Grenada is a beautiful island with lush green mountains, waterfalls, gorgeous bays and of course many golden beaches. Grenada is also known as the 'Spice Island' due to the fragrant nutmeg trees that grow here.

We sailed from Tobago to Grenada Marina in St David's Bay mainly to check out the marina as a place for leaving the boat once the hurricane season arrives in June.
The environment for leaving the boat unattended for 6/7 months is very harsh due to the high humidity and heat. Our Swedish boat is built more for colder climates, the interior is mahogany wood and we have plenty of soft furnishings. We were keen for a dehumidifier to be used to avoid damage to the wood and mildew but not so keen on the paying US$6.5 per day for electricity! It was also recommended that a full deck cover be used to prevent damage to our teak decks which would be another major expense as a cover would need to be made. Apart from this the marina seemed a good place to leave the boat.
From talking to other boat owners we soon realised that there is quite an active yacht community in Grenada especially a little further towards the main town of St George in Prickly Bay. Just listen into VHF66 to hear the various social activities for the day from music nights, dominoes, yoga, walks etc that anyone can join. We were introduced to the Harriers Hash House event by boat owners Sara and Darryl. This was a run/hike through the dense forests, along the muddiest paths and wading through streams. We had completely the wrong footwear, got very dirty but had great fun. There is lots of beer drinking and music afterwards but we were unaware that we would be sprayed in beer as part of the initiation ceremony to all first timers!

We hired a car for a few days and discovered the Belmont Estate that grows cocoa beans and produces its own organic chocolate. The cocoa beans are surrounded in a white sweet pulp within the actual pod. Beans have to be fermented for three days to remove the pulp but also to enhance the flavour. After this the beans are dried in the sun and traditionally turned by dancing on them (but you actually shuffle through them to avoid crushing the beans). We were allowed to have a go - see photos.
After this the beans are roasted, separated from the husk, nibbled, spun to extract the cocoa and cocoa butter then made into delicious chocolate bars.

Grenada is a volcanic island and they have an active volcano just offshore called Kick em Jenny. Connected to Kick em Jenny are sulphur pools and hot springs on land and by chance we saw a road sign that directed us to one of them. It was a very 'local' set up, someone's home and gardens with two women offering us a beneficial sulphur mud spa. Well it was worth doing, if for nothing more than the laugher as we looked liked Avatars.

We only spent a week in Grenada as we'd agreed to meet up with our Swedish friend in Bequia (pronounced Bek-way) by the 20th Jan before they sail off towards the Panama Canal.
I'll post details about Bequia and other Grenadine islands at a later date.