Grenada, home to world famous Underwater Sculptures

The New York Times has a wonderful segment in their Travel Section called 36 Hours in ... you fill in the city and you get a great guide for exciting places to go and things to do in your chosen city. If you haven't ever tried it, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, I have been using 36 Hours to help me come up with some interesting places to see when we are at the 8 ports of call on our Southern Caribbean cruise. I was surprised and disappointed to find out that the only port that did not have a 36 hours recommendation was the island of Grenada. However, by chance I learned of the magnificent underwater sculptures created by Jason de Caires Taylor.

I was so fascinated by the sculptures that I wanted to post a video for you.

Moilinere Bay

Moilinere Bay is now home to sixty-five sculptures, covering an area of 800sq metres. It is located two miles north of the capital St Georges on the west coast of the island, within an area designated a National Marine Park. The bay is enclosed by rock headlands and has a small beach in one corner. Within the Bay the sea ranges in depth from 0- 25m. It can be reached by land, by walking down to Dragon bay and following the beach down in a southerly direction. It is roughly a 10 minute boat ride from St Georges and 15 minutes from Grand Anse.

Moiliniere Bay suffered considerable storm damage in recent years and the placement of an artificial structure has provided a new base for marine life to proliferate. The sculptures were also designed to create a diversion from other areas of coral reef currently endangered by over use from water actvities

Originally it had been circulated on many websites that the pictures of the beautiful scenes were thought to be a tribute to fallen African slaves, but after the artist was contacted, the following reply was received:

    “It was never my intention to have any connection to the Middle passage. Although it was not my intention from the outset I am very encouraged how it has resonated differently within various communities and feel it is working as an art piece by questioning our identity, history and stimulating debate.”

    - Jason de Caires Taylor

There are new underwater sculptures.  More recently his most ambitious project to date was the creation of the world's largest underwater sculpture museum, MUSA, situated off the coast of Cancun and the western coast of Isla Mujeres.

Please go to Jason's website for more info

 Video details the transformations of the pieces over a 2 year period

    Collection of over 68 underwater sculptures located in Grenada and the UK all by sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor.