Sailing Grenada

Choosing my first fully vaccinated vacation was a daunting task. There are a lot of places accepting tourists, but so many have long quarantine requirements (even if vaccinated). When my best friend invited me to join a group sailing trip in Grenada, it was an easy YES! Grenada still has requirements, but nothing too crazy. After satisfying Grenada entry requirements, we were able to leave the resort and board our catamaran for the week! I’ll break down the entry requirements first for those curious, then detail everything you need to know about chartering a boat & sailing the islands of Grenada.

Pre-Arrival Requirements

Prior to even arriving in Grenada, the country requires you to apply for a Travel Authorization online. You have to enter information about your flights, accommodations on the island, passport info, etc. When applying for the Travel Authorization, you also have to pay for the PCR test that will be administered at the airport when you arrive (the cost was about $150 USD). Once you are approved, you will receive am email with your Travel Authorization that you print out and bring with you. You will be required to book your accommodations at one of the pre-approved quarantine hotels. At these hotels they have specific rooms and areas designated just for quarantine visitors You can only stay at one of these approved places during your quarantine period. We chartered a catamaran, but had to quarantine separately at a hotel.

Arrival Requirements

When you arrive on the island (with face mask on at ALL TIMES) you are brought into the airport and immediately put in the first of three lines. At each point in the entry process they make you use hand sanitizer. It was almost comical how much they make you do it. My hands felt sticky AF by the time I got to my hotel room. The first line is to check in with the health officials. At this part you will present your Travel Authorization and answer a few questions. If you are fully vaccinated, you also show them your vaccination card. This is vital because for fully vaccinated visitors, the quarantine period is “up to 48 hours” while awaiting your airport PCR results. If you are not fully vaccinated or members in your family you’re traveling with are not fully vaccinated, the mandatory quarantine period is 7 days. After you finish at the health desk you are sent to the next line where you wait to be called up to get a PCR test. After your test, you then proceed to Customs and present your passport as usual. When you exit the airport you have to go to the Taxi Dispatcher and provide your Travel Authorization again which shows your accommodations. You will then be put in a taxi approved to go to your hotel.

Hotel Quarantine

After checking in at our hotel, the True Blue Bay Boutique Resort, you are given the rundown of what you are and are not allowed to do. The group I traveled with consisted of 8 people. Three of us booked Tower Suites, three a villa, and the other two regular rooms. While the Tower Suites were a bit more money, I am so glad that’s what I booked! I chose the Tower Suite because it had two porches, but what ended up being awesome was that the area of the resort with the Tower Suites had a small pool and a grassy area. And this area was only guests who are quarantining, so we were allowed to go to that pool and grass area (after calling the front desk). The villas and regular rooms are in an area of the resort that also has non-quarantine guests and locals. So the rest of our group was confined to their rooms the whole time.

As for food, we actually had more options than I was expecting. We could order from the hotel restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There was also the House of Chocolate on the resort property which had baked goods and ice cream. In addition to the resort food options, we were told to download CaribeEats which was essentially the Caribbean version of UberEats. You could have anything from the island delivered to the hotel & then staff would bring it to your room. With so many food options and two porches to choose from (plus the kitchen table in the room), quarantine really wasn’t bad. Brought me back to the early days in NYC lockdown when we couldn’t do much. But this time I had ocean views and a cool sea breeze!

Sailing the Isle of Spice

Full disclosure, I am not a sailor and had no desire to sail. But when your BFF asks you to join a sailing trip as a passenger and nothing else, I couldn’t say no. Not having to actually do any of the labor of sailing & just enjoying the ride? Yes please! And I’m so glad I did say yes because it was such a fun experience!!!

Our group chartered a Fountaine Pajot, Elba 45 catamaran sailboat. you rent from an owner or charter company, similar to AirBnB. Apparently whoever owns our boat LOVES Batman. It was called the “Batamaran Catamaran“ and there was Batman stuff everywhere! The cheesy name aside, it was a beautiful boat!

I had a pretty decent sized bedroom, for a boat, and it had enough windows for my claustrophobic self! Each room had air conditioning and a fan which was great. The boat consisted of 4 bedrooms, a kitchen and eating area, a lounge inside, lounge outside, a top deck lounge, and plenty of areas to lay out. Exactly what I wanted for this trip!

