Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Jesse, our guide, and about 8 other drivers he recruited, picked up over a hundred of us cruisers to ferry us to a Hindu temple in Felicity, Trinidad, to witness the celebration of Divali, the Hindu New Year and the Festival of Light. This was like a cross between Christmas and the Fourth of July. It appeared that the whole town dressed in traditional Indian attire and deyas (clay lamps) were lighted at sun down to show the triumph of light over darkness. They reminded me of our luminaries on Christmas Eve except for the occasional bamboo rockets being set off throughout the evening.

We began by entering the temple gates to the music of drums and cymbals being played by only 3 people but loud enough to hear throughout the village. We removed our shoes before entering the temple itself and were captivated by the beautiful colors displayed in the artwork and statutes depicting their various deities.

The Pundit (the temple priest) described the five day festival as beginning on the date of the new moon with a thorough house cleaning and opening of windows to welcome Mother Laksmi, the goddess of light. Kali, the goddess of strength, is called upon so that laziness and evil can be abolished on the second day. The lighting of the deyas takes place on the third day (the last day of their lunar year). The fourth day is the first day of the New Year and a time for old business accounts to be settled and new books opened. This is also the day that participants are encouraged to removed anger, hate, and jealousy from their lives. Finally, there is Balipratipada, when the life of the ancient king Bali is celebrated and everyone is encouraged to look for the good in others, including their enemies.

We were also entertained by a young Indian dancer. Many of her moves reminded me of the South Pacific dancers. Some of her hand movements reminded me of the gentle hands of Hawaiian dancers and other dance steps more akin to the Tahitian dances. At the end of the program, we were encouraged to join in the dancing but I prefer to keep all of my belly dancing behind closed doors, it keeps the laughter to a minimum.

We ate a traditional Indian dinner with our fingers from giant leaves the size of placemats. We used something akin to shredded pie dough to pick up curried beans, plantains, mangos, coconut burfi (like dried cookie dough), and a few other things I didn’t recognize but certainly enjoyed the taste of.

After our dinner, we walked along the streets of the village enjoying the displays of deyas and the beautify saris the women wore and the traditional garb the men wore. We stopped and talked with a retired customs officer who explained the symbol his deyas were placed in. It represented the trinity of his religion. Again, it reminded me of how similar this was to ours.

We finished our tour of the village and returned to catch our bus back to the marina and made it back before Elaine arrived with her son-in-law, David. Roger was too ill from his chemo and radiation to travel.

Clearly this was a difficult task for her to undertake but she wanted no assistance from outside her immediate family and we abided by her wishes. Dale and Dennis were able to lend a hand by replacing all of the canvas that had been removed for the season and shuttled them and their belongings back and forth a couple of times but other than that, she preferred to work alone. Surprisingly, she was able to accomplish everything she had set out to do in the single day that she had allotted herself. She gave Dale some wine and her conch horn that she blew at sunset and me some rum and her Mexican Dominos that we had learned to play in Luperon.

Life has dealt our friends a terrible blow and in turn, anyone who knew them. The most frustrating part is knowing that there is nothing we can do or anything we can say, that will change what’s happened or ease their pain. I was glad to hear Elaine comment that she had been able to sleep the first night she was with us, attributing it to the rocking of the boat and being back home on the water. I wish we could provide the same comfort to Roger.

Jesse picked Elaine and David up at 4 am for their return trip to the airport. Once again, Jesse amazed us with his dedication; I don’t think the man ever sleeps.

Just when I thought the crime spree had ended, Tuesday we had another mugging of someone heading back from the bank. On Wednesday, a restaurant located a couple of hundred feet from the back of our boat and one we had planned on going to that evening, was robbed by 3 men brandishing machetes and hand guns. We had changed our minds about going because we were running late from all of our shopping. The thieves approached the owner just before closing and robbed him of the nights’ proceeds. They were apparently surprised to find so many customers still in attendance but then quickly relieved them of their cash and credit cards and fired off a couple of rounds just to make their point. No one was injured seriously; a few cuts from the machetes. Again, it took a couple of hours before the local police showed up. The hired security never saw them or heard the gun shots.

