Another day in paradise… That’s what I was thinking as we departed our tour bus and boarded a ‘jitney’, a Jamaican term for a tractor-pulled transport wagon. The jitney took us on a short ride through the beautiful wide-open grounds of this spectacular estate on the way to the beautiful Jamaica waterfall. It was warm and sunny as we surveyed the surroundings from our wagon, which was moving at a leisurely pace. Needless to say, this area is totally different than the tourist filled beaches and the heavily forested landscape of Jamaica’s mountainous regions. It was a ‘breath of fresh air’ to view large areas of flat, grass-covered fields. Massive ‘logwood’ trees providing much needed shade for a few cows, seemingly hanging out and enjoying the good life.
The YS River flows through a former cane plantation and sugar factory. The site was also logged for it’s large trees that provided black dye to the textile industry. The estate now features this spectacular natural attraction, along with operating a horse farm, that has been breeding and raising thoroughbreds for over 60 years.
This was our second of three amazing excursions on Jamaica’s south-west coast, all part of the Black River Safari, YS Falls and the Appleton Estate 3-in-1 tour which we booked through Jamaica’s Amstar DMC and Tropical Tours.
Part 2 of 3 blog posts from the day’s adventures – This chapter focuses on the amazing Jamaica waterfall area known as YS Falls.
I can just imagine how the original natives on the island, as well as the English settlers would have felt as they explored this area. They would have heard the sounds of rustling water as they followed the milky blue-green river upstream. They would have come across a couple of modest waterfalls before realizing that there are in fact 7 different cascades all within a space of a hundred yards or so along the river. I suspect their excitement built as they waded into the deep pools of water below a few of the refreshing waterfalls. Well, that’s the way I felt on this day!
When our jitney ride through the beautiful countryside came to an end, it was just a short walk to the series of Falls. We excitedly came to view the stunning assortment of Jamaica waterfalls – Soaking it all in, we realized that the falls are comprised of multiple levels and a number of pools. There is a boardwalk at the bottom of the falls with stairs and platforms that climb the hill to the right side of the cascading river. As tourists stand in awe of the cascading river falling in front of them, local guides offer their services to assist in navigating the river and it’s sometimes slippery rocks.
We took our shirts off and put down our towels and bags in a little hut on the side of the river. Watching a few others in front of us, we ventured along the rock slabs that make up the top ridge of the lowest waterfall. From there we waded into the natural pool at the bottom of one of the larger and more spectacular falls. The rushing water falls approximately 15 feet (4.5m), across an area about twice that wide. The pool was over 6 feet (2m) deep in the middle and you can get right up under the falls if you want to.
Making our way uphill, the next waterfall’s pool was the largest of the bunch and appeared to be fairly deep in spots. This Jamaica waterfall and pool is sandwiched between much taller falls. This was clearly the play area of the natural attraction, as a couple of ropes hang from the canopy above. One of the ropes allows you a nice-and-easy swing out over the pool, where you can gently drop into the water or let momentum take you back to the rock slab that borders the pool. The other rope, which I didn’t even see at first, allows more daring folks to swing over and dive about 10 feet (3m) into the pool from a platform high up on the side of the river.
There are two other waterfalls above this pool and falls, with the top one being more of your typical tall thin variety. Climbing the stairs on the side of the river, we saw that the pool under the top cascade appeared to be fairly shallow, so we did not venture into it, choosing instead to take in the view of the river flowing down the hillside in front of us.
We noticed another wooden stairway leading up to a platform that is apparently used for zip-lining across the river and it’s falls. Our time almost up, we returned to our pick-up point. While some folks in our group used the change room, I noticed a nice relaxing park and a ‘river-fed’ man-made pool at the base of the falls. I understand that there are two more (man-made) pools as well as a garden elsewhere on the estate grounds. In case you’re wondering, YS is apparently named after the original land owners, John Yates and Richard Scott.
In summary, we really appreciated the majestic charm of the area – The fields, the trees, the park and of course the river with it’s waterfalls. Less crowded than other high profile “falls” in Jamaica, this was a laid back treat – A leisurely exploration of a natural beauty. We could have spent another hour or more on the premises, but we had another excursion to do before heading back on the long journey to the other side of the island
If this Jamaica waterfall excursion appeals to you, you can contact the friendly folks at Amstar by visiting the Amstar DMC website or their Facebook page.
