Whenever you have guests aboard, you tend to want to do everything and go everywhere. One solution is the “around the island tour.” With Meryl’s sister, Duryln, fresh off the airplane, we wanted to show her the best Grenada has to offer.
As with all things in Grenada, you first listen to the cruiser’s net at 7:30 am to get some recommendations from other cruiser as to who offers the best island tour. Cutty’s name kept popping up, and we had already used him for our leatherback turtle trip so we booked an island tour with him for the next day.
Bright and early we made breakfast and dingied into Port Louis Marina to meet an Austrian couple who will be taking the tour with us. We all pile into Cutty’s van and wind up through the hilly streets of St. Georges. One of the first stops is at an overview of the harbor by the island’s only prison. Cutty gets real quiet as a gray Nissan slowly goes by driven by an older man. Under his breath, he whispers “That’s one guy I never want to cross.” We press him a little and find out the gentleman is the former general of the Grenadian Army and the one in charge when the military took over and executed the then Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, and nine of his cabinet members. We agree with Cutty, that’s one guy you don’t want to cross.
After admiring the view of the harbor, we turn around and look at the two forts, Fort Matthew and Fort Fredrick, former French forts on the hill behind us. On the ridge line between the two forts stood the Grenadian Army’s headquarters building. Apparently when the Americans attacked in 1983 they were supposed to bomb the Army’s HQ but instead hit a mental health hospital nearby.
During our tour Cutty would pull over and point out some tree, herb or plant. His knowledge of the local flora and fauna was impressive. Jumping out of the van he would grab some leaves, grind them up between his fingers, and pass them around, with us trying to guess the plant from its aroma. We guessed correctly on cinnamon, lemon grass, and cilantro, but a lot of them took quite a few guesses to get right.
He broke off a piece of non-prickly cactus (and we can’t remember half of the names of things he showed us) and demonstrated how the pulpy interior of the leaf is used by locals as a shampoo. We drove up the road a bit and he pulled over at a non-descript location and described it as a former plantation. We climbed up some rickety steps and Cutty immediately started picking leaves off various plants and playing “Twenty Questions” about what each was. Over the next twenty minutes Cutty showed us clove bushes, cinnamon trees, cocoa trees, ginger flowers, grapefruit trees, papaya trees, avocado, and callaloo plants. Grenada has been traditionally called “The Spice Island” and the name is well deserved.
We next drove to Annandale Falls, a beautiful waterfall in a park-like setting. We had debated about going swimming, but no one seemed too excited. Several local guys had a mini business set up where they would climb up to a high point above the falls and do cannonball-type dives in hope of donations from the tourists. Have to give them credit for being entrepreneurial. As usual, we got to see several exotic (to us) plants such as the brilliant pink ginger flower and the deep red, multi-leaved heliconia (my favorite).
We continued driving through the jungle-like mountains to the Grand Etang Forest Preserve. I noticed Cutty honking his horn as we drove up and on cue a woman dressed in Grenadian national colors balancing a basket of flowers came walking out. As a former photojournalist I refuse to pay for these “photo opportunities,” but someone else did so I shamelessly took the photo.
Next on the list was what was described as a “short nature loop hike around the lake.” Sounded simple, but the devil is always in the details. We brainlessly started walking up the trail to an overlook and realizing the trail had ended, we headed back down in search of the turn we missed. An obvious trail took off to the west and that was the direction we thought we were supposed to go to get back to our van. It was a beautiful trail, but considering we were in a rain forest with over 160 inches of rain/year, the trail got progressively steeper and muddier. Oh, it also got darker as we slid our way down the trail. The “loop” hike was supposed to take only twenty minutes, but we all thought the road around the next corner.
The further we got, the worse it got. I was in flip-flops, a huge tactical mistake, as my feet were covered with mud and sliding sideways out of the shoes as I tried to gain traction on the trail or literally being sucked off my feet in the mud. It got so dangerous that I simply took them off and walked barefoot. This wasn’t so bad until I felt a razor-like slices across the top of my foot and saw blood oozing out from the mud. We had gotten tangled in thin, long blades of a grass-like material that was as sharp as razors, and cut just as effectively. That, added with the mud, debris, and God knows what fungus’ growing in the jungle made my day just that much better.
