9. Grenada

Award winning seafood, Olympic winners and more islands than you would perhaps expect. Plus a fascinating fact about nutmeg!

In this episode,  you'll hear about the real Grenada - with facts only a local would know: from travelling,  to eating, to shopping,

For a free factsheet on the varied offerings of Grenada, email May at her website:  https://www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/may.swan-easton

Transcript

Award-winning seafood Olympic winners and more islands that you'd perhaps expect. Plus a fascinating fact about nutmeg. Welcome to episode nine of travels with May

Hello, I'm May Swan-Easton. And in this episode, our destination is Grenada. Now keep listening because I'll be telling you how you can download a free fact sheet on the island. Well, let's get straight into the conversation I had with Roger Augustine, who is the destination experience officer at Grenada tourism authority.

And over the next 30 minutes, you'll hear about the real Greneda with facts only your local would know from traveling to eating, to shopping. Roger. Welcome. Thank you for having me and I hope your listeners have a beautiful day wherever they are. So let's start off then. Can you tell me a little bit about grenade?

Does history. Yes. Um, so Grenada itself was inhabited by the indigenous people. And I used the word indigenous because the word that we use carbs was really a derogatory term used for the indigenous people that were here at fluids. So they were here first and on conception Sunday morning, it was cited by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1498.

And I say cited because he didn't land. And when you saw the island, you said Oompa is the Concepcion, the delicacy on the Santa Maria, which was conception island and dedication of Saint Mary. No, the sailors who were with him at the time taught that the island looked a lot like Granada, the Spanish city.

And so the name of Granada was used until the French came. And when they settled here, they called it LA Granada. And of course, when it was handed over to British, the second time it was changed from Grenada to Grenada. So you've had the French and the British, you know, fighting for Grenada, um, because even though Grenada was seated to frat, to, um, Britain, um, You know, back in 1763, the first time in the treaty of, uh, of piracy, they decided that they were not happy.

France was not happy. So in 1779, they came back and took the island. And then another treaty in 1783 in the treaty of Versailles, the island was then handed back to Britain. And that's when the name was changed from lacquer, not to Grenada. So when you come into Grenada, you would see a bit of. Of British architecture, Georgian and Victorian architecture that permeates the beautiful city of St.

George's, which is often referred to as the Portofino of the Caribbean. So you've got all that lovely, rich, architectural history that you can use. And you've also have French architectural history in the Marvel of the forts, which are a map to be world heritage sites here in, on the island of Grenada. So you've got both British and French history type ingredient up.

And as well as in recent history, you hear of, uh, Johnson Beharry who was Grenada that received a Victoria Cross in serving in the Gulf war, uh, in the British. So again, you, you know, you know, Johnson be Harry, you know, the first man in 40 years, uh, when he received it, that that is alive. Uh, so you know, all or history sided poster, you've got Lewis Hamilton, uh, from an O one Karesa driver who is of Grenadian descendants.

So, you know, we, we, we have our relations side and the history, what is architectural history, whether it's political history of, again, you know, Miami touch and not being happy with video is. By the U S forces in 1983. And, uh, of course when the queen visits, the Chelsea flower show, she goes to degredated a booth.

She makes it a purpose to visit the green in a book. And we've won so many bull medals at the Chelsea flower show of an amassed about 16 gold medals and a few services. And, um, you know, we, we just, uh, a beautiful historical country. What is architecture history, political history, you know, uh, to, to come on down and to learn and to really appreciate it.

And so where was the island of Grenada located in the Caribbean? It is the Southern most Caribbean island. We just not Trinidad and Tobago on 19. Or just about a hundred miles, not all Venezuela and, uh, being 12 degrees, not of the equator in the Caribbean sea means really not in the firing line of the hurricane belt.

We just outside of that and it's excellent weather year, round grateful ceiling grateful, snorkeling swimming, diving, and, um, we have. And when we talk about diving, I'm just going to treat into what the tourist would like to do when they get into video. Now, when you talk about diving, uh, Grenada has it all.

We have the most wrecks in the region. We have the 25th one off the world that is called the on-water sculpture park. But the best part for divers is that it only takes 15 minutes to get to the dive site. So you spent, it's a short time to the dive site. So you get more opportunity to be diving, uh, to be under the water, as we say, um, for the experience.

