Slowly rising and falling with the swells of the ocean, like creatures of the sea, you take in the brilliance of your surroundings. Here in the crystal clear, aquamarine waters of the Caribbean island of Grenada, you are overwhelmed by the calming beauty of nature, synchronous with the peace you feel within.

You return to the white sand shore of the pristine Grand Anse Beach where a carefree calypso band strums away underneath the covered terrace of the renowned Spice Island Beach Resort. Equipped with modern amenities and the most attentive, professional staff, the luxurious retreat is unpretentious, naturally dignified by the sights and sounds of the ocean and low green hills that surround it.

Days of Discovery
Originally inhabited by Carib Indians, the tropical island nation was first named Concepción by Christopher Columbus in 1498. However, with its verdant forests reminiscent of Andalusia, Spanish sailors began to call it Granada after the city in Spain.

For a century and a half the native Caribs resisted European colonization until a French expedition purchased the land in exchange for beads, knives, and hatchets in the 1650’s.

For almost a century the French and British struggled for power over the island, until it was permanently ceded to the British under the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. While the French had dubbed the island Grenade, the British soon changed it to Grenada (pro-nounced Gre-nay-da). Finally in 1974, Grenada gained its independence as a nation under the British Commonwealth.

Nowadays, despite a tumultuous history of colonization, the island remains a peaceful cornucopia of both natural and cultural riches. There are 40 white sand beaches and nine black sand beaches, as well as spectacular waterfalls, museums, historical landmarks, and open-air markets.

Spice Island’s Mission-Style Villa
With thick twisting trunks, low rising seagrape trees welcome you with leafy outstretched arms as you head up the shore. In the cool shade a local artisan sits weaving an intricate basket from a palm leaf.

You tiptoe to the lively beat of steel drums along a sand pathway covered in sprawling vines and purple buds. Inside the open-air courtyard of the Resort’s mission style villa are tropical flowerbeds of cascading bougainvillaea in hot shades of magenta and red. Elegant fountains trickle alongside fantastic arrangements of ginger and birds of paradise.

At the pool-side bar café, you quench your thirst with an ice cold pineapple cocktail made with traditional Grenadian rum.

As the sun dips towards the horizon, evening comes to life with the natural rhythms of the jungle, and soon the high-pitched peeps and chirps of crickets, frogs, and birds join in the lighthearted song of the musicians.

This perpetual pulse invigorates the spirited activity of the island’s people who spend their days fishing in the plentiful sea and harvesting the land abundant with fruits, vegetables, and spices.

Your Private Poolside Bungalow
After a wonderful day of sunning, kayaking, and jet skiing, you and your husband retire to your private suite. Enclosed by a garden wall, it’s an A-frame bungalow arranged as a small home complete with its own patio, pool, and sauna. As you enter the living room, you notice an early evening appetizer graciously left on the table. Fresh cantaloupe, mango, and watermelon are arranged alongside crab and olive hor d’ouevres.

You share a couple of bites before preparing for a leisurely evening. In the large, marble-walled bathroom, you unwind in the double whirlpool bath, letting the bubbles soothe your sun-kissed skin.

Gently, your husband scrubs your shoulders with a loofah he purchased earlier in the day. To your surprise, it grows on a vine in a thin shell, and the locals use it not only for bathing, but also for making bags, beds, and edible soup. Impressed by the way they cultivate the land and utilize its gifts, you and your husband make plans to tour the island the next morning.

Romantic Evenings
For dinner you head to Spice Island’s award-winning restaurant, just down the path from your little home. On the way, you pass banana and palm trees, and flowering bushes with brilliant yellow blossoms. Not overly manicured or pruned, the grounds retain a spontaneous, wild air.

Situated on a covered veranda by the ocean’s edge, the restaurant offers its own tropical elegance with white linen settings, rattan furniture, classic ceiling fans, and gorgeous chandeliers.

As the ocean breeze whisks the tablecloth against your legs, a tuxedo-clad waiter serves you a delectable five-course meal. Starting with fishcakes, soup, and passion fruit sorbet, you enjoy steamed mahi mahi with eggplant, tomatoe, and saffron rice.

For dessert, you’re served a mouth-watering plate of crêpes topped with apples and strewn with honey. On the courtyard below, jazz musicians perform live, their melodious tunes collaborating with the peaceful hush of the ocean waves lapping in the distance.

For a taste of local nightlife, you and your husband head down the road to Casablanca’s for some tropical drinks and dancing. Sipping a blue island martini, you delight in the energy of the jovial locals who unabashedly hit the dance floor enlivened by pop and reggae.

As you leave, the beat is carried on by the musical score of nature. Slowly, the buzz rises as you pass a stretch of open fields, and soon the sonorous, nightly hum of crickets and frogs flows through the evening air. You admire the star-filled sky, as a songbird warbles and whistles in a nearby tree.

Island Excursions
You wake in the morning to brilliant sunshine streaming into your bedroom suite. Flecks of light dance across the ceiling, reflected from the private pool beneath your balcony. You and your husband start the day with a romantic dip in the cool water. After a room service delivery of omelettes and fresh squeezed juice, you depart to tour the island.

