A Rolly First Night and a Tasty Barbecue

4th October 2025 | Odometer: 10.2nm | Grenada

It was finally here! The day we leave the marina!

We had cleaned and washed and packed and prepped and filled water tanks and grocery shopped and literally anything else we could think of! It was time to go!

We said farewell to the various folks we had been seeing everyday and headed out of the marina on a massive 0.8nautical mile journey haha. Hey we wanted to keep it easy for our first night 🙂

We popped out of the harbour and over to the Grand Anse Mooring balls. Everything went smoothly and we were both stoked at how easy it had been. The training with Mark really helped us loads.

A sense of euphoria filled us both as we jumped around the boat being like OMG WE ARE FREE!!!

Our friends, Bobbie and Craig, had also left the marina that day, and were anchored just nearby to the mooring fields. We were so excited to spend our first night out on the water looking at this beautiful view.

Time to Clean all those fenders!

Mooring Ball

The Anchor Light Works!

Sunset Rum on the Roof

Although we were keen to start heading north, a couple of things had us waiting… firstly, a few of our packages had been delayed from the US and we were expecting them within a week or so; secondly; a tropic storm brewing to the East in the Atlantic ocean…always a bit scary during hurricane season!

We settled in to enjoy the night and the view, only to find it was a bit rolly. Hmm, should be alright, it will settle down…? Right? Right!?

Unfortunately, no, it did not settle down. The swells came in and got bigger as the evening wore on, a secondary northern swell was coming down, and combined with the wind reflecting off the cliffs… it was rolly. Like, it felt like being on a swing in a playground when you are really swinging. Slight stomach lurch with each motion, your whole body swaying from side to side and staggering like a drunk through the saloon.

Not much sleep was had that night as we both rolled back and forth and held on trying to stay in our beds! At 3am, we were both wide awake and had to laugh at just how utterly ridiculous it was!

After perservering through the night, we got up super early, unhooked from the mooring ball and shifted round to the other side of the island, into an area called Hog Island. And, WOW, what an absolute difference… from rolly and uncomfortable, to pristine, calm and dreamy.

On arriving, I obviously had to finish sorting out our paperwork – a much overdue task – needed because we were coming up on our visas / cruising permits and we needed to know when we had to get outta Grenada by!

After that thrilling task was completed, we relaxed and enjoyed the gorgeous day. We had picked up a private mooring ball, so I sup’ed over to our neighbour who managed it to pay. I was feeling a bit out of practice though!

We had arrived on a Sunday so the beach bars were winding up, and the smells of delicious barbeque were wafting out over the water. There was a live band playing great music (not soca for a pleasant change haha). We paddled over and joined in, there was probably about a hundred or so folks on the beach, eating, drinking, swimming and a few of the more cheery ones dancing in front of the band. We met quite a few locals and other “newbie” cruisers. Nearly everyone’s reaction was – oh you are in the trawler!!! It is a fairly unusual looking boat here where the majority are sailing monohulls and catamarans.

After some delicious barbecue and a couple of beers, we headed back to enjoy sunset from the boat, and my oh my… so pretty. We were both so happy – it felt like everything we had been waiting for was finally happening and we couldn’t stop looking at each other and grinning like maniacs. With a cool breeze blowing through the boat and the gentlest sway – we both slept so comfortably. What a difference a bay can make.

Hog Island has a bit of a reputation – there are a number of cruisers who have got Hog Island “Glue” and are stuck there. Happily enjoying the calm waters, the local hangouts on the beach, playing skittles and dominos, easy afternoon beers and the great Sunday barbeque. Both boats (and people) are reputed to go here to die – not a bad spot for it really!

With the gorgeous calm waters, I decided to go for a bit of a SUP to check out all the boats and see what was around. Here is a few shots of some of the ones I liked. There are also a number of washed up boats around that were damaged during hurricane Beryl in 2024.

Of course, cruising is just boat work in exotic places. So we obviously had to do some boat work! Ryan installed a bilge pump for the stern gland so that the dripping shaft seal pumps out automatically now (it’s supposed to drip) This means our bilges should be dry by default now. We shall see how well that works out!