Stan, owner of JnJ Taxi & Tours met us in port at 8:30 for our island tour. I found him on tripadvisor.com or cruisecritics.com and he got great reviews. We’ve been to Grenada before but went to a beach so have never seen much of the island. Four of our group didn’t show so there were only four in our tour group.Stan drove us all over the island, to various highlights and stopping to point out local things during the course of the day. He was a fabulous guide and just all around good people. While he is a native of Grenada, he is also a US citizen and spent time in the Army serving our country and still has family in the states. It was a pleasure to spend part of the day with him. We loved seeing all the different spices growing on the island. He showed us nutmeg (of course), cocoa, bananas, plantains, starfruit, mangos, avocados, cinnamon trees, ginger and so much more. Grenada is known as the spice island and it is the #2 producer of nutmeg in the world, with Indonesia being #1. I had been looking forward to stocking up on spices for months knowing we were coming here. And the spice necklaces you can get? Oh my goodness – smells like heaven! Supposedly they last for three years and you can freshen them up by soaking them in hot water for five minutes. Will have to try that.

One of our first stops was Annandale Waterfall. Lots of opportunities for gorgeous photos here. Everyone is creative in their own way trying to make a living. There’s a guy playing a guitar and singing to you as you walk the path to the falls – he just wants $1. The ladies with bowls of fruit and flowers ask $2 for a picture. Stan told us to enjoy the jumpers … huh? For real, these guys hike up the falls and jump 50′ into the water for donations. We’re suckers for this type of thing. It’s how these people put food on their tables so like to support them. Those few dollars mean so much to these people it’s hard not to.

One of our stops was one of the nutmeg factories on the island, this one in Gouyave. We were amazed at how everything is done manually – each step from harvesting to drying and shipping. I’m sure the process could be automated but then jobs among the locals would be lost. It’s a laborious process and fascinating to those of us not doing the work.

Seeing the cocoa from ripening in the pod made into chocolate is also a process that seems magical. Sugarcane is also grown on the island but not nearly to the extent it is on Barbados. Stan had made us some chocolate smoothies to taste – chocolate, ice and some banana. Holy moly it was good!! Gave Bob a buzz for hours! LOL After our tour at the Jouvay chocolate plant (you know we picked up some yummy chocolate bars, cocoa nibs and cocoa powder to bring back) Stan drove us down the coast back to St. George’s.

If you’re looking for an island tour in Grenada we would highly recommend Stan. He is simply wonderful!

We had time to chill out back in our cabin for a little while before getting ready for our 6:30 dinner reservation in Qsine. Right before we pulled out of port we heard party music coming from somewhere. I walked out on the balcony to see a boat coming back to dock filled with people having the time of their lives. They were waving at everyone on deck and on their balconies. FUN!! I wondered if it was an excursion through the ship so ran up on the top deck to see if any of them would be running to the gangway at the last minute (because that’s really funny! LOL). They weren’t, they were on the other ship docked on the opposite side of the pier – the Britannia, a British ship. As our ship started pulling away from the pier everyone on both ships were waving to each other and whooping and hollering. Tons of people on their balconies were waving and joining in party. I have never seen anything like it before. Must’ve been a ship full of Brits (it did originate in Southampton, UK) because we all know how much fun they are. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that they were plied with rum punch all day – naaaah, that couldn’t have had anything to do with it. LOL

Our dinner in Qsine was amazing. We had all kinds of yummy tastings. It was lobster night in the main dining room so we also were served a lobster tail each in addition to everything else we had chosen. I think it’s what put us over the edge. Stuffed to the gills and lavishly pampered by our server, Desak (she was adorable and delightful!) we waddled out of there to go to the comedy show – Fred Klett. We laughed our butts off. He is a clean humor comedian that kept us in stitches. (But we will be back in Qsine tomorrow night since they offered us half price! No brainer!)

Not much else going on that we were interested in. We sat out in there area by Cafe al Bacio listening to guitar soloist Jessica Lajner for a while before retiring for the evening. All in all it was a fabulous day!

Next day … sea day