Day 1

After being released from quarantine (and subsequently giving my best friend the biggest hug ever!), we were finally able to explore the property. We went to the restaurant on the deck and had lunch while admiring our boat docked in the marina. After lunch we made our way to the bigger pool and discovered the Rum Shack bar which had swings for seats! Yes, that could be very dangerous for a bar haha! After enjoying our mudslides and making a new iguana friend (pic below), it was pool time!!! We couldn’t board the catamaran until 6pm so we had time to kill.

At 6pm we made our way to the Batamaran! This was my first time on a sailing trip, but the group I was with had been on several. The boat was apparently much nicer than their prior boats so my expectations are very high now for boats! The size of the rooms and the individual bathrooms was very surprising to me. I was expecting my claustrophobia to be in full effect, but I was actually quite comfortable. I did need to keep the curtains open because they gave me coffin interior vibes, so when they were shut I was feeling a bit panicky lol. We spent the first night on the boat at the marina before heading out on day 2.

Day 2

Day 2 started with coffee on the sun deck of the boat (yay for the local grocery store having my Coffee Mate Hazelnut Creamer!). After breakfast we boarded a different boat to head out to Grenada’s Underwater Sculpture Park. This park was man made by created by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor. Half our group went diving and the rest of us went snorkeling. It was a really cool place and even from above snorkeling you could see a lot. I think my favorite was the man on the bicycle.

Once we made it back to the marina it was time to test out the showers and I was pleasantly surprised how nice it was! The water pressure was great and there was plenty of room to move around (not so much for the two guys on our trip clocking in at 6’3” and 6’5” though). Since we were spending the night still docked at the marina we decided to have dinner at the Dodgy Deck restaurant. Not only was the food good, but they also had a live band. It was the first time I’d heard live music in over a year and a half! A post-COVID world still feels so odd. We enjoyed the band and even danced some before making our way back to the boat. Day 3 would finally see us sail the Batamaran!!!

Day 3

Day 3 was a full day at sea while we made our way north to the Grenada island of Carricou. It took us about 7 hours to make the 40ish nautical mile trip. At about halfway through, the winds really picked up and it got quite rough. It wasn’t anywhere near my Drake Passage experience in Antarctica, but still a bit bumpy. To avoid getting seasick I made sure to lay down and stay horizontal. Between taking Bonine each night and staying horizontal, I was able to stay fine throughout any rough seas we experienced. Thank God!

We made it to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou and found a mooring ball for the next two nights. We blew up our floaties and enjoyed the water for a bit before making our way to shore for dinner. At dinner I had the best snapper that was caught that day off the island! A few of us got the snapper but somehow I lucked out and got the one that was the easiest to eat without getting bones in your mouth. It was so flaky and moist. Very happy with this dinner!

Day 4

We started our day on the boat with a super yummy breakfast. One of the guys on board whipped up some hash browns, bacon, and scrambled eggs and made us breakfast burritos. It was nice to finally have a proper breakfast on the boat.

After breakfast, we unmoored the boat and sailed a few miles off the coast of Carriacou for some fishing. A few guys in our group went to a fishing store in town the day before to buy some fancy lures. We actually caught a pretty big barracuda after about twenty minutes. However we threw him back in the sea as we didn’t think it would be a very good fish to cook. Little did we know until the next day that barracuda is the most expensive fish on Carriacou at the fish market. We definitely could’ve bartered with the fish market to get some tuna or snapper (or both) for our barracuda...lesson learned! We stayed out on the water for another hour or so, but that lone barracuda was our only catch of the day.

Since we didn’t catch any fish, we decided to send a couple people ashore to check out the restaurant options and also go to the grocery store just in case. My bestie and I decided to go in and get some groceries while the rest of the group went on a pub crawl. A three hour pub crawl in 89 degree humid weather was not for us! It ended up being great because it was the first time the whole trip just the two of us could hang out and catch up. Since we hadn’t seen each other since July 2019, it was so nice just to chill. We even got to take the dingy to shore and back by ourselves! It was a little tricky at first, but we figured it out and made our way back to the Batamaran safely. It also gave us a few hours to take all he photos we wanted on the boat. Needless to say there was a glorious photo shoot.

