Today is officially the last day of hurricane season.
This year, Mother Nature isn't paying attention to the calendar. 2005 has already gone down in the history books as having the most named storms ever. Hurricane Beta has just left the Western Caribbean but there is another low-pressure area that may form into a tropical depression in about the same area as Beta did. There are still 2 tropical waves to the east of us and probably there will be at least a few more after these. We have been extremely lucky as none of the storms ever came anywhere near us. The closest was Emily at the beginning of the season. Emily caused damage in Carriacou and it was felt in Trinidad and Margarita Island but we were at dock in Puerto La Cruz where we did not even have strong winds as it passed to the north of us.
Kristen and Max (Kandu) came for breakfast on board Wind-Borne. Kristen brought a wonderful fruit salad and I served bacon and pancakes with Canadian maple syrup. We had another sunny morning and it was almost noon when we finished. Shortly after noon however, the clouds rolled in and we had a little rain.
Rick was still trying to eliminate the creaking noise we have acquired. It is the mast against the partners/bulkhead but he thought the cause was related to us having Spartite on the mast and the new chain plates being maybe a milimetre off their old position or maybe the stays were tightened too much. So. he let off all of the stays today and they are now just hand tightened. We'll have to wait until overnight as our creak only happens when the wind dies and we have a little roll from the tide. Meanwhile, the steps and drawer under the companionway squeak at times. He tackled that noise as well. This boat is soon to become squeak and creak free.
In the afternoon while we had a squall pass over us, I had a siesta. When the sky cleared and we were able to open up again, I got out the flour and yeast and made some pizza dough for dinner.
Ah ha!! All through the boat not a whisper, creak or squeak was heard overnight. First thing in the morning, Rick said he had a confession to make. The creak in the mast that had caused my lack of sleep for the last few nights had been his "oops"! The stays had been over tightened by none else but him. The squeak under the stairs was also totally gone. Our boat is now so quiet I will have to play music at night just for a little background noise to help me sleep.
Kristen and Max (Kandu) asked if we would like to take a local bus ride with
them to Charlotteville at the other end of the island. Having slept so well and
with nothing else to do, we jumped at the opportunity. We picked them up from
Kandu in our dinghy and went ashore in time to catch the 8:30AM bus into
Scarborough. Our plan was to then take the 9AM bus from Scarborough to
Charlotteville but as we pulled into the bus depot, the bus to Charlotteville
was on its way out. The guys went into the depot to purchase tickets to
Charlotteville and learned that the next bus was not for another 3 hours. With
time to kill, we walked around in Scarborough. Kristen and I bought a couple of
souvenirs while Rick and Max sat and had a beer. I bought another Soca Parang CD
(Trini Christmas songs). This is the third one I've bought. There are parangs
happening around the island already and I understand that they will go on until
Christmas.
It was finally time to board our bus to Charlotteville. We left the station
at 12PM and drove along the coast to the north end of the island. It was a
perfect day, the sun was shining and the scenery was beautiful. When we rounded
the end of the island the bus had to go inland a little to get over the
mountains. I'm not sure if it's because I have been travelling at 5 miles an
hour for the last 4 years but the driver was going much to fast for my liking.
We were going around blind tight curves with a wall of mountain on one side and
a bottomless cliff on the other side. Very seldom were there any guard rails and
the road barely looked wide enough for our bus let alone another vehicle coming
from the other direction. I kept thinking that we had to be there soon as our
bus tickets had only cost us $8 TT ($1.33 US). We travelled through some unique
little towns and villages where I would have loved to have taken some pictures
but one is not allowed to stand up while the bus is moving (I can understand
why) and my camera was in our backpack stored up above. It took 1½ hours before
we finally arrived in Charlotteville and although I was glad to be there, the
only thing I could think of was that we had to return by bus on the same route.
We had taken our hand held VHF radio with us because our friends Margot and
Malcolm (Kiwa) were anchored in Charlotteville. We called to let them know we
were in town and they came in and joined us for a couple of beers while we had
lunch at "Sharon and Phebes" a local restaurant.
Charlotteville is a very small fishing village and we were able to walk through the whole town in less than 10 minutes. The bus schedule had shown the return trip to Scarborough would leave Charlotteville at 3:30PM. We had asked the bus driver when we got off the bus and he had said 4PM. I was anxious to make sure we didn't miss this bus as I certainly didn't want to take the same trip back in the dark but the lady at the restaurant told us that the bus would be busy picking up the school children and wouldn't leave until 4:30. We compromised and arrived at the bus stop at 4:15PM. Sure enough, at 4:30PM the bus arrived full of children in their school uniforms. What no one told us was that the bus driver takes a break before heading off again. It was 5PM when the bus left Charlotteville. It was a different driver from the one we had coming so I was hopeful that this one might drive differently. He did! I wouldn't have thought it was possible but this driver drove faster than the other. I was extremely pleased when someone would push the button to get off along the way because that was the only time I could breathe properly. Max said to think of it as a roller coaster ride. The thing was that was exactly what it was like but I never ride roller coasters. Finally, a nice big cherry picker truck got in front of the bus. This forced the driver to slow a little but not much. The good thing was that we were out of the mountains just before dark. We had to wait a ½ hour in Scarborough for our bus back to Store Bay.
Although it was dark, the beach bar where we had left the dinghy was quite busy. We stopped for a beer but while drinking it found that the mosquitoes were biting so we opted for one beer each. We climbed into the dinghy and headed back to our boats. It had been an exciting day and we had been gone for 12 hours so everyone was tired.
We awoke to a beautiful day. If we could have the wind and sun like it was this morning we would have all the amps we need from the wind generator and solar panels.
In the morning, I did some laundry and Rick retightened some of the stays. He decided to do it gradually to make sure we didn't regain any creaks.
In the afternoon, we didn't do much at all. Rick worked on the wood and I made a beef stew with dumplings for dinner. I have to check out some more dumpling recipes because we weren't impressed with the one I used.
It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day when we first got up but Eric (the HF radio weatherman), put a damper on it. We were to get squalls with gusts of 40 to 50 MPH. Looking at the sky we couldn't see it coming. Kandu said good bye and sailed off to another anchorage while we got into the dinghy and went ashore. We stopped first at the internet café and then went for "Shark and Bake" at a small restaurant along the road. It was almost too late for it as Shark and Bake is normally eaten for breakfast even though I like it for lunch. We picked up some fresh fruit and vegetables from the little stand on the way back to the boat. Before getting back into the dinghy we walked down the road a little way to see if our friend Patterson had made me a special calabash light shade for the cockpit. He had and he tried to make it extra special by carving "Tobago" on it.
Shortly after we returned to the boat the sky to the east of us turned very black and the squalls began. We certainly didn't get the wind that was forecast but the seas were certainly stirred up so it was out there some where. We had some rain and we rocked and rolled all afternoon but that was it.
