divesergeant
Contributor
Grenada Trip Report
April 2009
Here is a review of our two-week dive trip to Grenada. We had a wonderful time and Grenada is on our very short list of islands to which we really want to return. We hope that you enjoy reading it and that you will feel free to post any questions you have.
Also, there still exists the possibility that I might get inspired and post some of our pictures, both underwater and land-based. We'Íl see about that!
Getting There
Two and a half hours from DTW to MIA on Northwest, two hours layover and three hours from MIA to GND and we arrived without incident. All in all, a relatively easy trip, and shorter than we had anticipated.
A Note on Names
I have tried to remember as best as I can the names of those we met. Please forgive me when I either remember a name wrong or completely butcher the spelling of one!
Arrival
As we taxied to the terminal, we saw the twin tails of about a dozen United States F15 fighters, apparently stationed there as security for the Summit of the Americas which had just convened in Trinidad. I like aircraft, so I looked forward to some good airplane viewing. And I got it; at 0130, 0530, etc! No sweat, each time we were awoken I smiled and reminded myself that the roar of the twin jets was the sound of freedom.
We cleared immigration and customs quickly and walked outside. We were assured that there would be someone to pick us up, and were operating on faith here. Apparently, signals got crossed; there were not one, but two taxis there awaiting us. We loaded up and were whisked to True Blue Bay Resort. An easy check-in and we were in our room. We grabbed a quick dinner at the True Blue restaurant unpacked and were ready for bed shortly after midnight.
Diving
We scheduled our first dive for the afternoon after our arrival figuring, quite rightly, that we'd be more interested in sleeping in than diving that morning. So, we checked in at the dive shop in mid-morning and showed up at the boat at the appointed time. I would ride along but not dive since my head was still a bit congested from a recently-gotten-over cold. It turns out that the diving would be done only by Mrs DiveSergeant and Paul, the dive master. Boat Captain Glenroy and I would remain on the boat. Now, some shops would have scrubbed the dive with only one diver, but Aquanauts did not. In fact, they happily did several more trips out with small numbers of divers. And no, they didn't charge me for the ride-along when I didn't dive.
We chose Aquanauts for two reasons; 1) their boats looked to be the largest available and they had good shade available and 2) they had an ad on Scubaboard about free nitrox. Their dive prices were comparable to other places on the island and each dive we had an average of 2800psi indicated on our computers and an average analysis of 29-30% O2.
Aquanauts dive briefings are accomplished with visual aid of pre-printed, laminated drawings of the dive sites and are thorough; including depth, time, things to see, procedures if you get separated, etc. Prominently posted on each boat is a placard with instructions about respecting the sea and reef. I always like to hear the dive briefing contain this explicitly, but the prominent placard is a good second choice.
On the first dive, at Shark Reef, Mrs. DS and Paul spotted an eagle ray that returned for a close pass, several sharks and lots of stingray.
Sites dived included;
Lighthouse Reef
Shark Reef
Shakem
Purple Rain (looked for the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince"- no sightings)
Windmill Shallows (wasn't shallow, and we saw no windmills!)
Black Forest
Kohani
¼ wreck
Marine Park- we did several dives there, all were great, sculptures were under-whelming
Sherwood Forest
Moonscape
Bianca C / Whibbley's Reef
Japanese Gardens
Spott's Reef
Glover's Reef
Throughout the diving, we were pleased to see the abundance of marine life. The number and variety of critters to see was exciting.
Some random thoughts on the diving and some of the things that we noted were;
A large population of drum. We saw and photographed numerous specimens, including a couple groups of two to five juvenile drum.
A couple of firsts for us were sightings of a juvenile jack knife fish, a pipefish, two slipper lobsters and a highhat.
We saw a gazillion spotted morays, but only one Green Moray.
The sculptures at the marine park were alright. We checked them out the first time there and then, for the rest of our dives at the park we checked out the critters. We dive more to see the marine life, but the sculptures do attract much interest from other divers.
Speaking of wrecks, we dived the Bianca C. It is huge and would need several dives to take it all in. Descending through the gloom and seeing the ship materialize is haunting. The dive was neat, and is a must-do for wreck diving fans. (Note to Kay: If you read this, glad your ears cleared up in time for this dive.)
We also dived the wreck Shakem. It was a freighter carrying bags of concrete. It got into bad weather and started taking on water, so the captain headed right toward the lee (west) side of Grenada. Would've made it, too, if the boat hadn't plowed into the reef! You can see on the railing, deck plates and sides where the force of hitting the reef buckled the ship like an accordion. There is great growth on it, and we saw some fire worms for some good picture taking. There also was no current on this dive.
We hadn't done very much drift diving before, so the first few dives we spent getting used to the program and getting comfortable. The dive master tows a float w/ a diver down flag and divers all carry sausages. You place trust in the boat crew to see you when you pop up. The boat captains, Glenroy and Buggsy were great. Pickup was within minutes of breaking the surface; no easy feat since pairs of divers would pop up all over the place as each pair got low on air.
Here's a note to folks with ear clearing problems; try a product called Clear-Ease from Hydromed.com. It works. And no, I have no financial stake in the company! A relative who finds it painful to fly uses it and is able to travel with much less discomfort. Mrs DS and I typically have no problems clearing, but use it as an extra measure of comfort. Normally, I sink feet first and clear every so often. This trip, for the first time, I was able to jump in, point my body down and swim to the bottom.
The visibility was reduced from what we expected. Apparently there was a significant bloom of algae or whatever in the Amazon and as it flowed into the Atlantic it flowed up past the eastern Caribbean islands and even impacted visibility as far as the Virgin Islands.
I always like finding the giant anemones and looking in them for hiding critters. We saw no Giant Anemone this trip. Perhaps they aren't as common that far south.
Lodging
We stayed at True Blue Bay Resort. Choosing TBBR was a matter of guess work, and the deciding factor was their proximity to Aquanauts. We were pleased. Our room (one of their Bayview rooms) was clean, had a working air conditioner and had everything needed for us to do our usual practice of fixing our own breakfasts and lunches. There was no oven, but there were four surface burners and a small fridge. There was a walk-in shower. Perhaps best, we had a nice patio with a great breeze and a killer view. Just off the patio was a Governor's Plum tree that kept a steady flow of birds visiting to feast on the ripening fruit.
We looked at some of the other rooms and found them all to be clean and pleasant. I heartily recommend this resort, both for their rooms and the associated dive operation.
The people at TBBR need special mention. Everyone there was supremely friendly. While we dived, our room magically got cleaned and spruced up by the every-smiling team of (and I hope my memory is good here, I can't find where I wrote the names down) Sylvia, Sheryl and Susan.
Sculptured Slipper Lobster
Highhat who wouldn't stay still long enough for a good shot- Damn him!
Juvenile Jackknife Fish
DS
