Grenada - Facts
- Grenada is a three island state: Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique, located in the Eastern Caribbean at the south of the Windward Islands and 100 miles north of Venezuela. To the north lies St. Vincent and the Grenadines, to the south Trinidad and Tobago. Its capital is St. George’s.
- Grenada is also known as the “Island of Spice” due to its production of nutmeg and mace crops. It is a beautiful island with lush mountains and silvery beaches and many activities to do ashore.
- The current population of Grenada is 113,235 (2021) and English is the official language, though it is not uncommon to hear nationals speak French-African Patois.
- The Eastern Caribbean dollar is the local currency.
- Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique are in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone, one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time and four hours behind GMT. UTC−4 (AST).
- Average temperatures range from 24C/ 75F to 30C/ 87F, tempered by the steady and cooling trade winds. The lowest temperatures occur between November and February. The driest season is between January and May. Even during the rainy season, from June to December, it rarely rains for more than an hour at a time and generally not every day.
- Grenada is the usual turning-point north for a cruise among the Windward Islands.
- There are a series of wonderful bays along the southwest and south coasts of Grenada, however, these tend to be large with poor holding and many are not tenable in storm conditions. Water quality can be poor for swimming.
- Carriacou is the southernmost and largest of the Grenadines; relatively undeveloped, it is attractive with its green hills, sandy beaches, and sheltered natural harbors such as Tyrell Bay.
- Petit Martinique is not often visited by yachts cruising the popular nearby Grenadines
(which belong to St. Vincent) as this means having to sail down to Carriacou to clear out and then sail back. Once you are checked into Grenada you can sail between the various islands of Grenada without restriction. - Considered a good hurricane season option if hauling out, Grenada has great yachting services and an active cruising community.
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This feedback from cruiser Tera Houting:
The only place to do the in and out clearance is at st George’s, in Port Louis.
However, we were not informed of this knowledge and sailed through from st Vincent to the south of Grenada.
From the south (Clarke’s Court Bay) everyone is meeting up for Trinidad.
(Via channel VHF 66 at 7.30 hrs cruisers network info and check if other boats go , so a convoy is possible, to Trinidad).
We arrived at Clarke’s Court Bay. Clearance not possible anymore.
We found Henry Safari, a tour company to help us.
They did the clearance and clearing out from that point, against a fee of inbound US$60 and outbound US$40.
(Saturday, we arrived so in that case we had to pay overtime (100%))!
After sending this to Sue Richards (the noonsite editor), she has asked me to post it here. Now we have been in Grenada for over a week and I would like to express my pleasure about how wonderful it is to be here and how lovely, hospitable and friendly the Grenadan people are!
It is surprising really that despite one’s best efforts to be well informed about one’s arrival in a new country, that one can be so ill informed ….. Of course I did not plan to arrive in Grenada on a Friday night before Christmas – that might be an ill advised plan you might say? – if it were a plan – which it was not. I was VERY well advised by the noonsite website that clearance at the weekend would involve extra costs (overtime fees for the staff involved) but I was NOT advised about the difficulty about making contact with the authorities to ascertain the precise procedures to which we were subject – OR that the health authority lady who sets up her office in the white gazebo tent in the Port Louis marina was the FIRST person with whom one must make contact (in these times of Covid) and that she works rather reduced and uncertain hours over the week-end. Fortunately we were cleared by her and permitted to proceed to the next step (Customs and Immigration) which was simple in comparison. The health lady had expressed her reluctance to be present at an early stage, and then expressed her displeasure at the fact that we did NOT bring printed out copies of our health declaration forms which I had filled out on-line. I explained that I had had no printer available. We needed to fill them out there in front of her (which was just as well since there may have been some errors in the on-line forms which I had submitted – names and addresses and passport numbers of all the crew). However I was glad to have completed all the necessary paperwork before departure – this must have given me some peace of mind that I had done all that was was possible to ease our way on our arrival about 18 days later on. I had read that one must book a mooring to moor the yacht on arrival – but it was NOT possible to book a mooring AND that on arrival one must anchor and await clearance instructions. What can one do with contradictory instructions? Make contact with the relevant authorities? VHF calls to Customs and Immigration drew no response on a Saturday morning – eventually a call to the port authority got the reply that Port Louis marina should be contacted – AND it turned out that that was where the Customs and Immigration office was located – AND after rushing ashore at lunchtime to check-in with him we were informed that the health authority lady had gone home already – she would be there at about 9am next day. We did not rush on Sunday morning – we got ashore about 10am and the Customs guy told us that we should expect the health lady at about 11am – we should go back to the boat (now on a mooring) and wait – I interpreted this loosely – and so we waited partly in the Victory bar (with wi-fi) and partly in the health authority gazebo tent. The health authority lady turned up at about 1240. In contrast to the Danish yatchsmen with whom I had spent some of this waiting time, and after some discussion about this matter with the lady, we did NOT have to present PCR Covid tests results since we had been at sea for some time, and merely had to present Clearance from the last port as evidence. No objection was raised about the mis-spelling of the port of registration in that document! David (who had sailed with us to Mindelo) had predicted that we would be visited by health staff wearing scrubs (hospital worker uniform) to test us. I am sure that if this were necessary we would have been waiting longer – but I had made some preparations in case such a visit were to happen.
