PRICKLY BAY, GRENADA

PRICKLY BAY, GRENADA

MARCH 28- April 8, 2017

We set sail from Charlotteville, Tobago at 1742 (UTC-4) hrs on March 27 and arrived Prickly Bay Marina (11-59.907’ N; 061-45.550’ W) at 1154 (UTC-4) hrs.  It was a very pleasant sail with the wind out of the ESE and seas running 4-6’ with a clear starry night.  We were able to set the two poled out jibs and maintain about 5 kts.  We had a one kt current against us.

Prickly Bay has many contractors and marine services that cater to the yachting world.  Spice Island Marina has haul out facilities, small apartments and a very good Chandlery named Budget Marine.  It is centrally located and St George is a ten minute bus ride.  There are some big supermarkets in St George including an IGA.  Everything can be found to provision a yacht.  WE had to go to Prickly Bay for a Freon leak in the refrigeration unit and a leak in the floor of our Avon dinghy.

We had to “Med Moor” at the Prickly Bay Marina.  This consists of picking up a fixed mooring buoy for the bow of the boat and backing onto the pontoon and putting out two stern lines.  It doesn’t work well for a canoe stern boat because we weren’t able to get off.  Our friends on “Norsa” were next to us so we pulled ourselves alongside them and used their boat for getting on and off.  Once they left, we had to use our dinghy and go over to the dinghy dock to get on and off the boat.  We won’t Med Moor anymore unless it is absolutely necessary.

There are some beautiful bays on the Southern end of Grenada:  Clarks Court, Secrete Cove, Whisper Cove and Hog Island.  Many cruisers return to these beautiful places year after year.  There is an active Cruiser’s Net that comes on VHF 66 at 0730 hrs every morning except Sundays.  It is informative and helpful.  Just about anything can be arranged by requesting it.

Many yachties from the UK haul out for the hurricane season and fly back home.  Others stay and make arrangements to find a good “hurricane hole” should one threaten.  Grenada is slightly South of 12 degrees which means that the island is not frequented by tropical storms very often.  Grenada is a beautiful, friendly and welcoming place.  It values the yachts that choose to call there.