Another 7 days passed by ever so quickly and we found ourselves settling into the rhythm of life in Prickly Bay. It seemed that longer we loitered, the more the subtleties of Bay life became apparent. Although there were a lot of yachts in the bay, probably less than half were actually cruising yachts. The marina cafe dinghy dock was full during the day but the car park was full during the night. We began to realise that there were probably a lot of people living on yachts and working day jobs on the island. Yachties often need to bring in some cash to keep up the lifestyle, so this theory made sense.
There were 2 reasons for our continued stay in Prickly Bay. The wind in the bay had gusts exceeding 30 knots right across the weekend, and although we had a strong desire to move east to one of the nearby bays, the high wind outside the bay would make for a very rough passage against the Trades.
A yacht had anchored questionably too close to Trilogy and so we felt the need to stay on board to be vigilant. This meant we only ventured out in the late afternoon for a swim and walk ashore, when the wind speed dropped. Squalls continued to roll through regularly, making things generally uncomfortable.
The second reason for staying in Prickly Bay was that we had ordered a freezer thermostat on Thursday from the USA and we were promised it would arrive overnight. FedEx did an impressive job, notifying that it had arrived in Grenada the following day but there was a hold up in delivery. This delay we figured was the passage through customs and as it was late on Friday, there would be no further progress until Monday. The parcel was addressed to the local Budget Marine chandlery as they had offered to act as our agent, in getting the parcel processed smoothly. By Tuesday midday, the parcel was in our hands and we were free to move from the bay.
We cautiously motored out of Prickly Bay, avoiding the surrounding shoals and headed out to the open water. The easterly breeze was 15-20knots and Trilogy comfortably made the short 5NM passage, passing other beautiful bays (Mt Hartman Bay, Hog Island and Clarke's Court Bay) until we lined up with the markers to enter Phare Bleu Cove.
Nestled at the end of the bay is Phare Bleu Marina and Boutique Hotel and as our third water tank was close to empty, we opted to stay a night in the marina. We had a friendly greeting from Kenny the dockmaster, who offered to take Garth into the small marina to choose the berth...how nice was that! Once Garth was back on board, all lines and fenders were set up and Trilogy came alongside with a minimum of fuss.
At last we were out of the strong winds and the light fluffy clouds in a blue sky was most welcoming. While the skipper checked Trilogy in at the marina, the crew started filling the water tanks and connecting power. Oh-so-good chilled Caribs were downed while the water tanks slowly reached capacity! The washing machine obligingly sprang into action to wash our personal clothing and we decided to seek out the Henry Safari laundry ashore to give all the linen a freshen up. After showers, we just made it to Happy Hour and relaxed on the plush cushioned lounges, imbibing not only our cocktails but the tranquillity of the bay as the sun set.