Sunday at Sandy Island

Recently, the former owner of our Grenada home (Leslie Ann) invited us to join her, along with her daughters & some friends for an outing to Sandy Island... a small island off the northeast coast of Grenada. (Wanna buy it? Click on the link!) It would be about a 1-1/2 to 2 hour drive to get up there, then the only way to get over to the island is by boat. So last Sunday morning, we met up with them at 6:30 am and our 3-vehicle "caravan" headed across the island. Our provisions included pre-made saltfish (for breakfast), and food for making beef and rotis for lunch. We brought along salad and iced tea (very "American"!). Everyone was to chip in money to pay for a water taxi to carry us over to the island from Levera Beach.

Upon our arrival at the beach, we unloaded the cars & hauled everything out to the beach to wait for the water taxi. There is no dock or jetty to make it easy for getting into a boat here, so we had to be very careful in loading. The sea was a bit choppy, which made it quite tricky getting into the small wooden boat. And we discovered that he couldn't fit all 10 of us in at one time... so he'd have to make 2 trips. Scott & I ended up in with the first load to go across. (Although a little nervous about the ride, I figured "What the heck... they don't seem to be too worried about it! Why should I?") After about a 10-15 minute ride (which was smoother than I anticipated), the little boat coasted in to shore where the driver helped us out as we stepped carefully onto a rocky bottom just beyond the sandy beach. We unloaded the supplies, then carried everything a short distance to another spot along the beach... and waited for the rest to arrive. At this point, the 5 of us were the only ones on the island!

When everyone was together, the first thing we did was set up a little "sitting" area under the palm trees. They laid out palm fronds on the ground to try make a softer area to sit. Then we had our saltfish breakfast. Afterward, we had a chance to explore and check out the damaged plantation house. (It looked like the house might have been damaged from Hurricane Ivan in 2004.) Some of us then tried to take a walk all the way around the island... but it got very rocky, so 3 of us tried to find a short cut back, while the others continued on. (The short cut was right through a bunch of cacti and some scratchy shrubs! Not easy when you're wearing flip-flops!)

Back at our "base camp" everyone was settling in for a day of relaxation! We brought a dice game along with us & taught them how to play, while Leslie Ann and the men got a fire going in a coal pot for making the roti. One of the guys got some coconuts out of a tree nearby and cut them open for the milk inside.

Eventually, we all had our lunch. Then while some took naps or lounged on the beach, the rest of us took a swim. The water here was so clear it was amazing! I don't think I've ever seen such clear "blue" water!

By 4:00, our water taxi had returned to take us back to the mainland. It was another adventure for us... with many new "firsts" to add to our list of things we've done! The company we were with matched the wonderful weather of the day... just perfectly!

(More photos from Sandy Island)