Adventure vacations in Grenada - adventure travel in the Caribbean
Go with the flow... adventure vacations & activity holidays
Written by Travel Writer Linda Jackson - Editor, Active Caribbean
Adventure holidays in Grenada are on the up. Kayaking, hiking, bird watching, mountain biking and river tubing in the Caribbean are popular leisure vacation actvities. Grenada’s mountains, tropical rainforests and crystalline waters are ideal for visitors looking for exciting and active things to do on a Caribbean vacation. Grenada also has some of the best diving sites in the Caribbean and is an ideal start point for a sailing holiday in the Grenadines. Charter a luxury yacht or Catamaran in Grenada - with or without skipper it is easy to organise.
Diving with the she-devil is not an activity anyone would expect to take on during a visit to an exotic island in the Caribbean. But what the hell, sometimes you have no alternative but to go with the flow - in this case underwater. What a surreal experience it is when the Devil Woman’s face, hidden beneath the wide brim of a hat, is a skeleton that can only be observed by literally getting up-front-and-personal.
Rib boat tour
Unusual diving and snorkelling site in the Caribbean
Snorkel in Moilinere Bay in Grenada and you will discover the she-devil sitting on the seabed just feet below the water surface and a matter of yards offshore in an underwater sculpture park, a unique creation of sculptor Jason Taylor from England whose ocean floor works of art depict the island’s colourful history and folklore. It’s an unusual scuba diving and snorkelling site and one of the soft adventure options in Grenada's growing activities portfolio.
Exploring the Underwater Sculpture Park in Grenada, home to 65 sculptures in all, is mesmerising. Either diving or snorkelling it is totally surreal. A line of heads sit on the coral here, a large circle of life-sized people holding hands there. A man sits at a desk typing and, of course, there’s that cloven-hoofed she-devil who is despised by women but enchanting to men. According to Grenada folklore that is.
Getting to the site and speeding through the water like a bat out of hell in a powerful twin-engine rib boat (Grenada Seafaris) adds to the thrill as passengers clutch tightly to the handlebars of their jockey seat. Not only is the tour gripping, but also informative: the organisers give a guided tour of each piece of sculpture, talk about Grenada’s nautical history, the Leatherback Turtle, the marine park and other ecological aspects of Grenada.
River tubing in Grenada
Caribbean volcanoes
A diverse landscape of mountain ranges, dormant volcanoes, deep gorges, and fine white coral beaches are embraced by the 120 square miles of Grenada, an island about the size of the Isle of Wight. Grenada is part of a tri-island state with Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and the most southern of the Windward Islands.
Since hurricane Ivan devastated 85% of the island in September 2004, Grenada has been actively re-inventing itself and is talked about locally as becoming the St Tropez of the Caribbean within the next few years due to the exclusive Port Louis Marina complex, capable of berthing hundreds of yachts and even a number of mega-yachts.
Eco-tourism in the Caribbean
Blessed with an eco-friendly government that is strictly monitoring hotel developments and with one-fifth of the island being protected wildlife reserves, parks and natural sanctuaries, it looks as if Grenada’s reputation for being one of the most unspoilt of the Caribbean islands will stand long into the future. Rising steeply from the coast, the land reaches a height of almost 3,000ft and encompasses a profusion of flora, waterfalls and an extensive tropical rainforest - the Grand Etang Forest Reserve high up in the mountains of Grenada's interior, a popular hiking area.
Rainforest trekking
Trekking in tropical rainforests
Away from the coast, ascending the winding mountain roads, the air temperature drops some 10°-15° but body temperatures soon rise when trekking through Grenada's lush humid rainforest with a local walking guide. Tours range from easy fifteen-minute jaunts to rigorous expeditions of several hours. For a short hike, opt to go to the Seven Sisters Waterfalls: how welcome it is to swim in the deep cold water at the base of the waterfalls before the return trek through dense steamy undergrowth in which a few of the island’s 350 bird species might be glimpsed: maybe even armadillo, opossum, or shy Mona monkeys.
River tubing in the Caribbean - from meek & mild to wet & wild
Tropical vegetation, water and wildlife is present during another activity – river tubing in Grenada. Enjoy the tropical setting sitting in an enormous rubber ring. After a safety briefing, life vest and helmet handout, guides accompany river-tubers to keep them on the not-so-straight but very narrow watercourse, the currents spinning and swirling the rubber rings as the river meanders through the serene Balthazar Estate.
How fast river-tubers complete the watercourse and how exciting it is depends on the time of year and how much water is coming off the mountains - expect the tubing to be anything from meek and mild to wet and pretty wild. Disembarkation is at the last sheltered pool on the river where a short walk through a shaded Heliconia plantation – an exquisite hue of green, dotted with vibrant red blooms and dappled gold sunlight – leads to the return base where that celebrated Caribbean rum punch with a kick worthy of a donkey awaits adventurers.
Scuba diving sites in the Caribbean - spectacular walls & wrecks
Both Grenada and Carriacou are known for their great diving sites with spectacular walls and wrecks (including the ‘Titanic of the Caribbean’, the Bianca C) where sharks, turtles, lobsters and giant moray eels can be seen gliding past a backdrop of soft coral forest, striking reefs and sponges; and also Grenada for being an idyllic starting point from which to charter a boat, with or without skipper, down the Grenadines – an archipelago well worth sailing into one of the Caribbean’s beautiful sunsets to explore.