Grenada

And not an American soldier in sight...................

There was a lovely rainbow this morning when we docked (in Granada).

But it faded like my mood as the others failed to drag themselves up and get their arses into gear. I gave up on them and went for a bit of a walk with the arrangement to meet them at the gangway at 10am.

God it was humid and sticky – and I walked up the steep hill to the fort overlooking the harbour. Mistake!!!! I could hardly breathe by the time I got up there and I was soaking with sweat. So I just took in the view, watched some fancy birds and saw the world’s fastest lizard legging it across the grass.

I came across a ruined church where the only usable bit was the steeple which was flying the Scottish Saltire – no idea why.

I made it back to the ship in time to grab some fruit for breakfast, change out of my sweaty t-shirt and get down to gangway a few minutes before 10am. At 10.10am I went off the ship in case the others had got off the other gangway and were waiting on the dockside. They weren’t. Another 10minutes and SWMBO appeared telling me that the others would be 20 minutes so we were going back up to the cabin to wait.

At 11.30am we left the ship and I was in a foul mood. Not helped by the rain which started at the same time.

I let them negotiate a price for a tour with one of the ‘official’ taxi drivers (I was in no mood for speaking). Then we were told he would just get another party to join us............... things were not looking good!

4 Scousers were quickly collared and we were off.

The driver (Duffy) was good with explanations and information and the Scousers were a good group.
After several quick stops (in the middle of the rather narrow road with the very steep ravines on both sides) to pick various leaves etc. so we could see what cinnamon, nutmeg and the such looked like, we stopped at a shack at the roadside. It was a bar.
Obviously one of his mates..... So the ladies were given a sample of rum punch (not the best) and the men were given some spiced rum. Or should I say “Rocket Fuel”? 69 degrees proof was the claim – I suspect that might have been an under estimate! But it did actually taste rather nice and holding it in the mouth before swallowing allowed the various spices to come out in different areas of the mouth. One ‘nip’ and you knew it was powerful – two and you started to feel slightly light headed. John (a very light drinker allegedly ) had five and was steaming after three!!!!!
The next stop was a fairly sizable waterfall where girl from another party joined the official jumpers. A brave lass and how she stayed in her bikini top I have no idea.
A planned trip to another of the islands forts was abandoned due to the heavy rain – so we went to a very nice quiet beach with a bar and restaurant instead and arrived as the rain stopped. So 4 of us went for a swim..... Well it would be rude not to swim in the Caribbean. There were 3 blokes cleaning their catch of fish and octopus in the edge of the water and handing it up to be cooked. You couldn’t get any fresher.
Between downpours I spent ages trying to get shots of the translucent wee crabs at the entrance to their burrows in the sand. They have amazing eyesight and wouldn’t let me get as close as I really needed to.
At the arranged time the taxi driver turned up to take us back to the boat (despite L’s worries) as I knew he would ............... he hadn’t been paid at that point.
At the show in the ships theatre I couldn’t keep my eyes open – I was awake and heard everything but just couldn’t keep my eyes open. As we were leaving, H admitted that he had actually fallen asleep. How I have no idea because, like all clubs, bars, weddings etc. these days, it was too damned loud.