Still in Prickly Bay

Written at: Prickly Bay, Grenada

July 22, 2006

We’re still here! - In Prickly Bay at the moment, but we have been moving between Prickly and Hog Island for a few days in each. We like Hog Island best, as it has good holding, shelter, and no roll. There are no buildings to be seen on the green tree clad hills surrounding the anchorage. We have been over to the rustic beach bar run by Roger for his Sunday afternoon barbecues several times. In addition we have used the beach front to work on our dinghies. Yes, I said dinghies.

I bought a used Carib RIB, a bit bigger than Sprite, with a solid fibreglass hull and two large inflatable side tanks. It is a good seaworthy vessel, but had a leak along the starboard fibreglass seam where it is moulded into the hypalon fabric. I was frustrated as one of the reasons for replacing Sprite was a water leak that we could not identify or patch, and I always had to bail it out each morning before getting the engine started. We tried Plumber’s Goop on the seam, but it didn’t work, and so a week later took it back to the beach and did a strip fibreglassing job on it. Now I have a dinghy I don’t have to bail out each morning, unless it rained the previous night, which includes most nights now as it is rainy season. We are calling the new dinghy Wave Dancer, as it rides lightly on the waves on its v-shaped fibreglass hull. Judy likes it, as now when she is sitting on the bow she is above the waves and wake made by the boat, as the inflatable tubes are much larger and she sits higher on them, not getting wet as she did in Sprite.

It has no midships thwart, but we have lashed a cooler box midships with the gas tank and lifejacket bag secured forward, leaving a small area in the bow for Judy’s feet. Because the v-shaped hull rides high, it was difficult to get it up on a plane, and so I re-installed a set of fins on the lower part of the outboard just above the propellor. This allows the boat to get up on a plane rapidly. Unfortunately the transom (the back of the boat where the motor is hung) does not go straight across from one pontoon to the other. It has an extension for the motor, but the sides are angled forward into the hull. I had to make a bracket to go across the back to accommodate the brackets for the Dinghy-Tow. I used two 1/4 inch pieces of marine plywood bolted together and bolted to the transom. It fit the dinghy-tow arms quite well. However our first trip back from Hog Island to Prickly Bay caused the plywood to fracture in the heavy waves outside the bays. I replaced the two pieces of plywood with one piece of plywood and a strip of 1/4 inch aluminum plate. This combination works well, and is quite strong enough for the stresses of the arms lifting the stern and towing the dinghy. So now I have two dinghies, though I hope to be able to sell Sprite before we leave Grenada.

Hog Island is our favorite tranquil anchorage, although if strong easterlies are blowing gusts can come over the island, swinging Veleda on her anchor chain. We still get the cruisers’ net at 0730 each morning, except Sundays, and we can communicate with boats in the nearby bays, including Prickly Bay, Mount Harmon Bay, and St. Georges lagoon. From Hog Island we are within an easy dinghy ride of Martin’s Marina in Mount Harman Bay, Clark’s Court Marina and Whisper Cove Marina in Clark’s Court Bay, and the small hamlet of Woburn from which we can get a $2.00 EC (about $.80 Canadian) mini-bus ride into St. George’s for any supplies we need. It is a more treacherous dinghy ride to go around to Prickly Bay from Hog Island as it involves going out around Prickly Point into open water, which is often exposed to 15 to 25 knot trade winds and the six to nine foot seas they kick up.

There are many social activities going on, announced on the morning net. Monday night is Movie Night at Whisper Cove Marina, Friday night is a Pot Luck Supper and karaoke at Clark’s Court Marina, Thursday night there are Salsa lessons at a local restaurant in Prickly Bay, Saturday afternoons there are games of dominoes at Whisper Cove Marina and Sunday afternoons, the barbecue at Roger’s beach bar on Hog Island. The net also includes a good weather report, and fortunately there have been far fewer tropical storms or hurricanes than last year, and none so far have come anywhere near Grenada. Local businesses advertise their services and other cruisers can exchange what we call “treasures if the bilge”, surplus equipment they wish to sell or just get rid of over the net, as I am hoping to sell Sprite.

More about the leisurely life at anchor down here in Grenada in future logs.


Next log