After my morning chores were finished, I took the grills from the fans up to the grassy area of the yard to paint. I placed them on sheets of newspaper and happily sprayed away. It was only supposed to take about 30 minutes to dry so I sat under the cabana and read a book while I waited. When they were dry I repeated he process for the other side. When all was finished both Rick and I decided we didn't like the paint.
Meanwhile Rick successfully continued with his woodwork. He applied his second to last coat around the cockpit, a couple of coats to the fridge cover and partially stripped one of the trailboards. He only stopped for a quick sandwich at lunch and continued until 5PM.
We ordered pizza delivered to the boat for dinner.
While Rick had the cover to the refrigerator apart he found a couple of spots in the lid that the foam insulation had a gap. He filled the gaps using spray foam and then sliced it off level. He had just applied another coat of Cetol to the lid when it was time to help Jack (Mystic Adventure) up the mast.
I stripped the paint from the grills, which was more work than painting them. Rick continued stripping the old Cetol from the trailboards and bowsprit. This area was last finished in 2002 while we where in Grenada.
In the afternoon, I made potato salad and some good home made hamburgers to take to the potluck barbecue in the evening. There were only about 10 of us at the barbecue. Many of the cruisers skipped the potluck and went to a charity Pan concert at one of the pan yards.
I didn't get up until 7AM so Rick wanted to know if I was not feeling well. After making breakfast, doing the dishes, gathering and sorting the laundry, and doing a little hand sewing, I started washing upholstery while Rick worked on the teak again. When I had put the few cushions out in the breeze to dry, I left the boat and went to the marina office to try and make arrangements for someone to clean the bottom of the boat especially the prop before leaving dock next Monday. The office referred me to Calvin so I went in search of him. When I found him, he said he would have someone take care of it for me. Next stop was the internet café to check a few things. All seemed fine so next I stopped and picked up some sandwiches to-go from the restaurant. Rick and I ate lunch under the cabana by the pool. After lunch, we picked up the laundry. Rick returned to his woodwork, while I put away the laundry and backwashed the water maker.
It was finally happy hour, which ended up not so happy. Having had the lid off the fridge for a few days now has played havoc with the thermostat. We have a spare thermostat and they are not expensive but Rick will have to take the time and replace it tomorrow. Meanwhile the fridge with have to be turned on and off manually.
In the morning, I went on one of Jessie's shopping trips while Rick fixed the fridge and continued to strip/and started stripping the wood on the bowsprit. I roamed the "Long Circular Mall" did some grocery shopping and then before returning to the marina we stopped at Malibar/Malabar meat store. They had USDA beef available but the prices were much too high for us. They also had New Zealand beef that looked excellent so I bought some of that.
I was back at the boat well before my groceries arrived in another van. After they were stowed on board it was after 2PM. We skipped lunch and snacked on some plantain chips.
At 6:30PM we met up with Mike and Lynn (Wombat of Sydney) and went to the lighthouse restaurant at Crews Inn Marina for dinner. Lynn and I had barracuda for our main course with peaches and cream for desert. It was extremely good and very decadent.
After breakfast I cleaned out and washed the fridge. It's working nicely again and I need to start filling it up before we leave. I happened to see a local refrigeration person/worker leaving Mystic Adventure with fridge gages over his shoulder and asked him if he could provide us with a spare thermostat which he said he could pick up tomorrow. This was great timing as it saved us running around Port of Spain looking for a refrigeration supply store. Rick reattached the bimini and dodger supports that he had released when working on the teak. Reattaching them was not an easy job. It took the two of us. He using all his strength would pull the bars into place and try to hold them there while I tried to get a screw started.
I washed another settee cushion. This was a large buttoned one that I don't like to remove the upholstery because of the buttons. I laid it on the foredeck and scrubbed it with soap and water. It was rinsed using the water hose. Heavy as a log with water, I used our new little shop vac and vacuumed it to remove a lot of the water. It will still need a couple of days in the sun and breeze to properly dry.
As I was working on the cushion, our diver came by. We had hired him to clean the prop and thru hulls and hull of any grass or barnacles. Things grow on the hull at amazing speed in the water of Chaguaramas. He found the hull was very good. There were a couple of barnacles around some of the thru hulls, a bit of grass on the waterline but that was it. Since he didn't have to spend much effort on the hull he did a wonderful job of cleaning the bottom of the dinghy for us. We had been leaving the dinghy in the water so it was bad. I think we would have had to spend a full day cleaning it.
When the diver left, Jo (Mystic Adventure) asked if I wanted to go the West Mall with her. With nothing else planned, I did. I was able to pick up a few things at the pharmacy and linen store. Jo picked up a full case (24) large bounty paper towels. It was tricky returning by maxi taxi with this huge box but she did it.
