Bareboat Charter in Grenada
We just got back from an 8 day bareboat charter in Grenada/St. Vincents. This was a twice delayed trip due to personal circumstances and Covid restrictions. Originally we were heading for the BVIs but since mid July was now the only time everyone could make it we decided to play it safe and go a little further south in order to avoid hurricanes.
As per our previous charters we went with The Moorings and rented a 50 foot sailing catamaran. Typically The Moorings provides top notch service and boats but this time we felt a little let down. The staff at the Grenada base was not particularly welcoming nor helpful and it felt like it was an imposition each time we walked in the office with a question. Even though we had originally asked (and paid) for a boat that was less than 3 years old this one was certainly older and felt 'tired'. E.g. nearly every cushion had rips or tears so they held water after it rained. It was only provisioned with 1 long mooring line (and no spare lines), so using the mooring balls became quite a challenge - more on that later.
The whole check-in process was a long winded affair, especially considering the mandatory videos everyone needs to watch beforehand now. It literally takes hours. During our initial briefing the base manager spoke so softly it was impossible for me to hear her, and everyone thought the boat briefing was Ok but could have been done in half the time.
The good news was there was a bar conveniently located next door with an awesome pool to keep the crew occupied until we could load up the boat with our gear.
Wifi on board
Our North American friends had no problems using their phone hotspots with roaming turned on. For us Aussies roaming wasn't a viable option so prior to the charter I had purchased a travel router and a 4G modem to get our internet fix. We used about 20 Gb for the week and had only 1 spot (Tobago Cays) where we didn't get a signal.
To get a data only SIM card, go to the Digicel store at Spiceland Mall, which also is a good place to get provisions. It's less busy than the location downtown and it was quick and easy to get the SIM.
Itinerary
The prevailing winds in late July are NE and we typically saw around 20 knots. Our route would take us north into the winds initially and then a more gentlemanly downhill run on the return. Seas were boisterous off the north end of Grenada but aside from that it was smooth sailing. Temps were in the 22°C (71.6°F) - 33°C (91.4°F) range with mostly clear skies and brief showers.
- Moorings Base: Arrival and provisioning.
We took the option of spending the 1st night on the boat and ate at the Victory Bar & Restaurant. - Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
Late start owing to having to wait around for the boat briefing which took us until 12 pm. We were beating up to Carriacou and it was a really long sail. In retrospect we should have done a shorter hop on the first day to let everyone get used to being on a boat. Sorry Jill! Picked up a mooring ball a fair way out in the middle of the harbour and paid a boat boy $ECD 60 for the privilege. Ate at Crazy Beach Corner. Slow service and we learned about the shortage of actual menus so you had to share, or listen in to what was being said to the French table next to us. Je suis un poisson? We also learned that half the menu items weren’t available, which became a common theme on the trip. However, the rum punch was good so we made it through! We were served by new girl "wish me luck" Wendy. Paul was so impressed he wrote a nice review. - Union Island
We stopped at beautiful Sandy Island and hung out swimming off the beach for a couple of hours. We then motored over to Clifton harbour on Union Island and picked up a mooring ball. It was blowing 20 - 25 knots and we really struggled to get secured since 1 of the lines was too short. Paid $US 60 to the boat boy for one of his short lines that I could use as a backup line for peace of mind. Despite what the guides say, there was not much to see in the town here and the food was pretty ordinary to say the least, but there is a well stocked grocery plus bank (last ATM for a while) plus a good dinghy dock protected by sea wall. Local guy told us to clear customs at the airport (which opened 1.5 hours late and took our $ECD 500 cash we had just taken out of the ATM). - Saltwhistle Bay, Mayreau
Picture postcard perfect bay. We enjoyed lunch at the Last Bar Before the Jungle with Pirate the one-eyed cat and a cute puppy. Good drinks and good food, served with a smile! We made the rookie mistake of agreeing to a beach picnic with the first mooring guy who approached us. Rather than it being a beach picnic, we were escorted past the beach, down a dark path to a house one road back from the beach. Despite this, the owner put in a fair amount of effort for us with a nicely decorated table, and plenty of food and drinks. Black Boys bar was recommended so we visited after dinner but it was full of people smoking wacky backy and the dodgy toilet had a peep hole in the wall at waist height so we went back to the boat for drinks on the flybridge and watched the French bikini girls dancing the night away to doof doof music in the charter boat anchored not too far away. Ya Mon! - Tobago Cays
