It is day three on the hook and we have been working hard at getting Celebrian seaworthy and ready to move to another bay on the south coast. The wind has been 30 knots plus and gusty so we definitely did not want to pound in to 6-9 foot seas. This is the view from Celebrian's cockpit as the sun rises in Prickly Bay.
The large map shows the whole of Grenada. I will have a better idea of the island once I go on a tour which I hope to do next week. The other maps are taken from our cruising guide which shows all of the bays along the south coast. It is no wonder that so many boats come here with so many wonderful deep bays to anchor in. Most of the best anchorages are on the southern coast. The trade winds blow consistently from the east with a little north thrown in once in awhile so these bays couldn't be better. That being said we still get quite a swell in Prickly Bay and it took us a little while to get our sea legs. Some of the other anchorages will be better protected; however there is bus access here as well as the marine store so people will put up with the motion.
The captain has been working on the wiring and we now have a new depth sounder installed. The previous depth sounder drowned in hurricane Irene. We have said many times that we were very lucky that the only thing that we lost during that almost direct hit of Irene on Green Turtle Cay was our depth sounder. This depth sounder we flew down from home and now is happily telling us our depth. Of all the instruments on board the depth sounder is by far the most important piece of equipment. Because of its importance we have depth available on our radar screen as well. In addition to the wiring for the sounder Rob has installed our new radio microphone which is mounted at the helmsman's station. Our new radio has what is called AIS which allows us to see information about other vessels and in particular large ships. We will not only get their position but we will see their name,course and speed. If necessary we will be able to hail them and make sure that they are seeing us. On many an overnight last winter we had large container ships unwilling to let us know if they could see us. It is unnerving in the dark when you know that they are travelling at plus 20 knots and we are sailing at 5.
The admiral has been doing some stainless steel polishing and basically trying to stay out of the way of the captain....not an easy feat on a 36 foot vessel?!? In fact he has been encouraging me to do things on my own so I have been doing a little kayaking and running errands at the same time. Tomorrow I am heading over to Grand Anse to meet my friend Sandy and we are going to take the bus into St. George's and show me around. This kills two birds of paradise with one shell....I get a feel for the capital city of Grenada and I get out of the captain's way.
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