Yachting
Prickly Bay Marina
rickly Bay is Grenada’s most popular anchorage. You may know it as the ultra modern luxury living that is “Prickly Bay Waterside,” Now the Marina, intends to come out of its illustrious neighbours shadow, by doing some reinvention for itself. Darren Turner’s energy as General Manager of Prickly Bay Marina, Bar, Restaurant and Mini Mart is refreshing. He is a dynamic mix of boating sensibility, building contractor, entertainment guru and businessman. After all, a good marina needs a proper bar, fuel, water, services and entertainment. And at Prickly Bay Marina, Turner and Marina Manager Davide Costatini are always striving to offer more. In the short time that Turner has been at the helm of his ten year lease, he has overseen a EC$400,000 investment in upgrading existing services and facilities. Key renovations include the upgrading of existing docks, addition of new electric points, a new Gasoline and Diesel pumping station, and a larger & safer dinghy dock. Shoreside upgrades include a new Marina Office, where you’ll find Davide Costatini, who apart from being a fully licensed boat captain, handles everything to do with boats and their needs. “Our product is constantly improving. We are a full service marina, except we do not haul out boats, but we do provide every other service a yacht and crew could need on board or on land.” PBM operates with three docks with a fourth in planning, accommodating 30 boats with full electric, wifi, cable, fuel dock, 3000 gallons of diesel and 2000 gallons of gasoline. Their ideal size of boat is in the 55 -70 ft range, although they are fully capable of 3 large boats of 150-200 ft. And as Turner adds “It is completely viable, within five years, to rival the dock facilities of Port Louis Marina. Here we have 9 acres of water rights, and we are integrating luxury yachting with luxury living.” Exclusive apartments at Prickly Bay Waterside” start at $450,000 usd.
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Darren Turner GM (standing right), with Marina manager Davide Costatini
It is estimated that more than 1000 boats sail into Prickly Bay annually, of which around 200 head for PBM, Turner explains “Mixing with friends, and entertainment is essential”, so in 2012 he upgraded the kitchens to international standards, renovated the restaurant area, expanded the parking area, but the one thing that has everyone talking, is the new covered performance stage. Prickly Bay Marina now owns Friday night as the hottest spot on the island for live music, and are famous for their thin crust pizzas. Every day of the week offers up something to do from group games, food specials and always a daily happy hour from 5-7pm. Knowing that improved services lead to a happy customer, the laundry, and shower facilities also received a facelift within the new Customs and Immigration building. Next on Turner’s “To Do List” will be a new ‘Tiki Bar & Restaurant’ that will be elevated with a second floor to capture the beauty of the entire bay. A VIP area is also planned with Butler services catering to every www.businessgrenada.com
whim and desire of the well heeled, around the existing Olympic sized swimming pool at Prickly Bay Waterside. Retail units for rent to local businesses will also be an option during further expansion plans. “The direct and indirect impact of yachting on the economy of Grenada is growing annually, it is important that we do the right things to help the industry grow further.” says Marina manager Costatini “And he contends that the ‘trickle down’ impact of the spending beyond marinas is not to be ignored. It is a fact that Cruisers stay on the island longer than an average tourist, and their spend with local businesses proves that. Any additional Direct Taxes on the yachting community will backfire on the destination as people will go elsewhere. “We cannot afford to Kill the Goose that lays the golden egg.” He also feels the future of yachting in Grenada must include focus on the island’s youth. “We won’t always be able to rely on foreigners to do specialized trades and need to start training and investing in our own youth in specialized Yachting professions.” Prickly Bay Marina is a stunning location and is in the perfect position to help transform Grenada into one of the Caribbean’s Premier Yachting Destinations. With a motivated full time staff of 22 offering a range of quality services, the on site mini mart also plans to provide upgraded provisioning and mega yacht services. Costatini adds “You can dive into the sea from your boat and swim, the anchorage is that clean, you might not want t o do that from town” Grenada is popularly refferd to as “The Gateway to the Grenadines” but Costatini adds further, “Grenada should be viewed as the gateway to South America as we are the furthest south of the windward islands, we offer a full range of services and are perfectly located.”...
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