After crossing an ocean, the captain was slightly reluctant to leave comforts of the marina. But on Friday he decided he was ready for the real world again. We were headed for the south coast of Grenada to see what we could find amongst the number of anchorages on offer.
First stop was Prickly Bay, which had been the first point of contact with land for the Atlantic crew. The captain had to stop to do the required Immigration and Customs check in after the crossing. This was our first experience at anchoring in Grenada, and it went well, anchoring in sand is always comforting with our anchor as once set, you can rely on it staying put. It was windy but not in a bad way.
We put the dinghy down and headed for the Prickly Bay Marina dinghy dock so we could have a look around. This was one yard we had in consideration for a place to leave the boat for the Hurricane season. It was a Saturday so unfortunately the office was not open, but we continued to walk around the perimeter fence and had a look.
We then went walking to find a supermarket which ended up being quite a distance but was worth the walk as it was a big supermarket like we are used to at home. Unfortunately, we had already topped up in St George before we left the marina, so we just topped up on fresh stuff which was better quality but just as expensive as what we had bought before.
On returning to the dingy dock we stopped at the bar for a drink and some lunch and Tony got the chance to speak to a couple who had used the marina to store their boat, and they had only good things to say about the yard.
After our walk near the Prickly Bay area and also considering the time we had spent in St George in the marina, it had become apparent that this Caribbean holiday was different to our time in the Med. Once on shore there was no cafes or restaurants that were specifically for tourists, there were no monuments or boardwalks with tourist/souvenir shops. Things were just for the local population, their shops, their markets. I don’t know if I/we were naive in thinking things were going to be more like Europe or just hadn’t really spent the time to think it over but we have soon come to realise that this years sailing experience will be more about the slowing down, the relaxing days reading, swimming etc than getting off the boat to go and “see” something.
So, with that in mind, after two days in Prickly Bay we moved on to Clarke’s Court Bay where we did the same, anchored in a great spot, put the dinghy down and had a look around the bay. We came across a beach bar which looked pretty cool, so we clocked that one in the memory bank and carried on exploring and found another marina for consideration for hauling out.
In another part of the bay there was an island which looked like a resort but on closer inspection we discovered it was a private island. When Tony passed this bay on the way to Prickly Bay after arriving from the crossing, the boys had seen three large super yachts parked off the island, so I guess like attracts like. If you can afford a super yacht than your friends are more than likely going to be able to own their own Caribbean island. As I said previously, the wealth that some people acquire or inherit is mind blowing!
As we went past the private island, in the next bay was a small resort that had a few pontoons for boats and also a lovely restaurant and pool for their guest and also for people dropping in. We put this one on the agenda for the next day when we came and had lunch and sat around the pool with a drink. It was a lovely set up and if staying longer we would have returned for another visit.
That afternoon we returned to the beach bar which was so chilled. There were local people and cruisers all sharing the same place while people barbecued and swam and you could stand at the bar to order a drink while the water lapped at your feet. We did get talking to two American couples who had both picked up new Vision catamarans from South Africa. Their story was pretty incredible and brave. They had travelled to South Africa to pick them up and also spend some time getting to know their boats. They then sailed up to Namibia and then across the Southern Atlantic Ocean stopping at St Helenas before making it to South America. That is a huge journey, longer than the crossing the boys did. One of the guys back stories was very similar to Tony’s, he’d been a power boater most of his life and had only charted catamarans before buying his own and making the epic trip from South Africa to where we met him in Grenada. That was impressive.
So, after two nights we decided to sail back towards St George to swim on an underwater sculpture park just to the north. You can see it’s taking us some time to slow down and stay in one spot for more than two nights. I’ll give you a tip, it’s not improving!!
We ended up staying on a mooring ball for the night and in the afternoon, we paddled over to the Sculpture Park and tied up the kayak and went snorkelling looking for the sculptures. We found some of them and they were pretty impressive, but the water wasn’t the clearest so I’m thinking we missed a lot.
In the morning, we headed off in the direction of Carriacou but stopped at Ronde Island on the way where we stayed, you guessed it for two nights.