Prickly Bay

Prickly Bay

Wednesday 29^th and Thursday 30^th  May, 2024

Early on Wednesday, we motored round from True Blue Bay to Prickly Bay.  There are a lot of boats in this bay both anchored and moored.  It took us a while to find a spot to anchor.  It may be the case that some people stay on their boats through the hurricane season in these bays on the south coast of Grenada.  There is a marina and boatyard here, so maybe some folks are awaiting haul out.  

After spending some effort on cleaning and polishing (Stainless), we went ashore to Budget Marine.  Here we acquired the bottom paint for the boat and a few painting supplies.  Much to our surprise, there was a big sign indicating that the store would be closed for the next four days.  It seems that May 30^th is a holiday.  The next two days are stock-taking, followed by Sunday when it’s always closed.  It’s a very lucky thing that we didn’t delay going to shore!

Today we woke to rain and squalls.  The swell was rolling the boat substantially. I was starting to feel unwell.  Mike decided that we should try the swell bridle.  (More about that below.) Between the bridle and the seasick meds, I started to feel better.  None of this was helped by having to keep the boat mostly closed on account of the rain.  I found myself wondering why the conditions had to be so difficult in our last week.  Perhaps it was only to be expected with the increasing heat and humidity of hurricane season.

After lunch, we took a walk to the supermarket. The reason we went to the Ram’s supermarket was to evaluate the potential for re-provisioning in November.  It really was a pretty special market. While we don’t need much in the way of food, we did manage to buy quite a few things.  We got some fruit and fresh milk! It looks like muesli for breakfast tomorrow.     

Gloria 

11 59.942 N, 61 45.775 W

The swell bridle

The wind blows mostly from the east in theses part of the world (NE-E-SE) and Prickly Bay faces south, so we are well protected from the wind and wind-driven waves, but the ocean swells are diffracted around the point and roll into the Bay. So when anchored the boat points into the wind (~East) and the swells (~South) hit you from the side. The result is that the boat starts rolling, sometimes gently, but at other times quite violently. Picture a metronome … By attaching a line to the anchor chain and feeding it back to the stern, it’s possible to turn the boat to face the swells and be side on to the wind. This is a bridle (see picture below). In this configuration the swells are hardly noticeable and it is an order of magnitude more comfortable. 

Mike

p.s We are so happy this evening ... 34:0 ... you know what I'm saying!

Hopefully this drawing illustrates how the bridle turns the boat at anchor towards the swells, where they have much less impact.

There is a ton of moisture in the Caribbean at the minute, which is causing some heavy squalls. In this picture you can see Cotinga is pointed towards the Bay entrance (and the swells) whereas most of the other boats are pointing to the shore (and the wind)

We were hit by a squall with heavy rain and winds that briefly approached 30 knots. The smaller yacht in this photo dragged and came very close to the larger yacht. The latter was on a "bridle", facing ~ 90 degrees to the other vessel, and by releasing the stern line was able to swing out of the way and avoid contact.