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Visit Grenada and its Islands with BSAC Travel Club
We all need to spice up our lives from time to time with a dose of warm sun, blue skies and tropical seas, and what better place to do that than the Spice Islands of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique! These islands make up one of the most intriguing and beautiful groups in the Caribbean and truly offer something for everyone, whether your taste is for 5 star luxury, beachside guest house or fabulous self catering villas. Lively or leisurely, whether you're looking for sports, diving, culture, natural delights, super dining or just relaxing on the multitude of sandy beaches, you can find it here.
During 2006 BSAC Travel Club are running a very special promotion with the Grenada Tourist Association which will not only publicise the many attractions to the diver of visiting Grenada, but also give two lucky people the chance to do so for two whole weeks - including flights, accommodation on Grenada and Carriacou, and full diving free of charge in our Visit Grenada and its Islands Competition! on Grand Anse Beach, one of the most beautiful locations in the Caribbean. On sleepy Carriacou, you will stay at the Bel Air Gardens Cottage, which must be one of the most idyllic spots in the world. Perched on a green hillside amidst a private banana plantation, you can enjoy breakfast on your private terrace overlooking a breathtaking view of 14 of the islands of the Grenadines stretching away across the turquoise sea.
Our competition is open to everyone who registers to receive BSAC Traveller, our bi-monthly dive travel e-letter and you can register (it's free!) right now by clicking Here. The competition will be found in every BSAC Traveller for the rest of the year and involves answering three questions about Grenada and Carriacou correctly.
Grenada
The warm scents of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger waft on the warm breezes that cool the idyllic island of Grenada. Grenada has over 40 white sand beaches for your relaxation plus a green interior of bountiful natural preserves. Even the weather is perfect - a year round 80° F - 23 ° C.
A holiday on Grenada is an escape for all the family, a destination that appeals to every sense - the perfume of the spices and the flowers, the music of the steel bands, the tropical bird calls, the taste of fruit picked that day from a tree in your garden, the warm touch of powdery white sand under your feet as you explore.
The diving is amongst the best in the Caribbean and you can take your pick from beautiful pristine reefs or exciting shipwrecks. Grenada has some of the most varied wreck sites around including "the Titanic of the Caribbean" - the Bianca C a 600 foot cruise ship that sank in the 1960s. There is also the King Mitch a 36m minesweeper four miles out in the Atlantic. Imagine descending through the blue onto this wreck to find sharks, eagle rays and schools of barracuda waiting for you. There are lots of other wrecks to dive. You could spend an entire week and never dive the same one twice.
Because of the marine park's protection, much of the waters around Grenada's shores teem with fish - take your camera for some great shots.
 Accommodation is at the luxurious Flamboyant Hotel and Villas
The Flamboyant Hotel is perfectly placed above the white sands of Grand Anse beach. A variety of rooms, suites and cottages are available plus a whole raft of pleasures and activities to give you the best holiday imaginable. The include a Weekly Manager's Rum-Punch Party, room service, a freshwater swimming Pool and sun deck, indoor/outdoor dining at the Beachside Terrace Restaurant and Bar, superb Caribbean and Continental cuisine, buffets, barbecues, dancing, crab racing and live entertainment. Guests enjoy complimentary use of snorkeling equipment, ocean kayaks and pedal boats and a 9 hole golf course (1 1/2 miles away), Games Room - Billiards, Table Tennis, Darts, Board Games. More water sports are available (charge) on the beach.
On Grenada our competition winners will enjoy diving with Dive Grenada one of the friendliest and best centres on the island - and right on site at the Flamboyant Hotel. Dive Grenada is the longest established dive centre in Grenada and has a vast knowledge of the all the dive sites that are easily reached in their custom built Dive Boat. This friendly, small and flexible centre is owned by Phil and Mick who are from the UK, they have many years of diving experience between them, their aim is to give a very personal touch to their business.
Carriacou
A tiny speck of paradise, Carriacou is believed to have got its name from the Carib for "land of reefs" - what better advertisement for a diving holiday!
Carriacou is about 7 miles in length and averages 2 miles across. Volcanic actions created an interesting topography mainly of wooded hills, rising up dramatically in places, (the highest being 956 feet up), and gives the island an irregular coastline. As its name suggests, it is surrounded by coral reefs which provide a fantastic marine environment and protect the beautiful sandy beaches.
Visiting Carriacou is like taking a step back to a more golden time, to the old Caribbean of Pirates and Plantations, a slower time .... a time for you to really recharge your batteries, kick back and enjoy yourself.
Not to say that there's nothing to do! There are many activities to keep you occupied and the locals like nothing better than a festival - so they have quite a lot of them!
On Carriacou our winners will be staying at the tranquil Bel Air Gardens Cottage. The 400 square foot cottage accommodates two people comfortably with a queen size bed on the main floor, but will sleep 4 with an additional double bed in the sleeping loft. A fully equipped kitchen, bathroom with separate outdoor solar hot water shower, and a deck with a hammock are featured for your comfort. It's the Caribbean Hideaway of your dreams - so heavenly you will never want to leave, just like everyone else who stays there!
Diving around the island is just as good as it looks. You can expect to see a great variety of sea creatures including turtles, sharks of different types and rays. In the winter months, January through March you may even encounter humpback whales! The diving has long been praised by visitors and marine biologists for its varied and pristine nature.
Most sites are 15 minutes by boat from the shore and therefore enable visitors to dive and still have plenty of time left for relaxation and other activities.
On Carriacou our competition winners will be enjoying diving courtesy of Arawak Diving . Arawak are located in Tyrrel Bay, the natural yacht harbour of Carriacou. They offer an enormous range of rental equipment and excellent boats. All boats are equipped with VHF radios, GPS receivers, oxygen and a first aid box.
Very customer focussed their diving excursions are not defined by fixed times but by the wishes and skills of their customers. They usually do one trip with 2 dives in the morning and, according to demand, a one tank dive in the afternoon. They also offer day trips to Isle de Rhonde and to the Tobago Cays - minumum 4 people.
Getting There and Getting Around
Fly in style - Golden Caribbean has specially chartered wide bodied Boeing 767 aircraft to fly you to Grenada, Tobago and St Kitts. You have the choice of three classes, Economy, Premium Economy with extra space and complimentary drinks and Excel One, a superb international business class service. Their website can be found at Golden Caribbean.
To get to Carriacou from Grenada you have the choice of inter-island flights, ferry, mail boat or scenic boat trip. All return prices are extremely reasonable - around £20 - £50.
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