The tiny Island of Carriacou is a 2-hour ferry ride from St. George's. Notice that the island occupies only 13 square miles and is home to a small population of 8,000.

Day 5: February 14, 2017:

I woke well before the 6 am alarm. We were quickly up and on the road. The ferry leaves at 8 am. We made it with plenty of time to spare. The harbor was slowly coming to life. We watched as fishing boats aimed toward the open sea.

Our ferry was a sleek-looking twin-hulled boat. We all boarded the boat around 7:45 am. It was only 1/3 full. After a quick tour of the craft, I found my spot on the upper deck. It was a great vantage point for picture taking. Actually, with the upper deck nearly empty, I had the run of the deck.

The sea was rough. The ferry climbed the waves and then crashed down hard, over and over and over. I found a spot near the front where I could feel the crash at its fullest. Thank goodness I don't get sea-sick. I loved the ride.

At one point, a school, or would you call it a flock, of flying fish broke the surface and put on a show. For at least 15 minutes, hundreds of flying fish skimmed along just above the water. Some could stay airborne for a 1000 feet.

Since the harbor at St. George's is near the southern tip of Grenada, the ferry had to sail along the entire length of the island and then past several small islets before reaching Carriacou. From this vantage, we could see just how rugged Grenada is. The mountains meet the sea at a near perpendicular angle.

The islets are also just mountain tops that are tall enough to crest the water line. Most are far too rugged to inhabit. A few pleasure boats and sailing yachts were plying the waters. I could feel the pull of that life-style.

Just before noon we approached the harbor at Hillsborough, the only town on the island of Carriacou. As laid back as Grenada is, Carriacou is unconscious, and wonderfully so.

We watched the fishing harbor come to life as we waited to board our ferry. Check out the flimsy boat these guys are using to reach their fishing boat. Also, that is Fort George on top of the hill.

This is the Osprey, our double-hulled ferry boat. It makes one round trip per day. We left St. George's at 8 am and arrived at the Island of Carriacou at 10 am. The return trip left Carriacou at 3:15 pm. We landed back at St. George's at 5:15 pm. One roundtrip ticket costs $61 US. It was our best day yet in Grenada.

This is Grenada's stadium. I believe that soccer is played here, however, cricket is the national sport and I know that professional cricket matches are played here. The other day we watched a bunch of kids playing a pickup game of cricket in an empty lot. I couldn't make heads-or-tails out of the game, but the kids were sure having fun.

Grenada's coast is rugged.

These islets are uninhabitable.

I think I could get used to this kind of life on the sea.

Above and below: The small island of Carriacou as we approach the town of Hillsborough.

Downtown Hillsborough is clean, bright, and colorful.

The Laurena II Restaurant and Bar Jerk Center is the largest in Hillsborough. It is part of the Laurena Hotel. What is a Jerk Center? It is a restaurant that specializes in jerk chicken or pork dishes, in which the meat is first rubbed (or jerked) with a special blend of spices and then slow-roasted.

This room is one of several rambling dining areas inside the restaurant. Check out the menu. The main dishes to choose from were BBQ chicken, curry mutton, stew pork, and grill fish. Each of these choices comes with rice and peas, macaroni pie, garlic potatoes, and green salad. Also note the lobster special: $30 EC ($12 US). We were too early for the lobster dinner.

Believe it or not, that is the grill fish and not stew pork (see menu above). And no, the gravy wasn't fishy or disgusting at all. The square bar is macaroni pie, the rice was loaded with peas, and under the onions were tiny garlic potatoes. It was a bit odd but incredibly delicious.

Hillsborough, and the entire island as far as we could determine, was the epitome of the concept of 'laid back'.

This is a bar located near Paradise Beach. We treated ourselves to a Rum Punch.

We got a dial tone on this ancient piece of technology.

Carriacou Island has three collectivo routes. They are numbered #10, #11, and #12. I think that this is a continuation of the nine routes on the main island of Grenada. The collectivo was less than $1.00 to $3 US per ride to any destination on the island . We took #10 to Paradise Island which is two miles from downtown Hillsborough. We certainly could have walked but we were on a tight schedule. It cost .90¢ US.

While riding #10, the van stopped in front of a small hardware store for a man carrying a long piece of PVC. He was British and we got to talking. He, and his wife, sailed full-time for 18 years. After sailing the Atlantic Ocean for 2 years, they spent the next 16 years exploring the Caribbean before selling the boat and settling down on Carriacou Island. He lamented that owning a sailboat wasn't as romantic as it sounds. It is an endless maintenance headache, especially the 'loo'.

So, after 18 years, the couple picked Carriacou to winter in - they also have a home in England. In his estimation, Carriacou was the most outstanding piece of paradise in the Caribbean. He said that we were lucky to have found it on our first Caribbean trip.

Paradis Beach! This pristine stretch of sand was incredible. We were the only people at the beach. The water was shallow for quite a distance. It was nestled in a protective bay so the waves were very small. We didn't hold that against the beach. It was just too beautiful for words.

Today, we dragged around both the 70 SPF sunscreen and a full bottle of Aloe Vera gel. Our skin is on the edge of being burnt - but we keep waking up with just being browner. So we'll try this routine again.

With the British x-sailor's story ringing in our heads, we poked around Hillsborough a little more when we returned from Paradise Beach. First we stopped at Ada's Dream House to check on hostel prices: $85EC ($32US/night) to have a private room and bathroom but have a shared balcony and kitchen.

Then we visited a dive shop to look into snorkeling. Carriacou is known as the ‘Land of Reefs’, with shallow clear waters: ideal for diving and snorkelling. Although they highly recommended getting certified, they rented snorkeling gear for $20 a day. They bragged about the terrific reefs on the other side of the island.

All this information caught our imagination. We started to visualize returning to Carriacou for a month or so. It is a very small, quaint, and laid back place. It is beautiful, prettier than Grenada itself. But would relaxing be enough? We are still quite hyper. Oh well, I guess the only way to know is to one day give it a try.

Our last look at Carriacou as we return to Grenada.

We arrived back at St. George's at 5:15 pm. We had to gas up the scooter before returning. Gas stations are full-service in Grenada - another throwback to the past.

When we arrived at Ezulwini Cottage, Marguerite was all ears to hear about our day. Sadly, tomorrow is our last full day in Grenada. We plan to revisit a couple of beaches to soak up as much sunshine as we can before returning to winter in Wisconsin.

On a side note: When we saw a white woman smoking today, it hit us that she was the only person we saw smoking this whole week. It seems that no one smokes in Grenada - 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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