Your first stop is Saint George’s, a charming city wrapped around the edge of Grenada’s finest natural harbor. Founded in the 18th century by the French, the hillside town is filled with small twisting streets and pastel-hued 19th century Creole houses, colorfully roofed with orange fishscale tiles.

You head to Market Hill and are delighted by the variety of fresh local produce. Colorful papayas, bananas, sweet potatoes, roots, guavas, and star apples overflow from bins where they’re sold by local farmers underneath a canopy of brightly colored umbrellas. Alongside the market is the Old Spice House where a group of ancient women offer you spice bags, potpourri chains, and handmade dolls strewn with spices.

The Spice of Life
Thrilled by the exotic scents wafting in the air, you’re inspired to explore the roots of this famed "Spice Island." Together you head to a plantation in the nearby parish of Gouyave.

As you approach the 1,000-acre plantation, dating back to the 1700’s, you are impressed by a local woman strolling down the road with a neatly tied bundle balanced perfectly upon her head. Just around the bend are fields of banana trees, sugar cane, and a variety of trees and plants from where cocoa beans and spices come.

Inside a wooden shed, a friendly farmer shows you her harvest of spices — pungent cloves for flavoring ham and tea, lemony bay leaves for stews and sauces, all-spice leaves for flavoring rum punches, and sweet smelling cinnamon sticks recently shaved from the bark of a tree.

On the way home, you pass several peaceful harbors occupied by cows and egrets. Along the exotic black sand beach of the coast of St. John, seagulls squawk in unison, a signal to the local fisherman that a catch of kingfish or swordfish is near. Fishing is important to the livelihood of the people, which is why all boats are blessed by priests in an annual summer ceremony.

Nutmeg
Inspired by the nutmeg emblem on Grenada’s flag, you and your husband head to one of the island’s three nutmeg processing centers to learn more about the nation’s most important spice. With seeds originally stolen from the East Indies, the plant has flourished for hundreds of years, allowing Grenadians to utilize every layer of the fruit and nut for a myriad of products, from food seasoning to cosmetics.

Inside, the center is filled with the continuous patter of nuts spilling into bins. As the workers chatter away, your husband peruses the floor of drying racks and cracking machines, and admires the diligent process by which the quality of each nut is determined.

Second only to Indonesia, Grenada produces one third of the world’s supply of nutmeg, which was once considered the world’s most valuable commodity due to its medicinal properties.

Rest & Relaxation
After a day full of adventure, you and your husband return to the Resort and head to Janissa’s Spa for a relaxing couple’s massage. While you lay side by side, two therapists perform a simultaneous Swedish massage using local cinnamon, nutmeg, and coconut oils to soothe your skin and muscles.

Feeling rejuvenated, you head back to your suite for some private time together. At sunset, you take a romantic stroll on the beach and purchase a woven basket from a local artist, a perfect container for the bundles of spice and potpourri gathered throughout your day.

Dazzling Reefs and Jungles
In the morning you head to Molienere Point, famous for its sheer wall dive. Soon you are immersed in crystal clear waters surrounded by a colorful school of red and yellow reef fish. Your husband points out a nearby dolphin frolicking at the surface, and quickly the fish skitter away. On the coral-filled ocean floor, seaweed gently sways back and forth as if dancing to the rhythm of a silent song.

In the afternoon you and your husband explore the lush, mountainous interior of the island. You head to the Grand Etang Forest to experience the bird sanctuary and jungle reserve with miles of hiking trails and lookout points.

The highlight of your exploration is your one-hour hike to the Seven Sisters Falls. The path, lined with ferns, bamboo, and kapok trees, seems a world away from the tiered streets of the mercantile towns you’ve explored in the days prior.

You stroll hand-in-hand underneath the brilliant green canopy to the idyllic waterfall, and soon are dangling your feet in the cool water. Alongside mossy rocks, magenta impatiens, and exotically arching orchids, you embrace near the mist of the falls. As the water rushes down in an incessant flow, the jungle rustles with crooning critters and caroling birds.

Historical Plantations
For lunch you head to Morne Fendue, a plantation house where visitors are welcomed for a distinct home-cooked meal, Grenadian style. Once owned by a philanthropic local named Betty Mascoll, the stone house is a little piece of the island’s history. Built in 1908, it was constructed with lime and molasses, and now is embellished with colorful bougainvillaea in amazing shades of pink, peach, and yellow.

The wooden floors creak when you enter the old-fashioned parlor filled with world maps, books, and albums of visitors’ photos. Immediately you are offered a refreshing glass of mami apple juice, a local lemon-lime drink. Chatting with guests from Australia and Britain, you enjoy a buffet of rice and pigeon peas, roast chicken, sweet plaintains, and salad.

You cool off with a local favorite, sour sop and papaya sorbet, while a light rain pitter-patters on the nearby veranda. The house cat brushes against your leg and begins to purr. You and your husband realize, with delight, how at-home and welcome you’ve been made to feel in the middle of the Grenadian rainforest.

Sweet Departure
On this rugged, agrarian island filled with rolling mountains, dense rainforests, and fragrant spice trees, you have found raw beauty and simplicity fulfilling.

As you relax at the Resort in your final days, you feel an irrepressible excitement for your life together as husband and wife. Never have you felt so compatible, so in tune with each other and with life. It’s a feeling you look forward to bringing home.