When we arrived at the boats I looked at ours and said forget it. Rick was in the process of putting our nice clean dinghy in the davits and I had no way of getting on the boat, as we had a new moon last night so we were at high, high tide. The bowsprit was almost at shoulder height from the dock. It was close to dinnertime so I passed Rick my purchases and told him I would wait for him in the cabana by the pool. We went for an early dinner, returned to the cabana and sat with the Beothuck and Galadriel gang for a while. Then we were in the process of asking Jo if she would let me use their dinghy (they are docked next to us) to get onboard our boat. Instead they invited us to go to dinner with them. We joined them, not to eat but to kill more time. This time when we returned to the boat it was perfect, I had no trouble at all getting onboard.
First thing in the morning, we went over to Crews Inn. Jo (Mystic Adventure)
took us in their dinghy. Our dinghy was in the davits and I had arranged for the
YSATT shuttle to pick us up and drop us off but their boat was not running due
to engine problems. I had to pick up my altered bathing suits from Debbie (the
swimsuit lady) at 9AM and then Jessie was to pick us up at the same time. Well
Debbie was a few minutes late and when she did arrive and saw me she said that
she had given my clothes to Jessie who was in the reception area of the hotel.
When we got over there he had left. I asked the lady in reception to call Jessie
for me and learned that he had driven over to Coral Cove looking for us. When he
returned to get us there was a lot of laughter in the maxi taxi over the comedy
of errors.
We took the day off and went on a tour to the Angostura Bitters and Rum
factory. It was a very interesting tour, which included lunch in the Angostura
dining room. Every table in the dining room had a bottle of bitters on it and we
put it on everything from chicken, rice, in orange juice or a glass of water and
even on top of ice cream. After lunch, we moved over to the tasting bar where
there were many varieties of rum, vodka, gin and rum punches for us to taste.
After way too much tasting, we stopped at the company store before leaving.
Our next stop was at a pan factory. Steel drums are made in new automated factories elsewhere near Port of Spain but we went to an old-fashioned original factory. We watched and heard how the drums were pounded out using first an old canon ball and then to smooth the surface, a heavy mallet. It was interesting but we were all having a problem standing outside in the hot sun watching while the manufacturing process was demonstrated. It was a lot noisier inside. I looked around and saw quite a few houses in the area and I'm not sure how they cope with the noise from the factory.
It was high tide when we returned to the marina so I went to the internet café for a while. I wasn't in there long enough as the bowsprit was still out of reach. We eventually went for dinner at Joe's Restaurant with Brenda and Phil (Beothuck). It was a nice meal and it took long enough that when we returned to the boat, I was able to climb aboard.
We took a maxi taxi into Port of Spain to Bernice the dressmaker's house. She has been ill and although my clothes were already she wouldn't be able to visit the marinas until next Thursday and we hope to be gone by then. Once we picked up the clothes we walked downtown to a pharmacy that carries Rick's prescription pills. On our way we walked by a small computer store. It was small but packed full of equipment. We needed a new printer and this place carried every single HP printer available. I had a good size box to carry when we left there. We were doing a lot of walking and it was well over 35 degrees and neither of us had a hat on. It was 11:30AM by the time we arrived at the maxi taxi terminal where we got a taxi to the West Mall.
At the West Mall we first had a bite to eat and then went for a hair cut. Next, although it was a day too soon, we checked to see if Rick's shoes were ready at the shoe repair, they weren't. We stopped at a linen store and picked up some new pillows. Finally, we went into Hi-Lo Grocery store to do some real shopping. We loaded the shopping cart with as much as it would hold. The trick afterwards was to try to get all of our purchases into the car that the grocery store provided to drive us back to the marina. Rick sat in the front, the trunk was packed and I was buried under items in the back seat. We drove through a lot of rain but it was still dry when we arrived at the boat. Rick helped me store everything and it only took us a couple of hours. By the time we finished however we were both ready for happy hour and a little relaxation.
Rick tried to start the engine just to make sure everything was ok before we leave in a couple of days. Well everything wasn't quite right. There was air getting into the fuel system. Rick diagnosed it very quickly. He had put a new plastic bowl on the Racor filter canister and it didn't fit as snug as it should. The Budget Marine store was open until 2PM so we walked over and purchased a complete new The original was 20 years old and had never caused a problem so he didn't mind replacing it. The new one however had a different size connectors on it and budget didn't carry the reducers for the connectors. Rick walked to every chandlery in Chaguaramas with no success. Our Monday morning departure was in jeopardy but so far it isn't a big deal. The Racor dealer will be open Monday morning.
In the afternoon, Rick took a maxi taxi to the West Mall to pick up his shoes from the repair shop. I put a primer coat of paint on the grills for our fans.
In the evening, we went to The Bite Restaurant with Bonnie and Joe (AFLO). It was great fun and we spent the whole evening catching up on the last couple of years. They have ordered a new dinghy and one of the fun conversations of the evening was naming the new dinghy. Their boat "AFLO" is an acronym for "Another Frigging Learning Opportunity". The dinghy will be christened, "AFT" for "Another Frigging Toy".
We were still preparing to leave so Rick cleaned the water tank and checked filters and strainers while I did a few loads of laundry at the laundromat.
