Grenada

 I awoke just as we were sailing into St George’s, the capital of Grenada. My favourite time of day. I sat on the balcony drinking coffee and watching the gannets diving and other seabirds. Lots of frigate birds, they are ubiquitous round here, plus, we think, an American Fantailed Kite. We learn these things from the bird book in the library. Our Epicurean breakfast was amazing as usual. The staff here are chalk and cheese to the dining room lot. But then again, we are suite dwellers. No sign of Kathy’s book in the library, or on the open decks as we strolled around them. 

We spent the morning pfaffing, Ian’s (and mine by default) national sport. Then it was lunchtime so we went up to the sunset bar for a small snack. It was hot again, 30 degrees, but we decided on a stroll so we disembarked and made our way through the usual port tat area. A lady we had met by the lift had said she was going to take the land train, as she had done Vicky style research, so we bought a couple of tickets for that. It was very pleasant and the guide was very good, lots of info. Also lots of very bad jokes. Being a Sunday, nothing at all was open, so it’s a good job we hadn’t walked over to the museum, or chocolate factory. And definitely a good job we hadn’t climbed up to the fort. 

Welcome to Grenada

The land train

With passenger

Above St George’s harbour

They yacht club

Back in the town square

As we re-entered the port area, a small TV was showing the Carabao cup final surrounded by a large crowd. As the final whistle blew a huge cheer went up along with much joyful back slapping from the Newcastle fans. I bet the rum punch was flowing for them later. As it was still relatively early, we decided to go up to the Sunset Bar and partake in a lovely, cool Pina Colada. It was another ‘it dosen’t get better than this’ moment.

Paradise

It was then time for our afternoon nap, followed by a nice bonus. We were watching the end of a boring Man U game, but when that finished the tennis came on. We had a man, Jack Draper, in the final of a tournament. Just for us he hammered his opponent in double quick time to win. Good old Jack. Around this time Captain Afoot backed us out of the harbour before swinging us around and heading out to sea, then on a North Westerly heading. I was a bit worried as he always tells there will be one metre of swell. Tonight he said nothing. Were we in for a rough night? Luckily, before he swung the ship, we managed to catch another sunset. Sadly, I can’t get that photo to load.

Buoyant after Jacks win,  we donned our best Caribbean outfits and headed for the atrium to listen to the pianist before tea.

Caribbean clobber

Time for tea, and we hadn’t even sat down before we were plied with water and bread rolls. Our order was taken in double quick time and we raced through tea in the blink of an eye. No more interaction but plenty extra speed. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I feel that I haven’t actually told you the names of our waiters. That’s because they haven’t actually introduced themselves at any point and they whizz past so fast we can’t read their badges. 

It wasn’t even 9.30 when we had finished tea, three courses, coffee, the lot, all in less than 45mins. So we decided to head to the Crystal Room to see the country singers. For some reason P&O had decided to not put any shows on in the theatre or live lounge today, so the country singers show was packed to the rafters. Standing room only. We skipped it and went up to the Crows Nest for a brandy where we met a lovely couple from Glasgow. We chatted to them for a while before retiring. I kind of missed the Live Lounge boom as I nodded off.