We finished our week with preparations for leaving on the 1st of November. I’ve overstocked again and am in the process of precooking several meals for those days when we pull into an anchorage late; I’ll save the laundry until the very last day to make sure we’re as fresh as possible. Dale is running through all of the systems to make sure they are in working order, as well as coordinating a few last minute details for the transfer of DocNoMore to the new owners.
So once again, we’ll take off on a new adventure next week. Hopefully, we’ll meet up with Gerry & Nicky in December and there will be wonderful things to write about.

Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Happy Birthday to my sister, Carolyn!

Our trip to Asa Wright Park this week was wonderful, especially since neither Dale nor I could be considered ‘real’ bird watchers.

Jesse James, our local entrepreneur/guardian angel picked us up along with 4 other couples. Jesse caters his business to the cruising community and has a huge network of family and friends that he can call upon to expand his business to fit the need. He’s the first one to call if you need anything or want to go somewhere. He’s also the first to offer help when he learns of a misfortune to befall you. He’s ferried people back and forth to hospitals and doctor appointments when illness or accidents happened and usually knows who to call if you need some specific item that can’t be found in the area. He has a wealth of knowledge and has quite possibly the most even keeled personality I have ever encountered.

We began our journey up through the rain forest with a stop at a corner vendor for “doubles,” aloo pie, and kitachorie, some of the local East Indian fast food. Doubles are two small pieces of fried bread with curried split peas between. Aloo pie is a type of potato pie and kitachorie is like a hush puppy made with split peas. Dale and I liked the doubles and aloo pie best with just a touch of hot sauce.

We wound our way up the mountains through the rainforest while Jesse quizzed those of us who had been on his previous tours regarding the names of the local flowers. There was, of course, Christophene, the Trinidad National Flower named after the first governor, which appears to be a brilliant red from a distance but upon closer inspection is a tiny yellow flower surrounded by red brackets. There were the various types of haliconia like the red and yellow lobster claws and the small orange flowers that look like tiny birds of paradise but there was also flowers called “sexy pinks” which are becoming more and more scarce. These look like upside down pink, white and green lobster claws. I thought they were beautiful. One of the first plants pointed out to us when we arrived was a rare 'psychopsis papilio' orchid.

The Asa Wright preserve itself is an old coffee, cocoa, citrus plantation of about 200 hundred acres. We were lucky enough to be given a room in the original house which was built in 1907 and had 20’ ceilings. The house itself wasn’t as grand as some others we have seen but none compared with the view the veranda of this one had to offer. The house is located at an elevation of 1200 feet with the veranda overlooking the Arima Valley. You could, and we did, spend hours there, both at dusk and dawn watching the birds come to feed in their gardens and feeders placed just below.

They offered tea at 4pm, cocktails at 6pm, dinner at 7pm and a nature walk at 8pm. During the afternoon, we toured some of the trails surrounding the mainhouse and found a waterfall nearby. We ended up skipping the tea but sampled their rum punch in celebration of our 26th wedding anniversary before being ringed in to dinner. The nature walk later was directed more toward the insects, including a giant roach and praying mantis, but we ended up stalking a couple of pigmy owls by the end of the evening.

The next morning we rose early in hopes of seeing a toucan. One appeared but was so far away, you needed binoculars to get a good look, otherwise we were thoroughly entertained by the hummingbirds, banana quits, honeycreepers, orioles, blue-gray tanagers and crested oropendolas (which looked like crows with bright yellow tail feathers.)

We were ringed in to breakfast and soon after were off on another nature hike. This time we tracked bearded bellbirds, chestnut woodpeckers and looked deep into caverns for the noisy oilbird. We never saw them but definitely heard them.

We were able to shower and spend another couple of hours on the veranda before Jesse returned to pick us up.

When we got back to our boat, we were met by Dennis and Alayne (Audry Page) with news that Roger & Elaine had an offer on DocNoMore and that Elaine and her son-in-law would be arriving late Saturday night to remove all of their personal belongings before leaving early on Monday morning; she wanted to be in, out and gone before anyone knew. Unfortunately, the cruising community is small and people already knew of her arrival before we even stepped onto our boat and turned on the computer to read the e-mail. Oh well.

We’re scheduled to attend the Festival of Light in celebration of Divali, the Hindu New Year, on Saturday so we’ve left our keys with Dennis in case Elaine gets here before we get back. It will be good to see her again but I wish it were under different circumstances. Elaine & Roger touched our lives by having shared adventures with us, traveling to places we’ve never been before, exploring meandering creeks though desert islands, hiking to the highest forts in the Caribbean, jumping off waterfalls into chilly ponds below, defending ourselves against mighty bulls blocking our paths, and discovering all of this together for the first time. Christopher Columbus has nothing on us.

Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Well, I guess it has been a long time, so let me see if I can bring everyone up to date.

For the most part, we’ve just been killing time. Every other Tuesday we go to the movies. Every other Friday we go to the ‘Shark and Bake’ (I’ve been eating fried shark sandwiches, Mom). Every other Sunday, we head across the channel for the Sunday brunch and of course, every other Wednesday, there’s laundry and occasionally, there’s rib night at the Wheel House.

I started swimming every day working up to 50 laps a day until the dock master at the marina where I was swimming said that it didn’t matter whether or not I was Carol’s (Take Time) guest, I couldn’t use the pool. So I signed up at a local gym and pedal my old decrepit bones up the hill a mile and a half away to go just about every day. Linda (Rainbow Rider) goes with me quite a bit. When she can’t, Dale forgoes his daily jog and rides the bicycle with me.

Otherwise, Dale's kept busy fixing things. He replaced the circuit board in the genset we ordered several months ago. Replaced the alternator on the engine (we had a spare). Replaced the shower sump pump. Added a new solar panel regulator. Cleaned the dinghy engine. Replaced circuit board in the air conditioner. Cleaned all the through hulls. Pulled plastic bags from our water intakes on a fairly regular basis (I have to disinfect him when he comes out of the water-no pump out stations around here). Washed the boat a few times. Ordered a new WiFi antenna - hopefully soon to arrive so that I can find better internet connections along the way. And we bought a new dinghy. The old one just wouldn‘t hold air for any length of time.

I’ve been sewing and giving sewing advice. I made a couple of kayak sacks for Linda’s kayaks, replaced our back awning, and made a cover for our life raft, as well as showing our neighbor how to make jerry can covers. Word has gotten out, so Linda and Dale are trying to protect me from the onslaught of those wanting to put me to work, which is strictly forbidden without the proper visa.

One exciting thing, a week or so ago, we did have a couple of earthquakes. Both were in the 5 point range (5.6 and 5.4). Dale was riding with me to the gym during the first one, which neither of us felt, bumpy roads and all. The second one came when we were getting some papers off DocNoMore; shades of California. I guess the people here aren’t used to them, which was surprising to us considering the volcanic activity along the island chain.

What truly shook us to the core was the news that Roger on DocNoMore has pancreatic cancer and would not be returning to finish cruising with us. If you’ve followed this blog for any time, you know that we’ve been sailing with them since November of 2005 and have become quite close to both Roger and Elaine. We were looking forward to them returning and comparing Dale’s ponytail with Roger’s and continuing our adventures with them. Now, we say our prayers for them and do what we can in making their transition back to shore life as easy as possible.

When last I wrote, we were in the mist of a crime epidemic. I’m happy to report that our neighborhood watch has paid off and only 2 dinghies have been stolen since its inception; the second just today. I suspect that with time, complacency is starting to set in or newcomers aren't locking their dinghies religiously. Dale and I keep ours locked at all times and hoisted and locked if we don’t anticipate using it. I haven’t heard of any more muggings/robberies targeting cruisers but then, people are encouraged to travel in groups.

Last week, Dale & I, together with 4 other couples, signed up for a hike in the mountains up to the Rincon Waterfall. I’m glad I’d been working out in the gym because I don’t think I would have made it any other way. It was advertised as being a moderately difficult hike. This was very true; it was not easy but it wasn’t extremely difficult either. Roger and Elaine would have been in their element. At the highest point, it did require ropes to descend into the pool at the bottom of the falls and then to pull ourselves back out again. I managed to slip and rip a few layers of skin off my hand catching myself on the rope; should have worn gloves, I guess.

Our guide, "Snake" pictured with his pet boa.

Along the trail, a fleur de lance snake was seen, caught and milked for its venom. The venom was then licked off the knife to demonstrate that it was only poisonous if injected into the bloodstream. I sincerely hoped that our guide did not stumble and accidentally bite his tongue. We also saw various spiders and poisonous fruit that I would have sworn were as edible as the real thing. Other vines, berries and fruits were pointed out to be excellent sources of food, tea or spice. I told Dale that I hoped we never got deserted on an island where we had to fend for ourselves because I’d be hard pressed to figure out what was edible and what wasn’t.