In the afternoon he packed away all of his Cetol stuff and tidied the cockpit while I a made a bean salad and prepared some steaks for the potluck barbecue.
The barbecue was great fun and there was standing room only. A big difference from last week.
Our Turkey dinner has been postponed until we get out at anchor, hopefully very soon.
Rick took off a little after 7AM and went to the Racor dealer, Equipment and Supply West Indies Ltd. (ESWIL). After a long wait for them to open up it turned out that, they had to make fittings that would work with our fuel lines by cutting and welding two parts together
I was back at the boat waiting for Rick to return so that I could make breakfast. I eventually gave up and made some for myself. When he did return, I was up in the yard applying the last coat of paint on the fan grills. He hadn't planned to be near so long but it was a successful morning.
He reinstalled the Racor and with a bit of coaxing, the engine started and ran nicely. Although it appears fixed we both felt that it would be good to stay and extra day to give it a cold start in the morning.
We left by dinghy and had lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant at Crews Inn, picked up a few last minute items at the Hi Lo grocery store and dropped some things at Jessie's office at Tropical Marine for a charity sale.
In the afternoon, we went to the pool for happy hour.
As soon as the cruiser's net was finished in the morning we conducted the big test. The engine started just as it always has, so we're back in business.
Rick took down the sun awning while I washed a few items at the laundromat.
We went to the roti shack for lunch and found our friends from Mystic Adventure and Wombat of Sidney already there. Rick and I had a "Buss-up Shot" for lunch. Last time we were at the roti shop I watched the lady make large perfectly round roti wraps and when they were cooked she chopped them all up using her spatula. I had to ask why and that was when I learned about Buss-up Shots. They serve the chopped up wrap on the side with the chicken and chickpeas that you would have in a roti but in addition, they served a little squash. It's a little easier to eat than the huge rotis that they serve because we get to use a fork. This was our last get-together with Mike and Lynn (Wombat of Sydney). They were leaving at 5PM to head back to Venezuela.
When we returned to the boat, after a little siesta, I vacuumed while Rick went and got some ice for happy hour. Our freezer is packed too full of meat for ice cube trays. When our Thanksgiving turkey breast is cooked, there will again be room.
Today was Jo's birthday so we went out for a special dinner. The restaurant was Jenny's which was in an old plantation house that had been beautifully restored and decorated with antiques. It was a fun evening and we were back by 10PM.
We were finally ready to leave. There was no rush. Check out time from the marina was 12 noon however, we were ready to let go of the lines at 10:30AM. Jack and Jo (Mystic Adventure) were in their dinghy and gave the stern a little shove in the right direction. Brenda and Phil (Beothuck) were on the dock to release our bowlines. Dave (Just 'n Time) was onboard his boat just in case we decided to turn a little too sharply. Rick released the spring and stern lines from the mooring posts while I reversed out. It was a very smooth exit but with so many people to help, it would have been difficult for it to be anything but.
We left the bay of Chaguaramas and sailed to Chacachacare. It was a beautiful day and since we were going less than 10 miles, we turned off our engine that was happily humming along and put up just the headsail. The winds were very light but on a beam reach the whole way we made between 3 and 4.5 knots. It was noon when we arrived and found a nice spot in 25 feet of water with no boats near by. In fact it is a large bay and there was only one other sail boat and a large power boat anchored nearby when we arrived.
Chacachacare is a horseshoe shaped island that about 39 years ago, was a leper colony. It was a large community and when a cure for leprosy was found, the colony was abandoned. On the west side of the island was the nun's residence. In the centre was the village and on east side were the doctor's residences. Many of the buildings are still standing but have become overgrown with vines. We anchored between what was the village and some of the doctor's abandoned houses.
It was so very quiet and relaxing after spending the last month in Chaguaramas that we both chose to do nothing but read and relax for the rest of the day. We will explore the island tomorrow.
I took a few minutes and washed all of the recent Chaguaramas dust and dirt off our screens to better enjoy the breeze.
Using the pressure cooker I prepared a nice leg of lamb for dinner and we enjoyed it sitting in the breeze of the cockpit after happy hour.
October 13, 2005, TrinidadI'm not sure what caused it but we had a few waves roll in over night that woke us. It might have been the tide, a change in wind direction or even wake from some of the commercial ships going to or from Port of Spain. The powerboat which had been tucked into a nice protected spot, left before dinner last night So we decided to move into their spot after breakfast. It was behind a large cliff and tucked in close to the shore. Rick first checked it out in the dinghy with the hand held depth sounder. We set the anchor and then tied a line to shore as we are now anchored on a ledge of 10 to 12 feet of water that quickly drops off to about 60 feet.