So we've got everything and easily as that magazine would have published, really to have, if not the top three dies it easy in the world when you dive Grenada  because the island is actually more than one island. Quite a few islands that make up the state of Grenada, the underwater park. Can you go snorkeling there to say, or is it only diving only in six feet of what?

And, uh, yeah. You know, six feet. It's not that 18 minutes. It's not that deep at all. It was really meant to be an area for when you're coming up to decompress so that you can, you know, you can rather than just stay in one place, you can just dive to the sculpture park. And by the time, you know, if you would have already decompressed and it's time for you to solve this, um, above the water what's um, what else is there to see and do, um, on the island of Grenada that you may be, you can't see on any other Caribbean.

Let me start off by saying, um, first of all, Bernita, like Hawaii is more than one island. The Southern half of the grenadine islands belonged to Grenada. So they're, they're not as Grenada. So that's carrot group, which is the largest Grenadian island  island. Sandy islands by to Jap Adams, you know, quite a few islands up there.

And then to the sort of Grenada we have kind of in your island, which is, has the largest and most expensive resort. It made news recently because Melinda gates spent some time there with her divorce from bill gates and she spent some time there. So that may travel. And we've also got hog island, which used to be a whale in Ireland.

So we've got, we've got quite a few islands to really immerse you and have you indulged, you know, and Grenada has been, um, for most of the, of the vacations people vacation here. When you ask them what it is about Grenada, they say to you, listen, the people, we are the ones that make it, you know, especially because you can have the best ones.

Anyway, you can have the best restaurant or the best looking beach waterfall, the best hiking. But if you don't have that human interaction to make or wonderful experience, then it's all for not. And I think this is where we Excel above every other Caribbean island, um, in terms of what we offer visitors.

And to add to that, it's a safe destination. We don't talk about it much, but it's a very safe destiny. And while we're on that, um, let me tell you some of the top five things. I don't think people would know about Grenada. Um, one would be the amount of islands that we have. Uh, on here in Grenada too, we're known as the spice.

I don't know the Caribbean because we produced the world's best quality nutmeg. No, the nutmeg is the only spice in the world appears to spices at the sea. I didn't know that I thought nutmeg was not make. Yeah. And that is the nutmeg, the actual nut. And then the maze, which is the red cover and the nutmeg now in the London Olympics in 2012.

We need to produce a track and field champion in granite James, over 400 meters and island population of just over a hundred thousand people produced, uh, Olympic champion. Yeah. So most people will not under that. And then I saved the best for that, which is the safety of the destination and the fact that our people are friendly.

And they're willing to cater to make sure that you have the best experience possible. So that are the things that I think sets us apart because everybody has a waterfall. Everybody has a nice beach. Everybody has, you know, a nice restaurant or a nice visit. Or in Iceland, but I think where we really Excel, one is the quality of the experience that you get here in Grenada.

And the fact that it's safe and people are willing to make sure you have an excellent time here on island. And it's a very colorful island. Isn't it? Is that the peak we're talking about, the people that you have, lots of dancing and, um, lots of shows and, and Mardi Gras and all that sort of stuff. Yes.

Well, you know, they always tell you the best deals are made over a drink right in the islands. Um, if you know, any Grenadian are tall, whenever they see you, one of the first things they say is common, it's arbitrary. So it doesn't have to be alcohol, but generally if you know any ingredient. And you haven't seen you in a few days, as soon as they see, oh, you're doing, let's have a drink.

So it tells you how happy the people are. Most people are walking around smiling. We've had hurricane Ivan in 2006. Emily in 2005, we get one every 50th. So we tell people now, look, we're not going to get one for a hundred years. So we've got, and um, when you look at her and we've built back better, how quickly we've come back from these, these things.

I mean, we're very poised to be, you know, I would say destination at the century because of how well we, we take care of our, of our, uh, of our state or where we ensure people have a good time. You know, a track record is there in terms of our safety and, um, um, To put things into context. We've been just winning awards, best beach in by continent as travel in 2019, $2 and 20, you understand producers of the best money in the world was people did know that in 2016 and 17, we had produced the best nut.