Rick started to wire the calabash but before he could finish it was time for happy hour.
It was another rainy day in paradise but I had plans to clean today so it didn't matter. Rick put up the sun awning even though we haven't had enough sun to worry about. I pulled apart the guest room. Company (Kelly), arrives next weekend and after scrubbing the walls ceiling and floors with Pinesol and bleach we need at least a week for the odours to dissipate before anyone sleeps in there. It was time for a major cleaning so I removed all of the teak slats and trim to wash both the slats and the wall behind them. I found a little drip mark, which led me to look further. I found one of the toerail screws was leaking. When Rick went outside to remove the one that I identified as leaky, he ended up turning 2 others before finding the right one. This meant they had to be removed and reseated as well. It was another five-minute job that took at least an hour. Once I was finally finished cleaning and had replaced all of the teak, Rick wanted to drill a hole under the bunk while I had the mattress still out. This hole was so he could rewire the negative side of the starter battery that is currently on a bus bar being shared with the house batteries. He wants it moved so that it is grounded directly to the engine. When the hole was drilled and everything was back together and we had eaten leftover stew for lunch, it was time to run the engine and the water maker.
The sky was totally overcast and it was easy to tell that we were in for an all day rain.
Rick had another one of those 5 minute jobs he wanted to do. He took the negative wire from the starter battery off the bus bar it shared with the house batteries and connected it to the engine as a ground so that it would truly be separate or isolated from our house batteries. Well, we have a complex electrical system with the solar panels, wind generator, inverter/charger, 4 banks of batteries, two isolators and a partridge in a pear tree. Nothing can be as easy as just moving a single wire and this was no exception. Later in the day, with the new wire in place, we started the engine to charge the batteries and had no amps registering on the amp meter. A quick check proved that the alternator was producing amps but they were not registering, at least according to the heart interface panel and our ammeter. Rick pulled everything apart again and put the wire back where it terminated originally and all was fine again. This second 5 minute job was done during a good squall with 35 knot winds and driving rain. Not the best time to be at anchor without the ability to turn on an engine. He has promised to leave this job as one to be done when we have access to parts if necessary and during better weather in a protected anchorage.
In between the rewiring job, I did some laundry. I even had problems doing that. I didn't have a lot of whites to wash so afterwards I used the same water to wash a load of coloured clothes. Without thinking about it, I had used Oxy Clean, which I love, for the whites but from the coloured clothes, all of the navy blue started running out. Even after rinsing them, I still had navy blue dye dripping on the deck when they were hung to dry. I removed them from the clothesline and gave them a third rinse with some vinegar in the rinse water to reset the colours. All was finally well with the laundry.
We desperately needed a third thing to go wrong if the day was to be complete. Since we were not going anywhere in the rain I cleaned the rest of the boat. Rick washed the ceilings for me while I washed walls. I was about midship when I kicked the bucket. Although I was not yet ready to wash the floor, it as well as the bilge got a good cleaning.
We both were too tired to go ashore by the end of the afternoon when the sky finally cleared. Neither of us was very hungry so we had a salad for dinner. Lettuce is a difficult thing to keep on board so normally we have bean salad, coleslaw, potato, macaroni etc. This time however I used tomatoes, hearts of palm, beets and onions served with a vinaigrette dressing. Lettuce would have been a nice addition but this hit the spot. We had dinner in the cockpit under the light of our new calabash shade.
Rain again! We took our time this morning and had a lazy breakfast while listening to the SSB. To our amazement by 10 AM, we could see some blue sky coming our way.
We got ready and went ashore with a few errands. First, we stopped at the internet café for a while. When we were leaving, we asked the lady there, if there was a hair salon in the area. She directed us to one that we understood to be near the airport. After looking at the different stores there, we asked again. This time we learned that it was on the Store Bay Back Road but in the opposite direction from the airport. We walked a few miles and finally found a little shack with the barber stripes painted on it. This wasn't really what we had in mind so we made our way back to the main road soaking up the lunchtime aromas coming from the different small restaurants. We decided on one that served "lunch" and Rotis. I had a chicken Roti and Rick had "lunch" which consisted of stewed beef with rice, yucca, plantain, potato salad and green salad.
We stopped and made a phone call (one of our errands), to Trintrac in Trinidad to see if they had a Honda 2000 generator in stock. They not only had one but they would get it to a dealer on Tobago for us tomorrow and if we would bring our boat papers, passports and customs papers with us we could save paying the VAT. We were very pleased and wished each other Merry Christmas. Continuing with the other errand, we stopped at Coco Reef Resort to see if they had a hair salon. They did and although it was the most expensive hair cut since leaving home, we both now looked respectable in preparation for our company (Kelly) who is arriving this weekend.
It was time for happy hour when we returned to the boat and the sky was clear enough we could even watch the sunset. After the lunch we had earlier, neither of us wanted to eat again so we skipped dinner.
Wouldn't you know it. We ordered our new generator and finally we have a beautiful day of both sun and wind. The amps were just pumping into the batteries.
While the fridge/freezer was defrosting I dug out the sewing machine and did some mending. Rick who I think has abandoned the wood while we were in Tobago tackled the stainless steel instead. Since the freezer was defrosting, I took out all remaining meat (ground beef) to make room for the many ice cubes that will be required when Kelly arrives (only kidding). I was about to make a huge pot of spaghetti sauce when Rick stepped in and said he wanted to make it. He thinks I don't use enough garlic. When we both finished our chores, it was time for a siesta and then happy hour. The days certainly pass very quickly when we're busy.
We went ashore early this morning to stop at the internet and copy our customs papers before getting the 8:30 bus into Scarborough. The sun was shining brightly and it appeared as if we were going to have our second day in a row of good weather. Before jumping on the bus, we stopped at a payphone and called the man in Scarborough to make sure the generator had arrived. I'm glad we did, because when we spoke to him we learned that not only had it not arrived but it was sold to someone else before they had a chance to get it off the floor. I called Trintrac in Trinidad and we were told that they should have more in by next week. They said that they would email us when they arrived and I said that would still purchase on from them within the next couple of weeks but otherwise we could get one at another island. We were a little disappointed because we had already assured Kelly that her room on the boat would not be as warm this time because we wouldn't have to run the engine with a new generator on board. Oh well, you win some and lose some.