We left by dinghy to explore the village and houses on the island. At one
time, a road went all over the island and was so busy that there was a traffic
light. Now it is impossible to even find the road. There is a very narrow path
with a beautifully built stone sea wall along the shore. Since there are power
poles for electricity along this path, it may have been much wider in a previous
time. The only houses we could get to were those that were right on the
shoreline. They have been terribly vandalized during the last few years, prior
to then people were still afraid to come to the island and to go into the
houses. We did see some of the doctors' houses, village houses and even the
nun's residence. Rick had taken his machete so that we could cut our way through
the
overgrowth to get to the interior houses but it was impossible. The jungle
had devoured the buildings even though we could see the roofs from the boat we
could not get to them. During our circumnavigation, we did however see another
of the large iridescent blue butterflies and a small black and red one. We
passed by a few large turtles that we could see swimming near us in the crystal
clear water.
When we returned to our boat, we had lunch and then went for a swim and snorkel. The coral has been very damaged at some time but appears to have some new growth on it. There was a good variety of fish for us to watch. The largest we saw was a couple of beautiful French Angelfish.
There was some thunder and a few sprinkles of rain as another Tropical Wave
passed over just after we returned to the boat, but it only lasted a few
minutes.
After a wonderful sleep last night, we listened to Eric's weather forecast on the SSB. There is a severe storm (Eric is calling it the "perfect storm") off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland that is creating extremely large northerly swells all the way down the east coast. They are forecast to hit here Sunday and Monday so we will probably stay anchored in Chacachacare until the seas are back to normal. We are well protected from northerly swells in this anchorage.
Rick was back working on his wood again. This time he is concentrating on the bowsprit and trail boards. Meanwhile, I got into the dinghy and started scrubbing the Chaguaramas grunge off the topsides. It started raining just as I finished all but the stern.
After lunch, we had our usual siesta then returned to the cockpit for happy hour. One large turtle must live in this particular cove as we have seen him a few times today, swimming around the boat. Although there are little or no waves affecting us, the way we are tucked in we can certainly see the tidal effects. We were watching when the tide started to flow out, it pushed the stern of the boat over so that the rope to shore was really starting to strain. Suddenly we heard a loud pop! The rope which had been hanging slack, suddenly tightened and as it did, it slid up the side of the boat and ripped the cover off one of our vents. We have a spare but I suggested to Rick that he not replace it until we are ready to leave and have released the line to shore.
After breakfast, Rick began doing his thing "woodwork" and I washed a few more settee cushions and started some laundry. The sun and breeze provided prefect drying weather today.
Late in the morning, I started preparing for our turkey dinner. We had a late afternoon meal rather than lunch or dinner.
It seems as though we have the prime spot in the bay. A sailboat (Canadian) tried to anchor near us last night but there wasn't really room for them and their buddy boat so they anchored on the other side of the bay where there are now 3 boats already anchored. This morning a large powerboat arrived and he was able to anchor and tie ashore for a couple of hours while they had a swim but then that boat left as well. A dinghy from the two buddy boats came over for a snorkel and stopped to say hello. They are Canadian/Trinidadians and yes, they let us know that we have the best spot in the bay.
In the afternoon we had a wonderful turkey dinner (if I don't say so myself). Neither of us wanted happy hour or an evening meal later, we just sat and enjoyed the peace and calm. However the calm was broken with the change in the tide. It felt like the ocean was trying to suck the whole bay of water (including our boat) out in big gulps. It's only the evening outgoing tide that does this but it sure does it well. We were pulled, rocked, and tossed for half an hour and then all was calm again. I can't wait to see how strong it is in a couple of days when we have a full moon.
We can't receive the local cruiser's net where we are anchored because of the hills. I turned it on anyway just in case some of the boats happen to have a strong enough signal to reach us. Sure enough, this morning I was able to hear "Silent Partner". This is a Canadian boat that sat on the hard in Power Boats Marina during hurricane season. The owner just returned and found that the boat had been broken into while they were gone and absolutely everything was stolen. There are no electronics, dishes or personal belongings left on the boat. This is the third one we know of at the same marina since we have been in Trinidad.
Our next bad news was when we checked our email and found that our friends Ted & Maricia (Key Lara) lost their boat in a small bay on Curacao. They were swept ashore while trying to anchor when a strong storm suddenly blew up. They had sailed their boat from Africa and had many wonderful adventures. They are now boatless/homeless until things are sorted out.
We continued with our work. Rick "doing his thing". I did some more laundry and then checked my recipes for Turkey a la King, Turkey Salad, Turkey soup, I even envision some Turkey pizza in the future. With all of the washing I've been doing it was also time to run the water maker for a while. Before I could make Turkey a la King, I had to make something to serve it on and it sure wasn't going to be puff pastry! Instead, I made some rolled biscuits and we had turkey for our midday meal.
From lunchtime on we watched all of the locals arrive in large power boats for a Sunday afternoon swim and barbecue with their families. The small cove that we're anchored in somehow became large enough to accommodate us and half dozen of these powerboats. They all stayed for an afternoon swim and barbecue then left before dark.
A couple of fishermen stopped by our boat at 6AM. During a storm last night they had used up most of their fuel and wanted to know if we could let them have enough to get back to Chaguaramas. We told them of course, we didn't want to hear about two Trinidadian fishermen lost at sea because they ran out of fuel.