I want chocolate companies, local dark chocolate companies are wanting to top 10 chocolates in the world. I was waiting for you to mention about the chocolate. Yeah, it's very good. The chocolate there. Yeah. I mean, we've got, we've got, we've got a lot of ex-pats no coming back to Grenada. So then full generation and starting small businesses.

And, and, and, uh, deer, isn't part of the two packages, because what is nice about when you go on tour is that you, we take you on tour and you go to your fellow countrymen who lived in, grew up in the UK. I know you see that back home. Cause there might have been total four generations. At least telling you how excited they are to be back in what they do in the small business.

Or some people just sold a yard, sold solar business and they settled in period. I said, it's the perfect place for them. And you see them walking around and having a good time and they telling you about the experiences. That's why they left the UK or, you know, and come back to Grenada. So you seen a lot of that and, uh, it's welcoming.

It's it's, it's beautiful. Well, what's the best time would you say weather-wise is to visit Grenada? Anytime is the best time we've got great weather year round. It just depends on what you like to enjoy. Um, the islands a lot cooler in terms of during the day, I'd say from the colder months. So from January to, uh, to, to make, um, outside is a lot cooler, you know, less humidity during that time.

And in those times, of course, if you like lobster and you like these types of Lamby, conch, and so on, you need to come into months when they're ours. So, you know, January, February, March, April, this season is closed. May June, July, August, and lobster season comes back in September. You know, if you like out of Chicago, You come back in September because September months, you know, you get avocados and so on.

If you like mangoes, then you're in the months of major. Jubala some summer, much the pineapples. So again, it all depends on what you like. We don't, we've got fruits that get you up the year, but there are different seasons when you have different types of fruits. For example, if you'd like to sit in, uh, during the, the, uh, Eastern.

And, and, um, an August, these at a time when there's a lot more wind on the water and you can seal and, you know, it's, it's, the Caribbean sea is nice and flat. It looks like you can walk on the water, you know, but it's, it's really nice for sailing and getting older, even have, uh, some Yorkton competitions that, that, that goes on early in the year.

And that is from, uh, January. We have the Grenada Seaton festival and we also have the Grenada billfish tournament where you tag. And, uh, the best part is they don't go far out to see, to target release because we don't over-fish and we have, you can go to any restaurant in Grenada and have catch up the day.

And literally the catch of the day is really the catch of the day. It's not something that they caught yesterday until it always saw this as catch of the day. Sometimes if you're lucky, you actually see the fisherman putting up with is the cookbook. And handing the F the, the, the chef, the fresh fish that was caught just a sharp wine level.

So it's, you know, you get fresh food, fresh fruits. I mean, everything is Grenada is just a quality destination. It might be, you know, you might take $7 flight, eight hours flight to get to Grenada, but the best part is when you get to Grenada, once you left. The hotels are 15 minutes away, 15 to 20 minutes away, except if you're going to the north of the country.

So to retreat like a PTs, and then that's an hour drive. But outside of that, most of the hotels in the tourism that are within 10 to 15 minutes of, of land. And, uh, going through immigration as a breeze, once you have everything upfront, it takes about 15 minutes, 15, 20 minutes getting off the plane and into your taxi.

And then, and then, you know, five, 10 minutes from there. Yeah. So what sort of accommodations is available on Grenada? Because of commendation from the five starts or the, you know, we've got from the, uh, as you said, the Melinda gates type where you can spend 160,000 us on that. Two. So due to the, the, the, five-star, the four-star where you can spend, you know, $80 us a night, you know, to $150 us a night.

So we do have for everyone, something for everyone. And, um, you know, we have those who are, you know, the lovers, the young couples, those that, that wants a secluded, like levels. And so, um, you know, the couples only, you know, the sandals resort where you have, you know, the all-inclusives, we have those that will offer all-inclusive if you want it as well.

And, uh, um, those that are on the secluded beaches, where you can go and just you and your partner and it's adults only, we do have those types of, of resorts. So we have something. Getting ready to launch the Kim to the brand soon. So we, you know, we've got, you know, we've got quite a range of hotels. Um, but we do not have because of, uh, islands side.