Swimming with Stingrays is Exciting and Captivating – Stingray City Antigua
Our adventure began with a Stingray City motorboat picking us up right on the beach next to our hotel. It was a nice scenic boat ride out to a man-made dock floating somewhere off the east coast of the island – This is Stingray City. I suspect that we were in or near Antigua’s North Sound Marine Park. What I know for sure is that we were a fair distance from shore – It seemed like we were more than a mile (>km) from the coast. Yet, it was amazing that the water was only waist deep and very calm. As with our other boating adventures in Antigua, the sea off the coast of the island was crystal clear and beautiful.
As soon as the boat was tied-up to the floating dock, we got out and watched the Caribbean’s Southern Stingrays swooping around under us. I’ll admit that the only reason I wasn’t too nervous was because I have been in the water with stingrays before. I recall the guide at my last encounter saying the stingrays weren’t comfortable around me, because they could sense my fear… This time was going to be different – I planned on relaxing and enjoying my experience at Stingray City in Antigua.
As we approached Stingray City, I was concerned to see a large ring of buoys in the water, however I soon realized that there were no nets attached to them. The buoys were there to mark the area that we were supposed to stay within, so the guides could easily keep track of us. That is, the people are corralled, while the Stingrays are free to come and go as they please. We were the second boat to arrive this morning, so there was only a handful of people there when we started out, however a couple other boats and more people were soon to join us.
Once I was in the water I quickly relaxed. I put on my mask and dropped to my knees in order to get a good look at the pre-historic creatures up-close and personal under the water. Wow – These guys are pretty big! Actually, the females are about 5 feet in diameter while the male of the species are about half the size. The females are very sociable as they slowly swim around and gently brushed up against our legs. I say swim, although watching their large round wing-like bodies rippling along or near the sea bottom, they appear to be flying underwater. Meanwhile the males swiftly dart around and through the crowd of people and female stingrays.
It was wild to touch the gentle giants as they effortlessly glided past us… They felt to me kind of like a mushroom – soft and almost furry, especially their underside. We were told that it’s OK to gently hold them, as long as we kept them in contact with the sea. The friendly Stingray City guides were in the water with us, and one-by one they helped us get face-to-face with a southern stingray. So, I spread out our arms fairly wide and softly held the ray in my hands – What an experience!
To think that these majestic animals, a distant cousin of the shark, have changed very little in the millions of years they’ve been on the planet, is just incredible. As land-based animals, stingrays look so foreign to us, yet they seem well designed to thrive in their equally alien underwater world.
After watching and interacting with the stingrays for a fair amount of time, I started to look around and explore more of the aquatic environment that we were visiting. I noticed several clumps of coral at the edge of buoys, so I snorkeled around in the shallow water and saw a number of different kinds of fish swimming around. I could never get tired of swimming and snorkeling in Antigua’s warm clear waters…
Eventually, our once in a life-time experience had to come to an end. We returned to our motorboat for a nice cruise along Antigua’s east coast. It’s great to get a different perspective of the island, viewing it from sea. The multiple shades of Antigua’s clear blue waters isn’t too hard on the eyes either. This boat ride took us to Stingray City’s land base, where we were to meet their sister company, Antigua Nature Tours, a little later in the day for more off-shore activities.
For more information about Stingray City, including material to help plan your own Antiguan adventure, you can contact the good folks directly by visiting their website (just click on the link) below:
Enjoy nature with a relaxing kayak tour through a mangrove forest
Whenever we’re in the Caribbean, we look for new and exciting ways to spend time in nature. We were happy to experience just that at Bonaire’s Lac Bay – The mangrove waterways are ideal for immersing ones-self in the beauty and serenity of the natural world.
Well, it was another beautiful sunny morning in Bonaire when we headed out for our mangrove kayaking adventure. We reached the Mangrove Information Centre about 15 minutes after driving through Bonaire’s capital, Kralendijk. The small welcome centre is located on the pot-hole filled ‘Kaminda Lac’ road that borders one of the mangrove forests of Lac Bay. Our guided excursion started inside, with our host standing in front of a colourful wall mural that depicts the local area’s Mangrove and Ocean ecosystems. There was about a dozen tourists present as he explained to us what we were going to potentially see while kayaking through the mangroves. He talked about the environmental value of the mangrove ecosystem, including a brief description of the various algae, sponges as well as the fish food chain that lives in the mangroves. It was interesting to learn that most of the mangroves of Bonaire’s Lac Bay is off limits to the general public. Only scientific research teams are allowed access to the protected areas of the mangrove forest. Once our informative orientation was complete, our guide led us across the street to what first appeared to be nothing more than a large puddle or small shallow pond on the side of the dirt road.