With nothing now planned for the day, we decided to get a lift to the Penny Saver grocery store down the road. We didn't have a grocery list with us but we could still pick up a few things. It was almost noon when we returned to Store Bay so we took the groceries to the boat and put things away. We then changed into our bathing suits took our Malt vinegar from the cupboard and went back ashore to Bago's Beach Bar for Fish and Chips. The fish (barracuda) and chips were cooked British style but Bob, the owner who is a Brit had warned us ahead of time that he was out of Malt vinegar. After lunch, we went for a swim from the beach. There were some locals in swimming but the one guy who said hello as soon as we got into the water didn't seem to have a Trini accent so I asked him where he was from. Wouldn't you know it, he was from Toronto (really Scarborough). His brother got married last weekend in Trinidad so the whole family was gathered for a holiday at the Johnston Apartments, the same apartments that we had partied at the weekend before. While Rick chatted with the guys, I had a great conversation with Pamela, the mother of the bridegroom.
We returned to the boat about 3PM and by 4PM some massive dark clouds were building to the east of us. This was the last tropical wave (hopefully) that was in the Atlantic. We were in awe watching the clouds because it was as if they were being divided by the island of Tobago. The sky would become totally black and it would all move to the north of us. The same thing would happen again, the sky became black with the clouds and this time it all moved to the south of us. As we watched, again and again, the clouds would split and then join together well past us to the west and we could see the heavy rain from the clouds falling on the water. Above us we had a small patch of blue sky the whole time.
Since we had this great weather, Rick started up the barbecue and we had some Johnsonville Brats for dinner. I kept yelling Johnsonville Brats as he was cooking them but I was told that the other boats would not understand. There were no American boats left in the Bay. We had South African, French, Belgium, Dutch, Swiss, German, Trinidad and ourselves, Canadian.
We pulled the boat apart one more time before the arrival of company. This time it was to clean all strainers and filters for the bilge pump and water maker and to dig out our Christmas decorations.
I put up the Christmas decorations (not many, but enough) throughout the inside of the boat. We did not decorate the outside of the boat this year. The salt got to the lights and being at anchor with no generator, we couldn't afford the amps. We are celebrating Christmas beginning in November this year. In Tobago, it appears as though everyone starts to celebrate early. The radio stations are already playing the Christmas Parang music all day long. While listening to the Christmas music, I wrapped a few small gifts.
We had another gorgeous day! I hope we're not using up all of the good weather before Kelly arrives. Today we had a few last minute preparations to do. Rick emptied all of the jerry cans into the fuel tank and we took them ashore to Marlin who went and had them filled for us. I wanted some nice large shrimp to cook for Kelly's first dinner on board tomorrow night so we walked down the road to see the fishermen. When I asked one of them where the shrimp man was, I learned that the shrimp are not caught locally. The man we met a few days ago, catches them in Trinidad and once in a while comes in his truck on the early morning ferry to bring them to Tobago. It was just luck that he happened to be here when we last walked by, as he doesn't come often. Plan "B"! We walked to Jimmy's a little local market that keeps shrimp in the freezer. but they were out of shrimp. Plan C! We had just missed the hourly bus so we waved down a car and went to Penny Savers. Thank heavens, they had some nice large shrimp. They were frozen and expensive but at least we didn't have top go to plan "D".
When we returned to the beach, Marlin had our jerry cans waiting for us. Rick took them back to the boat in the dinghy and then returned to the beach for me. Two Canadian boats had arrived in the anchorage while we were gone. One of them was Galadriel, Rich and Pam with their children, Mattias & Jenna. We stopped and said hello to them. The second boat, Tembo, with Heather & Gord and their children Elizabeth & Tommy were travelling together. Cruising kids can get very lonely, as there are not many of them around. Very often, when they find and make friends with children on another boat, the boats will travel together when possible.
We had a short siesta and then ran the engine, topped up the water tanks, finished all chores so we would be free to have fun for the next couple of weeks.
The one last thing I had to do after dinner was to colour my hair. Kelly informed me quite a while ago that she no longer resembles me in appearance as she has had a lot of red highlights added to her hair colour. So, I purchased some temporary red cranberry hair colouring. I thought that cranberry would be quite appropriate at Christmas plus it was the only red I could find. I was pretty sure that because my hair is grey, it would turn it orange or pink rather than red, but it would give her a few laughs. It is only temporary (I hope) and should come out after a few washings. I applied it according to the directions and Rick set the timer. When I walked out of the head and he saw the colour, he panicked and suggested I rinse it out after 2 minutes. No way, it needed a minimum of 5 minutes and up to 15 minutes. I finally agreed to rinse it after 5 minutes. It's too bad, I was looking for a dramatic hair colour and this was quite subtle. At least there was enough colour that Kelly would notice it. I still had some of the colouring left in the bottle and suggested it would be great fun if we both had red hair when we greeted her at the airport. Rick went along with it but I had to assist. He whimped out at 5 minutes as well, so we both have a hint of red hair colouring now.
The alarm was set for 4:15AM and when it went off Rick jumped up, made the
coffee while I rolled over and begged for 15 more minutes. It was just after 5AM
when we jumped into the dinghy and went ashore in the dark. The tide was low so
it was a struggle for us to pull the dinghy above the high water line on the
beach. Marlin had offered to come in early just to help us and we thanked him
but said that we would manage. We did, but worked up quite a sweat in the
process. By the time the dinghy was in place and we had washed the sand off our
legs, it was 5:30AM. It was only a short walk to the airport but I think Rick
just about jogged the whole way. I was exhausted by the time we arrived and
since it was then only 5:45AM we had 30 minutes before her flight was to arrive.
We watched the staff check the runway before her flight arrived, which we
realized, was the first of the day. It was 15 minutes late but Kelly quickly had
her bags and was out in no time. She had been travelling since the afternoon
yesterday as she went to the airport early to miss the Toronto rush hour
traffic. Although tired, she was still quite alert. After a little hug, she
looked at us and exclaimed. You have pink hair! I had to explain to her that it
was a subtle cranberry not pink.
Our first stop was for breakfast, which we had at the airport. As we each took one of her bags and started walking from the airport to the beach where we left the dinghy, a taxi offered us a lift for a reasonable price so we took it.
We had been onboard for only a few minutes and Kelly had already unpacked one of her suitcases. This one was full of things for us. Some things we had asked for and others were Christmas presents. After she had placed everything under our 6 inch Christmas tree, we popped the champagne, turned on the Parang music and began opening gifts. It was great fun but we all started to fade quickly and although it wasn't noon yet everyone was ready for a siesta.
Not quite refreshed but awake we spent the afternoon in the cockpit chatting
and drinking rum punch. Eventually it was time to get ready to go ashore. We had
a light dinner at Bago's Beach Bar and then Marlin arrived a little after 7PM
with a taxi to take us to a Parang in one of the nearby towns. Although we had
arrived early, the place was packed and it took a while before we could round up
some chairs. Meanwhile, the Parang did not begin until the football game between
Trinidad and Bahrain (a playoff Game) was over. When it did begin, the group
that played prior to Scrunter (who I wanted to hear) didn't finish until almost
11PM. Scrunter was good when he finally did appear but by then we were really
starting to fade. By the time we returned to
the boat it was well after midnight
and everyone's eyes were closed before our heads even hit the pillow.
