The night before our arrival in Grenada, our friend and co-worker Courtney had a vision: she forsaw us zipping around the winding mountain roads on mopeds or scooters. We left the ship with that plan in mind but were unfortunately not able to find a scooter rental shop once ashore…we’ll have to try again on some other island. We settled for a 4×4 instead and headed out of the bustling town of St. Georges into the mountains to the village of Grenville on the opposite side of the island.

There are no road signs anywhere in Grenada. Visitors must try to find a good map, make some guesses about the route to take to a destination, and stop to ask where to go next whenever a Grenadian comes into view. Thankfully, the islanders were the friendliest people we’ve met so far and seemed more than happy to point or lead us in the right direction.

This kind man in a green minivan led us all the way across the country to the small village we wanted to visit. How's that for hospitality?

It’s not the main cruise ship season, but even if it was, chances are good that Grenada would have few tourists. The MV Explorer was the only ship on the pier, and we were definitely the only non-locals on the eastern side of the island. Somehow, this fact seemed to inspire the people we met to be even friendlier. We had lunch at a local restaurant called “Good Food” that consisted of fish and “provisions” such as plantains, rice, beans, macaroni, and coo coo. We sampled a very strong and spicy homemade ginger beer (ginger ale), a bitter licorice drink that most foreigners hate, and some special edition Caribbean-brewed Guinness (our waitress raised her eyebrows in an impressed way when I chose the Guinness over the lighter Carib island lager — it’s fun to feel like you impressed the waitress).

When we visit ports along with other cruise ships, we always marvel at the obvious difference in the behavior of our passengers vs. the behavior of theirs. The respect SaS passengers display when stepping on foreign soil is unparalleled. Still, it’s no secret that the tourism industry in general has an ugly side. The book A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid has a lot to teach us about the negative way American and European tourists are often viewed in many of these Caribbean islands. It is recommended reading for anyone traveling anywhere, but especially those visiting the Caribbean. Grenadians, however, have a way of teaching people how to be better tourists without the attitude, anger, or resentment that a conscientious traveler can occasionally feel just below the surface. The following sign about credit vs. cash from our lunch spot is a case in point. Why be enemies when we can be friends?

This sign was posted behind the cash register at the Good Food restaurant.

We left Grenville in search of hot springs (a.k.a. “the boiling springs” or “de hot water, mon”) in the remote areas of the Grenadian mountains. Courtney’s guide book recommended that the surest way to find them was to drive into a tiny mountain village and “ask anybody how to get there.” This worked well for meeting people and having fun, but we ran out of time and had to head back toward the ship before we ever found the springs themselves. We met a rasta man named Junior out hacking through the jungle with a machete and his two skinny dogs. He showed us some nutmeg trees and pointed us back on the “off-road” path to the springs. We met a big bull whose body language suggested that the road belonged to him. So we turned around and headed along a beautiful scenic coastal drive to the main port of St. Georges. No, we didn’t find the hot springs…but we did find Grenada. We all loved it and hope to return for a longer visit someday.