Well, even though the water was only a few inches deep, we boarded our kayaks and were off. It turned out this shallow pond was our gateway to a narrow channel that allowed us to enter the mangrove forest. With the sun magically filtering through the mangrove canopy overhead, we ventured from one tight passageway to another, momentarily exiting each mangrove thicket into a small open pool of water. It only took a few moments after entering this green water-world that I was easily able to leave behind the noise and confusion of our human-made environment and comfortably feel like one with nature! To my delight, we journeyed through a series of narrow waterways through dense clusters of mangroves separated by small openings in the water. In one area the mangrove foliage was so dense and low hanging there was little room to paddle – We gently used our hands on the mangrove branches dangling above and around us to move forward. So cool!
Whenever we reached a large enough body of water, we stopped and gathered as a group so our guide could point out and explain the different types of Mangroves that we were kayaking through. He also pointed out some of the birds we were seeing, including a small group of ducks, a couple of white egrets and some brown pelicans. While paddling across one of these larger pools, several fish jumped out of the water not far from our kayak, leaving me to wonder what exactly is in the water that makes them do this. Our guide also pointed out areas of ocean floor with patches of sea grass where turtles can occasionally be spotted.
I should point out that this was the most relaxing Caribbean kayaking tour I have ever taken. There is always a gentle current flowing through the mangroves, however paddling the kayak was easy going. It was calm and peaceful in the mangroves – An interesting and unique way to explore Bonaire’s ocean-based wilderness! That said, if we didn’t have a guide, I imagine it would be pretty easy for a visitor to these mangroves to become lost in the labyrinth of passageways and openings.
After a while (I have no idea how long, as time had become beautifully irrelevant), we came out of one of the small mangrove channels and spilled out into a much larger body of water which I quickly realized was Lac Bay itself. While crossing the bay was the toughest section to kayak, it was not very strenuous. Apparently a barrier reef stops most of the ocean waves from entering this deep into the cove. After what seemed like just a few short minutes of open water, we entered another maze of mangroves on the other side of the bay. We didn’t kayak far before we came to a bit of an opening in the mangrove forest with a noticeably sandy bottom. At this point we donned our snorkelling masks, exited our kayaks, and entered the water so we could get a glimpse of what was happening below the surface.
While our guide tied our kayaks together and to a strong mangrove branch so they didn’t drift away in the current, I quickly discovered jelly fish floating around just above the mangrove ocean floor (video below). Then he lead us into another narrow passageway, this time we swam and snorkelled a upstream, which was a bit of a challenge for me. This channel wasn’t too long however.
I saw bright coloured sponges and large clusters of mussels attached to the roots of the mangroves, as well as several groups of large fish hiding amongst the mangrove roots. I believe most of the fish were blue striped grunts and yellowfin ma-something… a fairly large fish with a yellow forked tail that our guide identified, however I didn’t recognize or remember the name. Anyways, he explained to us that they prey on the juvenile fish that follow this path on their way to the ocean.
Sure enough, once we reached the end of this channel and entered a larger pool of water we encountered hundreds if not thousands of little fish. Clearly, the mangroves in this area serve as a fish nursery of sorts, in this case the small fish were in the sardine/anchovy family. We watched as they were driven by the current straight down the channel we had just come from, where the larger fish were waiting for them. Et voila, dinner is served…
Snorkelling back to the kayaks with the current was easy and fun, although I was the last to leave the open water area, so by this time the channel’s water was pretty worked-up and cloudy. Once we re-entered our kayaks I believe we took a similar, if not the same, route back to the Mangrove Center. Wow! What a great couple of hours blissfully lost in one of Earth’s most valuable ecosystems. It was great to experience life in the mangrove forest, smoothly gliding just inches above the water with nothing around us but bright indigo sky, green mangroves and varying shades of blue water beneath us. It was great to hear and see birds as well as tons of life in the water. I really appreciated having a guide who is super-friendly and knowledgeable, and I was quite amused and impressed with his backwards paddling skills, which allowed him to provide us with interesting information while keeping us moving. Another great day in Bonaire for sure!
