Grenada

[joanybelle]

My husband and I pulled the trigger and booked a weeklong trip to Grenada. We will be going in a few weeks! We will be scuba diving a lot, but hope to explore the island some, too. I've seen interest in the past for Grenada on this forum, so if there is still interest, I will report back with our experiences when we return.

[turqsea]

Please do!

[Exit Zero]

For sure get to some of the many waterfalls and pools - the Sat. town market is really a treat as well.

[turqsea]

I love nutmeg, can you Please take a picture and post of a nutmeg tree? Thank you!

[Coden]

If you get a chance, go to The Aquarium Restaurant at Magazine Beach on a Sunday for their BBQ...we were there in January celebrating hubby's 60th birthday and had a wonderful, wonderful time.

Here is their website:

http://www.aquarium-grenada.com/

[Lex]

I'll be looking forward to your report. Grenada is one of the places in the Caribbean I'd like to get to.

[JT]

With a lot more money, and time, I would love to spent about three, or four, weeks in the Grenadines.

[joanybelle]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I can't wait to go, but getting there is going to be interesting. We are flying from Charlotte, NC to Barbados on US Airways, then take Liat Airways to Grenada. All I have read on travel forums is that Liat cancels flights often, and their customer service is not good. Our other option was to go to Miami on American Airlines with an overnight layover before traveling the next day to Grenada. I decided I'd rather take a chance of a possible overnight layover in Barbados than a sure overnight layover in Miami. Does anyone have experience with Liat? (BTW, we had US Airways Airmiles, so that was another factor in our decision.)

[PA Girl]

No experience with Liat but I can't wait to hear about Grenada. I know two couples that visited and they both loved it. One of the couples regularly visits the BVIS so I know how they travel - laid back, relaxed, like the outdoors, etc.

We were planning a temporary move to Grenada in 2006. My husband's company was involved in a large project and the idea was that I, with our six month old baby, would move down and he would come down once a month for a week at a time. I went so far as to start the immigration/work visa process and looking for a long-term rental. Then the project fell apart. It would have been interesting.

[jmq]

LIAT is legendary on other travel forums for having service issues that inspire numerous rants and apparently well deserved nicknames such as:

Leave Island Any Time
Late If At All
Luggage In Another Terminal

This website has some tips for “surviving LIAT”

http://caroundtheworld.com/2010/01/10/6 ... -airlines/

This post offers some hope that maybe things are improving
http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/ ... art=1&vc=1

Grenada trip report by same writer of first link:
http://caroundtheworld.com/grenada/

Really interesting while clicking around on this southern Caribbean stuff that there is a new large international airport under construction on St. Vincent that is supposed to be completed mid-2013.
That will enable direct flights by the major carriers/larger aircraft direct into St. Vincent and from there take the ferry to Bequia which on my island bucket list.
Right now it’s a lot more convoluted to get to Bequia and could easily involve exposure to LIAT.

[joanybelle]

Thank you for the links of info, JMQ! I got some good tips there. We are forming a game plan for Liat, but it will be a miracle if we and our luggage (dive gear) get there as planned. Barbados isn't the worst place I can think of to be "stuck". We are up for the adventure, and just hope we & our stuff get to Grenada eventually. We will be staying at True Blue Bay Resort in Grenada, BTW.

[ms411]

You must stop at BelZeb which is a store near Grand Anew beach that sells handmade natural beauty products. I bought Virginity Soap and other things. I hear her nutmeg scuffle body butter is luscious, so I'm ordering that from her website Belzeb.net.

We flew LIAT with no problems, but we must have stopped at five islands. Very smooth flights.

Unfortunately it's not lobster season.

There's a restaurant that's highly recommended on Trip Advisor, but I can't remember the name. It's the number one ranked, but I didn't find out about it until after I got back.

I posted a Grenada hike slideshow in this forum under St John Hiking.

Please do a trip report on this forum.

[ms411]

Here's the link:

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1192827

I have lots of nutmeg photos (we toured a nutmeg processing plant). Will post those later.

I also bought nutmeg soap and nutmeg honey from BelZeb. The nutmeg jelly that's sold in almost every store is made from the yellow part of the nutmeg and HAS NO TASTE! They don't even put a sprinkling of the nutmeg spice in it.

I love the ArtBatik store in St George's. I bought loofahs and some bamboo items there. Met the owner and saw them creating more batik fabrics.

[ms411]

Thanks to a poster in another forum, I was able to get oh-so-beautiful photos from my Liat to Grenada flight.

Here are the VI photos:

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1212691

Other photos (including Grenada from the air) must be on another memory card. Will post them when/if I find them!