St. George's, Grenada

Today we are docked in St. George's, Grenada.  We arrived around 7am.  Breakfast in La Veranda and now getting ready for our tour.  Today we are doing a tour named The Spice of our Life.  We have been to Grenada several times so we are trying to do things we have not done in the past.

St. George's is the capital of Grenada.  The town is surrounded by a a hillside of an old volcano crater and is on a horseshoe-shoped harbor.  The town has developed in recent years, while preserving its history, culture, and natural beauty.  It is home to St. George's University School of Medicine.  On a side note, the university was closed during the government overthrow.

We gathered for our tour and headed out.  First stop was where they used to produce Rum.  After hurricane Ivan, most of the sugar cane crops were destroyed.  Now they do not produce sugar like they used to.  At any rate, this stop was an old rum factory.  We learned about the production of rum front the sugar cane and then had a tasting of seven different rums if we wanted.  I only tried one kind.

Next stop was to a spice garden.  Here we were able to smell the leaves of the plants and try and recognize them.  Another interesting exercise.  After a while, they all seemed to smell the same.

Final stop was to a factory where they make jams and jellies from nutmeg and other spices.  I did purchase some Nutmeg Jam.  Nice flavor.

We returned to the ship and had lunch and then Bob has his nap while I did some needlepoint.  Then we headed to the coffee connection for a latte and then I went to needlepoint for a short while.

We then swam for one hour and cleaned up for dinner.  Tonight they had a gathering of the people from each state.  There are 78 people from Florida on this leg of the cruise.  We were late getting ready so we just went to the Mariner Bar and sat at the bar and had our cocktail.  A gentleman from Florida came up and ordered a drink and we got to talking with him.  He then asked us to join he and his wife and another couple for dinner.  Larry and Judy are from Bonita Springs, Florida and David and Penny are from Ohio, outside of Cleveland.  We had a very nice dinner with them.

Side note, Jean and Harry stopped by while we were at the bar.  I had said we had not seen them for some time.  Jean's mother had passed away on Thursday so she had a few bad days.  This was not unexpected.  Her mother had been in a coma when they left for the cruise.  But it is sad none the less.

Back to the cabin to read and sleep.  Tomorrow is another sea day.