We were able to take a short 6 day trip to Grenada in early march. So far we have travelled for diving to Cozumel and some areas in Quintana roo, Roatan, Turks and caicos, Curacao and Andaman Islands. We chose Grenada as this was supposed to be the better season for diving, lots of wrecks, good food and local culture and some top side activities.
Grenada is about 4.5 hour’s flight from JFK. We flew in night before and took 7.30 am flight to Grenada. The Airport is quiet small and they probably receive no more than 4-5 flights a day. Immigration was quite easy. You had to show a PCR test within 3 days or antigen test of within 1 day along with a health declaration form filled online and printed. They hand you a departure slip which you have to save for return trip.
We stayed at Royalton Grenada which was all of 4 minutes’ drive from the Airport. It was a beautiful and freshly updated resort which we thoroughly enjoyed. Even though it was an All-inclusive we ate most of our meals outside as there were so many things I wanted to try.
We used Aquanauts for our diving as it came highly recommended on this board. It is recently acquired by new owners who seemed very involved and caring. Also they seemed to have kept most of the staff from before. The initial query was responded very promptly with all the options provided. Complimentary 30 Nitrox was offered for the duration. Upon arrival we went a day before and they kept all our gear except regulator as they could not store it sue to Covid protocols. Aquanauts is located in true blue bay resort which was about 5 minutes’ drive from our Resort. The Dive Op has 3 boats, but they seemed to take only 1 boat at a time. So sometimes it did get busy on big boat with almost 16 divers. Boats were spacious but 16 divers did make it little tight. They do have Toilets on their boats along with camera rinse tanks and camera tables. A hose with fresh water to rinse off after dives. Only fresh water was provided between dives and no snacks were offered as per the Covid protocols. There was a ratio of 1 DM to 4 divers under water. All the briefing’s for the dive sites were very detailed and safety oriented. All the dives were capped to an hour. If you are an air hog someone will come up with you but not the whole group. The DM’s did their thing and gave you as much space as you needed.
We did some wrecks, reefs and the underwater sculpture park. There was plenty of small fishes we saw 1 baby nurse a puffer fish some morays and a sting ray. No big fish was spotted through the week. Visibility was disappointing, we probably had 35-40 ft max visibility. They said it probably goes to 50-60 ft at max. The reef was healthy with not much bleaching. It was not as dense and beautiful as some other places we have visited. Also amiss was more abundant schools of fish. As this is considered 1 of the better months to dive here, I was slightly disappointed.
There were plenty of things to do topside in Grenada with multiple waterfalls, Great spice market, some excellent restaurants, beautiful beaches, some historical forts and plenty of Rum distilleries to visit. Island is extremely safe compared to many places we have visited. This island definitely has some of the most hospitable people in the world. Everywhere you went you were greeted by local folks. I would definitely recommend this island to visit. Just don’t expect to have world class dive sites. I would consider this island as a vacation place with some dives rather than as a dive vacation.
Grenada is about 4.5 hour’s flight from JFK. We flew in night before and took 7.30 am flight to Grenada. The Airport is quiet small and they probably receive no more than 4-5 flights a day. Immigration was quite easy. You had to show a PCR test within 3 days or antigen test of within 1 day along with a health declaration form filled online and printed. They hand you a departure slip which you have to save for return trip.
We stayed at Royalton Grenada which was all of 4 minutes’ drive from the Airport. It was a beautiful and freshly updated resort which we thoroughly enjoyed. Even though it was an All-inclusive we ate most of our meals outside as there were so many things I wanted to try.
We used Aquanauts for our diving as it came highly recommended on this board. It is recently acquired by new owners who seemed very involved and caring. Also they seemed to have kept most of the staff from before. The initial query was responded very promptly with all the options provided. Complimentary 30 Nitrox was offered for the duration. Upon arrival we went a day before and they kept all our gear except regulator as they could not store it sue to Covid protocols. Aquanauts is located in true blue bay resort which was about 5 minutes’ drive from our Resort. The Dive Op has 3 boats, but they seemed to take only 1 boat at a time. So sometimes it did get busy on big boat with almost 16 divers. Boats were spacious but 16 divers did make it little tight. They do have Toilets on their boats along with camera rinse tanks and camera tables. A hose with fresh water to rinse off after dives. Only fresh water was provided between dives and no snacks were offered as per the Covid protocols. There was a ratio of 1 DM to 4 divers under water. All the briefing’s for the dive sites were very detailed and safety oriented. All the dives were capped to an hour. If you are an air hog someone will come up with you but not the whole group. The DM’s did their thing and gave you as much space as you needed.
We did some wrecks, reefs and the underwater sculpture park. There was plenty of small fishes we saw 1 baby nurse a puffer fish some morays and a sting ray. No big fish was spotted through the week. Visibility was disappointing, we probably had 35-40 ft max visibility. They said it probably goes to 50-60 ft at max. The reef was healthy with not much bleaching. It was not as dense and beautiful as some other places we have visited. Also amiss was more abundant schools of fish. As this is considered 1 of the better months to dive here, I was slightly disappointed.
There were plenty of things to do topside in Grenada with multiple waterfalls, Great spice market, some excellent restaurants, beautiful beaches, some historical forts and plenty of Rum distilleries to visit. Island is extremely safe compared to many places we have visited. This island definitely has some of the most hospitable people in the world. Everywhere you went you were greeted by local folks. I would definitely recommend this island to visit. Just don’t expect to have world class dive sites. I would consider this island as a vacation place with some dives rather than as a dive vacation.
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