Still after clearance on a Sunday we were free – but establishing normal communications in this time is not so easy. In Mindelo we could buy a local SIM card for Internet access in a supermarket without problems – not the case here. There are two offices in town here where they should be available. There was a VERY long and slow moving queue outside the one that I visited yesterday, and I concluded that my time might be better spent fixing things on the boat, so we now have a bilge pump float switch that works properly and some necessary stitching done to the sprayhood/cockpit cover. There is a good and well stocked chandlers here (Island Water World) with their own dinghy pontoon and I needed to present my documents to them to establish an account and therefore qualify for duty free prices.
It is no longer permitted to anchor in the large area outside St Georges lagoon known as the Grand Anse Marine Protected Area (GAMPA for short) since they are trying to encourage the growth of coral in this area and they have laid many moorings for yachts to use instead. The moorings operator and GAMPA do not seem to understand difficulties which visiting yachtsmen may face in booking and paying for their moorings. I have told him that I shall pay as soon as I can get online. I shall expect a 4th visit from this man today.
This morning (Tuesday 21st Dec) Joel and I did an early trip into town to wait in the queue outside the Cable & Wireless Flow shop in order to buy a SIM card. After 50 minutes of waiting we were finally being served at a desk and with the SIM card inserted into my phone when the lady (with very long and beautifully decorated fingernails) discovered that my phone would NOT pick up the Flow signal at all and that I should go next door to DigiCell. In contrast to the information I had received there the previous day I could buy a SIM card without waiting for too long but that I had to go next door to upgrade my plan to get a decent amount of data. After a short wait outside this 3rd office I was able to get in and get served – BUT it took the guy more than 10 minutes to download the DigiCell App using the shop’s wi-fi, so this did NOT bode well for the data speeds that I am to expect. After checking that things worked OK it was time to get out of the office and meet Joel at the dinghy in the Carenage and get back to Ramprasad.
We then did the 11 mile trip (including our first beat to windward for some time – motorsailing) to come here to Prickly Bay (where at least we are permitted to anchor) and it is more of a hub for yachting activity than St George. Relax at last and spend more time fixing things!
Sam Coles SY Ramprasad 26th December 2021
Reported by Rebecca Childress (currently in Grenada on her yacht):
As of last week, lockdown restrictions have eased as they seem to every 2 weeks here. Cases are way down, and once again we can have fun in Grenada. Curfew is 9pm -4am. Restaurants and businesses are open though many require vaccination to get in, take out available to all. Vaccinations are required to come in to the country. Gatherings can’t be more than 20. Beaches open for swimming and exercising but not social gatherings. Some businesses are still closed while they try to vaccine their employees as a condition of being open. Overall, it’s getting freer and freer every 2 weeks now. Not many tourists here, so a nice time to be here.
Grenada Coastguard is asking the cruising community to comply with the NO MOVEMENT order in Grenada at this time. On no movement days (i.e. weekends), moving your boat can result in arrests and fines. Movement on other days (i.e. weekdays) are to be confined to approved activities and for the approved timeframes and all other laws and ordinances are to be followed.
Carriacou-Paradise beach is in the marine park. They are requesting on mooring ball or staying out farther in the sand area, it’s only 4-6 feet Deep there. Also fees for our boat were EC$30 a night. We were told it’s no longer EC$25 a night.
Extension of stay fees are now EC$75 instead of EC$25 per person per month. This is since Nov 1st 2019. See https://www.nowgrenada.com/2019/10/passport-cost-increases-by-ec75-extension-of-stay-increases-by-ec50/
Thank you Pieter, that’s really useful to know, I’ve updated the Fees.
4/3/2020 Customs clearance closed in Hillsborough
We anchored off Hillsborough to clear out for Union Island at 11:00. The Immigration lady said that clearance has relocated to Tyrrels Bay. To save time I took a taxi (EC$35 each way)
Paul Stephens
Tin Tin
We heard that Prickly Bay is beeing renovated and or under contruction . Dose anyone know anything about this ? We are planning to stop there on our way from Carriacou. We have a charter for a week in the first week of April.