ACT Staff
For a list of Tour Operators who can provide a guided excursion of Bonaire’s mangroves, as well as other fun watersports, take a look at our Bonaire Water Sports page
If you’re looking for more ‘active’ things to do while vacationing on the island, click on our Bonaire Adventures blog post for some great ideas!
For an overview of great Tourist Attractions on the islands, including tour operators who will take good care of you, check out our Things to Do in Bonaire page, as well as our personal favourites on our Top 6 Attraction on Bonaire blog post.
For an overview of this amazing Dutch Caribbean Island, take a look at our Bonaire Vacations page.
A Saint Lucia Nature Walk That is Truly, Fun For the Entire Family
Saint Lucia is a favourite Caribbean destination for many, equally popular for romantic getaways, family vacations, foodie experiences as well as appreciating tropical nature. Situated in the Caribbean’s southern Windward Islands, Saint Lucia is easily recognizable by her twin Pitons. While staying on the island recently, we stumbled across what might be the most photogenic place on St. Lucia, and perhaps even all the Caribbean.
I’m always looking to get away from the beaches and tourist crowds to explore nature and appreciate beautiful places in the Caribbean. This trip, my wife and I were joined by my sister, parents and adult children as well as a couple of friends. This St. Lucia vacation was truly a family trip, so I was looking for something very cliché sounding – An outing that is fun for the entire family. Well, I actually found something that met that criteria! We were staying in the Anse La Raye area, so the excursion started with a delightful drive down the west coast towards Soufriere. It was fun driving on roads that wind around and up and down the mountainous coastline. We stopped a couple of times along the way at popular viewing areas, including one with a magnificent view of Soufriere with the twin Pitons and Tet Paul in the background. A good segue into what was to come.
Just south of Soufriere in the Fond Doux neighbourhood is a wonderful and unassuming place called the Tet Paul Nature Trail. It is located within Saint Lucia’s ‘piton management area’, part of the UNESCO recognized world heritage site. After passing through Soufriere, we headed inland, then eventually drove up a sideroad that gained elevation along the way. The parking lot is located fairly high up on the mountain of Tet Paul, conveniently reducing the amount of altitude that has to be gained on foot. Don’t worry, this isn’t a “hike” per-say, its more of a relaxing walk in nature to some areas with great views of St. Lucia’s natural beauty. If you want to see the island’s famous pitons up-close-and-personal, but aren’t able to take on the challenging hike of the Gros Piton itself, this is a great alternative. After we paid the nominal admission fee, we were assigned a local guide to take us on a tour. Awesome… It’s a great start…
Our walk started by viewing a garden with a wide variety of plants, including some attractive flowers. We then strolled along a natural dirt path to see more of what the natural beauty of the island has to offer. The trail was a little rough, but manageable by my parents in their late 70s. Throughout the tour, our knowledgeable guide identified native plants, explaining their use in traditional medicines, as well as naming the beautiful flowering plants we encountered, including colourful Pink Ginger Lily, Lobster Claw and Chenille.
We passed through an organic farm growing vegetables and tropical fruits such as bananas and pineapples. While these fruits themselves are well known, I found the plants they grow on fairly foreign-looking. Pineapples growing like a small bush right out of the ground, and the fantastic “one-shot” banana plant bends under the weight of all that fruit, ready to plant the giant seed for the next generation. We also saw more familiar-looking fruit trees, albeit with exotic and somewhat unfamiliar fruit such as papaya, guava and avocado.
We seemed to be walking clockwise around the mountain, gaining in altitude as our tour progressed. Our next stop was at a look-out area with sensational views of the south end of the island. To the south-west, we could see Choiseul and to the south-east Vieux Fort and Maria Island. Unfortunately, it was a little overcast, however the landscape was still amazing. Back on the path, we continued on a series of gradual steps up the mountain top to the west side of Tet Paul.
We followed a short trail that branched off towards the left. Wow – This viewing-area had amazing south-west views, specifically of the green Gros Piton spire, impressively standing out against the contrasting backdrop of the rich blue (and bright white) Caribbean sky. We took multiple photos highlighting 3 generations of family, and oh ya, the iconic piton in the background! From here we went back to the main trail, following it eventually to another staircase – This one accompanied by the cheerful and promising sign “stairway to heaven”.