It was a stormy day in paradise. This was not your everyday storm it was
Tropical Depression #27. It actually formed into a tropical depression after
passing over us but it was still very nasty while it was here. We had wind and
rain during the night but at 5AM there was simultaneous crack of thunder and
lightening which actually caused the boat to vibrate. Rick thought he saw sparks
fly from the mast of a boat anchored near us. Since we were all awake after
that, we watched the rain and clouds pass by thinking that we had seen the worst
of it. I made arepas for breakfast and we took our time waiting for the sky to
clear. Eric (our weather forecaster) suggested that Tobago would see rain in the
morning as flash flood warnings had been issued for Trinidad and Tobago but we
should see it clear by afternoon. It was not
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quite that easy as the tropical
depression caused the winds to return from the south west (a bad direction) at
about 25 knots. One small boat in the bay started to drag but he was onboard and
got things under control before causing any damage. He had to motor around for a
while before the winds eased up enough for him to go forward and drop the anchor
again. The winds kept changing direction to the point that we were almost doing
circles around the anchor. We kept talking of going ashore but as the day went
by and the wind and rain continued we gave up. It was a good reading day as long
as you propped yourself so you would roll around without falling off the settee
or bunk. At 3PM when the rain eased a little the boat beside us came by to tell
us that they had been hit by lightening and all their electronics and
refrigeration were blown. The radar screen literally blew out and the light
bulbs in their cabin lights blew up. They weren't hurt but did get a little
tingle when it happened.
We later learned that the catamaran on the other side of us had received some stray current from the lightening hit as well. They lost some of their electronics. If that wasn't bad enough it appeared that Tembo also received some damage. It was very late in the day before we realized how lucky we had been. All of the boats around us had damage while we seemed to be fine. We checked everything electronic including the radar and SSB. Everything was working fine.
At 3:30PM the rain had eased enough that we could send Kelly out to bail the dinghy that was almost overflowing with water. We told her that this was one of the fun things we liked to do but since she was company, we would forfeit the privilege to her.
In the evening we found that during the winds we had somehow lost our new garden light that we now call our anchor light. We don't know whether it bounced out or was blown out. We'll try to buy another before leaving Tobago but the next one will be better secured.
There wasn't a lot of improvement in the weather but the winds had definitely settled down to a point where we didn't have to worry about boats dragging in the anchorage. We got ready and went ashore while the rain was drizzling a little. On our way in we stopped to take some umbrella hats to the children on Tembo and Galadriel. They thought they were great and immediately put them on and went on deck to dance in the rain.
Many of the stores and restaurants were closed and we learned that the schools had been closed because of the weather as well. There had been mudslides in both Trinidad and Tobago. Our first stop was the internet café where we checked a few things then tried to make a phone call. I guess the cables were a little damp (probably totally under water) so dial tone was in short supply. The call would have to wait a day. We then stopped at the Coco Reef Hotel where Kelly made a reservation to spend tomorrow morning being pampered at the spa. While we were there we met Jill, Barry, Catherine and Barry who were all from Britain, vacationing at the Coco Reef. Jill told us that during the storm early yesterday she had been sitting on her balcony looking out over the water, when she saw the boat "Velvet" get hit. She said it was extremely frightening that there were so many sparks, she expected the boat to burst into flames at any moment. She was worried that the people might have been injured and was trying to determine who she could notify to help. They were all relieved to hear that everyone was fine.
We continued our walk in the (pouring) rain recognising that it could clear at any moment hopefully soon. We stopped and bought a new hat for Rick, and some snorkel things at a nearby dive shop. We were trying to decide where to go for lunch and we finally settled on Bago's again. Our timing was perfect because the rain had suddenly become very heavy. It was so noisy on the tin roof in Bago's that it was difficult to carry on a conversation but at least it was dry. By the time we finished eating it had almost stopped raining. We walked along the Pigeon Point road to the fishermen and bought a huge red snapper. We had the fishermen filet it for us and when we returned to the boat to wash and package it I found there was enough fish for four meals. Meal number one was for this night and the rest went into the freezer.
All last night we had not a drop of rain or a whisp of wind. This meant that
we had a great night sleep but we were very low on Amps when we awoke. As soon
as we finished listening to Eric's weather forecast, Rick started the engine.
The engine wasn't very happy this morning. It seemed as if there might be water
in the fuel. When Rick had filled the tank last week, he had to stop and clean
the Baha filter because of the amount of water. We left the engine problem until
after Kelly was delivered to the Coco Reef at 8:45AM for her morning of
pampering. While she was gone, Rick put some extra conditioner in the fuel and
then changed both fuel filters. It took a while to bleed the air even though he
ran the engine between filter changes. Just in case, he pulled the pickup tube
from the fuel tank and checked to make sure that it was clear. After everything
was put back together, the engine was again purring gently.
I quickly finished rinsing some laundry I had put to soak last night using
all of the rain water we had collected. I also washed the cockpit cushions. They
got soaked during one of the downpours the other day and weren't quite dry yet.
This morning I sent a cup of coffee flying all over one cushion as I rushed to
the helm to give the engine some extra fuel when I heard the engine RPMs
dropped. I think the message was that they needed to be properly washed so I
stripped the covers and used the leftover wash water from our clothes.
We then had just enough time for a quick shower before we had to leave and pick Kelly up at 11:30AM.
We saw her standing on the wall just like the regular Coco Reef guests. She
had her camera and was playing tourist. We had a huge buffet lunch before
leaving the hotel. The sun was shining and we were hopeful the telephone lines
had dried enough to be working. Sure enough, she got through to Toronto ok and
she finished her conversation just in time. The soccer game between Trinidad and
Bahrain (in Bahrain) had just finished and Trinidad had won. We could hear
cheering coming from different buildings all around us. The cars all started
honking their horn as they drove by. On our way back to the beach, we stopped at Bago's and the kids from Galadriel and Tiembo were all there. They had made signs
and pictures of soccer balls, TnT (Trinidad & Tobago) and they even brought a
Trinidad flag to help with their cheering. They had watched the game on TV in
the bar.
The moon was full and the tide was extremely high and strong. Once we got the
dinghy off the beach, we decided that it would be easier to swim from the boat
rather than go to shore again. Kelly and I had more of a noodle float than a
swim but it was very refreshing.
No one was very hungry after the huge lunch so we just had crackers and cheese for dinner.
I know it was silly to make plans but we had talked about spending the whole day on the beach. We slept well all night with the hatches and ports open until just before 6AM. We had a major rain drill that just didn't want to move on. Rick put out pails and caught 6 full pails of water, we had breakfast and read. Every so often, we would check outside looking for a little clearing in the sky but none appeared until almost dinnertime.
