A weekend trip to Grenada

A weekend trip to Grenada? Don't mind if I do!

We just returned from an incredible weekend trip to Grenada, and I have fallen in love with the Spice Isle! My boyfriend was planning a business trip to the Spice Isle and suggested that we plan to celebrate his birthday there as well, so we took some extra days and had the most wonderful time.

When we decided to hop over to Grenada for a long weekend, I was caught off guard by the fact that I didn't know that much about our island neighbour. Though we are only about 160 miles (and a 30 minute flight) away from each other, I had never been before, nor do I know many Grenadians. My boyfriend had been there before for business, but he had never really spent that much time there as an adult, so we were both really excited to explore and learn more.

While I'm not usually one to plan that much for short trips, I wanted to make sure that I knew what the "Top" things were to do, as well as where we could plan a nice meal for J's birthday. All of this went out of the window as soon as we landed and started liming with J's friend, Anand, as he and his girlfriend Lucy graciously hosted us and showed us a great time, from the perspective of a local. We also didn't want to rush from one thing to another, so we really took our time and enjoyed each day to the fullest.

Living la vida local

Grenada is one of those places where you need to be there, and to know someone local, to really know what's going on. No amount of Googling could prepare me for such a chilled, fun weekend. There seems to be a great opportunity to market what's going on in this beautiful, relaxed and unpretentious country!

While we didn't get to tick of the "Top" things to do in Grenada, I'm so grateful for the time we had there, and can't wait to go back to explore some more!

Here are some of the highlights during our weekend trip to Grenada:

Chilled, laid back vibes all round

There were so many laid back spots to relax, hang out and enjoy yourself in Grenada! From sipping brews and ciders at West Indies Beer Company, to swimming and watching the sunset on Grand Anse beach. We enjoyed sundowners at La Plywood and a delicious meal at the French Creole cafe Le Papillion. I highly recommend this cafe for breakfast!

Dinghy Concert

This was such a great event, we had a blast. The dinghy concert is a floating event set out on a barge in a bay, and can be attended by boat, barge or dingy. Dieter Burkhalter, who owns a hotel called Le Phare Bleu, started the Dinghy Concerts in an attempt to marry two of his passions: Music and sailing! Burkhalter hosts the concert a few times per year and each event is unique and features a different band. It's open to the public and there is a shuttle and a barge, so the dinghy concerts are not exclusively for sailors. This band featured a local reggae artist name Thamara "Songbird" St Bernard, and she kept us jamming for over 2 hours!

Fun fact: One song of each concert has to be about Grenada!

Underwater Sculpture Park

I have been a fan of Jason deCaires Taylor's work for as long as I can remember, so I was the most excited about visiting one of his first underwater sculpture parks. We took a small boat from our hotel to the Molinere Beauséjour Marine park and spent about 1.5 hours snorkelling around the park, which was first installed in 2006. Vicissitudes is a sculpture featuring a ring of 26 children holding hands, and it is one of the most recognised of Taylor's work. Seeing Vicissitudes in person literally took my breath away, I was so excited; it's eerie and beautiful, sad, scary and touching all at once. We swam up close to see the details of each of the faces, each one unique and covered in a beautiful pattern of coral.

Visiting the underwater sculpture park was one of the highlights of the weekend! Unfortunately, there were some downsides to our visit, such as nearly being swarmed by hundreds of tourists who showed up towards the end. It was a classic example of 'overtourism' in that the site suddenly became swamped with 3 boats, who proceeded to moor on top of the site. Thankfully, our group left when the crowds showed up. I will be blogging about this particular experience in more detail separately as I think it's important to address the issue of overtourism in the Caribbean.

Hog Island

Hog island is a tiny island off the south coast of Grenada. It's a favourite weekend anchorage spot amongst sailors and a playground for dog owners. A group of us took a small boat to get to Hog Island and we stayed until the sun went down; chatting and mingling, listening to a live reggae band who also come in by boat and just enjoying the atmosphere. By this point, I think I've used "chilled" far too many times in this post, but Hog Island was the epitome of laid back, Caribbean living. Did I mention the dogs? There were so many adorable dogs running around and having the time of their lives. Most of the dogs belonged to students of St.George's University, and they brought their dogs with them from the USA and Canada.

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There you have it, I hope you enjoyed this quite recap of weekend trip to Grenada! I can't wait to go back and visit again, there's so much to do and experience and I feel like we only just scratched the surface. If you're a business owner or tour operator in Grenada, I'd love to connect with you and see how we can collaborate!

Have you ever been to Grenada? What were some of the highlights for you?