“If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all”

A number of people who have cruised the Caribbean have said it: “If you’ve seen one Caribbean island, you’ve seen them all.” First, this statement is untrue. Each island has its own distinct culture, geography, and sights to see. But, if you are not interested in such distinctions, or, if your desire is simply to enjoy the cruise experience without leaving the ship, then such a comment is easy to throw off, for it is obvious you are not concerned about the veracity of the statement.

Having visited more than ten islands, there is no doubt this comment could apply to some of them — if you don’t explore beyond the port cities. For example, I might group the port cities of St. Vincent, Granada, St. Kitts, and LaRomana in that category for these port cities, unlike Aruba, Curacao, San Juan, Barbados, St. Martin, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas, are really under-developed when it comes to handling tourists in their port cities — and that is the criteria I am using to render this judgment. (I think most people who live in the Caribbean would find such a comment (“If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”) offensive — like grouping all people of the same race or all people from the same country.

Now I have to admit there is a difference when you visit a port where you have previously been. In Grenada, for example, we walked from the ship through the Sendal tunnel — a tight squeeze, one way (for cars), pedestrian walkway — and followed Carenage Street around Carenage Harbour. This is a very scenic, but very local area of St. George’s.

Back through Sendal Tunnel (the local van drivers seem to enjoy scaring the hell out of tourists using the tunnel), we walked along Bruce Street/Melville Street (it changes names), to Branby Street, and then down just a block to Market Square where there is a large local market that sells food, spices, and a variety of local merchandise. We visited it last time we were in Granada. This time we stopped at Maggie’s Spice Shop and picked up 5 nutmeg seeds (for $1.00) and took a picture of Maggie.

There wasn’t a single person from the ship in this large market. Also, Maggie said she must get her nutmeg from other places because the nutmeg trees on Granada were destroyed by hurricane Ivan in 2004 (over 90% of the nutmeg crop was destroyed), and it takes from 7 to 15 years for nutmeg trees to mature. (Just an aside: one of the seeds had worms in it, and the sealed plastic bag in which we kept it was full of worms when we wanted string it to put on our Christmas tree the following winter.)

In walking from the market back to the terminal, my wife and I stopped in a shop looking for a Granada tee-shirt. Two local teenage boys saw me go into the shop, recognized me as a potential target, followed me into the shop with the intention of getting my wallet out of my back pocket. Although I didn’t notice it, my wife did, and she stepped between them and me, and seeing that their intention was foiled, they immediately left the shop.

I’ve said it before, but if your only impression of the island of Granada (and this goes for all other Caribbean islands/countries) is gained just from walking around the port city, you have a very partial, incomplete picture of the island/country. Our excursion the last time we visited Granada took us through a destroyed nutmeg plantation, a lush, beautiful arboretum, and the hilly, attractive interior of this volcanic island.

I watched as our ship left the port of Granada from the 18th deck of the Grand Princess, and as I watched it grow smaller, you could see the clear demarcation of a volcano. Clouds hung over the center part of the island as we left, and not only was it raining in the interior of the island, but there were several beautiful rainbows as well, adding to the luster and grandeur of the topography.

Granada is a beautiful island — the smallest independent country (just 21 miles long by 12 miles wide or only 133 square miles) in the world. It is part of a three-island nation that also includes Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Grenada lies 75 miles southwest of St. Vincent and 90 miles north of Trinidad. We visited Granada on this trip because of civil unrest in Trinidad.

Barbados, the island we visited immediately following Granada, is another island we visited on a previous trip. It is the eastern-most island of the West Indies lying 270 miles from the Venezuelan coast and about 100 miles east of St. Vincent. It is a 14 by 21 mile haven covering 166 square miles. While Grenada has only 93,000 people of African (75%), East Indian, and European descent., Barbados has 279,000, is one of the world’s most densely populated nations, has one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates in the world, and has a distribution of ethnic groups typical of the Eastern Caribbean; 90 percent of the population is black, 5 percent mulatto, and 5 percent white.

Looking at Barbados and Granada from 18 decks above the sea, Granada looked quaint, natural, and lovely. Barbados, on the other hand, looked flat, or, it might be more accurate to say, it is composed of low, undulating hills (four or five) that are fairly heavily treed. It doesn’t look nearly as flat or arid as Aruba or Curacao, however.

But, once again, this is an island where the impression you get from walking the city of Bridgetown (an austere, European, rather pricey, high-class (very British), expensive stores), is not an accurate picture of the island as a whole. Our excursion, the last time we were here, gave us an overview of the island, and the tour painted a much different (and more varied) portrait.

Our excursion on February 20, 2005, began at 8:25 a.m. There were 21 of us on an air conditioned bus, and we headed to the east coast through rolling hills and farmland. We saw a Giant Baobab Tree and stopped at Park’s Farm to see the Barbados Black Belly Shop. Next, we went to the Andromeda Garden. This 6-acre garden had orchids, palms, ferns, heliconia, hibiscus, bougainvillea, begonias, and the Toci Pot palm tree. We spent one hour in the garden with our guide, then went to the Bathsheba Rock formations, a place popular for surfing. We saw the last working windmill in the Western Hemisphere at Morgan Lewis, then the bus took us back to Bridgetown, the island’s capital, and to the docks where the ship was located. My point in detailing this excursion is to prove my point: you must venture out beyond the port cities if you want a complete feeling about what these islands are like.

Even though it is unfair to say, “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” it might apply to the less-developed islands/countries and, too, if you do not venture beyond the port city. It is more accurate to say that each port is totally unique in its own way, but the more tourist-friendly they become, the more homogenous they appear. If your goal is to gain a sense of the local culture, ethnic diversity, and local merchandise and food, then it is clear where you need to go.

-----

This is a cool web site. It results from an essay contest in cooperation with the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Want to read what these essayists find unique on a variety of Caribbean islands? If you think “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” then read this information.

At Cruise Critic: Cruise Reviews and News, there is at this site, specific information about Aruba, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Barth’s, St. Kitt’s, Granada, Antigua, and Dominica. By just reading the descriptions here, you will quickly come to the conclusion that the cliche, “if you’ve seen one Caribbean island, you’ve seen them all,” is way off base, unfair, and ignorant.

-----
Copyright April 2010 by And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.