I was able to use all the rainwater again to do some laundry. I hung it out to dry overnight. All meals were on board and the day was a total write-off.
The boat rocked and rolled wildly all night so that none of us had a great night sleep. The rolling settled down in the morning during breakfast and the sky although very cloudy had a few blue patches here and there. We all wanted off the boat. When breakfast was finished we had Rick take Kelly and I ashore to the beach. This beach always has a high surf but it was extremely bad this day. Rick dropped us off in water shallow enough for us to wade in with our bags. This was the larger beach where we were able to rent lounge chairs and a nice huge umbrella for the day.
Rick returned to the boat to run the engine for a while and then joined us
just before lunch. When he arrived, Kelly and I went to buy some Crab and
Dumplings from one of the small kitchens at this beach. Alma's Kitchen had been
recommended to us but her crab wasn't ready yet. On our way back to our beach
chairs whom should we run into but Tim and Pauline (Nanou). They have sold Nanou
and bought a new boat. The new boat was being shipped to Tortola from Britain so
meanwhile they were staying in an apartment on Tobago for a couple of weeks
vacation. We had a nice visit with them and then returned to get our crab.
I'm not sure what we expected the Crab and Dumpling dish to be but it was crab in the shell served with flat square dumplings and a lot of curry sauce. It is eaten by biting the crab shell and sucking the meat out. A fork can be used for the dumplings to dip them in the sauce. Needless to say, we didn't do well with this dish. I think it would take a lot of practice to be able to enjoy eating it.
We went in the water off and on during the day and played in the surf. A few times people would be picked up and tossed by the waves that were breaking on the beach. The gang from Galadriel came to the beach by dinghy and they had a great way of getting both the kids and bags ashore. One by one, they would transport them from the dinghy to shore, on top of a boogie board.
Eventually it was time for us to return to the boat. Rick was bringing the dinghy in close enough that we could wade out with the bags. The tide was much higher now than it had been when we first arrived so he was coming in a little closer. As he was lifting the outboard, he didn't see what was coming behind him. A huge wave hit the dinghy and Rick fell and smashed his mouth on the top of the outboard engine. I could tell that it hurt but he still wasn't looking behind him at a larger wave heading towards him. We called to him but he didn't hear us. The wave took the dinghy and Rick and somersaulted both of them until Rick was in the sand under the dinghy. We quickly went to help Rick and as fast as we got to him the lifeguards and locals grabbed the dinghy and lifted it upright away from him. He was definitely a little sore but came through without major damage.
The one lifeguard who's name was also Richard was amazing. He sent someone to go get a pail of fresh water and his tools. He quickly pulled the cover off the outboard and poured the fresh water all over it. Next, he pulled the plugs and drained a bit of gas from the tank to soak them. He knew exactly what he was doing and when finished the engine started and ran perfectly. Meanwhile Kelly went into the surf and rescued a few items like the anchor, mat and gas tank cover that had fallen out of the dinghy. Richard said that he would help us get the dinghy passed the surf safely. We thanked him very much and dumped all of the bags into the dinghy and with everything else not quite in it's proper place, there wasn't really enough room for Kelly and I. Rick was to take the bags back to the boat and return for us. Richard told us that he would stand by and help Rick to come back in safely through the surf but Kelly and I said that we would prefer to be picked up at our regular beach. So, we watched Rick get away safely and then walked back to Bago's where he picked us up in nice calm waters. Rick, not wanting to show off is acrobatic skills again has suggested that we can easily walk from our regular beach to the large beach. Dinghy surfing is not part of our agenda.
We awoke to a beautiful day. Rick wanted to charge the batteries before we
went ashore which took a couple of hours. While the engine was running, we ran
the water maker and topped up the tank. The cut on Rick's lip was looking much
better. His arm had a bruise but he said it was much improved and he no longer
appeared to be favouring it. The best news was that after spending the night in
his back brace, his back although a little wrenched and maybe bruised was
feeling much better as well. He was ordered to relax and do nothing strenuous
for the day. The next thing we knew he was in the dinghy giving the outboard
engine a thorough cleaning. He had to delay the work on the outboard when it
started to rain. It was just before lunch when the rain started and it continued
heavy until late in the afternoon. We had gathered laundry in the morning to
take ashore but that was put on hold for a while. The whole day was spent
waiting and hoping for the sky to clear.
The weather appeared very questionable when we first got up. We had promised
Dexter, one of the beach boys, that we would go on his island boat tour today,
but only if the sun was shining. There were patches of blue sky and it looked
like the sun was trying to break through so we decided to go for it. Kelly and I
would go on the tour while Rick remained on board and recuperated a little more.
Dexter picked us up in a van at Bago's Beach Bar and took us to Mount Irvine where we waited for a powerboat to come and get us. There were only four of us on the tour, a couple that was sitting on the beach next to us last Friday, Max and Claudia from Germany and Kelly and I. The tour company was King David Tours and the driver of the boat who we called King David had his son with him as boat boy while Dexter was tour guide and cook.
We headed along the Caribbean side of the island checking out the small bays
and fishing on our way. I caught two small tuna that were large enough to feed
four of us but no more. We arrived at a small bay that was only accessible from
the water. It had a lovely beach, a deserted island style of barbecue and two
very friendly stingrays. While Dexter started preparing the lunch, King David
called the stingrays using a little of the fish remains. It didn't take long
before Tommy and Nemo, the stingrays, showed up anxious to play. They rubbed up
against our legs like a cat and if you were standing with your feet a little
apart to brace yourself against the waves, they would push through right between
your legs. They almost knocked Kelly over a couple of times doing just that with
their huge wingspan. We fed them and played with them for a long time. They
would swim right up into our arms underwater, and we could try to lift them but
they were so large and heavy that we would end up falling backwards with them
into the water.
When lunch was ready, we found that someone had used the fishes and loaves
trick.
There was enough fish and even chicken to feed many more people. We had
potato salad, rice salad and fresh fruit as side dishes with of course, lots to
drink. When everyone was finished eating Dexter threw a little rice on the
ground at the edge of the hill and dozens of gecko's came running down to eat.
We played with Tommy and Nemo a little longer and then headed back in the
boat the way we came. We stopped to snorkel in the Bucco Reef. The area we were
in was called the coral gardens and it was beautiful with a nice selection of
coral and fish but also with a very strong current this day. The guys had said
that if we got too far away and became tired we could raise our hand and they
would come and get us but none of us strayed too far from the boat. Kelly and I
climbed aboard and had a drink while
Claudia and Max snorkelled a little longer.
When we left the Coral Garden area our next stop was the Nylon Pool which is
still within the Bucco Reef. This was a shallow sandy area, quite a distance
from shore. When we asked why it was called the Nylon Pool we were told that
when Princess Margaret visited there she said that the sun shining on the water
made it look like nylon. The name stuck. We stayed there quite a while and were
eventually joined by other boats.
