Monday Night Madness: Crab Racing in Grenada

Photos by Goats on the Road

After living and traveling around the Caribbean island of Grenada for six months, we thought that we had seen it all, and done it all. That was, until we heard about the Monday night crab racing event at the bar attached to the Flamboyant Hotel.

We arrived at the Owl Bar, which is located right on Grand Anse Beach, and were in awe of the views across the sea to the capital of St. George's. The lights were shimmering on the water, and the waves were quietly lapping up on the shore. But, enjoying the sea and lights was not why we were there. We came for the crab racing!

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We ordered up a rum punch, which is the drink of choice in Grenada, and sat on one of the chairs surrounding a ring, which had been dug out of the sand. We had no idea what to expect, or how crabs would actually race, but that all became clear when the host, and the bookie for the event arrived. On the microphone, it was announced that the racers had arrived from Italy, Germany, Canada, England and the neighboring island of Trinidad, to partake in this unique event. The crabs were apparently a bit jet legged, but had been practicing with their trainers all day and were ready to race — this type of amusing commentary continued the entire night.

In the middle of the sandy ring, there was an overturned, white plastic bucket. Everyone, including the hermit crabs, were anxiously waiting for the event to start. *Note: The crabs are well taken care of.

Round 1

This round was for the fastest crab. We placed our bets on which crab we thought would scurry his way from the center of the ring, to cross the line in the sand. We figured we should put some money on the home teams — Canada and Grenada. But, as the bucket was lifted, our two crabs just sat there, while the German practically ran his way to the finish line. We were disappointed, and had lost a few bucks, but there were still a couple of rounds to go.

Round 2

This time, we were supposed to put money on the crab that we thought would be the slowest. Easy enough, we already knew that Canada and Grenada had no interest in racing that night. But, as luck would have it, the Canadian took off at full speed (full speed for a hermit crab), and won the round! By this point, we were down about $10.

Round 3

For this round, a large cardboard box was brought forward filled with hermit crabs for us to choose from. We picked one that we thought would be speedy, and even gave him a test run on the sand. He seemed fast, and feisty — he latched on to my finger with his pincher and didn’t want to let go! But, not surprisingly, we lost this round as well.

Round 4

This was probably the most random of all of the rounds. This time it was based on the fastest political figures. In the running were Fidel Castro, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin. We placed our bets on the Cuban leader, and crossed our fingers. It was a strange feeling to be yelling "Go Fidel, Go!" but our encouragement seemed to work, and finally during the last race of the evening, our crab crossed the line in first place.

Unfortunately for us, since we were expecting to lose again, we only bet $2 on this round, and ended up winning double — a whopping $4!

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This will go down as one of the most random and unique events that we've ever partaken in while traveling. If you're planning to travel to Grenada, we recommend popping down to the southern end of Grand Anse Beach on a Monday night and checking out the crab racing. This is just one of the many interesting things that you can see and do in Grenada.

Check out our quick video of the races here. 

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