We do not have what you call the huge hotels that can see, you know, 5,000 that no, you're not going to get. Why are you going to get ingredient is more a mix of boutique hotels and the largest resort having, let's say 250 rooms. So it doesn't feel crowded when you come to Grenada, it would feel, I mean, you go on a big channel crop, a beach that spans two miles.

And you might see 20 people on a beach like that. So it feels as it's your own personal beach and, and what's the best way to get around the island to see all these beaches since the sea and all the sites that you have. Well, if you want to see what the tree has to offer and you want, you don't want to miss anything.

I always say rather than, uh, you know, renting a car, I say, take a tour. Uh, they've got enough. Well-trained on all of our tool bags and taxi drivers are trained and certified by the well, it used to be done by the Grenada tourism authority. No it's done by the, the college, the TMR should community college.

So if you want to become a taxi driver, you can just buy a taxi and say, you're a taxi driver. You have to not go back to, to college. You have to do the course. You have to pass the course. And in order to be certified to become a taxi driver. So all of what I know is in a curriculum, not being taught at the college and you have to go and, and, and, and pass it and you have to do all the field work.

As well, and you have to have the personality and the customer service skills and training all that is in there for you to become a taxi driver. So we are ensuring we do have quality persons with some level of standards within the tourism sector to be able to give you an excellent. So you mentioned about the all-inclusive hotels.

Are there plenty of restaurants to choose from. Outside of those hotels, what we have the award-winning BB scrap back, for example, BV, a great agent who used to live in Elaine in London, and, uh, very well known by the cricket west Indies and Australia and so on. Cause we never, they were, they used to seek him out.

He's got a lot. Uh, it's from these folks. No, he's back home in Grenada, but that scene excellent. So this you've got CEO's restaurant in grand  and so you've got, um, some Indian restaurants, like Punjabi that has opened up. So you've got quite a bit. And then you've bought, uh, Rogers, Rogers, uh, beach bar, which is actually on an island is called hog island Rogers beach back.

But that's a, what do you call it? An island restaurant where you get the fresh lobster, grilled live for you, you know, from the, from the ocean. So you've got quite a mix. You've got decks, this kitchen, you know, you've got, um, coconut, French beach restaurant, you know, you've been to Belmont estate, which is a, uh, food.

What do you call farm to table? They're the first, what we call it. . And they also do the bean to bar chocolate tour whenever the truck that, uh, festival comes around. So you actually get to see from the farm to the beach and you, as the guests get an opportunity to make your own chocolate. Wow. So what's the traditional dish.

Yeah. In to try and Grenada. What Grenadians are famous for one pot dishes and oh, a national dish is called oil done. And, um, it's really. Called that because it's a coconut based food and breadfruit is the main ingredient to the national dish. If Bretford is not in season, we can cook it. It's cooked in coconut milk, tumeric and tumeric or Corinne with whatever soft meant of meat, salt, meat, and so on and dumplings and callaloo, and that's cooked dome in a coconut milk, a tumor, and as it's similars, there's an oil residue that remains at the bottom of the.

That's why I've got the name or down, apart from that you have teams like, uh, Lamby Brock. Um, we have managed waters. Uh, good soup is very good here on Ireland, but the Curry group in Grenada is spectacular. When you go to the restaurant and they have Curry goat, you try, you know, it falls off the bone.

It's delicious. One thing I forgot to mention in that ingredient, we're known as a spice island, but it's not about it. We use spices to promote flavor. So the word we walked or where we talk, it's all added up DNA and the spices are really to promote the flavor in the foods or social activities. And that's how, you know, your chat over the spice.

And, and again, even in our conversations, we use a lot of fluff. I don't think I've actually got that in my spice rack. I'll have to go and have a look and see if I've got any fluff. So it's the food influenced by Creole or French food. Um, what do you call like a melting pot? So we've got, we've got the French influence.

We've got the African influence. We've got the Indian influence, right? Um, we've also got no the Chinese, right? We don't have plenty Chinese, but we do have some Chinese on island and we learning how to mix their, this style of cooking to infuse it with us. So what you have is a mixture. Of different types of cuisines coming together to create all these wonderful dishes and flavors and the knowledge of using hubs, um, to season and, and, and the flavor of foods, meats and dishes has come, come out in all the, the, the different, very distinct.

