Friday 13th November

After a reasonably long flight which involved a planned (but unexpected) stop off in Tobago, we landed in Grenada at about 4pm yesterday (Thursday 12th). It was a little surreal - there were a sum total of four aircraft on the ground, three of which probably had a total capacity of 30 people. And a Boeing 747. Immigration was a nice relaxed affair, with the emphasis on "relaxed".

Picking up the hire car was trouble free if somewhat slow, one might almost say relaxed again. I have a suspicion that we'll be using that word rather frequently over the next couple of weeks. We were shown the vehicle, some sort of Suzuki, and given a summary of the bodywork scratches. Essentially this consisted of one of the standard hire-sheets with scribbling all over it. As long as we keep any accidents below 20mph I don't think they'll notice. We picked our way somewhat gingerly through the local traffic system, via a supermarket to pick up some food, and on to the accommodation: a little cottage at Lance aux Epines. Where we all promptly collapsed into bed not long after the sun went down abruptly at about 6:30pm.

This morning everyone woke early and got the first proper daylight look at the area. It's a fantastic location, looking out over a natural harbour where there are a number of yachts moored. The sea is about 6 feet below and a good thirty yard walk from the front door step, with scarcely any waves. There are humming birds visiting the flowers around the veranda. The little buggers won't hold still for a photograph however.
First order of the day was a swim - the water temperature is just on the chilly side of body heat, not far off perfect.
After breakfast we drove up to St George's (the capital of Grenada) which is about eight miles from the cottage. I'm not entirely sure how you manage to make a traffic jam on an island this size, but they succeeded. Having found somewhere to park the Suzuki-thingy we walked up to Fort George, back down to the center of town and round the market and then had a bit more of a wander around. Other than a quite incredible number of taxis, there isn't anything particularly noteworthy about St Georges. The view from the Fort is impressive and the colour of the sea is quite awesome.
After a lunch of savouries bought this morning, the afternoon consisted of reading, dozing and swimming. I think you can safely refer to this as winding down.

Off to Dinner and then go for another swim before bed! It may be a little too easy to get used to this!
If the photo loads successfully it's one we've just taken of the sunset over the far side of the harbour. :-)

Hope you're all well. More to follow...