We climbed the dirt and wooded stairs to the top of the mountain peak. My parents took their time and made it up without much of a fuss. The steps were solid and there were sturdy wooden railings for them to hold on to. The stairway led to another viewing area, this one the literal pinnacle of the tour. We were immediately in awe of the truly ‘heavenly’ panoramic views of both the partially obstructed Gros Piton as well as the Petit Piton, which was clearly the main attraction! We could also see Jalousie Bay along with an inviting glimpse of the famous Sugar Beach below us. The viewing platform was kind of like a corral, providing us with solid footing as well as railings to keep us from wandering off and falling over the edge. Not sure if it always like this, but the wind was blowing pretty strong. Not enough to make it uncomfortable, but enough to make us aware that we were exposed to the elements on top of this mountain. From here, we also had views inland across the island. Looking north-east I could see the multiple peaks of Mount Gimie with its knuckle-like tops reaching up into the clouds. To the east, the scattered houses on the mountainsides really put the dramatic hilly nature of Saint Lucia into perspective. The views from the top of Tet Paul were absolutely spectacular. This is one of those locations where I could have just ‘hung out’ for hours. A dream location with picturesque views and photo ops galore.
Eventually, we left the viewing area down another set of semi-natural stairs, winding our way down around the north side of the mountain back to our original starting point. Resistant to leave the place, we wandered around the nice little souvenir shop looking for a keep-sake. Among the local products on display, I picked up a nice set of hand-crafted coasters to help remind me of this outing.
FYI – The nature trail is just over half a mile (1km) in length and will take less than an hour to complete, even at a very leisurely pace. There’s no rush – Linger and savour the experience. I understand that the Tet Paul Nature Trail also features a couple of rustic pavilions to explore. The Traditional House is a cultural-historical site to learn about the islands’ earliest inhabitants, including the peaceful Arawaks and the warrior-like Caribs. Meanwhile, at the Kaye Kassav, you can watch Cassava breads being made. There’s also a picnic area for those looking to extend their visit.
For information about Saint Lucia Attractions, as well as a list of Tour Operators who can get you to and from various attractions on the island, click on our Things to do in St. Lucia page
ACT Staff
If you’re looking for other fun and relaxing vacation ideas, take a look at our St. Lucia Attractions blog post
If you’re looking for more exciting activities to experience on the island, check out our St. Lucia Adventures recommendations
For an overview of the beautiful island, click on our St. Lucia Vacations page
It doesn’t get better than chocolate, rum, and great Caribbean views!
While it is awesome to relax and unwind on a beach when vacationing on a Caribbean island, after a while we get the urge to turn it up a notch by getting out and exploring the island. On this day, we pretty much travelled the full length of Grenada, venturing from our resort on the southwest tip of the island, all the way to the northeast corner of the island, taking in many amazing sights and experiences along the way.
Belmont Estate
Our first main stop was at Belmont Estate, an amazing cocoa plantation with a boutique chocolate factory. We were excited to try some chocolate, but first, the hostess who greeted us at the entrance asked us to join a few others in an unassuming building on the Estate near the road. There, we met Belmont’s friendly and knowledgeable host Kelly, who was just about to start a tour with a handful of other tourists – Perfect timing. Kelly took us outside for a casual stroll around the plantation, showing us some of the plants that grow in the area. We smelled some aromatic plants including Thai basil, lemongrass, and a dandelion-like plant – They all had distinctive and powerful odours – Pretty cool. We then headed across the road to a stand of cocoa trees where Kelly searched for a nice ripe pod to show us. He quickly found one, picked it from a tree, then cracked it open on a rock. After carefully opening up the cocoa pod shell, he offered us the pulpy kernel-like seeds to suck on – very fruity tasting with a bit of a sour tang.
When we returned to the main building, Kelly showed us where workers had picked ripe cocoa pods, removed the seeds and stacked them to ferment in wooden bins covered with banana leaves. He explained that the beans are regularly transferred by hand from bin to bin for a few days to help ensure an even fermentation. Wow – What a powerful smell! Kelly took us back outside to show us the large drying racks on rollers just above the ground where the beans dry for a few days more. Not sure if it’s really required or not, but he had the women take off their shoes and gently flip the beans over with their feet to speed the drying process – OK, that was interesting.
