Grenada 2017 Mt Hartman

Looking SW towards Secret Harbor Marina

December 2017

Grenada has several anchorages.  We have only anchored in two - St George's and Prickly Bay.  We had never anchored in any of the others so we decided it was time to try a few others. 

Mt Hartman Bay anchorage - looking east

The entire south coast of Grenada is full of anchorages.  There are reefs there as well.  Careful navigation is a must.  Even with charts and chartplotters, cruisers still end up on the reef on a regular basis.  And let me tell you, it is intimidating.  But we were careful and went slow.  Tom stood on the bow keeping a eye out as well. 

The eastern side of the entrance to Mt Hartman Bay - see the reefs on the right?

We motored around the corner from Prickly Bay to the very next bay, Mt Hartman Bay.  I held my breath a bit as we passed through the reef but we were fine.  It turns out there are two ways in and we took the shortest but also the least marked.  D-oh!

The western side of the entrance - see the reefs?

Mt Hartman Bay is a very protected anchorage.  We tucked way up in and to the right, among the mangroves.  I would guess that half of the boats were unoccupied.  Also in Mt Hartman is Secret Harbor Marina and restaurant.  The marina is small, maybe 20 + boats.  The restaurant is nice with very friendly staff and good wifi.  The car park is a set pickup spot for the various shopping and tour buses that run weekly.  We could also walk over to Prickly Bay or hike down to the main road. 

Can you spot sv Honey Ryder?

Speaking of shopping buses, I may have told you before about these but I will give you a reminder.  Grenada has organized shopping buses that cater to the cruisers.  They run on set days throughout the week with specific pick up spots from the various anchorages.  They make numerous stops.  It is very organized and efficient.  Of course, it is a van full of interesting cruisers each time, so a ripe source of endless entertainment.  I even wrote a song about the Grenada shopping buses but more on that later. 

From the Mt Hartman anchorage we could easily dinghy on around to the east to other anchorages.   It took  getting used to navigating through the reefs.  I will explain about that later as well. 

Sunrise

We met some interesting cruisers in Mt Hartman.  A lovely South African woman who has been a sail maker and spent several years in the Pacific who is now solo sailing.  A young couple who are pilots and only just purchased their first boat together.  A cruising couple we have known via SSB radio but never met in person until now.  A Canadian couple, he is actually from Trinidad and they lived in Tobago for many years.  And stuffed up in the mangroves .....is Captain Fatty Goodlander's famous cruising boat sv Wildcard.  Captain Fatty is a famous cruiser who writes funny articles and books about his and his wife's cruising adventures.  They have been cruising for probably 30+ years, done three circumnavigations and raised their (now grown) daughter aboard.  sv Wildcard is nearly as famous as they are.  It now belongs to someone else and is waiting in Mt Hartman to go again.

sv Wildcard

One unfortunate thing we discovered about Mt Hartman is barnacles.  There were four boats, including us, fresh out of Trinidad, and all with freshly painted bottoms.  New, expensive, bottom paint.  Various brands and types of bottom paint meant to keep barnacles at bay.  Yeah, not so much.  ALL four boats ended up with bottoms COVERED in little barnacles.  Little finger sized barnacles.  One day the bottom was clean and a few days later, covered.  Whatever is in the nutrient rich waters, it was perfect for barnacles.  We could easily scrape them off, however, we couldn't see the bottom as the water was cloudy, so that made cleaning them off tougher.   Oh well. 

Mineral rich, cloudy water