Hi Prickly bay is still undergoing work at the moment and no one seems to know when it will be completed.
The butcher is still open so you can get fresh meat and cheese
That said we are on total lockdown at the moment so not allowing anyone in or out
Prickly is a nice bay. Nice beach, nice resorts and beautiful villas. No good supermarket close by. You have to move by car or bus.
Customs and immigration is well organized at the first floor of prickly marina. Laundry is disappointing and too expensive. The clean robes and towels were returned in the same dirty and salty trash bags we used to take her the dirty items.
for extention for visa only the day before 3 months are finished.
Beware of overpriced import fees when you fly into the airport with a dog. We live on a sailing vessel with him. We flew in with our doctor prescribed service animal and were asked to pay an import fee that was outrageously overpriced. They asked us how much a dog like this is worth. We said I don’t know, you can buy a puppy for around $950. She tried to charge us 67% import tax which was over $700 to bring our dog into the country . We then told her our dog was not a puppy but four years old and neutered so he could not be bred. He was probably only worth a couple of hundred as an older adult but she said that we could not change the first price we told them. I insisted upon going to the US Embassy and not clearing into the country with my dog. I told them I would take a ferry to another island. She then cut the price in half but we still had to pay $350.00 to get our dog into the country. This was outrageous and corrupt !
Actually not, we have checked it n and out twice the last three weeks, and it was really easy
Be aware of customs entrance fee scams by the local officials!!! Before paying, mention that you will need a receipt, particularly if the officer is alone in the office. We were burned on this one on Jan 19 by a female customs officer at the customs/immigration office located (but not affiliated with) Le Phare Bleu Marina: she charged about the US $20 too much, and when asked for the receipts she hastily closed the office and gave receipts for lower values.
please note that Hillsborough is no longer a point of entry. They have moved everything to Tyrell.
The name is Schomacker in Hamburg, they have a German and English website.
http://www.schomacker.de
Hope this helps
Ralph
Ralph,
Could you share the name and contact information of the European insurance company you contacted?
Reported by Ralph Bayerwaltes / SV Calypso (USA)
Our insurance company (for 30 years) cancelled our policy. We were very disappointed since we never had any claims. To get a new insurance policy, all insurance companies were asking us for a survey. Our boat is located in Le Marin, Martinique.
We discovered that the only surveyor accepted for some USA insurance is in Grenada.
Three insurance companies told me to sail back to Florida, get a survey, get insurance……even for liability only, or fly a surveyor to Martinique. We contacted 10 insurance companies and only four response!
So we contacted a big insurance company in Europe. We had our policy in 48 hours, no survey needed, they have wording in their contract…if any information you provided is wrong or inaccurate, the policy is invalid… very easy.
We just received a warning from Panteanius: since Tuesday increased seismic activity, Kick ’em Jenny, the underwater volcano, might erupt. See the report on the BBC and avoid the area!
We used Ross and Sons to do some welding an make a custom part for our boat. They gave me a tour of their workshop. They do metal work all over the island. We were extremely happy with the quality of the work provided and the price. We highly recommend them!
Ross and Sons Engineering Works Ltd
Box 397 , St George’s , Grenada
Tel:+1 473 440 3018
Updates and confirmations as of Sept. 2017:
– [Hiking] The trail from Mt. Qua Qua to Concord Falls was in order (but very muddy!) around March 2017.
– [Import] I was informed by Grenada customs that the release of imported goods is gated on an import agent completing a step online (something to do with ASYCUDA), thus even if armed with a C14 form signed by a customs officer, an import agent is necessary.
From Ken Goodings from the Caribbean Navigator Facebook page:
It’s Carnival time! Get ready for the excitement, vibrant colour and sounds in Grenada.
During these holidays it’s even more important for cruisers to be vigilant and proactive about their safety and security; both ashore and afloat.
It’s an unfortunate corollary that boardings, both in daylight and at night, seem to peak just before and during Christmas and Carnival time.
Boats, especially…
GRENADA CARNIVAL 2017 – August 10th to 15th
http://www.grenadagrenadines.com/plan/events/spicemas-festival/
While making a passage from Carriacou to Grenada, we ran into an uncharted shoal. We were near the west edge of the inner volcano exclusion zone, at 12 18.61N, 61 38.99W. All of our charts show 1000 – 3000-foot depths in this area.