So for example, I tell people all the time, if you go to Grenada and you have, let's say, no, not make changes. You are going to know what not my ginger chicken tastes like for me or not. If somebody comes to you and say, this is not making a new tasting, he's like, no, no, no. Just say nothing like that. Budget.

You can have ingredient that that's not. If somebody says to you, oh, I have I've had, uh, ever had, um, uh, poor raise with Tamara. Tamarind sauce. And yet I had it an ingredient and oh, but this is what the tamarind sauce is supposed to taste like. And so that's what we do. We just use all the different flavors that we have to bring it out.

Um, uh, we have a food talk that we call Siva despise. So, um, that gives you a taste of different cuisines or traditional first. So you can start off with the traditional breakfast and then you, you, you, you have, they take you to the market, waste your, the fruits and end it, take some of those fruits and vegetables, and then they go to a kitchen and then you do a Grenadier.

So you've got all these different options. You know, you've got food tours of culinary tours. I'm not sure if you are aware, but Grenada has just been a water as the culinary capital of the Caribbean. And you can't talk about food without talking about liquor, Kenny. Well, we also have. Um, most people don't know that grenade has the oldest function in rum distillery in Western hemisphere.

I'm talking about the rum distillery that started back in 1787, that has been produced around the same way with the similar copper pots, the same process, you know, everything, and they're doing it. And they have the old water wheel that spins and stuff like that. All our product system, the old engineering, everything just only thing that has changed is time and people.

So that is always a treat for people to come and see. And how much would a, um, a glass of rhombi? Well, uh, uh, a shot of room is in Grenada is generally, um, about 40 50 cents us. Oh 60 cents us max. But if you are in the restaurant, there's a difference. If you're in a restaurant and you're out in the post, then a shot of room might cost you $4 us.

So what about, um, the restaurants? Um, what's the average cost of a dinner if you're not staying at, uh, an all inclusive hotel? Um, I like to tell people it's very affordable to eat at the restaurant. Yeah. So, um, you can use for a hundred dollars EDC or $40 us. Uh, there's a particular restaurant where you can get a tree course.

What's the name of that restaurant, which also includes, uh, a bottle of the housewife now that, that works out to about 30 pounds, 32 pounds. Yeah. That's right. That restaurant is called Dexter's kitchen. Uh, is that your favorite restaurant or do you. Other little gems you can tell us about, well, he was the head chef at Calabash Calabash Rhodes restaurant and he retired and he opened his own, uh, kitchen, his own restaurant.

Right. And, um, I've always loved eating at Calabash because I know the head chef. He was good. Excellent cook. And, um, you can also go to the aquarium restaurant. And you could have a good meal for, um, $45 us, $50 us. I, and I'm talking about, you know, Stata and mean course, if you come in in the heart of lobster season, then lots cheap.

But if you come in and upstairs, getting scarcity season is getting ready to close or it's closed. And they have from WhatsApp, Dennis, a little bit more price. There's a particular restaurant. I wouldn't call it in. No, because I offered a tours, right. That you got, you can get it buffet lunch. Okay. And that's 15 us.

Wow. That's that's great value for money. Isn't it. Especially if you're, you know, with a family as well. That's that's excellent value. So do the restaurants open till late at night or do they close quite early? And I just call the, they all, they all do, um, um, breakfast except for the excess kitchen. His is only.

Um, but generally the, most of the others are, are breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So what about wildlife? Um, I know you have the leather back turtles that visit the island to lay their eggs. When's the best time to see, uh, up until August, right from April. Even when watching is happening right now, because when the turtles is coming, the wheels actually pass on the outside.

So also we do have, uh, the Moana monkey, which is, uh, a very old species of monkey that was brought to the region during the slave trade. And, um, you can see that in Grenada, uh, in the granite and forest. Um, I always say you can't see, you will see them today, but when you go there to a 90% chance, you will see them, um, when you're on tour and the best time to go is in the morning, as opposed to the afternoon, because in the morning they come out, they feed, they look for food and then by afternoon, they retreat back into the.