We also took a quick look into one of the more modern greenhouse-like drying buildings, although it was way too hot to stay in there for too long. From there we went back into the main building one last time for a sample of hot cocoa tea. Kelly made it very clear that it was not hot chocolate – It was a blend of dried roasted ground cocoa nibs mixed with cinnamon/nutmeg, bergamot (an orange-like fruit), and bay leaves. There must have been some sugar in there too – I have to tell you, even in the tropical heat, this hot beverage was absolutely delicious!
After looking at some samples of local fruit and spices on display, Kelly took us up to the nearby Chocolate Factory building where he showed us the grinding/mixing machines and the workers packaging the previously formed chocolate creations. After a brief explanation of the ‘tree to bar’ chocolate-making process, noting that the cocoa is organic and that pretty much every step along the way is still done by hand, with very few machines used. Kelly then took us next door to a showroom/gift shop where we sampled 100% cocoa nibs, 80% dark chocolate, 60% Dark Chocolate with ginger and cinnamon, and some real white chocolate. Personally, I thought the spiced chocolate was outstanding, so we purchased one of those along with some cocoa powder, cocoa tea balls, and another dark chocolate bar flavoured with salt. We really enjoyed our visit to Belmont Estate – A nice, small boutique Grenadian chocolatier making chocolates the old-fashioned way!
For other popular Tourist Attractions on the island, check out our Things to Do in Grenada page
For an overview of the “Caribbean Spice Island”, feel free to check out our Grenada Vacations page.
Our next stop was less than 10 minutes away… Where we took a rum tour the likes of which I’ve never experienced before…
River Antoine Estate Rum Distillery
Entering the grounds of the River Antoine Estate Rum Distillery, I have to say was not very glamorous. There’s no big gate or grand entrance, there’s not even a prominent sign announcing that the oldest rum distillery in Grenada is located here. Regardless, we drove right up and parked next to one of their main buildings. We wandered over to their storefront to request a tour, and a friendly staff member agreed to take us and another couple of tourists for an informative walk around the facilities, and as we were about to find out, a journey back in time! The first thing I noticed was a subtle campfire smell in the air as we walked past a massive mound of chopped sugar cane. The tour started by taking a look at the distillery’s feature attraction – A giant water wheel embedded into a cement wall. Apparently, this water mill wheel was installed in the early 19th century and powers much of the mechanical equipment at the distillery. Our guide explained that water is diverted from the nearby River Antoine and is channeled to the top of the giant wheel via a trough, providing natural ‘renewable’ power to a sugar cane conveyor belt and cane crushing machine we were about to see.
We visited River Antoine around noon so most of the guys were on lunch break, however, it’s not hard to imagine workers feeding sugar cane stalks onto a conveyor built that feeds the crusher, separating the valuable juice from the stalk. A staff member was kind enough to peel a piece of cane with his machete, then cut it into 3-inch lengths for us to sample – Always tasty as the sweet cane juice filled my mouth with the very first bite. Meanwhile, workers remove the spent stalks from the crusher and load them into what looked like an old miner’s cart that ran on a short set of railway tracks. Apparently, the crushed stalks, referred to as bagasse, are piled up and then laid out to dry in the sun before being burned as fuel for heating the evaporators. After the cane is crushed, the cane juice flows through a trough to the evaporator room next door.
The evaporator/boiler room can only be described as ‘rustic and traditional’. It actually reminded me of my grandparent’s smoking shed that doubled as a maple syrup boiling shed back in Canada. River Antoine’s evaporator, or boiler room housed a series of 5 old open-air steel pans/bowls, each one with a more intense fire under it than the previous one. A worker uses a long ladle to manually pass the hot liquid from one bowl to another until the cane juice is concentrated down to syrup. Again, not much has changed over the past 200 years or so. After several hours of evaporation, the cane syrup is fed next door to one of nine cement storage tanks for fermenting – a natural process where nothing, not even yeast, is added. After about a week or so, the fermentation process is complete and the liquid is piped to 2 large copper pot stills, referred to as kettles, for distillation.
