour of the Island took us northwards on
the west coast and back down the middle. The island had seen a wetter season
that expected so this meant the whole island was totally lush and green,
speckled with an array of brightly colour flowers. Our driver kept stopping
along the side of the roads to point out the variety of wildlife and fruits
along the way – bananas, mangos, papayas, cocoa beans, nutmegs, pineapples and
cotton. Not forgetting our stop off to feed a monkey!
It was
beautifully tropical and the locals were so proud of their country (granted
independence from the UK in 1974) indicated by the painted stones, buildings
and walls decorated in the colours and pattern of the Grenada flag.
The country
was still very much recovering from the 2004 hurricane Ivan which damaged / destroyed over 90% of the islands homes. As we
explored the island we came across Churches without their roofs, wooden shacks
flattened and concrete shells overgrown with climbing plants around what would
have been the doors and windows of someone’s home.
The after affects of Hurricane Ivan in 2004
We made our
way to the Northern tip of the island and the wild sweeping Levera Beach
overlooking the Sugar Loaf – sadly we were just too early for the Leatherback
Turtles which nest there from March – August. Passing by Bathway Beach – a beach
protected from the rough North Atlantic Ocean by a perfectly located coral reef
which you can swim behind without the worry of being swept out to sea!
Grenada’s
principal export crops are Nutmeg and Mace, so we couldn’t come to the island
without visiting a Nutmeg factory! Our driver dropped us off at the Grenada Co-Operative Nutmeg
Association where workers sat choosing, grading and packing them once they had
dried in sacks with stencilled destinations – I’ve never seen so many nutmegs!
Nutmeg Nutmeg and more Nutmegs!
After ticking off
‘spices’ we then went on to visit the oldest Rum Distillery on the island –
Rivers Antoine. Using traditional techniques, this place was like going back in
time! Bundles of sugar cane are crushed with the energy of a water wheel and
the juice flows down pipes to a building where it is ladled through a
succession of metal basins until it is brought to the boil until the right
concentration of sugar has been reached. It is then moved into tanks where it
starts to ferment from natural yeast’s in the air (no yeast is added!) until it
is pumped to the fermentation tanks heated by a huge furnace of burning wood where
it bubbles for eight days before being distilled. What’s more if it doesn’t
reach the percentage required (at least 70%!) it goes back until it’s made the
grade!
Vats of rum
The sticky sweet smell
of the bubbling sugar, and the careful processing made us realise as we came to
the end of our tour and the tasting, just how much stirring, shovelling and stoking
had gone into these bottles. That said, the rum was so pure and smooth that its
clarity and sweetness made even the 75% slip nicely down the throat! Too bad we
could only bring back the 70% bottle to the UK!
As we reached the end
of our week in the ‘Coyaba’ Caribbean sun, we spent our final evening on a
Sunset Sail along the coast (to celebrate Chris’ birthday) with a toast of bubbly.
This was most certainly one special holiday that we will all remember…if the
70% rum doesn’t get the better of us!
A Phenomenal
holiday!
If there is anything
that sums up this trip it’s the steel drum sounds of Benjai’s Phenomenal… and if this doesn’t get you
dancing I don’t know what will….
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