The large, neon blue Empress Butterflies were a delight to see in their natural habitat along the hillsides of the rainforest by the waterfalls. It added a bit of enchantment to an otherwise challenging experience.

We’ve noticed that cruisers who went home for hurricane season are starting to return and splash their boats back into the water after being stored “on the hard“ all of this time. We too are in the process of getting ready to head back north to meet Jerry & Nicki, our very dear friends from home who on their way back to their original home in Australia. We’re stocking up on food and toilet paper again as well as making sure that all of the systems are up to snuff. We anticipate unplugging from the marina the first of November and stopping at some of the anchorages nearby before making our cross over to Grenada. We’ll go north until we meet them or as far as Puerto Rico, and then sail south again possibly accompanying them all the way to Panama and returning via the western route to south Florida, eventually returning to Jacksonville by July. The route will depend upon what our insurance company will allow. Our plans are firmly written in warm jello, so we’ll let you know what we do, when we do it.

Until that time, next week, we’re joining a few other couples for an over night trip to the Asa Wright park. It’s supposed to be a botanical garden/bird sanctuary type of park. Pictures will follow when we return.

So dear readers, we have not fallen off the face of the earth as many have suspected but are sitting around catching up on our favorite TV shows, movies and thoroughly enjoying the air conditioning, cable TV and laundromats while we have them.

08/14-20/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Happy Birthday to our daughter, Michelle and my sister Pam!!!

Well, the luck for our anchorage wore out. In the wee hours of Thursday morning, a new boat to the anchorage (Vespa) was boarded, attacked and robbed.

Six young people had just returned from the airport when a fishing boat with 3 men approached them as they sat in their cockpit catching up with their friends. The description of the thieves (except for the different dinghy) appeared to be the same as the previous armed robbery in the next harbor over. They were robbed of radios, cameras, computers, cash and credit cards. A couple of the men were hit with the handles of the guns and machetes and their dinghy was slashed dropping their engine into the water.

They radioed a mayday over the radio as soon as the thieves left. Dale and I both heard it and were scrambling for clothes when we heard that the thieves appeared to be heading towards the fishing village, which is just past us. Our slip is directly across from the customs dock in the area which naturally narrows before you enter the fishing village.

I grabbed the flashlight and ran topside ready to catch the bad guys as they entered their lair but suddenly realized that I made myself a target to thieves who were reportedly carrying guns and knives. I suddenly understood why people stand by when crime is being perpetrated right under their noses. What was I going to do if I did see them? Shine my light on them? So I sat, watched and listened to the updated information coming across the radio. No boat ever approached from the direction of the anchorage; however, 5-6 boats did leave from the fishing village; none fit the description of the thieves’ boat. I still don’t know what I would have done if I had seen them, I feel like such a wimp.

Of course, by daylight the radio was buzzing. The biggest concern being that it took a couple hours for the Coast Guard to respond. It was even considered that it wasn’t the “real” Coast Guard who responded to the radio call and directed the victims to another radio channel. Whoever answered the call wasn’t as professional as the ones who responded to the previous robbery the next harbor over. Was it just a coincidence that the Coast Guard showed up 10 minutes after a telephone call was placed?

At this point, a lot of us feel trapped. If you have insurance, you are required to be outside the “hurricane box”. That means, here, Venezuela (which is worse), or further south or west which doesn’t have the marine support most cruisers are looking for. Dale and I have decided that if things don’t resolve themselves soon, we’ll head back to Grenada and take our chances that a hurricane doesn’t head in that direction again and force us to take to the sea heading south.
Another problem was that people tend to turn off their radios when they go to bed. So, we’ve all decided to sound our air horns in addition to radioing a distress call. I’ve put our air horn right next to our floodlight so next time, hopefully, I’ll be braver and shine my light and sound my horn if I really do see a bad guy. If nothing else, I’ll wake up everyone on our slip and get everyone shot at!

Also, we’ve finally been able to get the local American Embassy to at listen to us. A meeting has been set up for Thursday of next week.

08/07-13/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

The big topic this week has been the speeding fishing boats. Rainbow Rider caught a flight out Friday morning and by 5pm that evening, the boat that had taken their mooring ball, Odyssey, had been struck by a speeding fishing boat.

