Bank holiday vibes

Bank holiday – the magic word for most people aka personal time or liming. You literally live for these days all year round, right?!

For this London chic right here this time round August bank holiday Monday means time to jet off to the Island of Spice again. That’s right. Time for new discoveries.

Excitement for new adventures and exploring new spots is feverishly high right now – like more than 7.3 on the Richter scale (recent Grenada earthquake déja vu).

As we touch down in Grenada, the sun glistening over the calm ocean, palms are dancing to the tune of the breeze, I have to muse over the best experience in Grenada so far…

Tough one – there a so many. If you have one please share in the comment section – I love to hear about new suggestions.

The one that stood out for me so far though is a sailing trip to see a coral reef along the coast and the Molinere underwater sculpture park.

If you are a sea baby like me and love the ocean, swimming, snorkelling, diving or have a curiosity for just what is under that crystal clear ocean surface, then I highly recommend booking a catamaran tour to visit the underwater sculpture park and peruse some of the coral coast line.

We had used First Impressions who were absolutely fab. Professional crew, plenty rum punch and delicious local food – fresh fish caught for lunch on the trip. That’s a real catch of the day!

With a couple of non swimmers on board who literally will only go into the sea as long as their feet can touch the ground – maybe you can relate – the captain doubled up as the best swimming/snorkelling instructor. They actually got in 50 feet deep water to snorkel the reef and the sculpture park. Could not believe my eyes! Anyway I digress…

We set off from Port Louis slowly sailing past the Carenage and along the Grenadian northwest coastline with immediate relaxing vibes.

So what did we actually see? Well, I’m not a fish expert I must admit but three are still vividly implanted in my mind.

Nemo’s cousin aka Sergeant Major fish

Lobsters (elegant sea life and also delicious in curried rotis) and sea urchins (be careful picking up those spiky sea beauty).

The colours under water are stunning – from a variety of fish to corals to shells all enveloped by a turquoise blanket of water. You could spend hours just gazing at the same area and constantly discover something new. No not being geeky I promise.

As a Padi diver I’d come across a number of stunning reefs and ship wrecks over the years but I must say the sculpture park was equally an intriguing concept.

The underwater park exists since 2006 and is located on the sandy ocean floor of Molinere Bay. Over 65 concrete individual sculptures of men and women weighing around 15 tonnes stand on the ocean floor in a circle.

Following hurricane Ivan which caused a lot of damage to the island including the coral reef these sculptures help to promote coral growth. The textured surface encourages coral polyps to attach themselves to the surface and by extension other marine life. Now that’s what I call eco-friendly.

A rare treat as we were taking in this underwater marvel was a tip from a fellow snorkelling adventurer top pop closer to the shoreline where a great shoal of jacks were merrily travelling along. As we swam toward it we were literally in the middle of what seemed like hundreds of Jack fish. They seemed so close and yet not a single one bumped into us. To this day I have no words to describe this feeling.

Anyone else been on this trip?