Our last leg of the tour was back through the gap of the reef to return to Mount Irvine. As we were getting closer to shore, Dexter and Max decided that they wanted to swim the rest of the way in. King David slowed the boat a little and they dove off. Really, Max dove and we had to encourage Dexter to follow.
Everyone tried to remove as much sand as possible from their legs and feet before getting into the taxi for the ride back to Store Bay. It was 5:30PM when Kelly and I arrived at Bago's. I called Rick on the hand held VHF and asked him to come ashore and to join us for dinner at Bago's. When he arrived, I didn't want him straining his back so Kelly and I were going to try and pull the dinghy ashore but we didn't have to. There was a large group of German cruisers standing on the beach by their dinghies and they helped us pull in ours.
When dinner was finished, Kelly and I had no problem dragging the dinghy back into the water, it's all down hill. Back at the boat, we tried to get some of the salt and sand from our towels and clothes before heading down below for a nice freshwater shower.
Another sunny day!! We all went ashore and Marlon was on the beach to help us pull the dinghy up. Rick is still not allowed (orders from the admiral), to strain his back so Kelly and I had envisioned trying to beach the thing ourselves.
We took our laundry, which consisted of mainly towels to the Clothes Wash Internet Café and checked email. Blow me down!!! I had thought that we no longer had any friends, as we had not received any email over the SSB since Kelly arrived. We found that we do still have a few friends but their emails had been stuck in an automatic transfer glitch. Feeling much better we left and walked to the airport where there is a Rituals Café which reminds me of Starbucks. We all had a cold drink topped with whipped cream. Kelly and I had a bagel and cream cheese while Rick who was seriously hungry had an omelette with hash browns.
There is almost no food left in the refrigerator on board as we had expected we would be eating out frequently this past week with Kelly here. I'm sure we would have if the weather had been a little more conducive to going ashore in the dinghy. We waved down a car with a "P" license plate (private car) and went to Penny Savers. When the shopping cart was full and the list was complete, we checked out. The checkout boy took our bags across the street where it didn't take long to wave down a car with an "H" license plate (car for hire). The "P" cars seem to operate more like the buses, dropping you off near your destination. We wanted the "H" car so that we could stop at the laundromat and pick up the clean clothes then have him drop us with everything at beach where we left the dinghy. It worked perfectly, when we arrived at the beach Marlon came running again to help us with the bags and the dinghy. We have not given Marlon any money or gifts yet for all of the assistance he has provided to us but we will certainly have to do something for him before we leave.
We had to make 2 dinghy trips to get everything and everybody back to the boat. Kelly, Rick and the groceries went first and then Rick returned for the laundry and me. It only took a couple of minutes for him to make the second trip but by the time I got aboard, I found Kelly had opened all of the ports and hatches as well she had emptied the bags of groceries and had everything organized and lined up waiting for me to stow in the correct locker.
Working on her tan, Kelly remained on deck watching the clouds build and split. There was one confused cloud that attempted to ruin our afternoon but only was able to spit a few drops that didn't even bother us enough to close any ports or hatches.
When shopping we had bought some pork back ribs that had to be cooked for dinner since there is no way they would fit in our tiny freezer. They may have fit if we had bought a reasonable amount but when I opened the package, I found that we had way too much meat. I cooked it all and some time this week, we'll have to have leftovers for dinner.
November 22, 2005, TobagoWe were quite late leaving the boat this morning because we needed to run the engine to charge the batteries, run the water maker and burn some CDs. It was almost 11AM by the time we finished. The sky was very clear and there was no wind when we headed ashore.
We walked toward Pigeon Point stopping at the small souvenir shops along the
way. When we arrived on the beach at Pigeon Point it was amazing the number of
people there. They were all from one of the cruise ships that were in port. We
normally are the only people on a beach along with a few locals. Today, all of
the lounge chairs were taken but there was still plenty of unoccupied space on
the beach. Pigeon
Point is the most photographed area on Tobago. The beach was
beautiful with soft sand, thousands of palm trees and beautiful flowering plants
and bushes. We set our things down and joined the crowds in the water. At a
little after 3PM the cruise ship people all packed and left for their return
trip to the ship leaving only a few locals, hotel tourists and us on the beach.
We left a little while later and made our way back to Bago's Beach Bar. There we joined the Happy Hour crowd and then later wandered down the road to the Golden Star Restaurant. Kelly and I had wanted some lobster and we hadn't been able to get to the fishermen early enough in the morning to buy them. The Golden Star always has fresh lobster available. It was a very nice dinner and we promised the hostess that we would return tomorrow night for dinner and to hear the pan band.
We awoke to another gorgeous day, blue sky and sunshine. Rick ran the engine
early this morning because the batteries were down again. We really do need a
bit of wind so that the wind generator can provide a few extra amps.
Breakfast was quick this morning, yogurt with bagels and cream cheese. We didn't have time to lounge around because we had booked an island tour with Ancil. He was to pick us up by Bago's at 9AM. It was 9:30AM when we used Marlon's cell phone to call him but we only reached his voice mail. Marlon quickly called Kester, one of his cousins who came with a nice car and gave us an all day tour of the island.
We drove along the main road, almost to Scarborough then cut across the
middle of the island to the other coast. We stopped for a wonderful "Kodak
moment" at Castara Bay. This was followed by additional stops along the way in
Englishman's Bay, Parlatuvier and Bloody Bay. We then took a short cut that
would eventually take us to Charlotteville. Along the way, we stopped in L'anse
Fourmi to say hello to Kester's Grandmother. It was after that the road which
was not only unpaved but also had washed out in many areas from the rain last
week, became a challenge for Kester. In some places, a four-wheel drive vehicle
would have been very useful. When we arrived in Charlotteville, Rick, Kelly and
I strolled along the beach while Kester moved the car to the other end of town.
In Charlotteville we stopped to meet his mother and say hello to his step
father.
As we drove across the island we would have many quick stops for a quick
hello to Kester's cousins who were walking by or standing near the road outside
their homes.
Lunch was at Jemma's Tree House Restaurant in Speyside. Rick had fish, Kester
had chicken and Kelly and I had spicy large shrimps. Lunch was wonderful but it
was after 3PM by the time we finished and we still had a few more things to see
and do. Our next stop was at the Fort King George in Scarborough. The fort is so
well restored that it doesn't look like it dates back to the 1770's. After the
fort, we made a couple of stops in Scarborough. The first stop was at a
particular souvenir shop (Tobago Treasures) but it had already closed for the
day. The next stop was the lighting store where Rick had bought our solar garden
light that flew to sea during TD 27. They had almost closed but we were just in
time.