The family of 4 had just returned to their boat when a fishing boat (who claimed problems with a stuck throttle) slammed into their dinghy throwing the father out. The mother had already climbed out onto the main boat and was in the process of transferring the children from the dinghy to the boat when it was struck. Thankfully, no one was injured but needless to say, the mother and children were hysterical when the father didn’t bounce back right away. (He intelligently stayed below the waterline until the props were cut.)

There was some damage to the swim platform on Odyssey and a police report was filed. However, the owner of the fishing boat, who wasn't the driver, didn’t appear to be concerned and claimed that she had no insurance and no money to compensate the family (according to the father who reported the follow-up the on the next morning net.)

On a happier note, we went to town and saw the movie, The Devil wears Prada and had dinner at a Ruby Tuesday. We’re still very concerned about security, so (don’t worry Mom) we took a marina taxi instead of a regular one; more expensive but definitely more secure.

08/01 - 06/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Nothing much new to tell you about.

Linda and I swim laps every morning, or as many mornings as we can. She and Gary are returning to California for a few weeks and are putting Rainbow Rider on the hard. We helped them take down their sails one morning. They have been kind enough to offer to take with them mail and lists from various boats for items to bring back. Ours was among them. Dale needed more twizzlers.

Our little neighborhood dinghy watch appears to be working. Unfortunately for the next harbor down, the thieves have moved on to their area as there was an armed robbery of a boat in their anchorage. The boat owner reported on the morning radio net that three men, who appeared to be locals, brandished small hand guns when they boarded their boat. Luckily, they were able to fend them off with “knives and clubs”. The organizer of our neighborhood watch said that he would let them know how we were doing ours. Hopefully, this will work.

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.

True Blue Bay,
Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

What a day! It took 4 dinghies and another line to finally raise our stern anchor. If we ever set that anchor in a storm we’ll chafe through our lines before it drags.

It started off with Dale in the dinghy trying to lift the stern line until he was straight above it; that didn’t work. So we tried pulling in the line as much as we could by having me push the Palace with our dinghy on the opposite side of our stern anchor so that Dale could try to hoist the anchor straight up over the side; then I‘d scamper back on board and let out our primary anchor to bring us closer. We were making progress but slowly. While Dale was holding the boat with brute strength, I was running back and forth between the anchor windless on the bow and the dinghy at the stern when others saw us struggling and came to help. We ended up having one dinghy pushing on the starboard bow, another pushing on the starboard stern, another looped a line on our stern anchor line and pulled in the opposite direction to finally break the anchor loose from the bottom, while Dale heaved in the anchor line at the same time and me on the bow lengthening the primary anchor chain. They eventually brought up the anchor suspended between the dinghy with the looped line and the Palace because each time it dropped back into the water, it set itself again.

Mind you , all of this was between two boats anchored close to us. Once we began to swing free, I switched directions and brought the primary anchor chain in as fast as its little motor would go and then held my breath until it was evident we weren’t going to hit anyone.

And what a mess! After 3 weeks of setting in warm salt water, the line had developed its own eco system which came off in a muddy, smelly mess all over the back of our boat. What wasn’t on the boat was on Dale. We dumped the line in a bucket of Clorox and rinsed off the back end.

Then Dale crawled back into our dinghy, eased himself along the side to the bow and went to work on the primary anchor chain with a scrub brush. He’d scrub a few inches of sea growth off the chain while I rinsed and then raised it a few more inches. Miraculously, after about 15 feet, it was clean.

With that chore done, we lifted the dinghy back into the davits, raised the primary anchor the rest of the way and headed to the next bay to refuel.

As we approached the fuel dock, Dale told me to bring her in port side to while he ran around putting out the various lines to secure us to the dock. It wasn’t until we saw the concrete wall that either one of us remembered and both screamed FENDERS in unison!

Folks, you would have been proud of me. I stopped that big girl in her tracks and hovered parallel about 2 1/2 feet off that concrete dock until Dale had several semi-inflated fenders in place. Wind, current and an angel sitting on my shoulder certainly helped. Can you tell we haven’t pulled into a dock in a while?

