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American Spirit II - Day 439; ARC Tours Grenada; Saturday, March 21, 2015



One year ago toady:

"Day 77; Sighted Hiva Oa; Friday, March 21, 2014. Up early (4:00 AM), due to time change. We passed thru the 135 degree West Longitude yesterday. 5:00 AM became 4:00 AM. Bright 3/4 moon overhead. Sunrise 6:11 AM. As usual, obstructed by clouds."

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Up at 7:30 AM. Breakfast at 8:00 AM. Eggs, potato and chilled peaches.

At 9:10 AM two small buses departed the marina for a tour of the island. Large buses aren't possible in Grenada due to the narrow and hair-pin turns on the roads. Our driver, Augustus, talked about Grenada as we drove along; and frequently stopped along the road to show us the various fruits on the trees of Grenada. He was as much as a tour guide as he was our bus driver.

The two most significant events in Grenada's recent history are the October 25, 1983 invasion by the United States and Hurricane Ivan on September 7, 2004. According to our driver, Hurricane Ivan was a category 4 hurricane which destroyed or damaged 95% of the homes on the island and 95% of the crops. If I remember correctly, Ivan may have eventually ended up in the Florida panhandle, doing considerable damage there, also. Though hurricanes are very rare in Grenada, they do occur. Another bad one occurred in 1955 and was named 'Janet.'

The beaches in Grenada are white on the Caribbean or west side due to the coral; and black on the Atlantic or east side due to the island's volcanic origin.

School in Grenada starts at age 2 1/2 and is called pre-primary school. Primary school starts at age 5. Most children in schools wear a specific colored uniform at their school. Most schools are public but many are also run by religious orders.

We arrived at the Concord Waterfalls at 10:10 AM. The falls were only a short walk down some stairs to get the best vantage point to see the falls. Three members of our group, Sigi from Merlyn of Poole; Finn from Nexus; and Cameron from Avocet, all jumped, dove or did a flip 20 feet up into the 18 foot deep water. The falls were higher up than that but only a local dove from that height. For tips, of course.

Our next stop at 11:10 AM was at the Douglaston Estate, where spices are prepared. We got a demonstration of many of the spices, including nutmeg, chocolate, lupa, clove, bowl cabbage, papaya, guava, etc. The spices were dried on large drying pans that could be rolled out and in from under a building, depending on the sun and rain.

Even though the French occupied the island for a century, English appears to be the most used language on the island.

Our next stop was the Rievers Rum Distillery and adjacent restaurant. The meal was buffet style and good. Brian from Folie a Deux had a 17th birthday March 23rd and his parents celebrated at the restaurant with two cakes for all of us. We then got a guided tour of the distillery, including watching a water wheel work that has been operating since 1785 at the distillery.

At 4:17 PM we stopped at the Grand Etang National Forest. Not much to see there, but some nice shops and a crater lake.

One of the most unusual aspects of Grenada is that about 50% of the homes are built on the sides of mountains and are on stilts or posts. Also, there are many very large and nice homes that are vacant. The people who built them were educated in England, came back and built their homes, but their children who were born in England never came back to the island so the homes sit vacant. They're not even for sale, and the government wont' take them over due to not paying taxes. Go figure.

Grenada gained their independence from the United Kingdom in 1974. Maurice Bishop, for whom the international airport is named, was the first Prime Minister. In 1979 he went to the US and in his absence a coup occurred in his country and was orchestrated by the person under him. In October, 1983 things turned ugly and Maurice Bishop was executed. The US invaded to 'rescue' 599 Americans going to medical school there. The Clint Eastwood movie 'Heartbreak Ridge' is based in part on that invasion. We were back at the marina at 5:30 PM. We were hoping to go to Fort Matthew, but ran out of time to do so.

Dinner occurred much later. We went up to the marina restaurant and had some salads and split a pepperoni pizza. Frank from Chicka-lu joined us. Then lights out.

Brian Fox



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