For dinner, we took the dingy back to shore and ate at a place called Big City. I got the fresh catch of the day, which was Mahi Mahi seasoned and grilled to perfection. Every dish came with French fries and a homemade ketchup that was divine. Big City also had a huge selection of homemade ice cream. I got the pistachio and it was so good! After dinner we took the dingy back to the boat and couldn’t get over the amount of stars we could see. It was such a beautiful night, so we headed up to the top deck and just gazed at all of the stars. It was the perfect end to the day.

Day 5

In the morning of day five, we were picked up for another snorkeling and diving tour. This time we were taken just a short ride from Tyrell Bay where we saw sting rays! Of all the times I’ve been snorkeling, a sting ray was definitely the coolest thing I’ve seen. Also, it was a little scary but we were told they don’t swim up to the surface where the snorkelers were. We watched at they moved all along the sand at the bottom. In addition to some stingrays, there was a lot of coral and a few schools of small fish.

Picture by our tour company: Aquanauts Grenada

After we got back from snorkeling and diving, it was time to move to our next location in Carriacou. We took the boat around to the other side of the island and moored at Sandy Beach. This private, uninhabited island is a couple miles off of the coast and was gorgeous.

Being moored over at Sandy Beach meant we would have quite a long dingy ride in to shore for dinner. It was definitely the longest we had all been in the dingy and the weight of 8 people at that long of a distance made for quite an interesting ride. Plus when we got over to the main island, there was no dingy dock like in Tyrell Bay, so we had to just beach the thing. And that meant we all got a bit wet getting off. Luckily dinner was outside on the beach so we dried off quickly. We had dinner at the ONLY place that was open: Off The Hook. We were a tad nervous as they were our only choice, but it ended up being so good. The owner brought us out conch fritters to start, as well as the best wings we’ve ever had. He said he used KC Masterpiece suave, but he definitely added something else because they were amazing! Toward the end of dinner a random puppy walked up to our table and we all lost it. We ended up finding the mama and dad dogs (and their human owners) out on the beach, but this little puppy did not want to leave us. I swear if we hadn’t found the owners that dog might have come back to the boat with us!

FYI: The patio was lit up with blue lights :)

After leaving (begrudgingly) our puppy behind, we all loaded onto the dingy for the journey back across to the boat. Let’s just say this dingy ride was a bit tense. It was so dark, the water was really splashing up, and it seemed MUCH longer to get back then it did to come over. When we finally got back to the boat everyone was so relieved and went to their rooms and crashed.

Day 6

Day six was a much slower paced day. While a few of the group went on another diving tour, the rest of us just chilled on the boat in different areas with our entertainment of choice. I had my coffee on the front deck and just took in the beauty all around us. Once the divers were back, one of the guys made the group his famous Spanish omelette for lunch. I’d heard all about this omelette from the group’s last sailing trip. It did not disappoint! It was so tasty and I was so impressed he was about to make all of that on a boat.

Once we were all done with the wonderful omelette, we took the dingy over to Sandy Beach to explore the private island and swim a bit. I’ve never been on a private, uninhabited island before and it was so cool just to walk around and explore. The water was also so nice and so blue. I also loved that the sand on this island had pink specs in it so the sand had a pink tint to it (similar to Bermuda sand).

For dinner we lucked out because we were going to Paradise Beach Club and they came to pick us up in a proper boat. Yay for no dingy ride! When we got over to shore the sun was setting and the colors were so pretty! Paradise Beach Club was also really fun. There were a lot of fellow boaters there, there was live music, and they had just finished their weekly painting session. At the painting session, boaters can paint a piece of wood with the name of their boat on it and then it gets added to the wall by the bar. It was really cool to see all of the boat names. The ambiance and food were great and they even had a live band. For our last night in Carriacou, it was the perfect spot!

Day 7

Day 7 was our last final day at sea. We sailed for a little over 7.5 hours to get to Prickly Pear Bay. It was a beautiful day for sailing. The waters were fairly calm and we just glided most of the way. It also gave us a chance to see more of the main island of Grenada on our way back as we were going farther south than we started. Grenada is a very lush and green country and their houses are all so colorful. I loved seeing all of the brightly colored homes standing out against the green. There were also a lot more mountains than I expected. It had a much different look from most of the Caribbean islands I have visited. Parts of it almost reminded me of Hawaii.

