After we got Marguerite's scooter inspected, we drove around St. George’s. Notice how quaint the city is. There aren't any modern high-rise hotels. That made the island all the more inviting to us.

Day 4: February 13, 2017:

The first order of business today was to find the vehicle inspection site and get the scooter inspected. This is a yearly requirement for all vehicles in Grenada. I suspect that it is merely a tax mechanism. The inspection wasn't much of anything, just a quick look-over. We paid the fee and got a sticker to attach to the scooter. The hardest part of the ordeal was waiting in the long line which took over an hour.

Once completed, we went down to one of the harbors in St. George’s to get some information on the ferry to the Island of Carriacou. We heard that the 2-hour ferry ride was unbelievable. With a roundtrip putting us on the high seas for four hours, I was all in. Again, locating the ferry office took some digging, but we found it. The tickets were $61 US for the roundtrip. A little pricey, but we snagged two of them for tomorrow's run. Even with four hours on the boat, we'd have nearly six hours on the island. The small town, Hillsborough, and the local beach, Paradise Beach, were compact. Six hours would allow us to explore, swim, and enjoy a meal. We were psyched.

The boat leaves early. We'll have to set the alarm for 6 am. We could catch the collectivo from the Airbnb, but it doesn't run as often that early. We will ask Marguerite if we could use the scooter, hopefully at a discount since we'd only be using it once in the morning, and once in the evening on our return.

We drove to the hilly neighborhoods of St. George’s for a while since we had the scooter. Driving the hills was far easier than walking them. The many overlooks of the city were wonderful. I especially appreciated the lack of modern high-rise hotels.

Since we were in town, we had to check out the House of Chocolate, a mini-museum and chocolate shop. Every tasty chocolate-infused morsel in the shop is handcrafted with delicate artistry right in the store. From cakes and cookies, to truffles, to candy bars, to syrups, to ice cream, we wanted to sample it all until our guts ached.

The shop also has informational displays depicting the history of chocolate on the island, and the steps to making chocolate from the harvesting of the cacao beans to the blending of the different strengths of cocoa.

It was the French, the first Europeans to settle on the island during the 1650s, that brought cacao trees to Grenada in 1714. Grenada was ceded to the British in 1763 and during the 1760s, Grenada was the largest producer and exporter of cacao in the world.

Over the centuries, the chocolate industry has gone through many ups and downs. However, chocolate from Grenada is still considered to be some of the finest in the world. We certainly thought so.

There are many harbors and marinas in St. George’s. The main deep water harbor is where the cruise ships dock. The smaller harbors are home to fishing boats and water taxis. St. George's waterfront is quaint, lively, and wonderful.

There weren't many of these mega-yachts anchored at St. George’s, but this one sure was impressive. It is an odd hybrid of a modern yacht and four old-world masts. We heard it speculated that it might not be a pleasure boat at all. It might be a research vessel. If so, it would be a pleasure to do research on this boat so, yes, a pleasure boat.

Above and below: House of Chocolate.

Notice that the paper liner on the left identifies the chocolates on the right. Funny, the Guinness chocolates have a green marijuana leaf as a decoration. I don't think that Guinness has anything to do with pot, and I don't think the little chocolates have any pot cooked into it, but there is that leaf.......

With the day slipping by, we decided to check out the Underwater Sculpture Park about 15 miles away at Moilinere Bay. We wanted a snorkeling experience. This wasn't a coral reef, but they rented out the gear, provided the boat ride to the location, and there was something unique to see.

Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated when we arrived at the dock. What's a little rain when you are underwater anyway? So, we signed up for the tour. The 75 underwater sculptures set in 15 feet of water, were a collection of odd statutes ranging from classical Greek figures, or maybe Roman, to a guy sitting on a chair watching TV. The concept is the brainchild of Jason deCaires Taylor, a sculpture artist and environmental activist. Supposedly, the park made National Geographic's list of Top 25 Wonders.

The water was a tad murkier than I had hoped. I think the weather had something to do with it. I did get a kick out of the park, but I admit that I probably would have preferred a colorful coral reef.

I don't have an underwater camera, and due to the weather, I didn't bring my camera on the boat, so I didn't document this experience at all.

Our boat ride to the underwater site. Notice the storm cell coming in. (Wanda took this photo with her phone).

One of the 75 underwater sculptures. (I got this photo from the website).

It was late afternoon when we finished snorkeling and the weather, although not raining anymore, was iffy. We high-tailed it back to Ezulwini Cottage before anymore cells hit us. Riding in the rain is the one drawback to riding scooters.

Back at the Airbnb, Marguerite decided to let us use the scooter to go to the ferry in the morning. We hit the hay early. Tomorrow will be a long day. The weather promises to be good. It should be awesome.

VINTAGE VENTURES: The reason I write my travel journals is to be able to look back and remember our ventures. A secondary reason was to allow me to organize all my trip photos. I have thousands of photos. Organizing them into a travelogue made sense. The trick was to figure out how to organize all these photos and journals into a cohesive story. My early attempts failed miserably because I couldn't figure out how to meld photos and text into a structure that worked. It was when Wanda came across the Constant Contact format that allowed me to, not only develop a coherent story of our trips, but to be able to send them to friends, family, and anybody else that is interested.

It is my plan to take each of these early trips, which I call, Vintage Ventures, and collate them into Constant Contact. I hope you find some value in them, even though they are, well, vintage.

Dave and Wanda

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