December 17 - St George’s, Grenada

Weather – 30º, humid, partly cloudy, slight

good morning

showers…nothing like yesterday

Steps – 8,955

Today is Sunday and that means caviar breakfast. Apparently, the newer 3 Regent boats have Sunday caviar extravaganzas, on Mariner (one of 

getting closer to SA

the 3 older boats) it’s just caviar and Champagne at the regular breakfast…we didn’t suffer.

I’m typically awake here before 7 but will myself back to sleep. Last night we made a plan to be at breakfast around 9:15, so if I didn’t go back to sleep, I could be at the gym, get the laundry out and make it for caviar…DONE.

hot sauce sampling

Our tour isn’t until this afternoon, so after breakfast we lazed on the balcony watching the ship come into port all the while admiring the lush mountains of Grenada and luxuriating in the humidity…well maybe what I did wasn’t exactly luxuriate...things are getting sticky down here

trying the inside of the cacoa

in the Caribbean. My hair’s getting curly and
my skin’s getting dewy – OK…maybe my skin’s getting sweaty.

Today’s tour focused on Grenada’s most

cocoa tree

characteristic products – spices (nutmeg specifically), herbs, and rum. We learned that nutmeg can be used to make jam, hot sauce, and rum punch. We bought some hot sauce which was very tasty.

Then we visited Laura Spice Gardens, which grows cinnamon, clove, nutmeg/mace, all spice, bay

rum samples

leaves, lemon grass, vanilla, cocoa, vanilla and more. Brian, our guide, cracked open a cacoa pod and had us try the cocoa nibs on the inside. These were soft, a bit gelatinous, kind of like fruit. Then we followed as he wandered through the garden, stopping wherever he saw something interesting to tell us. It was fascinating. It rained when we were here, but it’s still hot and this rain was more of a mist compared to yesterday’s

torrent, so I didn’t bother with a hat or umbrella.

We ended today’s excursion at a rum distillery, learning about how sugarcane was processed in the late 1800s. Today, they make rum here which we of course sampled. There were about 10 or 12 different rum iterations to try…straight up aged, liqueurs and flavoured rums.

Because we didn’t leave port until 9PM, the ship planned to do a pool deck BBQ buffet. This is a

rum distillery

big deal…the entire pool area is transformed into a food extravaganza – not that every day isn’t a food extravaganza around here. The band also plays and people generally have a great time. Yesterday, we learned that tonight’s BBQ was actually moved to an inside venue

due to forecast rain, it really is a lot of work if it’s going to rain. I’m not the biggest fan of these

the rain is coming

BBQs. I can see the appeal, but I prefer to see it, appreciate the effort and spectacle, maybe have a cocktail, but eat a served meal inside. I generally like to sit, relax, not have to throw elbows (that’s maybe a bit dramatic) for a bit of what is really endless food. It was a good decision because sure enough around 6:00 it started to rain.

Before dinner we hung out under the protection of our balcony while the rain came down.