Grenada, November 2003
24/6/2004 -8/7/2004

by Trevor Thorpe

After returning from a two week holiday in Cape Town, South Africa where I’d been to watch the fantastic Cricket World Cup, I felt in desperate need of a diving holiday! When I heard of a diving holiday to Grenada I jumped at the chance. I went there for the day when I was on holiday in the Isle de Margarita some years ago and I always swore I would go back. It made a big impression on me.

The holiday I booked was with a firm called Friendship Travel.com, a firm that specializes in holidays for the single traveller in conjunction with Caribtours and I would be staying at the La Source a truly luxurous all-inclusive hotel situated on Pink Gin Beach. This is only 5-10 minutes limousine ride from Haewonarra Airport, but you very seldom hear any aircraft noise. The holiday cost me £1531 for the first week with the second week “free” but with a supplement of $125 dollars per day for the all-inclusive facilities. This may seem rather expensive but for what you get, it is good value. It is especially good value if you are a qualified diver as you get a free dive every day, as well as the free massage, golf, tai chi, watersports, archery etc.

I decided to book the last few days in October/early November as Friendship Travel were doing a special promotion and I normally choose November anyway. So after travelling down to Gatwick and going through check-in, passport control etc., I boarded my British Airways flight to Grenada via Antiuga where we landed for approxiametely 45mins. The whole flight including the stop takes about 8-9 hrs. and because they fly directly over the ocean which means the flight can sometimes be very turbulent. After touchdown in Grenada and clearing their immigration etc., a hotel representative greets you and drives you the 10 minute drive to the hotel in a limousine. When you get to the hotel you are taken to reception were you are offered a drink while filling in the registration documents and being told when your welcome meeting is. After this you are taken on a short orientation tour and onto your room. A very nice start to the holiday.

While there I did 16 dives, which was 1 every day bar my first and last day plus we managed to talk the dive crew into taking us up to Carriacou each week where we did a 2 tank dive. The dives in Grenada were; Quarter Wreck, a small wreck to 40ft. for 53mins., Wibbles Reef to 80ft. for 38mins., Shakem to 101ft. for 35mins., Shark Reef to 97ft. for 31mins. were we stroked some resting Nurse Sharks, Coral Gardens to 58ft. for 57mins. a beautiful reef, Purple Rain to 55ft. for 27mins. a beautiful drift dive and Kahoni to 40ft. for 57mins.

I also dived on the Bianca C , the most famous dive in Grenada but one which I didn’t particularly rate as you have to dive head first and get down as fast as possible and you only have 15-20mins. bottom time as it’s so deep. It is the wreck of an Italian cruise liner that caught fire in St. Georges harbour in 1961 and after they’d evacuated all the passengers they towed her out to deeper water and sank her. She is now lying in 190ft. of water and we dived down to 125ft. for 29mins.

The dives we did in Carriacou which were only for experienced divers were; Diamond Rock to 97ft. for 36mins., Face of the Devil, a beautiful drift dive done in a very, very strong bottom current to 80ft. for 47mins., Union Island a 30ft. dive for 18mins., Sisters a 85ft. dive for 57mins., and Sandy Island a 67ft. dive for 63mins. On the two days we went diving to Carriacou which is about 45mins. by fast boat we did the morning dive then had lunch on a deserted Island before doing the afternoon dive.

The dive shop is very well run by C.J., Adrian, Derrick and Delia who are all very experienced and professional divers and extremely friendly as are all the hotel staff. The shop has some excellent gear for rent although I always take my own as I feel more comfortable in my own gear. The water temperature was very warm (27-31°C) so very few divers wore suits. They offer three dives per day, two in the morning and one in the afternoon. They dive from a boat which is anchored in St. Georges but comes every morning and anchors just offshore so you have to wade out to it. All entries are by backward roll. While talking to Adrian about when is the best time for diving, he mentioned April, as that is the Whale migration season.

There is also lots to do in Grenada such as; Visits to a nutmeg station, Rum distilleries, Hiking in the Grand Etang rainforest, St.Georges harbour and Fort George and visiting the local market. The people of Grenada are extremely friendly.

Contact; www.friendshiptravel.com A firm specialising in single travellers.
Contact; www.caribtours.com A firm specialising in luxury caribbean holidays.
Contact; www.lasourcegrenada.com The hotels website.
Contact; www.justgrenada.com The Grenada website.


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