The world’s most exotic sailing destination?
The internet is a funny thing, as are best-of type lists. I recently came across LOOK Insurance Services’ latest campaign, which aims to identify “the world’s most exotic sailing destinations.” Reading through the UK-based company’s selections, I think they may be a big geographically biased in their selections as I saw no mention of the beautiful Caribbean, the region that most North Americans would first think of when the subject of tropical destinations come to mind. Having spent the last several years exploring the Eastern Caribbean by sailboat, I humbly think that we can offer some input into this. Our favorite island to visit, whether by boat or by land, is the one and only “Spice Isle,” Grenada.
One Love at anchor in one of Grenada’s very protected bays.
For the past four summers Rebecca and I have made Grenada our base, and have grown to consider it our second home. Many people ask why we think so highly of the island, especially when comparing it to all of the other amazing Caribbean destinations. While there are definitely many other spots that we love, Grenada has, in our opinion, the perfect blend of nature and infrastructure to make a visit here, whether short or long term, an extremely pleasant one.
Firstly, from a nautical perspective, the island offers many pristine and protected harbors, an extremely important consideration for those rare times when the weather turns sour. During the vast majority of the time, when the sun is shining and the gentle trade winds are blowing, the island boasts spectacular scenery to enjoy. Scenery that includes white sand beaches to relax on (and black ones too), clean warm water to swim in, high mountains to climb and lush rain forests to explore.
Did you see my cameo in the above video?
In our opinion though, the biggest asset that Grenada has to offer, and the one that really keeps us coming back here, is the sincere friendliness of its people. It’s a rare time that you will pass a Grenadian on the street that he/she will not greet you with a warm good morning or good afternoon. You’ll likely experience the same thing if you navigate the island on one of the efficient local buses. We’ve made countless local friends who greet us by name as we pass them in the streets.
All of the above was reinforced to us just yesterday when we met up with a couple of old friends who were visiting Grenada for the very first time. In the rental car that they had secured, we circumnavigated the island, taking in the beautiful sites. We passed by high waterfalls, drove through quaint villages and took in the sights from high up on the mountains. There is hardly a spot on the island that is not a perfect backdrop for an award-winning photo.
So, for those really looking for an amazing spot to sail to, do not pass up the wonderful Caribbean, and more specifically, make sure that you spend time in the Spice Isle. You may just end up calling Grenada home as we do.
Before stumbling upon your blog, I had never heard of Grenada. Okay maybe I had heard about it, but it was even on my radar for places to visit. The two of you have changed that, hope to some day see for ourselves everything that we ‘see’ on here!
I’m confident you’ll love it as we do.
I would love to call Grenada home~!
A couple of our friends just became actual citizens here.
Yeah, I thought you were cute with pig tails, and a red and yellow dress.
Actually, we’re going to need a hint.
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Funny how tastes vary. Our family tradition, ever since Jessica laid eyes on it, is to spend most of a week on Tangier Island (Chesapeake Bay), generally as part of a longer cruise. Not like Grenada, but a clean escape from urban life, and the boat makes a wonderful water front hotel. And yet among Chesapeake sailors it is not all that popular, and those that come seldom spend a second night. Not enough action, I guess. There are pleasant of popular harbors to visit. We Like Tangier.
Sadly we never visaited Tangier. Next time.
As for your hint… yellow shorts.
+2
Miss you guys being here!
I must agree with you about Grenada we have enjoyed the sailing here as well. I watched the video associated with the post and I was surprised to hear that it was Survivorman! My hero, He recently did a two part series on Grenada, which I just found on Youtube, if you haven’t seen them yet I think you would enjoy.
Sometimes I try saying “Good morning” to random people on the street back here in Kingston. Under-30s almost never notice, 30-60 tend to ignore it. Seniors rarely fail to smile and say “hello” back.
It’s good to know I’m not crazy 🙂
Funny. 🙂