Divers Do It ... In Concrete

Longtime CT+L readers will remember my November 2007 feature on British dive instructor and artist Jason de Caires Taylor, whose compelling concrete figures were submerged in the water off Grenada's west coast to form an underwater sculpture "garden" for divers and snorkelers.

Late last year, Taylor completed the first four pieces for his newest submarine installation, this time located off the coast of Cancun. Over time, the ph-neutral concrete pieces should attract algae and marine life – and snorkelers and divers in their wake – easing environmental pressure on the ecosystem and coral reef, which has been compromised by hurricanes and heavy human traffic.



The figures are the first attractions in what Taylor plans to be the largest underwater art museum in the world, with more than 400 life-sized figures for visitors' gawking pleasure. For more information about Taylor's projects or to buy limited-edition prints of his haunting work, just click here.

CT+L on Scribd

Did you know you can access fully interactive PDF versions of featured Caribbean Travel + Life articles right on our Scribd page? It's free and easy to navigate – like this Grenada feature from the November 2009 issue. Don't see the article you're looking for? You can also search our archives here on the CT+L site, or download full digital issues on our Zinio page. Stay tuned for even more great destination spotlights to come!

Grenada: Island in the Sun

Travel Log: Can We Talk?

Following is the editor's letter from the November 2009 issue, available on newsstands since October 6. To read the full issue, view the digital version here.

Our dialogue with readers has gotten a bit livelier lately. There's a lot of interest in our Affordable Caribbean show on the Travel Channel, winningly hosted by senior editor Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon. And online editor Reagan Johnson has been throwing quite a party on our own website and on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. My sense is that we're all getting to know each other in new, more immediate ways, and the good nature of the conversation reinforces my conviction that we're like-minded souls. We just plain love exploring the Caribbean; we relish sharing impressions and travel advice; and we're always stoked about planning our next trip.

The results of a recent survey of readers corroborate the impression that this is an active, engaged community: 80 percent of respondents are planning a trip to the Caribbean in the next year. So far, so good. But as I dug down deeper into the destination data, I came across one statistic that made me feel like maybe we're not on exactly the same page: Zero percent of respondents said they're planning to visit the island of Grenada in the next year. Zip.

I don't get it. Grenada is way up there on my personal wish list, but it's dead last on the polling group's – below Haiti and Cuba. Deputy editor Matt Phenix and I are scratching our heads about that one. Matt just returned from a week on the Spice Isle and can't wait to go back. "Grenada's my kind of underdog," he says. "Maybe we'll give it a boost."

I'd be very surprised – and frankly a bit disappointed – if that's not the case after people read his feature article, "Island in the Sun" (debuting on this site next week). Aided and abetted by ace photographer Macduff Everton, Matt reveals a rare West Indian jewel, a repository of Old Caribbean beauty and warmth that ought to strike a nerve with all who appreciate the region's essential character. I haven't been there yet, but I know in my bones that Grenada is my kind of place, and I hope that after reading this story, more of our readers will feel the same way.

Get More Spice on Grenada

Grenada just launched its first island-wide promotion – More Spice – and through December 15, visitors can save big on hotels, restaurants, tours and a ton of other island attractions.

At participating hotels – like LaLuna (pictured), Maca Bana Villas, Spice Island Beach Resort and more – guests will enjoy a free night on five-night-minimum stays, plus a $100 credit toward additional nights, and a $35 food and beverage credit for on-site dining.

Outside of the hotel, you'll get a $25 food and beverage credit at a range of participating restaurants, plus perks like free cooking lessons, a 50 percent discount on nightclub entry fees, buy-one-get-one specials on various land and sea tours, and even rental car rebates at participating companies.

Just log on to the official site for more information on hotels, restaurants and other vendors who are taking part in the More Spice promotion – then head to our Grenada destination page to learn more and start planning your trip.

Deals for Divers

Grab your fins and make a break for the Caribbean to take advantage of affordable dive deals through the end of the summer...

In Grenada, the luxury LaSource spa resort is offering reduced nightly rates starting at $275 per person, and through September 16 you can take advantage of two nights free on five-night-minimum stays. The resort is also serving up buy one, get one half-off dive excursions through August 31, with your choice of two dive boats and numerous sites like shipwrecks, reefs and the Underwater Sculpture Park.

Over in the Grenadines, the Mariners Hotel in St. Vincent has partnered with Dive St. Vincent to offer an 8-night Summer/Fall Dive Special for $999 per person. The package includes eight nights of accommodations and ten dives per person through November 30.

Both resorts offer PADI instruction and full certification, so even if you're just dreaming about taking that first dive, you can make it happen this summer for a lot less.

From Grenada, An Artist Paints the Caribbean

I had the good fortune during this trip to Grenada to spend some quality time exploring and developing my artistic side under the tutelage of Rebecca Thompson, a professional artist and British expat who, with her German-expat husband Uli Kühn, has called Grenada home for the last 20 years or so. Rebecca and Uli (with their two kids) own the Maca Bana Villas, where I've been kicking back for three sun-soaked days, and, right on magnificent Magazine Beach, The Aquarium Restaurant. Both properties are brimming with Rebecca's paintings — many of which were created using a papier mâché relief technique, giving the canvas a startling three-dimensional quality. Her subjects, almost without exception, are the Caribbean and its people.

Right now, she's working on a pair of paintings inspired by a recent trip to Carnival in Trinidad. "I went with a group of lady friends from Grenada," she tells me, "some Grenadian, some Trinidadian, but all living in Grenada. And I came back completely inspired. I wanted to make sure I enjoyed the experience to the full, but then had enough photographic material to go with my imagination. I pulled all the photos from all my friends, too."

