A lot can change in a month. As my visit to Grenada approached, the island nation was starting to trend online as a Caribbean hot spot that was celebrating its 50th year of independence. But after I returned home, it was trending for a different reason: A Category 4 hurricane blew through on July 1, bringing significant damage to the country’s north.

The storm took us all off guard, considering that this southernmost Windward Island sits below the hurricane belt and had, up until then, only experienced two catastrophic storms in five decades. Thankfully, the southern portion of Grenada, which holds the pretty capital of St. George’s and nearly all the hotels, was mostly spared. The resorts I visited were up and running again quickly.

While it might seem insensitive to cover Grenada now, when so many of their citizens are trying to recover, true recovery will only come when the visitors do. The Spice Island is known for its rum, nutmeg and chocolate, but tourism is its lifeblood. It boasts many of the same attributes as St. Lucia and St. Kitts — turquoise waters, sandy beaches, lush rainforests — but it’s still a comparatively under-the-radar destination. That may be about to change, now that international luxury hotel groups are moving in.