Category: Life On A Boat

Ranking Grenada Anchorages: Pluses and Minuses

We’re looking back as our time in Grenada ends. Three months have flown by, as we’ve kept busy with cruiser activities, guests and boat projects. As we say goodbye to a wonderful place to spend hurricane season, we’re ranking Grenada anchorages.

Cruising Grenada

Southern Bays of Grenada

The majority of cruisers park their boats on the southern shore of the island. Each bay has its pluses and minuses: some are more comfortable, others more convenient. All of the bays are busy this time of year, since we’re all here for hurricane season but different cruisers have different priorities and comfort levels. As a result, these observations and rankings are ours alone and you should bop around the bays yourself and make your own decisions.

In my descriptions below, I move around the Grenada bays from northwest to southeast. These are not all the places to anchor in Grenada, simply the most popular as well as those we have personally tried. Now, on to ranking Grenada anchorages.

Please note that some of this has changed due to Covid and time, so always check with the relevant authorities before entering a new country.

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We Made It Through Karen

Sunday Morning Weather Report

We awoke yesterday to the news that Tropical Storm Karen was heading for Grenada. Suddenly, our safe hurricane hole in Grenada was not so safe. The good news is we made it through Karen unscathed.

Before Sunday morning, the forecasts said Tropical Storm Karen was supposed to keep west and north of us. We woke up to this change and did not have time to prepare. We keep a good eye on the weather forecasts, but we have to expect the unexpected living on a boat.

Tropical Storm Karen
Tropical Storm Karen forecast as of Sunday AM

I’m not gonna lie: when the winds and rains started, I was scared. Sunday morning, the calm before the storm, we rushed around Sava closing hatches and lifting our dinghy while thunder roared in the background.

Dinghy Sava
Our dinghy secured off the boat
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Constant Boat Work

“Living on a sailboat is doing boat work in exotic places”

Sad but true. After living aboard Sava for nearly 10 months, we are constantly doing boat work.

One step forward..

We have some good news, but I am afraid to celebrate too much for fear of jinxing us. We are embroiled in what feels like constant boat work but have some good news: the engine and auto pilot are still working!

And several steps back

Just because I haven’t posted recently about breakdowns doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I will recount the latest issues we’ve had with Sava.

Recent Boat Work

Windlass

We tried to anchor in a new spot a few weeks ago only to have the windlass fail again. We moved onto a mooring ball at a lovely marina with a great restaurant, Whisper Cove, while trying to fix the windlass.

Brian dismantled the windlass, unwound the entire anchor chain, and consulted professionals. They cleaned it and couldn’t find anything wrong.

When Brian reinstalled it, it worked better than ever. While we don’t know what was wrong with our windlass, it’s raising and dropping the anchor perfectly so we are happy.

STATUS: Working

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