Next, we received a call on the VHF radio from Max on Kandu first thing in the morning. Jack and Jo (Mystic Adventure) were trying to contact us. Max was on the other side of the bay from us and could hear them so he was able to relay the message. The northern swells arrived last night along with a storm that had the boats in Chaguaramas bouncing around so much that even though they were at dock everyone was awake for at least a few hours during the night. They wanted to know if we were all right. Not only were we all right but we definitely picked the best spot to anchor. The rain awoke us at 12:30AM but once we closed the ports and hatches we went back to sleep. We didn't even receive the normal rock and roll that we get from the outgoing tide. Kandu on the other side of the bay had been up with their engine running as the strong wind and waves were putting them on a lee shore.
The north coast of Trinidad was battered. The waves washed right across the beach, road and then parking lot at the bay of Maracas. Most roads on the north coast were covered with water and the waves were to continue for the rest of the day when they would finally start to let up a little.
Max and Kristen (Kandu) moved their boat into our little cove in the early afternoon. They swam over to our boat in the afternoon and we drifted and talked. In the evening they joined us onboard Wind-Borne for sundowners. It was a fun evening and they are planning to leave for Tobago during the next weather window so we might just travel together.
We began our morning with arepas for breakfast shortly after listening to Eric's weather net. The northerly swells did quite a bit of damage to the northern side of the island. One man who was caught in the swells was swept to sea and drowned.
It's a good thing that we didn't plan to move on to Scotland Bay today. We didn't have much sun or wind yesterday so Rick was going to run the engine for a while to charge the batteries. It started fine but died within a few minutes. It certainly sounded like a lack of fuel or air in the system. We've both become very familiar with that sound. Rick bled the system and we started it again but still it only ran for a few minutes before stalling. He changed the electric fuel pump and still we had the same problem. The Racor canister and filter were brand new so that shouldn't have been the problem. He checked the pickup tube in the fuel tank and low and behold, a little piece of grunge had been stuck in the antisyphon on the pickup tube, which had jammed it open. This allowed the fuel to drain back into the fuel tank when the engine wasn't running. Therefore, we had been using only the fuel that was sitting in the Racor canister that was now too empty to run the engine. Once the issued was resolved, the engine hummed away again and we ran the water maker while we were making amps.
It was quite windy today so we just relaxed and read for a while. At 4PM Kristen called on the radio and invited us for dinner. She had tried to call earlier but our radio was not turned up so we hadn't heard her. Now I had to scramble for something to take with us. She had dinner totally covered so with less than an 1½ hours until we had to be at there boat I decided to make California sushi rolls. I did not have a lot to put in them, no avocado or crab but I did have cucumber and on a boat, recipes always are altered a little.
We arrived on their boat at 5:30 PM and had both a wonderful meal (pork tenderloin) and a wonderful evening. It was 10:30PM when we left to return to our own boat.
Although we really liked Chacachacare and could have stayed indefinitely, we raised the anchor and moved over to Scotland Bay this morning. We wanted to spend some time with Gary and Sharon (Elusive) before leaving Trinidad. It was 11AM by the time we had set the anchor.
Rick took the time to put up the sun awning while I made a noontime meal. The weather forecast indicates we might be here a while before the weather window we want for our passage to Tobago arrives.
Gary came over by dinghy and invited us to their boat for sundowners in the evening. We tried to contact Kandu by radio and email to invite them as well but they either did not get the message or just did not finish their chores in time. They left Chacachacare shortly after us but they were going to pick up a mooring in Chaguaramas to do a few chores before moving to Scotland Bay.
We had a lovely evening with Gary and Sharon (Elusive).
I awoke in the morning thinking I was in Jurassic Park. The howler monkeys were roaring like dinosaurs. In Chaguaramas each morning, we would awaken to the kiskadees singing and a thousand noisy parrots yakking. In Chacachacare, it was again the kiskadees but in addition, a couple of hawks would let out the occasional screech. In Scotland Bay, we still have the kiskadees but now we have to get use to the roar of the howler monkeys.
After listening to the weather and learning that we may have strong winds and rain beginning later today and lasting for a few days, Rick lowered the dinghy so that we could make a quick trip into Chaguaramas. We got rid of our garbage, Rick went to Budget Marine for some sand paper and I went to the small grocery store at Powerboats. We finished the shopping and were back in Scotland Bay by 9:30AM.
By noon, we started to get the rain that had been forecast. It rained on and off for the rest of the day so we just relaxed and read. A lot of boats came into Scotland Bay in the afternoon and Kandu was one of them. They had checked out with customs and immigration already.
We finally had the last of our leftover turkey for dinner in the cockpit. The rain appeared to have finished for the day.
It didn't rain last night but we sure had some strong gusty winds. I was awake on and off with the wind because I had not set the anchor alarm so in my mind I had to check our position every so often. We had about 200 ft of anchor rode out and we were swinging 360 degrees many times during the day and night with the tide and the wind so the anchor alarm would have gone off continuously.