A short motor over to the mooring balls just behind Baradel Island. Fantastic snorkelling with the turtles. We booked dinner with Alfonso who promised us a Stingray feeding show and said all the food was available. Alas, the poor Stingrays went hungry that night, and only part of the menu was available, but it was a good night just the same. They went to a lot of trouble to make us feel welcome. And they had good rum punch. - Canouan
We had an amazing lunch at the Tides Bar & Grill which is at the Mandarin Oriental. They picked us up at the wharf, and helped us pick up cash/some groceries on the way back. Formalities here only took 1 hour to complete! - Petite Saint Vincent
Another picture perfect postcard location. We enjoyed swimming off the beach of this luxury private island resort for a few hours. Dinner reservations were made for the Palm Beach restaurant across the channel on Petite Martinique island and they graciously provided a taxi service to pick us up from the boat. The restaurant is on the beach with beautiful sunset views. They went above and beyond by locating and purchasing a new wine bottle opener for us since we had lost ours (crisis averted). Paul once again was so impressed he left another glowing review. In the morning I was very grateful that we had managed to avoid the rum fuelled temptation to go for a midnight dinghy ride out to the tiki hut on the sand bar. - Tyrell Bay
We ended up here because Paradise Bay was too shallow and it was too windy/crowded to overnight at Sandy Island. We picked up a mooring ball close to where we were previously but a boat boy came along and said someone would be mooring there later that night and we needed to follow him to another ball. We followed him in to a really dodgy mooring close to the beach (and his bar) that was way too close to other boats anchored around us. To make matters worse, the music from another nearby bar was super loud and didn't stop until after midnight. - Prickly Bay, Grenada
We got away as early as possible from the dodgy mooring so we could maneuver out of the tight spot before the wind got up. As we passed the original mooring ball we had picked up the previous afternoon I noticed it was still unoccupied. We had a really enjoyable sail back to Grenada with perfect sun and the wind behind us. By mid-morning we had made it to the sculpture gardens and we spent an hour checking it out. Really cool. We then rounded the bottom of Grenada and anchored near the entrance to Prickly Bay owing to it being so busy. Lunch was at St. George's University Club and it was lovely. Later that evening we went to the Prickly Bay Tiki Bar and Restaurant who had a steel drum band playing initially and then an awesome band putting a reggae spin on all sorts of classics. One of the locals managed to get Mike up for a dance. - Moorings Base: Departure.
A couple of the crew had a 1 pm flight scheduled so we timed our departure from the anchorage to arrive at the base opening time. That worked great but then it took 90 minutes for someone from The Moorings to come out to bring the boat in to the dock (as they require). To top it off we needed to clear out/in with Customs & Immigration who opened late, and there was a queue, so it ended up being a bit of a close call.
If you visit...
- You need plenty of cash. ATMs are fairly sparse and cards are not accepted in most places. Eastern Caribbean dollar (ECD) preferred.
- Boat Boys:
- Try to negotiate up front with the boat boys for their services.
- Don’t accept a beach picnic offer from the first guy who offers.
- No need to tip for their help with mooring buoys if you eat at one of their restaurants later.
- Avoid 'Baby Sean' at Canouan. Felt like we were paying a ransom so as not to have our dinghy stolen/slashed.
- Customs and immigration formalities:
- They typically don't open when they say they will so allow plenty of time and bring a lot of patience. We lost a day and a half over the course of our trip waiting around to get this paperwork processed.
- Sailclear (electronic system) typically isn't faster than filling out the form manually, and it doesn't seem to matter what technical info you put in the form (e.g. boat specs, Registration/ IMO number, who the GPS manufacturer is!?). Just make sure the passport stuff is correct.
- They only accept cash.
- Don't expect gourmet food at the restaurants. Eating at the beach picnics will be expensive but it is convenient. You better like chicken with rice. Lobster was out of season. If you want to cook onboard fresh fruit/veg is readily available, albeit at tourist prices.