We eventually decided to cut our losses and reverse our way back to the trailhead. Naturally we fell in the slippery mud and covered our butts and everything else with the thick, red mud. When we finally emerged onto the correct trail I went straight to the restrooms and, to my joy, discovered the showers. Off came my mud-colored white nylon top and my once black shorts and everything went into the shower for a through cleaning. I felt a million dollars better when I emerged but I don’t think Cutty was impressed with our trail-following skills.
We continued around the island with occasional stops for plant identification and local interests. One of my favorite plants was the rather ugly noni, kind of like a pimply potatoes. Cutty said the locals put the noni in a glass of water and let the juice ooze out and then take a teaspoon of the juice each morning to improve their immune system.
Our next stop was on the east side of the island in the town of Grenville where we visited the local nutmeg processing station. Cutty said many of the processing plants are closed as a result of devastation to the trees from the last hurricane. The building was constructed in 1947 and was virtually unchanged since the day they built it. One of the workers gave us a tour and enthusiastically described each stop of the processing, including the purchasing of the nutmeg from local farmers, drying of the nutmeg, the separation of the mace, drying them, and finally grading and sorting into various sizes for different markets. It’s amazing our versatile the nutmeg plant is: first they use the outer fruit to make jams and jellies, the shell is ground up for mulch, the nut inside the nutmeg is ground up for spice and pressed into an oil, and the spider-like mace surrounding the nut is dried for use as a spice.
Next on the tour was the River Antoine Rum Distillery. The distillery was built in 1785, and much like the nutmeg processing station, is virtually unchanged since then. A large iron waterwheel brought over from England provides the power to the distillery. It powers a huge crushing mill that flattens the sugar cane, producing a steady stream of the cane juice that goes down a long open trough into the distillery building, and the remaining crushed sugar cane which is stockpiled near the still and used as fuel for the distilling process.
As with all things in Grenada, you first listen to the cruiser’s net at 7:30 am to get some recommendations from other cruiser as to who offers the best island tour. Cutty’s name kept popping up, and we had already used him for our leatherback turtle trip so we booked an island tour with him for the next day.
 |
| Overview of St. Georges with the Fort on the hill in the center. |
Bright and early we made breakfast and dingied into Port Louis Marina to meet an Austrian couple who will be taking the tour with us. We all pile into Cutty’s van and wind up through the hilly streets of St. Georges. One of the first stops is at an overview of the harbor by the island’s only prison. Cutty gets real quiet as a gray Nissan slowly goes by driven by an older man. Under his breath, he whispers “That’s one guy I never want to cross.” We press him a little and find out the gentleman is the former general of the Grenadian Army and the one in charge when the military took over and executed the then Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, and nine of his cabinet members. We agree with Cutty, that’s one guy you don’t want to cross.
 |
| Our indomitable guide, Cutty. |
After admiring the view of the harbor, we turn around and look at the two forts, Fort Matthew and Fort Fredrick, former French forts on the hill behind us. On the ridge line between the two forts stood the Grenadian Army’s headquarters building. Apparently when the Americans attacked in 1983 they were supposed to bomb the Army’s HQ but instead hit a mental health hospital nearby.
During our tour Cutty would pull over and point out some tree, herb or plant. His knowledge of the local flora and fauna was impressive. Jumping out of the van he would grab some leaves, grind them up between his fingers, and pass them around, with us trying to guess the plant from its aroma. We guessed correctly on cinnamon, lemon grass, and cilantro, but a lot of them took quite a few guesses to get right.
 |
| Cutty pointing out various flora the cover the hills of Grenada. |
He broke off a piece of non-prickly cactus (and we can’t remember half of the names of things he showed us) and demonstrated how the pulpy interior of the leaf is used by locals as a shampoo. We drove up the road a bit and he pulled over at a non-descript location and described it as a former plantation. We climbed up some rickety steps and Cutty immediately started picking leaves off various plants and playing “Twenty Questions” about what each was. Over the next twenty minutes Cutty showed us clove bushes, cinnamon trees, cocoa trees, ginger flowers, grapefruit trees, papaya trees, avocado, and callaloo plants. Grenada has been traditionally called “The Spice Island” and the name is well deserved.