In the morning, after a big breakfast of bacon and eggs, I reviewed our weather forecasts a few times. It seemed that this weekend is about the best weather window we were going to get for at least another week or more so we decided to take it. Kandu felt the same way so we all started preparing for a morning departure. After removing the sun awning and putting things away, Rick and I went by dinghy into Chaguaramas. It was a wet ride as we had a very active tropical wave passing through causing strong winds and rain. We checked out with customs and immigration, bought a few more groceries, filled a couple of jerry cans and said our goodbyes to everyone. The dinghy was a little overloaded on our return trip and we were trying to race a squall line back to the boat. The winds caught up with us but we beat the rain.
Gary and Sharon (Elusive) invited Kristen, Max (Kandu) and us to their boat for sundowners again. It was another enjoyable evening but we were back onboard our own boats before 9PM so that we could get things ready to leave in the morning.
We ate breakfast while listening to Eric's weather report at 6:30AM. His report was no better than the Buoy Weather report that I received. The tropical wave that went through yesterday may develop into a tropical depression. Although it is well passed our location, it has some banding already started that is stretching south and pulling up the ITCZ, which is now becoming active. The forecast was for 7-foot seas, winds 15 knots, scattered showers and thunderstorms with a wind wave of 4 to 6 feet. The only good news was that there was no northerly component to the wind. It would be either east or southeast. There was no reason not to poke our nose out and try it but since we were going to be heading directly into the wind, I fully expected that we would find it very nasty and return to Scotland Bay.
What a pleasant surprise, the seas were a little choppy but not bad and there was almost no wind. We rode the tide eastward all morning and arrived at Chupara Point by noon. We had traveled 20.7 miles in 5 hours. It was much better than we all expected. Our anchorage was more than a little rolly but since it was only for one night, we could put up with it. We didn't do much as it was a little uncomfortable in fact we didn't even discuss food let alone eat any.
We left our rolly anchorage just before 8AM. The conditions were not quite as
nice as yesterday but still very good. The skies were overcast and remained that
way all day. We received a few sprinkles of rain but that was it. The seas were
comfortable but we were a little too far away from shore to pick up the nice
current we had yesterday. It was 12:30PM when we arrived at Grand Riviere, and
tucked into shore for a comfortable anchorage. Max and Kristen caught a bonito
and a small barracuda while underway and invited us over to Kandu for a lovely
lunch. We put the dinghy in the water but Rick did not want to bother with the
motor so he rowed us to and from their boat. Inflatable dinghies are not
necessarily the easiest thing to row. We had a wonderful afternoon with them and
returned to our own boat after 4PM.
We had great plans along with Kandu to depart for Tobago at 6AM. Sometime after 2AM I heard the winds freshen and shortly after that we had a heavy downpour. The same thing happened again about 4AM. George's regular evening weather forecast is not available on Sunday evening so we didn't hear anything last night and we were leaving to early to get Eric's forecast at 6:30AM. The first thing to go wrong was that Max called telling us they were having a problem raising their anchor. It was fouled on something. Shortly after he was finally able to retrieve their anchor we found ours was fouled as well. Ours was really fouled!! It took both Rick and I on the bow pulling with all our might just to pull in the line far enough to remove our snubber. We then tried driving over the anchor in different directions but we weren't able to budge it. Both of us again, using the windless and all of our muscle power finally got the chain raised to the point where we could see a huge homemade fisherman's anchor tangled in our chain. We got another line on the fisherman's anchor so that we could raise it and take the stress off our chain. It took an hour to untangle the thing but we were finally free and able to raise our own anchor.
With the anchor up and the main sail raised we and Kandu, who had stood by in case we needed help, left the bay. It was 7PM so departure was a little later than planned but still not bad. Rick wanted to get as much "easting" in as possible, with the light morning winds. That plan didn't work very well either. We had been underway for less than an hour when we noticed a large black squall bearing down on us. It was extremely strong with winds gusting 30 to 35 knots. We were holding the boat into the wind at 2500 RPMs and making very little forward motion. It eventually passed but then it took a while for the seas to settle down again. This happened 3 more times and gradually the seas remained at about 8 to 10 feet. The passage from Trinidad to Tobago is in the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Caribbean Sea and we could feel a little chill in the air. Maybe it was in our mind but Rick put on a jacket.
Our autopilot seemed to be acting up and Rick hand steered for a while but eventually went below to investigate the problem. Unbelievable!! One of his metal files had fallen on the floor next to the gyro compass and the metal was throwing the compass all out of whack. That was an easy fix. As we continued on it appeared that Kandu was getting further and further away. They also had raised their head sail and since we were going directly into the wind, this seemed strange. I called them to make sure everything was all right and sure enough, they had a problem. All of the pounding, rocking and rolling while going through the squalls had caused their engine to cut out. They had to change the fuel filter, which didn't take too long, and then they were underway again.