We encountered an area of breaking waves and saw 17-foot depths on our instruments. A sharp turn to the west got us into deeper water, but we saw several more areas of 50-70 feet before going off soundings again. We checked our position with a second GPS, and this appears to be accurate.
Posted on Grenada Cruisers Facebook Page:
IMPORTANT MESSAGE RE. THE CONCORD FALLS
Do not hike down the Concord Falls trail from the top of Mt. Qua Qua. After about 2 hours of descending the Concord Falls trail and almost at the highest waterfall, the trail has been destroyed by a landslide and there is no way around it. We were lucky enough to have started early and there was enough daylight to get back.
The use of a C-14 form if coming through the airport does not work. You have to leave the item, engage a customs broker, or travel to the various offices yourself, and then return with the C-14 issued by customs to retrieve your item.
As a prior posts notes you need a broker and unless you have a car will incur cab fares. They also charge the 2.5% fee on the entire invoice amount, including shipping charges and taxes. So the 2.5% is a bit of an illusion.
CARRIACOU: POST OFFICE CUSTOMS C14 and do you need an agent.
As posted on Grenada Cruisers Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/132087906871838/?fref=nf
I had ordered a new propeller. The price including carriage by post to Carriacou was $1015 US or $2740 EC.
I had followed the progress on the online tracking APP and it was shown as delivered to Carriacou.
So with three copies of the invoice, passport and boat documents to hand, I set off for Customs in the new office by the boatyard. They suggested I use the Customs at the foot of the pier in Hillsborough.
Bus into Hillsborough.
Grenada Post Office, Customs, the C 14 form and using an agent.
Customs were helpful but said that I needed the ‘Simplified Clearance Form’ that was issued by the post office. The post office at first said I needed the blue form that the had sent to the address I was using in Carriacou but when I said that would involve me in returning to Tyrell bay a charming young lady checked the relevant tray and discovered my form preprinted with my name[ incorrectly spelt].
Back to Customs with the form who then said that things were in order but that I would have to use an agent to complete the paperwork and directed me to the agent who was sitting at the entrance to the large goods in the shed right by Customs.
The agent completed the paperwork and gave it to me to hand into Customs. I paid Customs who then supplied me with the document which said I had paid the duty and could pick up the propeller from the post office.
Picked up the prop from the post office and had some lunch.
Costs
$35 EC to the agent. [ I would use her again very competent ]
$59.07 EC to Customs [ approx 2.2% ]
$17.50 EC to the Post Office.
NOTES
The post office seems to need the blue form to locate both the parcel and the paperwork.
My understanding that the threshold of $3000 EC below which an agent is NOT required is clearly wrong. [ At least in Carriacou. ]
HALIFAX
We are now cruising in Grenada for about 1 month, also saw part of the inland beauty of the island such as St. George, Grand Etang, Belmont Estate, Sauteurs, Victoria, Gouyave: all of it so so beautifully …. only, we saw also Halifax which is sometimes recommended as an anchoring spot : this is a HUGE dump pilling up for +/- 10 mt & more, burning, giving (very) bad smell in the valley: shame, shame on those who are exploiting this area and those who are in agreement with this procedure !!!
SY SALOME
Changes in fees:
INCREASE IN EMBARKATION TAX FOR OUTGOING YACHT PASSENGERS POSTED ON 30 OCT 2013 IN BUSINESS, GENERAL NEWS
During the first quarter of 2014, the Embarkation Tax for passengers boarding yachts in Grenada will move from EC$1 to EC$20 (approximately US$7.50).
The website this was found on is http://nowgrenada.com/2013/10/increase-embarkation-tax-outgoing-yacht-passengers/.
Jim – SY Sweet Chariot
What could be excellent news for the Caribbean:
Grenada has been renewing some visas for 6 or 12 months instead of the old 3 months. Further, there is no requirement to leave after 6 months.
These long extensions appear to be not available on arrival, but are available of extension of the visa, if the Cruiser is of good standing.
Immigration officials in the head office in St Georges have said: “The Grenada Government realises the importance of tourism and the Cruisers part in it.”
This is without official confirmation but has happened to 2 cruisers I know of in the last week or two.
Mark – SY Sea Life
What could be excellent news for the Caribbean:
Grenada has been renewing some visas for 6 or 12 months instead of the old 3 months. Further, there is no requirement to leave after 6 months.
These long extensions appear to be not available on arrival, but are available of extension of the visa, if the Cruiser is of good standing.
Immigration officials in the head office in St Georges have said: “The Grenada Government realises the importance of tourism and the Cruisers part in it.”
This is without official confirmation but has happened to 2 cruisers I know of in the last week or two.
Mark – SY Sea Life