Uh, just over 4,000 acres of land that has been protected since 1,904. Is that the rainforest that you have in Grenada, and you've got some national parks as well. Haven't you, again, sustainability is huge area of your data. We've had this, for example, the granite town national forest reserve has been protected since 1,904.

And that's just over 3000 acres of land in the middle of the island. You have a. You have a leak creatureliness it's at 1,750 feet above sea level. And so, um, when you drive to Grenada, you realize that different parts of the island, the temperature changes, it was almost like you took a plate and moved to another under the island.

So for example, it might be a hundred, or it might be 85 degrees at the hotel and you drive for about 30 minutes. You get up to the reinforce. Uh, 40 minutes, you're at the granite time and it's no longer eating 85 degrees. It's not down to 69 degrees and you've not even gone 2000 feet above sea that, you know, if you suddenly, it feels like you're back in the room.

You know, it's overcast because the middle of the item, when it rises to the, to the high points, that's where they, you know, cause a lot of folks look at the weather before coming to greedy know, not realizing that where did tourism belt is lower line, almost sea level. All right. That's the certain tip of the island and the, when it comes off the salty schools and goes west, not west.

So what happens is the wetter goes towards the middle of the year. Totally missing the salted and you actually land on the beach and you're watching the rain fall in the mountains. Are you watching all the overcast conditions in the mountains and your friends might be back home going, oh, she went to Grenada it's raining day and you actually sitting on a beach nightstands shine, getting a time

And you, you, you can face them with them. And so for instance, oh, it's, um, it's, I'm not having a good time. It's raining in the mountains, but you actually having the best time. So Grenada was formed because of a couple of volcanoes. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. It is a proper volcano island. As a matter of fact, if you do geography, Grenada is one of them.

The best places to come and learn about the difference of soil and temperatures and formations of site, because we have Sandy soil initial. So you know, all the different soil types that you can find of volcanic origin, not only that we have an underwater volcano that is just, um, two kilometers, not between Grenada and Kira.

Cool. That is called Kim Jenny. That is currently monitored. Um, in Trinidad and Tobago by the seismic activity unit and the national discovery from the U S they went and had a look exploded in 2012, and they said it imploded. So they're not expecting any eruption for 150 years. So again, all of the Caribbean islands sits on the same tectonic plate.

That's why, if there is a trauma in Trinidad, it's spelled as far as Dominika. So, you know, it would be Feltus and Lucia Grenada. So all of these islands are in the same tectonic page. So if you, the geography and you really want to learn, the Caribbean islands are the best place because they do have all the mix of what you would need to learn about working mines.

And what does it means for us is that it gives us excellent soil. Almost everything grows in Grenada, sort of quality of the food that you get from the soil. Uh, uh, you know, three times that of probably what you would get in the UK. Um, and I know other parts of the world, uh, we produce a high quality cocoa bean that has been recorded.

And when they did soil samples of the soil ingredients, they said it has, it can only be compared to that of Jaffa. And as you know, they say Java have one of the richest soils in the world. So the quality of the soil is what helps us to achieve the best quality and the nutmeg and the base. And great quality, but not as that was sent, grown organically and sent to Sainsbury's supermarket in the UK.

You know, great quality soil that has have the quality of the cocoa bean produced here so much. So know that some of the Swiss chocolate makers putting underpass made with cocoa bean from Grenada. So, you know, we do have. Good quality, uh, fruits and vegetables growing on the island that we can wait to share with visitors.

When they come on down to pure Grenada, the spice of the Caribbean I do is a volcanic island. Does that mean that the beach is a black sand? Oh, we do have about nine blacks and beaches, but online. Most islands that have rivers. You see, if you have a lot of rivers flowing out to the sea, you would have more black sand beaches because there's an erosion of the volcanic rocks that take place that creates a black sand.

But we have, we have about nine major rivers that flows out to the sea. So that's why, but we have 45 white sand beach. You know that you get an injury and we do have, because we have our, and we do have some loving waterfalls. We have about 16 to 18 waterfalls at flow. We do have a couple of sofas Springs where you can get the wombat and you know, the warm water bottle.

And you can use the site for a skincare. All right. Cause you've got to solve for that, the different sofa. So we've got quite a lot of different opportunities, uh, for people to come on down to Grenada and experience. So whether you're a soft adventure person, you want to go hiking, you want to have a walking on a trail or you want to do hashing.

