Ciao Grenada Marine. It’s been swell.
Written Dec. 20, 2015.
Prickly Bay, Grenada
After a great couple of days reconnecting with some lovely people, we finally got out of St. David’s Bay and did our first little hop to Prickly Bay. I guess I’m a little sentimental, because I don’t like saying goodbye. I would much rather if everything just continued — but sailors are transient people. We exist as a strong community of continually moving parts.
Our departure took a bit of effort. St. David’s Bay can be roll-y, so to make life more comfortable during our stay, we had put out a stern anchor to hold Cedar’s bow to the incoming swells. With sensitive tummies aboard, this can make all the difference, and transform an intolerable anchorage into a pleasant one.
The only problem comes when you try to lift it.
Our stern anchor is a ~65 Lb plough. It was Cedar’s primary anchor before we got our hefty 130b (cough) Mantus. And since we are loathe to throw anything away, it is now our secondary/ stern anchor.
To his credit, Moss did try for a while to lift the damn thing by hand from the dingy. But no dice. The thing is too big. Then we got smart and decided to let Cedar do the heavy lifting.
We took the mooring line and walked it around to the stern and tied off. This turned Cedar around so that her bow, and more importantly, the windless (anchor lifting thing), was facing inland. Moss then took the primary anchor chain off the gypsy (the part of the windless that catches the chain) and put the stern anchor on. Then Cedar then did her thing — and lifted her former anchor with ease, just like old times.
The waves during the sail over to Prickly were 2-3 m. This was maybe a bit big for our first hop, but with the Grenada Christmas winds blowing, you don’t really have any other option. Besides, the sail to Prickly is short, and especially so if the 2 knot current is in your favour.
When we got to Prickly, another sailor friend, Guy from Sanctuary, was already there and treated us to BBQ’ed steak aboard his “proper boat” (i.e. a cat).