When the paintings are complete, they'll adorn the restaurant's walls. "I'm going to invite all the ladies over," she says with a smile, "and we're going to have nice little reminisce."

Rebecca Thompson offers her art-instruction program to guests at Maca Bana. For more information, check out the Web site. I'll be writing about my Grenadian art experience for an upcoming issue of CT+L.

Grenada's African Expats: The Mona Monkey

One of the more surprising things about Grenada is that both its most famous flora (the nutmeg tree) and its most famous fauna (the mona monkey) are relatively recent arrivals on the island. French and English colonists brought nutmeg to the island from the Moluccan Islands of Indonesia during the 18th century (the exact details are disputed). The gregarious mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona) showed up around the same time, brought over from Africa during the height of the slave trade. Fortunately, slavery has been consigned to history, but as I witnessed yesterday during a trip into the Grand Etang National Park, in the island's midsection, the little mona is alive and well. Several troupes of monas bounce through the dense Grenadian forest these days, and a few — accustomed to handouts from visitors — are all too happy to loiter in public places. The two photogenic guys you see here weren't at all put off by my shameless gawking — that is, until they realized there was no easy meal to be had, when they promptly turned and sauntered off into the jungle. Up until quite recently, these remarkable animals were hunted and eaten, almost to the brink of eradication. But locals, perhaps realizing their tourist appeal, have (by all accounts) ceased that practice. We're sure happy about that, and so, we suspect, are the monkeys.

When in Grenada, Eat Like a Grenadian

I'm only three sunny days into my Grenada adventure and I've already had the pleasure of consuming some truly sensational meals (tonight I suspect I'll have another when I dine at the acclaimed Aquarium). One place that bears special mention is Patrick's Homestyle Restaurant, found within a lavender house that seems too small to contain a kitchen, no less a real restaurant. Don't be fooled.

Patrick's — owned by the affable Patrick Levine, who learned the cooking craft in the kitchen of the gone-but-not-forgotten Grenada culinary mainstay, Mamma's — specializes in local fare. Real Grenadian dishes. Oh, some restaurants may do one or two island specialties pretty well, but Patrick does them all: 20 deliciously unique island foodstuffs served as a cascading sampler, all for only US$23 per person. It's an absolute steal and a superb way to experience Grenada like a local.
After an appetite-spurring vegetable soup, dish after dish hits the table, four or five at a time, delivered full and retrieved empty by Patrick's good-natured sidekick, Compta McDonald. Cou-cou, crab salad, creole fish, breadfruit salad, saltfish cake, green papaya, ginger pork, sea urchin, stewed beef — they just keep coming, each one as lovingly prepared and unwaveringly scrumptious as the last. A scoop of fresh pineapple sorbet finishes things off, followed by a shot of Patrick's home-made "under-the-counter" rum for good measure. This fearsome spice- and herb-infused concoction, its big jug stuffed with a secret recipe of twigs and leaves, purportedly has medicinal powers. I certainly won't suggest otherwise.

Find Patrick's on the main road south of St. George's, right across from the Port Louis marina. Bring an empty stomach.

Say Hello to Glorious Grenada

Well, I've landed on the island of Grenada, and the welcome has been as warm as this sweet-scented tropical air. Arriving here was no small feat: 12 hours' travel time from the Orlando International Airport, including two layovers — three, if you count an unplanned two-hour "visit" to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, thanks to an ugly patch of weather over San Juan. But the trip was worth the effort; Grenada is glorious, and the hospitality at the Mount Cinnamon resort, high above picture-perfect Grand Anse Beach (pictured here), has been nothing short of world-class. I wish I had relatives as welcoming as this Mount Cinnamon staff. For now, I'm off for a tour of the property and stroll through Grenada's capital city, St. George's, followed by some "research" in Mount Cinnamon's Moi Spa. Tough life.

Grenada Seafaris Raises its Eco-Consciousness

Anyone headed to the southernmost of the Windward Islands will be interested to note that things have changed at little at tour operator Grenada Seafaris since our own Baz Dreisinger took a ride on the wild side last September. The company, which offers wind-in-the-hair excursions up and down Grenada's western coast for snorkelers and divers (although landlubbers are always welcome) has become a whole lot more ecologically focused of late. In addition to offering tour-goers a high-speed lesson in the island's history and geography, Grenada Seafaris is newly keen to impress upon tourists and cruise-shippers the value and fragility of Grenada's eco-system, explore ways they can make a positive impact on the environment, and discuss initiatives to protect and rebuild natural assets.

Says Suzanne Clarke, who launched Grenada Seafaris with her husband Howard in November 2007, "We would hope to raise their awareness of the environmental issues that affect the island and the impact that each one of us has on our environment, i.e. negative – pollution, damage to our reef and our natural environment." Seafaris is also working with local schools to draw focus to environmental issues in Grenada and the rest of the Caribbean.

Rest assured, however, that Grenada Seafaris' enhanced earth-consciousness hasn't lessened the thrill factor of its tours: The 30-foot-long Grenada Explorer is as fast and furious as ever, with motorcycle-style seating for 12 passengers. Tours leave Grenada's capital of St. George's and charge up the coast, hitting a variety of secluded beaches, including Black Bay, and taking in a host of must-see underwater sites — including, of course, artist Jason de Caires Taylor's astonishing underwater sculpture park at Moliniere Point. Tour prices start at US$65.