When we finally made it to Prickly Pear Bay, we went to shore and walked around a bit. We ended up at a really funky brewery called West Indies Beer Company. The decor was definitely interesting! I had one of their ciders and it was really good, not too sweet. After walking back to the Marina we had dinner at the outdoor Marina restaurant and finally got fish tacos!!! We had been talking about them the whole trip because the guys were going to catch fish that we would grill on the boat...needless to say that didn’t happen haha. There was also a band that played Reggae music. It was a perfect end to the night and our week of sailing.

Day 8

For the last day in Grenada the group broke up into smaller groups to do their own things on land. My group of three decided to rent a car and drive around the island a bit. The roads were a bit adventurous, very windy, and pretty much no shoulders and very little room for two vehicles. A lot of the drive again reminded me of Hawaii. As we made our way through road traversing Mt. Gay, the vegetation was very cool. And we climbed to about 2000 feet above sea level before making our way back down the other side of the mountain to our first stop at Belmont Estate. Here they have one of Grenada’s chocolate factories. We got a little tour and then a tasting of their different products: cocoa nibs, dark chocolate, dark chocolate with sea salt, milk chocolate, white chocolate, lemongrass white chocolate, Grenada spice white chocolate, and caramel. It was all very good! I bought some of the dark chocolate with sea salt and some caramel to take home.

Our next stop down a different road through Mt. Gay was to The Tower Estate. This estate was an old English Manner that felt like we were in the countryside of England with tropical vegetation surrounding us. The architecture and furnishings felt like we were stepping back in time. We did their afternoon tea which included traditional cucumber sandwiches, some sweet treats and their homemade Victoria Sponge Cake layered with passion fruit jam. They served us their signature Butterfly Pea flower tea made from the blue Butterfly Pea flower grown on the property. They also served us a citrus juice made from the lime trees in the garden and it was lovely. If you know me, you know I love all things British and especially afternoon tea. I loved the tropical twist here!

After tea we headed back to True Blue Bay where the trip began a the boat had been moved there while we were exploring the island. We had dinner at the Dodgy Dock restaurant (exactly one week since we first ate there). They had a different band this time and the two female singers were phenomenal! They had such a great harmonies on songs we all knew and sang along, as well as a mixture of Caribbean music. The band also had an alto saxophone playing who was amazing. We definitely enjoyed our last night in Grenada!

Overall Thoughts on Chartering a Boat

I joined this trip as a passenger only, as I know absolutely nothing about sailing. I was a bit nervous that I was going to get seasick or that the quarters would seemed cramped, but I was pleasantly surprised with the experience. I took my Bonine most days but not all and I never did get sick. The boat also had so many options of places to hang out from he inside living area, to the back dining and lounge area, to the top sun deck, to the seating and trampoline area (not for jumping sadly LOL) in the front. The cabins were also much bigger than I anticipated. As someone who is claustrophobic I was a bit worried, it I was comfortable the whole time. So long as I keep the little curtains open it felt very spacious and not enclosed. Plus the foam mattress topper they had on the beds was so comfy. Between that and the soft rocking of the sea at night while we moored, I slept really well.

Our Sailing Crew

If you are a sailor and looking to charter a boat, I (as a passenger only) totally recommend Horizon Yacht Charters. They have boats available all over, so plenty of options.

Before Returning to the US

One thing I found surprising was that before we left Grenada we had to take another PCR test to show Customs in the US. This is a requirement from the US, not Grenada. Any travelers returning to the US from another country must have a PCR test with three days of arriving back in the US. When I traveled to Albania in September 2020 and Belize in October 2020, this was not required. Seems a little late for that now, but glad to see we’re finally taking more precautions...What I found most surprising is that there was no exception for fully vaccinated passengers or those who had been to a country like Grenada that required a test to enter and leave quarantine.

We were able to get tested at a testing site in Grenada on Friday morning and had the results by Friday evening. So annoying but luckily we were able to find a testing site. I can't imagine being in a foreign country where testing is hard to find and then not being able to board your flight home. I hope the government removes that requirement for vaccinated citizens before I travel internationally again.

All in all, it felt great to travel again and feel a sense of normalcy. I hope you’re all planning your travels for 2021!

Bon voyage!