 |
| Annandale Falls. |
We next drove to Annandale Falls, a beautiful waterfall in a park-like setting. We had debated about going swimming, but no one seemed too excited. Several local guys had a mini business set up where they would climb up to a high point above the falls and do cannonball-type dives in hope of donations from the tourists. Have to give them credit for being entrepreneurial. As usual, we got to see several exotic (to us) plants such as the brilliant pink ginger flower and the deep red, multi-leaved heliconia (my favorite).
 |
| A photo op if I've ever seen one. |
We continued driving through the jungle-like mountains to the Grand Etang Forest Preserve. I noticed Cutty honking his horn as we drove up and on cue a woman dressed in Grenadian national colors balancing a basket of flowers came walking out. As a former photojournalist I refuse to pay for these “photo opportunities,” but someone else did so I shamelessly took the photo.
 |
| It's difficult to explain how slippery this mud was, one misstep and you'd be flying down the slope. |
Next on the list was what was described as a “short nature loop hike around the lake.” Sounded simple, but the devil is always in the details. We brainlessly started walking up the trail to an overlook and realizing the trail had ended, we headed back down in search of the turn we missed. An obvious trail took off to the west and that was the direction we thought we were supposed to go to get back to our van. It was a beautiful trail, but considering we were in a rain forest with over 160 inches of rain/year, the trail got progressively steeper and muddier. Oh, it also got darker as we slid our way down the trail. The “loop” hike was supposed to take only twenty minutes, but we all thought the road around the next corner.
The further we got, the worse it got. I was in flip-flops, a huge tactical mistake, as my feet were covered with mud and sliding sideways out of the shoes as I tried to gain traction on the trail or literally being sucked off my feet in the mud. It got so dangerous that I simply took them off and walked barefoot. This wasn’t so bad until I felt a razor-like slices across the top of my foot and saw blood oozing out from the mud. We had gotten tangled in thin, long blades of a grass-like material that was as sharp as razors, and cut just as effectively. That, added with the mud, debris, and God knows what fungus’ growing in the jungle made my day just that much better.
We eventually decided to cut our losses and reverse our way back to the trailhead. Naturally we fell in the slippery mud and covered our butts and everything else with the thick, red mud. When we finally emerged onto the correct trail I went straight to the restrooms and, to my joy, discovered the showers. Off came my mud-colored white nylon top and my once black shorts and everything went into the shower for a through cleaning. I felt a million dollars better when I emerged but I don’t think Cutty was impressed with our trail-following skills.
 |
| The rather ugly, but incredibly healthful noni. |
We continued around the island with occasional stops for plant identification and local interests. One of my favorite plants was the rather ugly noni, kind of like a pimply potatoes. Cutty said the locals put the noni in a glass of water and let the juice ooze out and then take a teaspoon of the juice each morning to improve their immune system.
 |
| The Grenville Nutmeg Processing Station where nuts are bought from farmers and weighed to determine payment. |
 |
| Farmers dump their nutmeg onto large tables where the shells and debris are removed prior to bagging. |
 |
| The nutmeg is separated into shells with the meat (top) and the undried (red) and dried mace. |
 |
| The mace, used to make allspice, grows around the nutmeg shell. |
 |
| The shells are dried over a period of weeks on large drying tables. |
 |
| This women sorts the nutmeg by size and quality. |
 |
| In the market behind the processing station Meryl and Durlyn purchase some nutmeg syrup that's used for pancakes and as a sweetener for tea. |
Our next stop was on the east side of the island in the town of Grenville where we visited the local nutmeg processing station. Cutty said many of the processing plants are closed as a result of devastation to the trees from the last hurricane. The building was constructed in 1947 and was virtually unchanged since the day they built it. One of the workers gave us a tour and enthusiastically described each stop of the processing, including the purchasing of the nutmeg from local farmers, drying of the nutmeg, the separation of the mace, drying them, and finally grading and sorting into various sizes for different markets. It’s amazing our versatile the nutmeg plant is: first they use the outer fruit to make jams and jellies, the shell is ground up for mulch, the nut inside the nutmeg is ground up for spice and pressed into an oil, and the spider-like mace surrounding the nut is dried for use as a spice.
