Granada

We docked at 7:00 AM as scheduled and boarded a tour bus with about 15 other passengers about 8:30 AM. The town is broken up into five parishes of which St. Georges is likely the largest. It is an extremely hilly island and during our three hour tour I did not see one flat stretch of land. Foftunately for us there was no rain while in port. Granada has about 160 inches of rain each year. Most of it comes from June to December.

The French sought to hold on to the island and fought unsuccessfully for 150 years to do so. The inhabitants, called Caribs, resisted French rule and eventually as the remaining Caribs saw the French winning the conflict, they jumped off a hill, since called Leapers Hill.

Eventually the British gained control of the island and it is now a part of the British Commonwealth. It has had major political turmoil over the years. When the Communist gained control President Regan sent in the troops in 1984. Initially he sent in 1,600 troops but had to send an additional 4,400 in order to gain control. Our troops stayed in the country a very short time and soon withdrew after order (according to our liking) was restored. As I recall, it served an additional purpose of revealing major deficiencies in our military communications ability between the Navy, Army and Marines. None of their radios could talk to each other which was at the very least an embarrassment.

Hurricanes generally have not affected the island. However, in 2004 Ivan swept through Grenada and damaged about 90% of the buildings. Some ancient churches were so badly damaged they along with many home have not been rebuilt. In addition the hurricane stripped and destroyed many trees that provide their major source of export (cinnamom, ginger, mace and nutmeg). Even now after three years the nutmeg production is only 10% of what it was before Ivan. Before Ivan a hurricane had not hit the island since 1954.

Most homes are built on concrete pilings or stilts; very few have foundations other than more expensive modern homes. Building on stilts is more economical because of the hilly terrain and has other practical purposes as well. The breezes cool the house better, termites have a more difficult time reaching the house and since it rains so much they can dry their clothes on clotheslines hung under the house.

There is a new area being developed on a small island accessible by a bridge. The land costs anywhere from $25.00 to $50.00 per square foot.

At best Grenada is a very poor country and currently there is 35% unemployment. Other than spices it appears cruise ships are the other source of revenue. The largest resort hotel has about 30 rooms. The brochures say bananas are the major export item, but our driver indicated they are grown primarily for local use. All homes are on a sewer connection and most have municipal water. I believe the driver said 65% have electricity. Gasoline is about $6.00 per gallon and all of it is imported.

Typical of areas developed in the 1600's the streets are very narrow. The roads we took on the tour were in good repair, although very crooked with many blind corners. Traffic moves on the left side and is very fast considering the curves encountered. The bus driver frequently honked the horn approaching the blind corners. By our standards there were many close encounters, drivers seem unconcerned and go with the flow. We drove along several beach areas on our way to a forest reserve on an extinct volcano at 1900 feet, the highest point on the island. Everywhere we stopped there were women selling something. If they had nothing for sale, they wanted a dollar to take their picture. I took pictures of one baby and several women and only one woman saw me take pictures and asked for the dollar.

As is true of Costa Rica, Grenada has no national army. This reduces the likelihood of a military coup. Their police are dressed in very sharp looking uniforms and are extremely neat in appearance.

I am writing this at 5:00 PM local time. We have just left the harbor at St Georges on our way to Brazil. We will be at sea for over two days. Unless something unusual occurs, my next post will be from the mouth of the Amazon as we approach Macapa 1189 nautical miles from here..

We are at 12 degrees 03.09' N 61 degrees 45.37 W. As we leave Granada we are on a heading of 104.1 Degrees. Wind speed is Force 5. The outside air temperature 78.8 degrees. Sunset will be at 5:49 PM, the next sunrise will be at 5:57 AM.

We have now been at sea for 2 weeks. We are enjoying the cruise, but miss our family.