He bought another light that will be fastened a little more securely this
time. We headed out of Scarborough towards Store Bay with a small detour through
the new Hilton Hotel grounds on our way.
It was 5:30PM when we arrived in Store Bay. We asked Kester to drop us at the
internet café so I could check the weather. We're keeping a close eye on some
expected northerly (hopefully north-easterly) swells from Tropical storm Delta
that has formed in the Atlantic. It appears as though they might just wait until
after Kelly leaves before reaching as far south as Tobago. After the internet we
stopped at Bago's for a happy hour drink and to kill time before dinner. It was
a little after 7PM when we left Bago's and went to the Golden Star. We received
a nice warm greeting when we arrived and the hostess, true to her word, had
reserved a front row table for us. It was difficult
to think about eating again
but we did. In fact we all had steaks which were very tender and tasty. At 8PM a
small pan band set up (right in front of us) and started playing. Although they
played a good mix of tunes the majority were Christmas songs which was exactly
what we wanted to hear. They played from 8PM to 10PM but by a little after 9PM
we were all starting to fade so we made our way back to the boat.
This was a beach day. Kelly wanted to work on her tan and just relax before
she has to rejoin the rat race back home. Rick took us into shore and then
returned to the boat to install his new garden anchor light, run the engine and
water maker. Kelly and
I rented a couple of beach chairs from Marlon who made
sure we got not only his best chairs but they were placed in the best location
for us as well. Rick joined us just before lunchtime when we walked out to get
some barbecued chicken and macaroni pie, which has become one of Kelly's favourites due to the fact it has no curry in it. We stopped at a few places but
their macaroni pie wasn't ready yet so we ended up back at the Golden Star. They
had the macaroni pie but no barbecued chicken on the menu this day. It didn't
matter, they assured us that they could cook some chicken for us. We took lunch
back to the beach with an extra one for Marlon as well.
Kelly and I had just walked out to the fruit and vegetable stand to pick up a few things. On our way there we met a man carrying his steel drum. He asked where we were from and then proceeded to play "Oh Canada" for us. We thanked him and continued on to the veggie stand. Just as we reached it, a large lonely cloud came by and rained on us. We didn't care, it was warm, we had our bathing suits and wraps on and it just provided a nice fresh water rinse. Back at the beach we found Rick had retreated into Bago's along with everyone else to wait out the rain. It didn't take long and we were all on the beach again.
When we returned to the boat we found that the swells from Tropical storm Delta had already made their way down here and we had a good roll happening in the bay. We think that the Bucco reef was breaking them up a little because they were not to uncomfortable (yet).
Rick took Kelly and me ashore for another beach day. He wanted to run the engine again and work on a few boat projects but would join us for lunch. By about 11:30AM Kelly and I realized that the swells were building and crashing on our beach which is normally very calm. I called Rick and asked him to come ashore as soon as possible. When he arrived, we discussed what we would do about the swells that were still growing. My fear was that we wouldn't be able to Kelly and her luggage ashore for her flight home tomorrow. Not that we were anxious to get rid of her but she did have a ticket with tomorrows date. Marlon and I quickly pushed the dinghy back out with Rick and Kelly aboard. Rick packed a few things for me and Kelly packed her suitcases. Marlon made reservations for Kelly and me at Doris's Guest House down the road. When the dinghy returned, Marlon helped us again. He carried all of the bags ashore while Kelly and I held the dinghy bow to the waves. As soon as the last bag was off we pushed the dinghy out and Rick returned to the boat.
We watched Rick until he was safely back onboard then had Marlon get a taxi
to take us to Doris's. The guesthouse was very basic but clean and friendly.
Once we had dumped the luggage, Kelly and I headed out again. This time we went
to Store Bay beach to see how large the swells were there. The lifeguards had
posted danger flags but there were still about 8 adults in the surf. As the surf
hit the beach it was crashing in at more than double the height of the people.
We called Rick using the hand held VHF to see how things were on the boat and he
reported that everything was fine and comfortable.
After watching the surf for a while we walked back to check the weather on the internet. We were able to get a lot of weather including wind and waves but absolutely no information of swells. We next stopped at Jimmy's mini mart and picked up some juice, water, yogurt and plantain chips. Lastly we stopped and got a pizza to take back to the guesthouse for dinner.
We were able to call Rick on the VHF from the guesthouse so we checked on him again before going to bed.
When I opened the bag that Rick had packed for me I found that I had no PJ's or underwear. Kelly and I chuckled and commented that it was a guys type of packing but we could see that he had gathered things for me like hairbrush, toothpaste and brush etc.
Kelly and I both awoke just after 5:30AM, which is the time we normally wake up on the boat. On the boat it is the sunlight that wakes us but all of our curtains were drawn and the room was still dark. The songbirds woke us this morning.
We had some orange juice and yogurt to hold us over until we could go for breakfast, which we did after a leisurely shower. Before leaving however we called Rick again to see how he faired overnight and to have him provide us with Eric's weather forecast. He had a comfortable night and the forecast still had a warning due to the swells but only for the next 6 to 12 hours.
Kelly and I discussed having breakfast at a pancake house that was very close to the guesthouse. When we got there, it hadn't opened yet and after discussing the fact that pancakes without real maple syrup did not excite us we left and went to the Golden Star. There the cook was late and breakfast was not ready so we kept walking. We ended up at Rituals by the airport where we both had a marvellous omelette.
When we left Rituals Kelly and I walked along a road that led to a jetty that we could see on Crown Point from the boat. This jetty had the traditional palm roof hut on it. On the way, we stopped and checked out Fort Milford. We had a great view of Wind-Borne from the fort so we called Rick to let him know that we were waving and that there were no canons directed his way.
While at the jetty, we sat under one of the palm roof huts for a while and just looked at the view. We were joined by a couple from Coco Reef who had ridden over on bikes. They had heard that there were some large iguanas here and wanted to know if we had seen where. I checked with a local who was fishing nearby. He explained that it was iguana-hunting season so most would probably be in a pot somewhere.
When we left the point, we headed back toward the guesthouse. Check out time was noon. We had to make a couple of stops at some souvenir shops along the way for important purchases. It was just after 11AM as we were passing through Store Bay Beach. There is a place there to have a nice cool beer so we stopped and called Rick to let him know that since we were having one he could as well.