Now hashing is very, very good because what it does, it gives you an opportunity to mix with the committee. Into places that you would not normally see if you just go on a, on a tour, right? You go into community and at the end of the hashing, you actually, there's a big hookup in the village. There is drinks, there is socializing with the people in the community, and it's a great way to experience Grenada because it's a good mix of both locals ex-pats and the foreigners, the medical students who come to study, who actually does the hashing and they do it every other side.

They made that trip PM to somewhere new and they're going to a different village and you, you really, even for Grenadians, they'll look, they're learning about the island on these hashing experiences. So you have a runners trail and you have a Walker street and it's a beautiful experience. There is music.

There is food and drink at the end of the exercise. Sounds wonderful. I'm going to definitely do that next time. I'm there. That's for sure. I missed out on that last time. Which beach in Grenada is considered to be the best beach. I know you've got black ones that sand and white sand. So content as travel, uh, voted grant on speech as being the best beach in the world in 2019.

Now, if you read us and the travelers rated it as the best, who am I as the local to say. You know, allies are cause difficult. Um, but I, I do have my perfect, so thumbs up beaches on here on the island. Um, I love the beaches. Uh, and Kericho as well. Um, I think it's spectacular because the water is clearer.

Um, it mean the beaches in Grenada, you can stand on the, on the, along the roadside, you can driving in your vehicle and the people that, where you see the water and you can see ocean's floor. That's how clear and clean and nice the water is here in Grenada. And how easy is it to access the outer islands?

Um, you can get, get there by boat. The Osprey leaves, uh, port St. George is only an hour and a half to coop, or you can take the plane in a 15 minute flight and you get to character. It's a nine seater though. It's a small aircraft fly sort of created the carpool in 15 minutes. And you could, you could do that on a day trip.

Oh yeah. So yes. So generally if you're not. I like the boat ride because it's a nice little ride. Sometimes you see the dolphins jumping along the boat and it's way up to Cairo and you just ease it to the island and you hear the conversations. It makes good experiences for you, you know, uh, going up, uh, sealing up the Grenada and coming back down it, uh, My sense.

Wonderful. So what would be your top tip for somebody visiting Grenada for the very first time, we'll take an island tour. Very first thing, cause you want to get, you get to your Arbor free, right? You know about where you are, where things are learned, the nuances of the place, because there's so much, you can learn by taking a good guided tour of a place.

And um, and then once that's done. Um, I see if you're a foodie, you can do the food tour or just leave your hotel and try to find, you know, just say, where's it come into the city, try BB scrap, try seals, try Dana's restaurant, try the restaurants in this city. Cause you know, they say in every port you're going to, there must be a restaurant or a food place that has.

That represents the local community. So come on down to the city or within the tourism belt in, you can try to Indian restaurant as reset the open up. You can, you can try to the restaurants on the beach side, like the French, the coconut French restaurant, 61 degrees west, you can try it all. But what is nice is that every restaurant have a dish that they make.

You see, so you can ask them. So what's your top dish? What's your top local dish. And then if you want to, uh, when you're an island, I say, definitely go, go for a snorkel try. It's not clean up this culture. If you can snap a lot, but if you can dive, I'd say diverse culture. We've got a lot of excellent diving here in Grenada.

So purple rain, you know, quite a lot of different places in a dive. So if you, if you are a diver, take a dive trip, just get on a boat, go diving. You're gonna to love it. Um, if not, I say, take a trip to caribou and PT money because I always tell people it trip to Grenada is never complete until you visited the grenadine islands that belong to.

And it's pretty laid back. If you didn't Grenada it as laid back. Ooh. When you reached the character, they say sail fast and lift slow, and that observed the flies sounds perfect for our holiday. So thank you so much for joining us today, Roger, and sharing your knowledge and expertise on all things.

Grenada. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure and we can't wait to have you guys come on down to pure Perini. Just spikes of the Caribbean, loving him. For a free  fact sheet on visiting  Greanada with some great hints and tips. Visit my website, travel counselors.co.uk forward slash may dot Swan, hyphen Easton and request by email.

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