Coconut Grove Beach Resort, Elmina

Shortly after my parents arrived in Accra, we (my mom, dad, Chloe, our driver, Ben, and I -- Brent was in Guinea at the time) left for a long weekend at the beach! It was my third time out to the Cape Coast area, so I was somewhat relieved to find that my parents didn't want to go see the Dutch and Portuguese Forts that are infamous for their role in the slave trade. The forts are interesting the first time around, but I'm not sure that they are something you really need to revisit.

Without traffic, it's about a 3.5 hour drive to Elmina. Most of that time is spent just trying to get out of Accra...not dissimilar to trying to get out of Manhattan on a summer weekend! The journey is an easy enough route, but we decided to take Ben along with us so that he could take my
my dad out on birding trips in the wee hours of the morning. And, not only would Ben would make overtime, but he'd also get to truly pocket the "driver's allowance" we pay him for each night he's out on the road with us because he could stay at the apartment his sister was in as she was finishing up at the Cape Coast University.


We had stayed at Coconut Grove one time before when Brent's mom was in town. We had learned the hard way which rooms to request. Actually, when Brent's mom was in town, it was Easter Weekend and we were lucky to get any accommodations at all! This time, we had booked one of the family chalets right on the beach. These are two-bedroom little houses--that are actually much cuter from the outside than they are inside, but hey, how much time are you actually going to spend in the room anyway!? The family chalets are definitely the way to go if you have kids with you. The primary benefit? You have a little veranda overlooking the Gulf of Guinea with a 4-seater table -- which enables you to dine outside in the comfort of your own home! The waitress will bring you the menu, take your order and essentially give you room service at NO ADDITIONAL COST! Perhaps this doesn't seem like such a big deal. However, dining out with kids in Ghana has its challenges...the greatest being the wait time between placing your order and getting your meals. On average, you wait an hour -- no matter what it is that you have ordered! I don't know about anyone else's kids, but for Chloe, this is just simply too long!

The waters off the shore of Ghana are very rough, so swimming is not generally adviseable. The undertow is super strong and swimming is the number one cause of death for tourists here. So, when you go to the beach in Ghana, you are usually looking at the beach, but sitting pool-side. Certainly there are exceptions, but in general, that's how it is. You can definitely wade into the crashing waves, and the water is shallow for a good long way out, but swimming, no! We have found that Chloe is fearless! She loves to get totally soaked by the white water and believes that she would have a much grander time if only we were to let go of her.

So, I'm no history scholar. And I'm sure I'll get lots of flack for what I am about to write, however, write it, I will. In the U.S. we don't really get the full story about the slave trade. At least not in the history classes I took. There had been a slave trade going on between African tribes long before the Europeans came into the picture. And, it wasn't the white man going into Africa, capturing Africans and enslaving them. No, no, no...that's not the story they tell you here. Most of the slaves were readily handed over to the Europeans, en route to the US and other destinations, in trade for all sorts of things. The slaves were essentially "prisoners of war"! The African tribes were simply trading their POWs for goods they believed to be more valuable. Trading POWs was a custom they had in place long before the southern plantation owners took on slaves!

I am not excusing the practice in any way, however, it just puts things into a different perspective.

Anyway, a good weekend was had by all. My mom had a rocky start with a 24-hour bug that was quite nasty, but she recovered well, and our seaside retreat was quite enjoyable.