A wild ride down the Spice Island’s Balthazar River
After a somewhat harrowing drive from the St. Georges area to the heart of Grenada, we eventually made it to ‘The River’s Edge’ restaurant, which also conveniently doubles as the launch site for river-tubing Grenada’s “Great River”. It was warm and sunny the day of our visit – Just perfect for a river tubing adventure. A couple of friendly locals from Funtastic Island Adventures greeted us in the parking lot to get us ready for our journey downstream. Our excursion guides for the next hour or so were named Blue and Splashy. Once they fitted us with helmets and life jackets we were each handed a large inflated ‘tube’ that would be the best seat in the house, which in this case was the Spice Island’s Baltahar River. One by one we plopped ourselves down into the floating bright orange tubes and excitedly pushed off from shore.
After a few seconds, the river current picked up speed and we headed downstream. After the first set of rapids, we gently bounced off a stone wall before slowly drifting under a bridge where we gained momentum once again. For our Grenada river-tubing experience, it was just our small party of three, so we pretty much had a private tour. Well, actually a couple of dogs also joined us for our journey – sometimes running along the shore, other times joining us in the water for a refreshing swim. Pretty cool…
The Balthazar River system consists of a diverse assortment of fairly fast-moving water through long narrow channels bordered with large rocks, exciting small waterfall-like drops of a foot or two, along with some wide open areas of deeper water where things slow down to more of a lazy river vibe. All this variation made for a very interesting ride through the tree-lined river gully, giving us a remote and secluded feel. The entire voyage through the lush green environment was a great way to enjoy the Grenada wilderness.
After a few calming minutes of leisurely drifting down the river, we left the world behind and it was just us and the ebbing flow of the stream, surrounded by the natural beauty of Grenada’s jungle-like vegetation. Blue told us that being mid-April the water level was really low for our river journey and that during the rainy season later in the year the water level can be two feet higher or more, and much much faster! Meanwhile, for our trip down Grenada’s “Great River”, we occasionally felt rocks passing beneath us, but the tubes we were riding in had Styrofoam bottoms to keep us protected. We did get caught up several times on rocks, but Blue and Splashy were always close by, helping to pull or push us around the obstacles as required. One time though, going over a 3-foot drop I thought I was going to dump for sure – but I just held onto the handles until Blue rushed over to pull me through the mini-falls and the tube eventually righted itself. During all the excitement, I did get a little mouthful of water, but that just added to the fun experience!
To add to the ‘nature’ vibe of our river tubing experience, at one point we came across a handful of blue herons fishing the waters. At yet another area we passed under an old stone bridge that looked like the ruins of some lost civilization – Turns out it was just the remnants of an old road that was replaced decades ago. It was still an interesting sight though, as it is slowly being reclaimed by the natural world.
Somewhere along our outing, we floated into a fairly large pond area where the water was barely moving. Apparently, when large groups are taking the tour, additional entertainment is provided by locals jumping off the riverside cliff! Anyways… After about 45 minutes of speeding through small series of rapids and slowly floating across tranquil ponds, our amazing Balthazar River tubing experience sadly came to a conclusion as the river was getting too rocky and shallow to continue. Well, it was great fun that I didn’t want to be over, but all good things must come to an end!
ACT Staff
For more information about river tubing down the Balthazar River, check out the Funtastic Island Adventures website.
For Tour Operators who can get you on the river, as well as guide you to many other great Tourist Attractions on the island, check out our Things to Do in Grenada page.
For an overview of the Spice Island of the Caribbean, take a look at our Grenada Vacations page.
If you’re looking for more ‘active’ things to do while vacationing on the island, click on our Grenada Adventures blog post for some great ideas!