The kettles are built on top of cement fireboxes, where local hardwoods are burned to provide direct heat to the kettles – Not something you see today in modern distilleries. That explains the piles of chopped wood nearby, and the constant smoky smell. After distillation and filtering, the rum is sampled and adjusted for strength. River Antoine white rum comes in two varieties, a strong 69% (138 proof) version and the powerful 75% (150 proof) variant. I understand that their 75% rum has so much alcohol in it that it is considered a flammable substance and hence cannot be transported by airplane. River Antoine Estates also produces a wide variety of rum punches, depending on what fruit is ripe on the island at the time of making. The bottling and storage room is once again, plain and simple. Three staff members take rum from previously filled large water coolers and fill each bottle by hand, label them, and complete the process with the help of a small capping machine.
To complete our tour, we sampled the 69% and 75% white rums. While the smell, especially of the 69% rum was quite funky and inviting, they were a bit too strong, with a fiery after-burn, for my taste. I imagine serious rum enthusiasts would appreciate the ‘high-ester’ rums more than I do. That said, I did purchase a bottle of their Passionfruit flavoured rum which I drank with friends when I got home. I have to say it was very enjoyable, with a bit of a funky ‘sweet and sour’ vibe going on – yum.
Wow – What a unique experience! Their whole process is just incredible. I’ve been to many rum distilleries throughout the Caribbean over the years, yet, I have never seen an operation that pretty much hasn’t changed in over 200 years! I suspect it would be tough to find this type of facility anywhere else in the world. Starting in 1785, River Antoine Estate is still making small batch rums the old-fashioned way – A must-visit on your next trip to Grenada.
If you’re interested in reading more about the Caribbean’s golden elixir, then check out our Caribbean Rum page as well as our Grenada Rum page, which includes a list of Tour Operators who will help you sample what Grenanda has to offer!
From there, we traveled about 15 minutes further north, for the literal “high-light” of the trip!
The Welcome Stone
With the help of some friendly locals pointing the way, we eventually found the road that would take us up to the Telecom tower area which we had heard offers spectacular views of Grenada. The final stretch of road to reach the peak was absolutely wild – It must have been on a 60° angle, so our little rental car was straining to make it up the hill. At the dead-end at the top of the road, we came to the realization that there is really only room for a single vehicle in the tiny parking area off to the side of the road – Regardless, that didn’t stop three of us from ‘finding a way’ to get our cars off the road. Anyways… We were about to discover that the Welcome Stone is well worth all the parking drama.
After parking the car, we followed a dirt trail that started alongside the fenced-in Telecom facility, to the other side of the mountain peak. The short hike started off on a bit of a steep boulder-strewn slope before transitioning to a nice leaf-covered trail through the forest. After a short 5-minute stroll we arrived at the scenic look-out area where there are a number of massive but climbable boulders to mount. From our rocky perches, we were treated to some truly sensational views of the northeast tip of Grenada and the Caribbean Sea, dotted with several islands protruding out of the endless blue. Directly below us, Levera Pond provided a nice dark watery contrast with the surrounding green/brown landscape. The offshore islands of Sugar Loaf, Green Island, and Sandy Island seemed so close, while Ronde Island and further in the distance, the outline of Grenada’s sister islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique mysteriously were barely visible in the background. Enough said – I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves… After absorbing the incredible views for a while, we left the boulders to allow recently arrived folks to have an opportunity to enjoy the tranquil scenery.
Did I mention there was only enough parking at the top for a single vehicle? Well, when we got back to the top of the road, there were 3 other cars and a small van now bravely parked along the side of the road, all with large rocks under their tires to ensure they wouldn’t roll down the hill – Good idea! Another interesting Grenada attraction for sure!
For the more adventurous, this area is a good place to explore while hiking or snorkeling – For more info, including a list of local tour operators to get you on the trail or in the water, check out our Grenada Hiking or Grenada Snorkeling pages.
What a great day – and it wasn’t even over yet… We then drove down the west coast road, enjoying the amazing views of the Caribbean Sea with quick stops in Victoria, Gouyave, and St. George’s to pick up some spices for our trip home.
ACT Staff
For a more complete review of Grenada’s Attractions and things-to-do, along with a list of local Tour Operators who can help you get the most out of your day, check out our Top 6 Attractions in Grenada post
If you’re looking for something more active, check out our recommended Grenada Adventures blog
For an overview of the beautiful and diverse islands, click on our Grenada Vacations page