It seemed like it was taking forever to get to Tobago but really it wasn't bad. We arrived in Store Bay and dropped anchor in turquoise waters with the sun shining brightly at 1:30PM. We had traveled 27.6 miles in 6 ½ hours which considering that we were ploughing into wind waves and current was not bad at all.
We got ready to leave the boat and take a bus into Scarborough, which is the main port for Tobago. This was learning experience. We went by dinghy to the beach but it's been a long time since we've beached the dinghy and left it. The first thing we noticed was that we had forgotten how heavy it was but the second thing was that we hadn't brought a rope long enough to reach a tree. Rick returned to the boat to get a small fender that we put under the keel of the dinghy to roll it ashore and a longer rope. Of course, as he started the outboard engine the heavens opened up and he got drenched. I remained on the beach and watched one of the local women who was having a morning dip in the sea. She ran ashore to stand under a tree while it rained. I found this amusing as she was already wet and the rain here is just as warm as the seawater. Next, we met Benjamin and Marlin, locals who came to help us pull the dinghy ashore, in fact they told us that we had to pull it higher to get above the high water mark. It was difficult to see the mark, as they had neatly raked the beach. Marlin, we learned, can arrange island tours or glass bottom boat rides over the reefs. Benjamin, rents lounge chairs on the beach and sells local crafts. They were both very nice and assured us that our dinghy would be quite safe left unlocked on the beach while we took a bus into town.
The real learning experience was finding the best way to get to town. We walked along the small road to the bus stop but saw the bus leave before we were close enough to run for it. Standing at the bus stop, we saw cars with a licence plate beginning with "H". We knew from other islands that these cars are for hire as a private taxi or as a shared taxi. We waved one down and asked how much he would charge to take us to Scarborough. It was $50 TT ($10 CDN). We thanked him and said that we would wait for the bus. The bus stop was near a fruit stand and the lady at the fruit stand who had heard the exchange informed us that the bus runs on the hour and would cost us $5 TT each. She didn't tell us that we needed to purchase a ticket and that she sold them. Another woman arrived at the bus stop, a car with a licence plate beginning with "P" stopped, and she got in. "P" licence plates are for private cars. The driver looked back at us and asked if we wanted a ride as well. We asked how much and when he said $5 TT we jumped in. During our conversation on the way to town, we learned that everyone waves down private cars. The owners appreciate people sharing the cost. Our driver took us directly to the ferry docks and pointed out the immigration and customs offices for us.
When we walked into the Immigration office we found Kristen and Max (Kandu) who had taken a bus in from Plymouth and were checking in as well. Once we had all finished it was almost lunchtime and Max had noticed a KFC so we all had fried chicken for lunch. We separated but met again at the bus station where we all waited for our buses.
Rick and I arrived back in Store Bay and decided to walk around a little. We found a Laundromat with an internet café. Just a few steps away we walked into Coco Reef Resort, which looked like a wonderful place to stay. Eventually we returned to the beach and found our dinghy, the most comfortable one around, occupied buy a bunch of locals who were "jus limin". They told us they were keeping watch on it as well as sitting on the tubes. We told them "no problem, man". They all introduced them selves and then introduced us to Harry the fisherman. Harry said he would bring us some fresh fish tomorrow for dinner. I told him that as long as the price was right, I would like the fish filleted.
Back at the boat, we had a little siesta and then did a few chores. Normally, after we have worn our inflatable life jackets and harnesses (which we did yesterday), I give them a good fresh water wash to remove all of the salt spray. I suggested to Rick that since we are supposed to get more rain we just hang them outside rather than use our RO water. Well, more rain was an understatement. The first squall that went by was more of a microburst. The boat was literally turned sideways and heeling during some of the gusts. During the squall, we could not see our own bow let alone any of the other boats anchored in the bay. The duration of the squall and thunder and lightening was amazing. Usually they are quite short lived but this must have lasted a good 20 minutes with winds well over 40 knots. The holding in this bay must be very good because not one boat dragged. The subsequent squalls were insignificant after the first biggy.
The weather eventually settled down and we had a great night sleep. They were calling for more nasty weather today so we started into our chores in the morning. Rick mounted a new garden light we purchased while in town yesterday on top of the davits. All of the yachties are using these lights in place of their anchor light because it has a little solar panel on the top that recharges itself so none of the ships AMPS are used to run it and they are quite visible.
I pulled out all of our ships stores and inventoried everything. We seemed to be in good shape and have enough food onboard to feed an army but I just wanted to make sure that we weren't running short on any staples.
Next Rick adjusted the rigging a little to try to get rid of a squeak we have acquired. We won't know if it worked until we roll a little. I ran the water maker in order to top up the tank to do some laundry. We really should have put some pails out yesterday to catch some nice fresh rainwater but the wind was so strong it probably would have blown them away.
We watched the heavy dark clouds go by all afternoon. We were very lucky because there was a lot of convection in them and they passed by a few miles north of us rather than over top of us. The wind shifted as they went by and would swing the boat around but we had light winds and just a bit of rain.