 |
| A local stream provides power to this huge waterwheel imported from England in 1785. |
 |
| The waterwheel provides power to a huge sugar cane crushing machine. |
 |
| The sugar cane comes down a long conveyor belt and the cane juice is crushed out by this huge press. |
The cane juice travels through a wooden trough into the boiling house where first filtered then hand transferred through a series of copper boiling pots. White lime is added as a purifier to the cane juice and to control the acidity. A worker uses a large ladle to transfer the juice from one boiling pot to the next, with each pot getting progressively hotter. Once the desired level of sweetness is reached the juice is transferred to a holding tank for two days to cool down.
 |
| The large goose-neck copper boiler is where the wash is heated to 250 degrees in the final distillation process to make the rum. |
 |
| At a 150 proof, this is a rum you sip very, very slowly. |
It the final building, a very simple room where the rum is stored, bottled and labeled, they have a tasting room where three bottles of rum are set on a small table. The first is 150 proof, which they can’t sell through normal distribution channels since the degree of proof is so variable. After taking a small sip of this I can’t adequately describe the feeling of the liquid flowing down my throat: a pleasant hot sensation that completely overwhelms your sense of taste. You seriously can’t drink too much of this if you want to walk back to the van. The second bottle was a 120-proof, and the third a rum punch, a proprietary mix of fruit juices with rum. After the 150-proof the rum punch seemed so mild you could have it as a breakfast drink.
 |
| The crushing mill pulverizes the cocoa beans into a paste that is added to sugar and other ingredients to make chocolate bars. |
Next on the tour was the world famous (if you are a chocolate lover) Grenada Chocolate Company. The company has a colorful history, founded by an eclectic Ivy League drop out called Stuart Mott. He left Penn in the 60’s to help provide electricity to squatters in Philadelphia’s tenements. A fervent sailor, he ended up in Grenada where he founded the Grenada Chocolate Company in 1999. He ran a totally “green” operation, powered by solar cells and even delivered the chocolate bars to Europe in a brigantine sailboat. Mott died an untimely death on June 1, 2013 when he was electrocuted working on the factory.
Since Mott’s death they have not allowed tours of the factory, but we were very fortunate that Cutty had a friend who worked there and gave us a very quick peak of the miniscule factory operation, showed where the cocoa beans are crushed, mixed with liquid and sugar, and formed into chocolate bars.
 |
| Leapers Hell where thousands of Carib Indians jumped to their death rather than be captured by the French. |
Our final stop on the tour was the town of Sauteurs on the very northern tip of the island. Sauteurs is famous as the location of Leapers Hill, where in 1651 the local Carib Indians made a last stand against the French invaders. Rather than be captured, many chose to commit suicide by leaping off the 150 ft. cliff to the shark-infested waters below.
 |
| Janet houses have a unique design with alternating directions of their siding and dimensions that makes them easy to identify. |
Driving back to St. Georges on the beautiful coast road Cutty pointed out some strange little structures he called “Janet” houses. They were donated by Venezuela after Hurricane Janet devastated the island in 1955 and are identifiable by their unique design. Cutty said these houses were very well built and have survived subsequent hurricanes.
 |
| Durlyn and Meryl enjoy a great dinner at BB's Crab Restaurant in St. Georges. |
We ended a great day with dinner at a local institution, BB’s Crab Restaurant, where we enjoyed a delicious crab salads and I had one of the hottest Jerk Chicken. After several swallows of Diet Coke I finally regained my sense of taste and smell. I’ve still haven’t learned my lesson about eating spicy foods in the Caribbean.
No comments:
Post a Comment