Finally...Off the Island for a bit

As part of our tour guiding activities we took our family members off the island of Grenada and onto the nearby island of Carriacou, though it is still within Grenada's governing boundary. Heading out on the Saturday morning of Dec 30 we boarded the Osprey ferry, a high-speed shuttle to cross the 45 miles from southern Grenada to Carriacou. Carriacou is only 13 sq miles and not that far from Grenada but it has a very different feel to the place. Though we find Grenada to be quite laid back, Carriacou is much more laid back than Grenada. Grenadians describe it as one of the places in the Caribbean to experience the real West Indian lifestyle. Though we were on the island for just over 28 hours we did a lot of walking around and took in a two hour guided taxi tour of the northern half of the island. The scenery was great and the people were quite friendly though it seemed to me that many of them were more reserved and less gregarious than Grenadians. I would recommend the journey to all those that are interested but be warned that the ferry ride can be a little wild as the small ship braves some rather large waves during its voyage. (If you are riding on the open top of the ferry, you may get wet as the waves break over the front of the vessel.)

Al & Kristy enjoying the view and fresh air

Black-bellied sheep are raised all over Carriacou for meat.

Ship-building, though not as popular as it once was, still functions as a small industry. The wood is locally grown white cedar.

Just because you can build a boat doesn't mean you can move it. I don't know what these guys were thinking as they moved the boat down the road, sideways. Though, at the point in time when this picture was taken their progress was halted as they tried to untangle their engine (left side) from the trees and bushes.

We came upon these guys as we were headed back to our guest house. Our taxi driver bought two pounds of fish from them for fish broth. The guys said that they caught all those fish in two hours of spear-fishing.