07/24 - 31/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

There were more security concerns this week, Wayne & Carol on Take Time were boarded. They are at Crews Inn, the largest, certainly the most expensive, and one of the most “secure” marinas here. Carol heard the intruder rattling their door in the wee hours of the morning and woke Wayne, who ran naked to the door and scared the guy away. (We keep telling Wayne that it was the sight of him running naked that scared him away). Wayne said that the security people were able to apprehend the man but then let him go! Wayne also observed that the guards looked terrified of him. He didn’t have any identification and they didn’t bother to get his name. Later the marina manager apologized to them for their scare and for the fact that this was apparently the second time the same guy was seen on a boat that didn’t belong to him. His explanation was that he’s on the wrong boat. The belief is that the man is homeless and sleeps on boats that are uninhabited. Still, with all of the thefts occurring and the fact that there are a couple of “cowboys” itching for a fight, no one is safe.

There was also a theft from a boat “on the hard” at our marina. That one appeared to be an “inside job” since tools in a locked cupboard were specifically targeted.

We’re all being very careful. Except for Dale jogging in the morning or Wayne riding his motorcycle into town, even the men are going places in pairs. Needless to say, after Wayne & Carol’s scare, we’re all popping up from time to time to flash our lights around. Finally, that 3:00am potty run is useful for something other than relief.

Also this week, we joined the crews of Sea Bird, Take Time, Wasabe, and Jade Explorer for a trip into town to a Japanese restaurant; sushi again. We arranged to be dropped off at the restaurant by the shuttle from the marina (due to last week’s bus scare) and to be picked up 2 hours later; we barely made it. It was a rather small restaurant and I think our large crowd overwhelmed the chef as it took forever to get our dinners.

Don off Jade Explorer, educated us with his newly acquired, yet vast knowledge of marine engineering forensics. His 50 ton, 47’ Nordhaven was dropped 31” when the buckle on one of the straps of the boat lift broke. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. Furthermore, glass boats don’t do well when dropped. Luckily, the yard admitted liability and is apparently doing everything in its power to repair the boat. All of the tests completed thus far indicate that it probably needs a new hull in addition to repair of all of the interior damage. At what point do you write it off a year old boat? Even if all of the damage can be repaired, his boat will always have a history of being severely damaged and most likely will never be sold for its true value of over a million dollars.

07/17-23/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Happy Birthday Veronica!!

Rainbow Rider finally made it! You may recall that we’ve been expecting them to catch up to us since we left Jacksonville. We’ve been introducing them to our boat buddies and they have made a great addition to our little group.

Since we anticipate being here for a couple of months, we’ve settled into a bit of a routine. Dale has returned to jogging in the morning. Linda and I walk over to Crews Inn around the end of the harbor but located directly across from us in the channel to swim laps in their pool, then we return to our own boats for our various projects or goofing off.

To spice things up a bit, there is a local entrepreneur who offers shuttles into town to the larger grocery stores, malls, movie theater, open market or wherever you might like to go (price depending upon how many people want to go with you - the more - the cheaper). Sunday is Mexican Dominos at Crew Inn and potluck night at Coral Cove. Tuesday is the shuttle to the movies, Wednesday is Price Smart day (like Sam’s or Cosco), Friday is the larger supermarket and Saturday is open market day.

This week we went to the open market. Fresh fish, meat and poultry (as in butchered, plucked or filleted in front of you) and rows and rows of stalls selling fruits and vegetables.

We also went to see the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was great fun to nudge each other saying “we’ve been there, we saw that!” Of course, a lot of the movie was shot on location at St. Vincent, an island we avoided for safety reasons. We met some other cruisers who were boarded there but luckily were able to send the thieves running. We figured the movie crews must have had their own security force.

Speaking of security force, we’ve set up a sort of neighbor hood watch organization here. It has gotten to the point where we have at least one theft per night lately. Usually it’s dinghies, engines or something in the cockpit not locked up that get stolen and generally from boats out in the mooring fields but there have been two separate robberies of people walking along the road and a robbery at gunpoint of the driver and passengers (all but one were cruisers) on a bus that has the marina route. One cruiser on the bus had just gone to the ATM and the pocket in which he placed his money was ripped from his pants. Clearly, he had been watched.

