noplasticshowers

Imagine an isolated beach situated between two cliffs that tower over the shore on either side—coarsely sandy with waves big enough to hear and small enough to swim in. Then imagine a cottage surrounded by flowers and succulent plants perched over the common restaurant, pool, bar, and beach. Perfectly isolated from the other cottages. Put all of these imaginary things on an uncharacteristically green Granada.

Laluna Beach Grenada

That’s laluna.

We arrived well after dark having just learned lesson one about Grenada. Don’t rent a car, just get drivers and/or taxis.

Cottage 10 abuts cottage 9 where Eli stayed, and is the best cottage in the collection.

The shower was remarkable even by NPS standards. Outside and open to the elements but under a roof. Two square windows look out over the ocean.

We would go just for the shower.

Ladies and gentlemen, NPS presents a non-plastic shower pic.twitter.com/hXLTJw2LVs

— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 6, 2017

Porch on a blustery morning

Then there was lesson two, which is bring cash. The ATM situation is suboptimal with Scotiabank leading the lameness charge. Dollars come in handy. Bring some.

About the only thing to fix about Laluna would be the restaurant and bar. The restaurant is staffed with great, attentive people, and is a good place for a hearty breakfast before diving, but there are far better places for lunch and for dinner just a short distance away. Likewise, Urban behind the bar is a fine fellow and a decent steel drum player to boot, but he needs a better ingredient set to make drinks with. That said, Urban was willing to adjust and learn some classics with special touches.

The breakfast view at laluna can’t be beat

A quick review of dinner targets reveals that BB’s Crabshack is by far the most authentic and delicious restaurant around. Goat stew and shrimp curry with rum punch? Yes.

BB'S crab shack bats it home pic.twitter.com/8voTH4avBf

— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 9, 2017

Aquarium had the best high cuisine chef on the island with many dishes well past the workaday. Everyone complains about the service, but if you just light one of the cats on fire they will come right around.

The Beachhouse is by far the fanciest place and has the advantage of being a walk down the beach from Laluna, but it’s not as good food-wise as Aquarium even though the service is much better.

Coconut Beach restaurant is workaday. Its location right on the beach is nice, but not really worthy of a night out.

A margarita from

For lunch, umbrellas suited us just fine in our wet bathing suits and sandy feet fresh off the dive boat. Get the hot dog and remind them how easy it is to make a proper margarita with cointreau!

Native Spirit Dive Shop

We came to dive, and so we did. Two tank dives every day from Sunday to Wednesday. Native Spirit is fantastic with a friendly staff, attentive (and still fun) dive masters, very nice equipment, and great knowledge of the area. While in town, Eli was advanced open water diver certified and we carried out one deep 125 foot dive on the wreck of the Bianca C.

Coconut Beach from the dive shop

All in all the diving water was less clear than what we have experienced elsewhere with many more fish and fewer other creatures. We did see some gigantic lobsters lurking under the wreck of the Veronica (which also has a hidden air pocket 30 feet down). Drift diving and reef diving were enjoyable, but the wrecks were the most memorable. The underwater sculpture garden was worth a visit as well.

Rahel and Adrian are the dive shop proprietors and very nice people indeed.

Dive boat (super fast)

Coconut Beach from the dive shop

On our non-diving day (one day before flying) we went for a hike up Quaqua, the mountain in the middle of Grenada. The hike was great.

Hiking Quaqua

We also took a drive up to visit River Antoine’s Rivers Rum distillery (which actually makes Rhum Agricole just for the record). The drive was a great way to see more of the island, and the distillery itself is worth a look.

River’s Distillery is worth a visit

Off to the airport. Bye bye @LALUNAgrenada pic.twitter.com/o8XsLqLGrP

— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 10, 2017

Five showerheads in an outdoor shower overlooking the ocean on a balmy morning for Laluna. Go!