Adventures in the Caribbean: St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Today we are in St. Vincent. 

St. Vincent & the Grenadines is unique on our itinerary as the country with the strictest COVID restrictions. So far on this cruise vaccinated travelers have been able to go ashore without restrictions at all, but here you can only go ashore on a ship's excursion. So, with the kiddo at "Adventure Ocean," Diana and I did a "scenic drive" tour.

We boarded a minibus like the one below.

After passing through Kingstown our first stop was Fort Charlotte to the north of the capital and high above the harbour. You can see Grandeur of the Seas far below. You could see some of the Grenadine islands from up here, too, but not in the photo below.

We had maybe half an hour or so to tour the fort.

Some goats were foraging nearby, and I enjoyed watching them.

Our only other stop on the tour was the botanical gardens, which is more than 250 years old. We had a nice walk through the gardens.

For me the most exciting part of the botanical gardens was seeing St. Vincent's indigenous and endemic Amazona guildingii parrot. 

I did not take any good pictures, but you can see one of them below, and I really enjoyed watching them because they are very noisy and quite active.

Once we reached the end of the walk through the gardens, a lady was there selling beers, so we bought a couple. I must have failed to take a picture of the bottle, but as in Antigua the local beer is named after the Indigenous name of the island, in this case the Carib word Hairoun, meaning something like "land of the blessed." It actually might be the same beer as Wadadli because it is produced by the same brewery, but either way I find the naming choice interesting.

After the botanical garden we drove south of Kingstown before coming back to the port.

We had a nice view of the sunset as we sailed away.

Adventures in the Caribbean: St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda

Today's stop is St. John's, Antigua, and again we were in port when we woke up. 

A Royal Navy ship was across the harbour from us.

There's the Antigua and Barbuda flag flying atop Grandeur of the Seas.

I took the kiddo ashore to buy and mail postcards and go for a little walk in the morning, but really we have realized she is better off staying in the kids club aboard the ship than touring Caribbean islands in the heat (although the temperature has rarely been over 30 degrees!).

So, after lunch and leaving the kiddo amongst friends, Diana went ashore and enjoyed drinks at a popular cafe called Hemingway's.

I always try to drink the local beer, and here on Antigua it has a pretty cool name--Wadadli! 

Sadly, albeit not surprisingly, colonialism's legacy here in the West Indies is not only chattel slavery but also genocide. I have struggled to determine to what extent Indigenous people remain, but I do know in many cases they were killed or fled these islands for greater security further west. Still, Wadadli is the island's name in Arawak (apparently meaning "our own") and is now the name of Antigua's most popular beer.

After Hemingway's we had an interesting walk to the market--I was surprised how quickly we got out of the (very touristy) cruise port area and into what felt like authentic St. John's. 

We also walked to the cathedral, but we could not figure out how to get inside. 

Then we stopped by the national museum, but it was closing when we arrived, so that was not an option either... anyway, we enjoyed the walk.

We returned to the port and sat by the water drinking Tings before reboarding.

Adventures in the Caribbean: St. Kitts & Nevis

Grandeur of the Seas brings us to a new island nation every day (which is the main reason we took it, such a great itinerary!). All the islands we are visiting were once part of the British West Indies: Barbados, Grenada, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Vincent, Dominica, and St. Lucia.

Today, we are in Basseterre, the capital of the tiny country of St. Kitts & Nevis. The ship flies the flag of the country where we are in port, and me and the kiddo enjoy seeing that.

All seven of the countries we are visiting are small, but St. Kitts & Nevis is really small (barely 50,000 people)! 

After our experience with the kiddo in the heat in Grenada yesterday, today we hired a friendly cabbie, Elvis, to give us a little tour. He took us through "The Circus" on our way out of Basseterre.

We drove along the coast to the edge of the Central Forest Reserve National Park and a place called Romney Manor, which is on the site of an old sugar plantation. Production of sugar by slaves for the benefit of elite English families (men) is more or less the story of all of these islands, and this legacy seems to be very much "alive" more than a century and a half since (official) emancipation. Interestingly, this plantation was the first in St. Kitts to set its slaves free, in 1834.

Romney Manor is now the home of Caribelle Batik, where they make and sell batik fabric clothing, wall hangings, etc.

From Romeny Manor we drove south west, around Basseterre, to a place called Timothy Hill. From here you can look south and see the southern tip of St. Kitts, and Nevis not far away across the water.

That is the Atlantic Ocean to the north of Timothy Hill, and some of the resorts and the rest of St. Kitts further behind.

From Timothy Hill, it was back to Basseterre and the port. 

Adventures in the Caribbean: St. George's, Grenada

The first stop of our cruise is St. George's, Grenada. We were in port when we woke up.

We did not have any particular plans, as the ship docks right in the city and you can simply walk off an explore.

Beyond the immediate port area, you can climb up staircase to the right of the tunnel up to Fort George.

Fort George was historically strategic in that it provided coverage of the harbour.

We had a nice time in the fort, and on the walls, looking out over the sea and St. George's, and there's our ship, the Grandeur of the Seas.

From the fort we walked down the hill on the other side, past St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church which was badly damaged in a 2007 hurricane some years ago and is still under reconstruction.  

You can see the church from down by the port as well.

On the other side of the hill from the port is an area called Carenage, which is a nice inner harbour with fishing boats and such. It is a beautiful spot, but unfortunately COVID seems to have badly impacted the cafes and such that would have been really nice.

Along this waterfront there is a statue of Jesus.

It has an interesting story:

This statue at the Carenage harbor recognizes the fate of the Bianca C. The Italian luxury cruise ship is often referred to as the Titanic of the Caribbean. In the very early morning of October 22, 1961, while the ship was anchored at St. George’s, a major explosion occurred in the boiler room. Local residents quickly manned their fishing boats to rescue nearly 700 passengers and crew (only one died). They created a makeshift hospital to care for the injured while welcoming others into their homes. The ship sunk two days later near Grand Anse Beach. In appreciation for the heroic efforts of the Grenadians, Costa Line gifted this statue named Christ of the Deep. The bronze is a replica of the Christ of the Abyss statue located underwater in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy. Artist Guido Galletti created the original.

Unfortunately the kiddo was suffering badly in the heat, so we had to head back to the ship. We did find a nice place called the House of Chocolate where we were able to stop in on the way back to the ship. It was air conditioned so it was a good place to cool down. The House of Chocolate is a museum and café and shop and good enough for the Prince of Wales to visit (https://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/royal-visit-caribbean-grenada)! Grenada is famous for its spices, and especially its nutmeg, so I was excited to eat some nutmeg ice cream!

Adventures in the Caribbean: Barbados

Yesterday my family and I arrived in Barbados.

We flew in on a full flight from YYZ.

After some lunch and checking in at the Coconut Court Beach hotel, my partner and kiddo took a nap, and I headed to the race track at the Garrison, where apparently horses have been racing since 1845.

We at dinner by the beach, trying some local favourites, including macaroni pie and flying fish.

Today we ate breakfast at the hotel by the beach, and then spent the morning by the pool.

Then, early this afternoon we headed off to the port to catch our Royal Caribbean "island hop" cruise on the Grandeur of Seas. On the way to the port we passed through Bridgetown, including the Parliament Building.

In order to board the ship we needed rapid antigen COVID tests, which took place in this converted warehouse. All in all, Barbados/Royal Caribbean have done a good job and checking in was as close to painless a process as it probably could be.

Once aboard, this was our view of the port and Bridgetown and Barbados in the background.

We sail tonight, and will be back to Barbados in a week!