Tom & Jordan off St. Christopher (we last saw them in Puerto Rico) dropped by the fuel dock to say hi, while Dale (in all of his muddied glory) hurried to the customs office to check us out of the country. Unfortunately, while there he received a stern lecture about not getting an extension on our passports. Carriacou, one island back, is part of Grenada. We checked into Carriacou back in mid-May. With all of the hubbub waiting for the inverter and then waiting for a good weather window, we had passed our one month mark a couple of weeks back. Dale being your normal boater covered in smelly mud, pleaded insanity, begged forgiveness and was begrudgingly given pardon.

After a few more pleasantries with Tom & Jordan, we eased on back to True Blue Bay, circled a few times among the boats and mooring balls, then elected to snag a mooring instead of tempting fate with an anchor.

We were settling in when we saw Buddy (Indigo Moon) heading over to customs in his dinghy. His faded pink Foxy’s hat was on backwards, his red & black napsack slung low on his back, he was standing in his dinghy with the throttle wide open in one hand,while the other held the painter for balance (Georgetown style). A smile was plastered from ear to ear. This was a man in his element or a kid out for a joy ride.

It wasn’t too long after that that I heard Dale talking to someone. It was Buddy.

We all got together for Mexican Night at the resort restaurant for our last dinner together. Buddy kept asking everyone if they had seen him. He told us how he had seen the mooring ball and remembered that it had a long line attached to it, so he had given it a wide berth when he came back from his customs run. Apparently, not wide enough. He said that one minute all was right with the world and the next he was flying through the air, arms outstretched like Superman!

We were all amazed. First, that he hadn’t broken his neck. Next, that he hadn’t lost his flip flops. He credited his survival to the fact that as an attorney he had litigated enough boating cases to know that you always wear the kill switch attached to your wrist ("they always come back to getcha" he told us). Dale had gone out in time to see him retrieving his hat and climbing back into his dinghy. Buddy, on the other hand, seemed truly disappointed that no one saw him fly like Superman.

We’re going to miss these guys.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Today was rainy and windy; then ended with dead calm. We were all scrambling for a look a the grib sheets to see if we can sneak out a day early. It’s a definite maybe.

Dale managed to run up a new flag halyard and rearranged the cleat it’s attached to between the showers. I tried cleaning the isinglass to get out all of the red sand they’ve been collecting by being rolled up.

Then we both sat back down dripping wet from sweat. The humidity is amazing here. The sheer act of moving causes you to bead up. You’d think with all of the sweating we’re doing here, we’d lose a few pounds. Dale looks like a bean pole because he hasn’t been able to keep up his exercise routine. I look like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man.

We got together with Carol & Wayne and Mike & Sara on Wayfinder for our last social hour together for a while. Even if we don’t leave for Trinidad tomorrow, we’ll hoist anchor and head over to Prickly Bay for fuel and check out of customs. Then we’ll probably short anchor in Hog Island until we’re ready to leave.

The big problem is going to be hoisting our stern anchor, a/k/a our storm anchor. With the squalls that have passed by here, we’re pretty well dug in. Yesterday, the local charter company sent out a diver to pull up several moorings that, until they attached a float to them, were unknown to us. Then they moved one of their boats to a mooring that suddenly appeared very close to us. Once we lift the stern anchor, I think we’ll come way too close to that boat. Dale said he was more worried that we would swing too close to Wayfinder. Again, they anchored close to us but with our stern anchor holding us in place, it wasn‘t a problem. Tomorrow should be a very interesting day.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Bad day for Wayfinder today. We all learned that the motor they had ordered doesn’t fit. Apparently the manufacturer changed the design of the motor. However ,Nordhaven specifically designed a space for the motor to fit into and now the newly designed motor doesn’t fit into it. Distraught is probably too strong a word to use to describe their situation, so let’s just say they are frustrated to the max over the whole thing.

They do have a good mechanic who, after speaking with the design manufacturer, can jury-rig the whole thing. He doesn’t like the idea and now it’s turned into a ‘who’s going to stand behind the product once it’s installed’ dilemma. We really feel bad for them.

Carol and I reminded the guys that it was a very quiet night and we probably could have made the trip to Trinidad yesterday. The guys reminded us that there were squalls around Trinidad and if we had run into them, it would have been us screaming bloody murder. Stalemate!
Saturday is looking like the day we’ll have to go, come hell or high water. The next wave is supposed to be bigger and longer before the waves die back down.