Because of the thefts and robberies, a very well attended meeting was organized at one of the local restaurants to discuss the situation. That’s where some “cowboys” surfaced. Everyone is concerned and wants to do their part but most of us prefer the less radical method of protecting ourselves. The most interesting aspect of the situation is that of jurisdiction. If the theft occurs on land, it’s a police problem; if the theft occurs on water, it’s a coast guard problem; the Chaguaramas area itself seems to pose a dilemma and has its own organization to report to. Our biggest problem was that no one was responding!

The meeting ended with a consensus that those in the mooring fields would divide up the days into segments among themselves, taking turns shining their million watt floodlights periodically around the field checking for intruders from their own boats and hail the coast guard on channel 16 if something is found amiss. Hopefully, this will at least dampen the interest or resolve the situation if the thief or thieves can be apprehended.

In the meantime, we’ve all be encouraged to raise our dinks high, and lock them to the boat. I made a mental note to update our insurance and registration to include the new dinghy which at this point, as no markings whatsoever to designate who it belongs to.

On a happier note, we finished our week with sushi on Take Time. Brian on Wasabe, used to own a shushi bar in California and prepared our meal in Carol & Wayne’s large galley. We reaped the benefits together with the crews from Sea Bird, Rainbow Rider, Take Time, and Wasabe. Although I took a steak, I did scarf up a few of the seaweed wrapped rice pieces in addition to it. The thought of raw fish just doesn’t sit well with me but the taste was pretty good and the seaweed salad was delicious. I’m slow, but I’m learning.

07/10-16/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

We were in luck when it came to our turtle tour. We got to see 5 different turtles!

Carol & Wayne (Take Time), Jim & Freddie (Chez Freddie), Brian, Lisa & Suzanne (Wasabe) took the long bus ride to the far side of the island for the event. We viewed a film about the leatherneck turtles describing the threatened extinction particularly the problem of so many returning females becoming tangled in fishing nets and drowning. Trinidad is making a valiant effort to educate their population regarding the plight of the leathernecks and is definitely making progress with the next generations by providing education in the primary schools.

As we approached the beach, one monstrous sized leatherneck turtle had just finished covering her nest and was on her way back to the sea. A few more yards down the beach, another had just finished digging her nest and we were present when she laid her cache of rubbery eggs. Although we were disappointed that the forestry guide would not allow us to photograph the turtles, we were able to touch her shell, head and flippers while she was in her trance-like state during the egg laying portion.

During our time on the beach, three more turtles lumbered ashore to start the arduous process of digging their 3’ deep nest. One changed her mind twice; she would struggle out of the surf and up the beach then turn around and head back out again. Twice she made the trek before she returned to the surf for good.

On our way back to the bus, we were allowed to touch and photograph the little turtles that had emerged from their nests earlier in the day.

It was quite the experience of sights and smells.

For the rest of the week, Dale tried to repair a slow leak in our dinghy while I re-stitched the chaps where the seams had separated with our scraping against less than perfect dinghy docks. He used the soapy water method of locating the leak and then we hoisted it up to stand it on its nose to get the liquid sealer to the leak area. I had to make a quick side step when the brass shackle broke and the whole thing came crashing down. No harm was done and after a day of being inflated, we thought the leak had been repaired. However, the first time we used it visiting Carol & Wayne across the channel, we returned to find it completely flat. Not just a little flat, but totally flat. I was surprised that the hard bottom had enough buoyancy to keep the motor afloat. In fact, we carefully stepped onto what was left and slowly motored home. As you can see from the photo, I was more than a little concerned that one of the go fast boats zinging through the channel would swamp us. We were in luck and none appeared.

When we returned and took off the chaps, we found that one of the pontoon seams had come completely unglued. We knew that it could be repaired but Dale felt that since one seam failed, it was a matter of time before the rest would fail and it would be better to get a new one here where they are available rather than be caught some place where we wouldn’t be able to replace it. Once again, my budget is obliterated. Our new dinghy should be here by the end of the week. Of course, the chaps I made for our original dinghy won’t fit the new one, so we’ll splurge and have a pair made here (with leather chafe guards).

NOTE to GG & Nicky: Put leather on the bow and along the rub rail of your dinghy chaps if you can.

07/3-9/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Happy Birthday Robbie!!

This week we walked around getting the lay of the land and visited with our new neighbors. Our marina has a laundromat and a small supermarket is just a short dinghy ride across the channel. We checked the dry storage nearby to make sure that DocNoMore, Foreclosure and Exit Strategy were looking well cared for and that the air conditioning units were dripping indicating that mildew was being held at bay.

