Spice Island Sojourn
Writing this from the beautiful island of Granada, where we stopped for a few short but precious hours. The weather has been warm and sunny all day.
Spice Island Resort Pool, Grand Anse Beach
Individual villa, Spice Island Beach Resort
We spent a nostalgic half day at the exclusive Spice Island Beach Resort, where we spent our honeymoon many moons ago! Back then, it was called Spice Island Inn and we chose it because we loved the name – it sounded so exotic! It was a delight to return and find the resort looking just as special as we remembered it. Ryan Hopkin, son of the owner Sir Royston Hopkin, gave us a warm welcome and an interesting tour of the rooms and facilities, which have been added since our first visit. The resort was closed for over a year after Hurricane Ivan devastated Grenada in 2004, damaging 90 per cent of homes on the island and wiping out the nutmeg and cocoa markets, which are only now beginning to recover.
Since our visit to Salvador, Silver Spirit has called at the Brazilian ports of Recife, Fortaleza and Belem and at Scarborough in Tobago in the Caribbean. It’s been fascinating exploring these new (to us) parts of the world.
In Recife, a courtesy coach service to and from the city was available to passengers wanting to explore independently. We were dropped off at a modern shopping mall with several ATMs, so finally had some Brazilian currency to spend! Recife is the cultural and economic capital of northeastern Brazil, and like Salvador, has many historic churches and buildings dating back to colonial times during the era of the sugar cane boom. The city is built around three rivers and connected by 49 bridges.
We looked around the mall then walked across one of the bridges. It was very hot and we regretted not opting for the shore excursion to Boa Viagem, a four-mile stretch of urban sand south of the city. If we ever return to these parts, we will make time to visit the beaches and also go to Olinda, the charming old state capital and UNESCO World Heritage Site, with cobbled streets and colourful houses. We’d also like to stay on Fernando de Noronha, an unspoilt island off the northeast coast of Brazil that offers fantastic beaches and some of the best scuba diving in Brazil.
Silver Spirit docked at Recife, Brazil
View of Fortaleza from Silver Spirit