An island tour of Grenada and return to Bequia

We made arrangements with another boat who had company aboard to join in on their tour. There were 9 people on a three day old mini tour bus. Our driver Cuddy was well versed on the history and the  flora and fauna of the island. We left at 9 am and returned at 5:30. We saw the capital of St Georges and each of the parishes with one city (or town really) in each.This is St Georges where you can see where the cruise ships would dock. 

Along the highway we passed several spots where there were these petroglyphs. 

The rum factory.....

We toured a rum factory using the old style water wheel from the 1700's for crushing the sugar cane to make the most vile rum we had ever tasted. My throat hurt until the next day.

Then a tour of one of the chocolate factories where they used old equipment but produced the finest smooth chocolate. My throat didn't hurt at all with that.

 

This is what the chocolate looks like on the trees. The big red pods where the cocoa beans are growing. 

Nutmeg is grown abundantly on the island and bagged up for shipment around the world. Brian's nose twitched at the sites and smells of the processing of the spices reminding him of his many years at McCormick Canada. We weren't allowed any pictures there but it was all hand sorted and bagged. Quite a time consuming process. 

Along the highway were several colorful displays of their national pride. Independence Day for Grenada is in Feb and the parties begin. 

We drove through the rain forest and stopped at a waterfall where one of the locals jumped into the pool. But I'm not a quick enough shot for that. It was a beautiful lush spot.

Some of the produce along the way. 

We stopped for lunch at a resort on the northern end of the island. A beautiful beach and an amazing view!

In the rain forest we stopped where the driver coaxed a monkey out of the forest by honking the horn and he ate bananas right out of our hands. Well not my hands but someone's hand.

When the bananas were gone so was the monkey. 

We have now sailed from Grenada up to Bequia where we are planning to stay about two weeks. But we have had trouble with the phone data plan and have had no communication this week. Today we will go in for free wifi at a restaurant to post this and catch up. I know the hell here never ends.

Stay tuned for some fun snorkel shots next time. Don't want to make this too long or bore you.