It was 11:30 when we picked up our bags and asked Doris to call a taxi to take us to the airport. Although it's close, Kelly's bags were too heavy to carry or drag the distance. It was just a little early to check in for her flight when we arrived so we had the taxi drop us at Rituals again. This time we had one of their nice smoothie type drinks. I had a mocha chocolate chiller while Kelly had a java chocolate chip chiller. By the time we finished our chillers it was check-in time. There was no one else checking in so it didn't take very long. We no longer had to carry or wheel the bags so we returned to Rituals, this time for lunch. They laughed when they saw us come in for a third time in one day. Neither of us was very hungry so we both ordered a Waldorf salad and ice tea. While there, we called Rick again to see how he was and so that he could say goodbye to Kelly. When he yelled "Goodbye Pumpkin" through the VHF, everyone else in the restaurant heard him as well and chuckled. We killed as much time as we could over lunch before leaving the restaurant and going to explore more souvenir shops. The timing was perfect as we walked out of the last shop it was time for Kelly to go through security to her gate. We said our goodbyes and she was off.
I walked back to our beach to figure out how I was going to get back aboard the boat. Marlon had offered to take me out in a kayak but the huge bag I was carrying was extremely heavy and I thought he might have to make two trips. I wanted to sit on the beach and watch the waves for a while to see what was happening with them. It didn't take very long to notice that the swells had decreased significantly since this morning and that there was a calm after every 3 to 4 waves. I turned on the VHF to call Rick but before I had a chance, he called me. I told him that if he was very careful and watched behind the dinghy as he came into shore that I felt we could safely transport the bag and me in the dinghy. Marlon was there again to help with the bag and to hold the bow into the waves as I jumped in. We made it safely back to the boat without incident. I was sitting in the cockpit when I saw Kelly's flight take off. With everyone safely home or on their way home it was time to relax.
It was a little rolly over night but not bad. In the morning, we found that the swell was down to about one metre and although that would normally be very comfortable, we had absolutely no wind at all. The boats therefore were drifting, beam to the waves and we were rolling worse than we did in the swells. Going ashore was no longer a problem, there was no surf breaking on the beach but I wanted to stay aboard and relax for the day. Rick changed the oil, something he had wanted to do all last week.
We read and had a siesta in the afternoon while it rained. We had been eating so much food this last while we both wanted a light dinner. I made coleslaw, bean salad and filet of red snapper.
The roll was worst overnight than yesterday. The swell is way down so it was a good day to get off the boat. When we had finished with breakfast, we took the laundry ashore and checked a few things at the internet cafe. We ran into Tim and Pauline (Nanou) who were checking their email. They are flying to Puerto La Cruz tomorrow.
When we left the internet, we headed for the bus stop and went into Scarborough to check out with Customs and Immigration. It was noon when we had all of our departure papers in hand. Rick wanted to walk up the hill to a part of Scarborough we hadn't roamed. We both bought a new pair of sandals. Then I remembered reading about The Old Donkey Cart Restaurant that was a 15 minute walk along Bacolet street. This restaurant was supposed to have a great menu and wonderful ambience so we wanted to give it a try. It was a much longer walk than 15 minutes from downtown Scarborough but it was a very scenic area and we enjoyed the walk. When we arrived at the restaurant, we learned that the ambiance mentioned in the guidebook as well as the extensive menu was only available at dinner. The lunch menu was very limited (hamburgers, soup, salad or sandwiches). We were the only ones eating there at lunch time along with a few bananaquits (small yellow birds) but they were good hamburgers so we didn't care. Rather than walk the whole way back we took a taxi to the main area of downtown and walked to the bus terminal from there.
When we were in the dinghy on our way back to the boat we noticed that Malcolm and Margot (Kiwa), had come into Store Bay from Charlotteville. We stopped to talk with them for a while and learned that they are sailing back to Trinidad early tomorrow morning to pick up some boat parts. We said our goodbyes to them but we will probably meet up again in Carriacou within a couple of weeks.
Eric informed us that there is another low pressure system forming in the same location that Delta formed. We really don't want to go through another series of swells from the north or northeast so we have decided to get a move on.
In the morning, Rick took down the sun awning, put on jack lines and cleaned the anchor line. I tidied and got things ready down below to get underway. In the afternoon we walked to the airport for our last chocolate malted drink at Rituals then got a lift to Penny savers where we bought things that we remembered as being unavailable in Grenada. Finally, we removed the outboard motor and raised the dingy. We had exactly 1 hour to rest before lifting the anchor.
It was 5:30PM when the anchor was raised and we were on our way.
We watched a beautiful red sunset that lit up sky so brightly that the water even looked red because of the reflection.
The sea was extremely flat with absolutely no waves. The swell was still rolling in but there was at least 10 seconds between each swell so it was comfortable. As usual when we do an overnight passage for some reason we always seem to pick a night with no moon. We were sailing into total blackness. The sky however was so clear and the stars so brilliant that they gave us something to look at. Kelly and Rick had been amazed at the brightness of Venus while she was here. Now it was so bright that it illuminated the water just as the moon would have if it had been around. Venus however dipped below the horizon sometime around 9:30PM. We motor sailed along with no wind. While Rick slept, I watched the radar screen for any little blips. I scanned where I thought the horizon might be watching for other boat lights. There was nothing at all out there. The only excitement was when a plane flew by headed somewhere. Gradually the lights of Tobago faded away behind us.
It was a little after midnight when we were changing watches. I pointed out a small light just off the port side of the bow to Rick. I though it might be the light at Port Salinas, Grenada. Sure enough, a couple of hours later when I awoke, we could see a few more lights. It was definitely land but we still a long way to go. We were motor sailing at 2000 RPMs and depending upon the current we were sometimes barely making 5 knots and other times we'd be flying along at 6 knots. When we were about 20 miles off Grenada, the wind picked up and gave us a nice little push but the air temperature dropped so much that I had to get out the nylon jackets. It stayed cool for the rest of the night until the sun came up. A few dolphins came by to say good morning as we were viewing the coastline for changes. We had been told that the trees had all been ripped out by Hurricane Ivan but in the tropics things grow so quickly and the island still looked very green and beautiful to us.
We made our way into the lagoon at St. George's and anchored next to Lawrence on Meander who last saw in Puerto La Cruz. He poked his head out to say hello and later came by on his way to shore.
While Rick and Lawrence were talking, I made some tea which we had with some toasted bacon and tomato sandwiches. When Lawrence left we had a 1 hour nap before getting ourselves ready and the dinghy down to go to shore. We stopped by to let the customs officer at the yacht club know that we would be checking in as soon as we hit the ATM for so local money. He let us know that he was leaving by 4PM and would we please try to be back by 3:30PM. We jumped on a local bus and made it to the bank and back before 2:30PM.
Once we were legally checked-in we had a drink at the club and then went for a walk through the Carenage. Buildings we saw on our bus trip and during our walk along the shore in town looked great. There were nice improvements to many of the buildings that had been damaged in the hurricane. We could see buildings on the upper level of town that will take years to fix like a churches that were a couple of hundred years old with the roof totally gone and just the shell remaining. We both commented that this part of the island had made a remarkable recovery.
We stopped at the Nutmeg Restaurant and had a roti for dinner.
