Exploring Grenada with Antilles Adventures Pt. 1

We’ve been back for over a month (almost 2 actually) from our trip to Grenada and honestly the thought that so much time has passed already is depressing… 😦 I haven’t stopped thinking about the amazing time we shared with family and friends there.

For Roy’s first trip to Grenada, I did my best to make the trip extra special and show him the best parts of the island and all it has to offer, even if that meant visiting places I’d been to a thousand times before. In hindsight, I’m so glad I booked two tours with Antilles Adventures.

I think I got lucky having a friend who does tours. My childhood friend, Kara and I spoke for months about taking a boat trip with the company she’s part of called, Antilles Adventures. They offer a flat rate tour for $200 US for up to 8 people that included snorkeling and sailing. As the months went by, I rounded up a group of friends and started planning.

When the day finally came around, a group of 8 + Kara and Krishna of Antilles Adventures hopped into the mini catamaran and sailed off from the jetty near Esther’s Bar on Grand Anse Beach.

We came fully prepared to have a good time. The boat was loaded with a cooler full of Shandy and Caribe, bottles of stronger liquor and some chasers. We had snacks, rum infused watermelon and music. It was basically a private party on the sea.

Our first stop was the carenage which is an even prettier site when you view it from the water.

The gorgeous Carenage from the water

We sailed to the Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park located on the West Coast of Grenada. Fun fact: these sculptures were the first ever underwater sculpture gardens created by Jason deCaires Taylor. You can find out more about them here.

After taking too many photos to post…

We put on our life jackets and gear, jumped off the boat and both Krishna and Kara escorted us through the water. We snorkeled over as many sculptures as we could find. Krishna took over the GoPro (after I realized I wasn’t a pro with it at all) and got some awesome footage for us of the sculptures, the colorful fish and everyone swimming.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Next we visited Flamingo Bay to see the fish nurseries and coral reefs. I’m not sure what I was expecting to see but I can tell you it wasn’t a million long-spined black sea urchins on every surface.

There were so many tucked into every corner, it was crazy. Krishna somehow managed to find a white one (locally referred to as “sea egg”) and brought it up for us to look at and hold.

• 

• 

We saw fish of all sizes huddled together in between the rocks and reefs and Krishna even got some footage of a notorious lion fish hiding under some rocks.

When we were done in the water, we swam back to the boat and were finally able to drink and have a good time.

We sailed back to Grand Anse Beach in time for the sunset with captain Roy at the wheel. Yes they let him drive the boat and he enjoyed himself to the fullest.

I definitely recommend booking a boat tour with Antilles Adventures if you plan on visiting Grenada or even as a local if you want to do something fun and different with your friends. Kara and Krishna are two fish in the water. Their boat in cute and the 10 of us were cozy but not uncomfortable on it. They really know how to have a good time. Thank you for making Roy’s first time out on (and in) Grenada’s water a success!