I visited the tiny Caribbean island with carnival parties, shy turtles and cinnamon ice cream
A LUMINESCENT school of blue marlin, majestic angelfish, cute little seahorses . . .
I’m spotting almost everything I’d hoped to while snorkelling in the Caribbean Sea — though, sadly, the leatherback turtles haven’t come out to play today.
But when I dive down just a few feet deeper, I see something you wouldn’t expect.
A man sitting with a typewriter at a desk. A princess emerging from a giant nutmeg pod. And a group of 26 children holding hands in a circular formation.
These are just some of the remarkable sights at the world’s first underwater sculpture park off the coast of Molinere Bay in Grenada.
Spectacularly different from anything you’re used to seeing beneath the waves, it’s almost ghostly — but mesmerising to explore.
Each sculpture relates in its own way to Grenadian culture; together, acting as artificial reefs that promote the growth of coral, they deliver a powerful message of revival.
After the island’s coral reefs were devastated by a hurricane in 2004, the sculpture park was built to lure tourists away from those fragile natural atolls.
But the concrete creations are also attracting new marine life. I’m staying on Grenada for a few days to learn about the country’s attempts to encourage “voluntourism” after its most recent destructive hurricane in 2024.
So you can enjoy a blissful Caribbean holiday while getting hands-on to really immerse yourself in the culture and community.
Whether you’re willing to plant mangroves, join a hunt for the invasive lionfish or harvest the crops at an organic farm, you become more than a tourist, helping to rebuild and reinvigorate so the likes of those shy, endangered turtles can survive.
This is a small island nation, so sustainability is critical.
From my taxi driver to the hotel staff, everyone living here seems to be in on that commitment — they’re proud of their home and passionate about flourishing here while staying true to their roots.
Which, as I quickly learn, includes a love of food, rum and reggae.
My eco-resort, True Blue Bay, comes alive every Wednesday with a street-food festival and epic carnival party until the early hours.
It’s all fuelled by a knockout rum punch.
A tour of distillery Clarke’s Court shows us how they make this national spirit using centuries-old methods to create exotic flavours including passionfruit and coconut.
And the Belmont Estate chocolate factory hand-sort their cocoa beans to fulfil their “tree to bar” ambition before hand-wrapping their chocs.
During visits to both places, what stands out is their commitment to using time- honoured techniques so they can continue to employ the locals rather than replacing people with modern machinery.
Then there are the smells . . . from fermenting molasses while making rum to the cocoa beans being turned while drying in the sun.
From the moment you set foot on Grenada, you know why it’s called the Isle of Spice. You can’t walk far without catching a waft of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger or turmeric.
A trip to a spice market in the colourful capital of Saint George’s delivers a mouth-watering lesson in flavour as we sample the raw ingredients for everything from nutmeg jam to hot sauce.
Even the local, custom-made cola is flavoured with a nutmeg syrup.
So wherever and whenever you eat, your tastebuds are dancing to a great Grenadian beat.
Breakfast is a Caribbean concoction of coconut bakes, fried breadfruit or cocoa and cinnamon pancakes and cocoa tea.
Lunch can be callaloo soup (a green leafy veg like spinach) or the beloved national dish “oil down” — a stew made with salted meats, breadfruit, green bananas, callaloo, turmeric and coconut milk.
And it is dinners of straight-from-the-sea tuna, conch, mahi-mahi fish or jerk chicken.
When it comes to pudding, trust me and order the cinnamon ice cream. All local ingredients, grown or caught, are fresher than the short, spontaneous downpours.
It is no wonder Grenada was named by the World Food Travel Association in 2021 as the planet’s first “culinary capital”, recognising its gastronomy, organic farming and regenerative food tourism.
Nowhere is more dedicated to those beliefs than my second hotel, the family-owned Blue Horizons Garden Resort — an off-grid, eco-forward destination with a farm-to-table commitment and everything sourced from their own estate.
They catch 90 per cent of rainwater to use for everything from cleaning laundry to watering plants. It’s all geared towards a restful, relaxing, sustainable break.
And yet it lacks none of the mod cons you’d expect from a Caribbean resort.
A five-minute walk away is the locals’ pride and joy: the beautiful Grand Anse beach.
From sunbed renters there to fruit sellers at the side of the roads and the waiting staff in the restaurants, everyone is friendly and warm like the Caribbean sun; you sense genuine hospitality rather than the politeness of customer service.
GO: Grenada
GETTING THERE: Fly direct to Grenada from Gatwick with fares from £527 return this September and October. See britishairways.com.
STAYING THERE: Rooms at the True Blue Bay are from £167 a night, B&B. See truebluebay.com.
Double rooms at the Blue Horizons Garden Resort are from £148 a night, room only. See grenadabluehorizons.com.
OUT & ABOUT: Belmont Estate chocolate tour, from £48, see belmontestategrenada.com.
Snorkelling tour with Eco Dive Grenada from £53, see www.ecodiveandtrek.com. Rum tasting and distillery tour at Clarke’s Court from £7.50.
MORE INFO: For information on Grenada and voluntourism see puregrenada.com.
A little further is the tranquil Morne Rouge beach.
Even the Mona monkeys seem pleased to see us on a visit to Grand Etang National Park, where local guide Leon — aka “the monkey whisperer” — calls them down from the trees so we can feed them bananas.
There, surrounded by lush, vivid-green rainforest, you feel the island’s connection to the natural world; nurture for nature in a place refusing to succumb to commercialism.
Grenada is clearly still committed to the authenticity that arguably no longer exists on its more touristy neighbouring islands.
Rather than variety being the spice of life, in Grenada the variety of spice is life.
And even if you just buy some local nutmeg after enjoying the sun, sea and service, you’ll help the wonderfully welcoming, climate-conscious people on this lovely island.
Which leaves a great taste in the mouth.
