Grenada's secret gem - Saline Island

Rowan had heard the island was special, also highly recommended by a German skipper of a charter boat who said it was his favourite place in the whole of the Caribbean. We left early for us, before breakfast, as we heard that it can really only hold 5 or 6 boats and is a tricky mooring negotiating the reef and shallow areas.

We were very glad that only 4 other boats were moored and one was leaving. With very slow manoeuvring and a few attempts at dropping anchor we got secured. Immediately greeted by a Rasta who welcomed us to his island and his Vegan Kitchen! After sorting out a few chores we took Jeldi Jeldi to the beach and booked in for lunch. We first went for a little explore along the beach to an old round ruined building which turned out to be a lime kiln, burning coral to make lime mortar.

Our Rasta chef was a wonderfully warm, genuine character. He loves gardening and cooking, and set up the kitchen shack on the beach a month ago, using all vegetables he is growing on the island. As nobody else was eating he gave us a tour of his garden which was incredible, he has cleared all the bush and got so much growing in such a short time. He reckons he can get 3 crops of mealies (corn) a year. He has planted loads of Coconut and Pawpaw trees, trellising for his granadillas and beans, loads of pumpkins and squash, a very tasty type of spinach called callaloo, watermelons, herbs and lettuce on growing tables. He collects and dries out a certain type of seaweed. Very enterprising. He has lived in Switzerland for the last 15 years, where he became a vegan, he returned home last Christmas to Carriacou for a holiday and has been stranded here by Covid, so decided to start up a Vegan shack here.

Drying seaweed

Red hibiscus for syrup

Our table under the poisonous machineel tree! We had to move when it started raining, the chef says he no longer reacts to it.

The bar and kitchen he has made, using all the wood from the island

We started with a delicious callaloo soup served in a gourd bowl, with very delicate spices. Then we had a plate of vegetables, scrummy battered squash flowers, salad, beans, potatoes (home grown sweet potatoes) and lentils. All washed down with a lime juice with nutmeg (the spice Genada is famous for). We rolled back onto PolePole and were very grateful to be able to lie back and digest it all....... and particularly glad we had nobody else on board!

We had a stunning sunset which we enjoyed enormously from our reclined positions on the benches in the cockpit, with ice cold sundowners at our side. All three other boats were behind us, so we felt we had the place to ourselves. Blissful!!