I did some laundry and made a bunch of salads in the afternoon so that if the weather improves tomorrow we can have a picnic on the beach
Harry the fisherman who was supposed to deliver a nice snapper to us at 4PM never showed so we had fajita's for dinner.
We learned that the actual low-pressure area associated with the weather yesterday went through the island chain at 12 degrees north and we're at 11 degrees so we lucked out. There is a tropical wave right over the island chain this morning and it is forecast to bring even nastier weather. When that clears, we are keeping an eye on another low-pressure area that has formed southeast of us. It is expected that this low pressure may develop into a depression after it passes us.
Meanwhile, although the sky looked almost scary in the morning the huge towering dark clouds again seemed to head just a little north of us. I went ahead and did a couple more loads of laundry while Rick continued restoring Wind-Borne's wood. The strong winds made wonderful drying weather and if it had of rained the clothes would just have had an extra rinse. By early afternoon, all of the large dark clouds full of rain had passed well to the north and the smaller clouds did not look at all threatening. We went for a swim and then had Kristen and Max (Kandu) over for happy hour and dinner in the evening. We had our picnic in the cockpit.
Rick polished stainless steel in the morning, as it was a little too windy to work on the wood. We ran the engine and water maker. When the tanks were full, we went ashore to take sheets and towels to the Laundromat. Although the lady there will do it for us, we wanted to have lunch and use the internet. There was a restaurant next door and the internet café was part of the Laundromat. We left our folded laundry in the Laundromat when it was finished and went exploring. We stopped at the public beach and roamed through the tourist shops. Down the road a little further we stopped at the airport before turning around and heading back.
As we were in the dinghy returning to the boat we met Kandu who were in their dinghy going ashore to visit some friends who were arriving from Trinidad. They invited us along so we just threw the laundry (sealed in a plastic bag) into the cockpit and went with them. Their friends were Neville and his wife Flash who own the Fortress Woodworking shop in Chaguaramas, Trinidad. They are the Port of Spain Hash House Harriers (Hashers) (a local running club) who were in Tobago for a meet this weekend. We had a great time with them and they described themselves as a drinking club with a running problem. Only 25 to 30 people had arrived on Friday the rest would fly in on Saturday. There was a large potluck barbecue and they invited us to join them. The guys went back to the boat and got some steaks out of the freezer. Rick brought some of the salad I had made so that we could contribute a dish to share. The meal and the people were wonderful. They invited us to join them tomorrow. We could run with them or most of the women walk or we could just come and join the party. It was after 10PM when we returned to the boat.
The day began with a very overcast sky and thunderstorms and remained so all day. We couldn't do much so we just relaxed and read most of the day. It was still raining at 7PM when we left the boat and went ashore to join Max and Kristen at another Hasher party. The whole contingent had arrived and they were having a great time some were even dressed in Halloween costumes. We joined in for a couple of hours and then headed back to the boat.
It began as another rainy day in paradise but by 10AM the sky had finally cleared. When we finished the morning chores, we went snorkelling with Max and Kristen along the reef just off the starboard side of the boat. It felt great to be in the water and finally have sunshine overhead. The water was a little choppy but we didn't care. The reef was ok but we know that the Bucco reef less than ½ mile on our port side is stupendous. We are saving that one for when we have perfect conditions.
We were invited back to lime with the Hashers in the evening but we were partied out. We stayed on board and had a late dinner. The wind died and the boat had a good roll happening but it was still pleasant.
I think this is our first year without at least a few cruising kids in the anchorage to trick or treat.
We awoke to a clear sky and sun brighter than we had seen in days. I knew it was only temporary however as Eric mentioned during the weather that a tropical wave had passed through the island chain yesterday but it was dragging a tail that would pass over Trinidad and Tobago late this morning and early this afternoon.
Max and Kristen called to see if we wanted to go to the Bon Accord Lagoon to snorkel this morning. With sun so bright, we couldn't say no. The two dinghies made their way around Pigeon Point, through the Bucco Reef and into the lagoon. We had to search for a nice patch of coral that we found out near the edge of the reef. We saw some very large damsel fish and parrot fish along with many other smaller fish but the best was a nice sting ray that Rick found. We snorkelled for a while but after an hour a very black sky appeared on the horizon so we climbed in the dinghies and headed closer to shore. We lucked out again, the dark sky just skirted the island and went to the north of us. When we got back to Store Bay, we took the dinghies ashore to go for a walk along the beach. There was a bit of a problem as it was high tide so there was no beach in some of the areas and we had to walk along the road. We were all bare foot and along with the small stones that were killing my feet the pavement was so hot it burned. We had to hurry from tree to tree to stay in the shade. We walked by small souvenir stands and came to a very active fishing village. I bought some wonderful hogfish for dinner.
When we returned to the boat, Rick filleted the fish while I showered. He showered while I washed it and stored it in the fridge for a couple of hours. The sky had blackened again and this time it wasn't going to miss us so we closed the boat up and had a siesta while it blew over.
Dinner was very early because we had skipped lunch. It had started to rain again so we ate below in the cabin.