We discovered that Trinidad is now in its rainy season which lasts approximately 6 months and we arrived just in time for this year‘s season! It rains just about every day and we’ve been promised that this is just the beginning. So when it rains. . . we play Mexican Dominos with Wayne & Carol who are across the channel in Crews Inn.

On Tuesday, we joined Wayne & Carol on Take Time when they invited a few of us over for a barbeque of hamburgers and hotdogs with homemade buns. They were disappointed on Friday when the turtle tour they went on failed to be the night when the leatherneck turtles laid their eggs on the beach.

We’ve signed up for the turtle tour for next week. It’s a 3 hour drive to the northeast side of the island where the turtles lay their eggs, so we’ve chosen the tour with the larger, more comfortable bus.

One bit of drama this week, Dale and I dined at one of the local restaurants where I ordered the chicken Lorraine. Unfortunately, the spinach came with more protein than I wanted in the form of a beetle. Thank heavens it was a whole bug and not just part.

07/1-2/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

OK, so I took the month of July off. Let me see if I can bring you up to date.

We hoisted our main sail and lifted anchor at 4:30pm from True Blue, Grenada and waived good-bye to Wayfinder and Indigo Moon as we headed south to Trinidad and they southwest for Venezuela. Take Time would follow us later in the evening as they estimated less time in crossing for their trawler. That night 6 boats made the crossing from Grenada to Trinidad in two groups of three. We in the first group and Take Time in the second.

As soon as we cleared the harbor, we unfurled the jib and turned off the engine. As luck would have it, we had a 12-18 kt wind on our beam all the way to Trinidad which made for a quick trip in spite of the westward currents that often slow cruisers down. However, due to the currents, we would often encounter areas of choppy seas. So, there was no problem in staying awake on watch.

As is our custom on overnight passages, I took the 8pm -11pm watch. However, since it had been a long time since our last overnighter, Dale elected to snooze in the cockpit during my watch which I elongated until 1am. With the radio constantly being used among all of the cruisers, I knew he wasn’t getting much rest. When it came time to dodge the uncharted oil rigs half way between the two islands, I woke him up discussing our options with the other boaters. You wouldn’t believe the lights on these things. They are so bright, you start trying to dodge them miles before you get anywhere near them. When it became clear that I’d be closer to Venezuela than I would be to Trinidad if I continued to follow the leader of our little group, I decided to just go through the middle and try not to hit anything. As it turned out, that’s what we all ended up doing and we still didn‘t get anywhere near them.

There were even ships among the rigs that you couldn’t see because all of the lights merged together. Thank heavens I was beyond the one I was closest to when I first saw it. As it is, I’m still not sure he didn’t have to avoid me when I changed course to bring us back to our original heading. By this time, Dale was up and took over. The rest of the night was uneventful.

The wind died as the sun rose and we were forced to turn on the engine to pass through the opening between Trinidad and Venezuela before entering into Chaguramas Bay, Trinidad. The guides say that Chaguramas was a U.S. Naval base during WWII, however, at this point, you certainly can’t tell. Now it’s a commercial harbor with several small marinas surrounding it’s perimeter.

My first impression upon entering between the small islands leading to Chaguramas was reminiscent of our entry into the Dominican Republic. Lush green tropical foliage on sheer mountain sides with rushing water squeezing between the islands heading out to sea. The early morning hour brought the incredible noise of thousands of green parrots moving in pairs from their nesting site on one side of the harbor to the other side of the harbor for whatever reason. We learned later that the parrots move from one side to the other every morning at dawn and every evening at dusk.

We rounded again between a couple more small islands into Chaguramas Bay about 7:30am. Unfortunately, the beauty from a distance gave way to the reality up close. The harbor is clearly commercial with diesel spills practically a daily occurrence. The water, surprisingly clear at times, has trash and the fishermen’s leftover chum being pulled back and forth with the tides.

The anchorage is deep with hundreds of boats; large commercial vessels, small fishing boats, private yachts and the occasional oil derrick towed in for repairs. Dale noted that there appeared to be more masts “on the hard” than there were in the mooring fields and marinas. Although I hadn’t envisioned anything in particular with regard to Trinidad, this certainly wasn’t what I pictured when people spoke of it.

After clearing customs, we immediately pulled into our slip in a marina named Coral Cove which was just across from the customs dock. We plugged into air conditioning and, as you can tell from my lack of punctual posts, vegetated.

We slept the remainder of that Sunday, waking only to eat dinner at a very nice local restaurant and catch up with the rest of the world on CNN before heading back to the rack.