Grenada........Island of Spice

2/28/11

The Starship is now in Grenada, busy with boat projects, awaiting company, and behind on the blog as usual. I can’t seem to get into the habit of an everyday journal/blog entry, bad blog etiquette as I understand it, but since my computer dictionary doesn’t even recognize the term “blog” I suppose there are no rules. 

The island of Grenada is located at the bottom of the Windward Islands and is yet another major cruise ship stop and yachting mecca due to its location below the normal hurricane paths. Known as the Spice Island of the Caribbean, Grenada produces 1/3 of the world’s nutmeg and mace, as well as cinnamon, bay leaves, ginger and cloves. Market days are filled with wonderful aromas and all forms of spices and produce are available.

St. Georges’s is the capital, originally French but awarded to Britain in 1783 under the Treaty of Versailles. Many of the villages and place names are decidedly French in origin, Grand Etang, Sauteurs, Fontainebleau, yet the British influence is detectable as well.

Built on numerous hills, the winding, steep and narrow streets overlook an almost completely enclosed harbor known as the Carnage. Other than being known as the Island of Spice, Grenada is most famous as the site of a United States military invasion in 1983.

After receiving its independence from Britain in 1974 the second Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was deposed and executed by a splinter faction of the People’s Revolutionary Government which Bishop had helped to establish post British rule. 

Improving healthcare and education made Bishop a favorite of the people but his socialist leanings and ties with Cuba did not sit well with the United States during the cold war era. At the behest of Grenada’s more conservative neighboring islands who feared a communist government takeover after Bishop’s death, President Reagan sent in the troops.

Built in 1706 Fort George overlooks the harbor entrance and was the central target of the invasion. However, military error missed the intended target of the fort and destroyed the nearby mental institution instead so the fort remains largely intact.

Open for sightseeing and with a decided air of neglect, Fort George is now the headquarters of the Royal Grenada Police Force.

Directed at the outside of the harbor, the remaining cannons still give off the air of protecting the city from potential invaders. 

But this open bay is now more frequented by the life’s blood of the island, a much more welcome and vital form of invasion for the Grenada of today. Despite up to three ships a day, almost everyday that we have been here, Grenada still retains its old world charm.