We played Mexican Dominos with Carol and Wayne again last night. This time Dale won. Once again, I came in last. I’ve become rather adept at having the most points with the least amount of bones in my hand.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale was one happy camper today. It was the first morning in almost a month that he was able to have his morning cup of coffee. I really didn’t realize that he had given it up until I had to clean the grounds out of the sink today and it suddenly dawned on me that he had changed his morning routine during our power shortage.

On the other hand, I was happy that I didn’t have to choose between washing my hair or washing the dishes with hot water. I have actually grown accustomed to taking tepid showers. They’re refreshing in this hot, humid climate. Still, I prefer to have hot water for my hair.

With our departure time delayed, we immediately fell back into our routine of getting our chores done in the morning, reading or playing on the computer mid-day and heading up to the pool during the afternoons.

After discussing the relative ease of this blog site, both Carol (TakeTime48) and Sara (WayfinderTravels) have decided to open their own blog sites. Carol is uploading mostly pictures at this point. I think Sara is doing the same thing.

Indigo Moon is out of the yard and anchored right behind us. Now it’s Free Spirit’s turn on the hard. We bump into them every once in a while. They were here in True Blue with us for a short time about a week ago before checking out some of the other anchorages. While their boat is in the yard (waiting for parts from South Africa) they’ll be staying at the resort.

Carol and I both commented that the weather was much nicer today but the guys said there was another wave coming through and we’d most likely get caught out in it. So here we sit. Not too bad a life on the whole.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

What’s that saying about the “best laid plans of mice and men?”

This morning came with blustery weather and a swell we have never seen the likes of in this harbor. Still, Dale went to check on the status of the inverter with the idea that we were leaving by 5pm. It wouldn’t be delivered to the store until noon.

When he came back, we discussed the merits of crossing in weather such as this. With wave heights of 7-9 feet on the beam and wind speeds of 20-25kts, it was at the border of our comfort level. The wind never did shift around. We were already leaning toward the “no go” side of the equation when our buddy boat Take Time radioed and said that it was a definitely a no go for them (they’re a power boat.) That pushed us over the edge and the anxiety levels dropped off immediately.

Later, when Dale went back to get the inverter and was told that it couldn’t be delivered to us until after 2, it wasn’t a problem. He had laid hands on the box, checked that it was the right part and was whistling Dixie on the way back to the boat. When it was delivered at 2:30, he had it installed by 3, the batteries were charged by 4 and a whoop of satisfaction could be heard throughout the harbor. We were up at the pool by 4:15.

We joined the crews of Wayfinder, Indigo Moon, and Take Time standing at the railing watching about half of the boats that had wanted to leave, take off. The rest of us decided to wait for the next window. We radioed Moon Goddess when she was about 3 miles out for a weather report. They were taking water over the decks on a regular basis and were traveling with a double reefed main and several rolls in the jib. When we saw lightening on the horizon later in the evening, we said a quick prayer that everyone made it without incident.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Since it looks very promising that tomorrow we’ll have an inverter, I’m trying to get all of my posts uploaded before I lose my internet connection. The previous sentence doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but here’s my train of thought.

Once the inverter is installed, we’ll stow all of the loose gear, say our good byes to everyone we leave behind here, head over to Prickly Bay to fuel up, check out of customs and then leave for Trinidad about 5 pm. So the more things, I can get done today, the less I have to do tomorrow when Dale installs the inverter, stands up with arms in the air like a cowboy in a calf roping contest shouting time! and it’s a mad dash to secure the boat (after a month of sitting) for an open water transit.

I guess you can tell that another weather window has opened up. The only problem is that we have to wait to get the much awaited part until tomorrow, to leave. Today was the better of the two day window for wind speed but tomorrow is better for wind direction and lower wave heights. The next window is not expected until the end of the week leaving no room for error and a weekend arrival. (We try to always enter and leave a country during the week to avoid the overtime charges.)

Diane & Joe off Moon Goddess made it in late this afternoon. They found us up at the pool with Mike & Sara, Carol & Wayne, Buddy & Melissa, Brian & Lisa and Susan (their guest on Wasabe). Diane & Joe want to catch the window to Trinidad tomorrow, too. From what we can gather, there will be quite a few of us leaving. One boater said that it was going to be a parade all the way down; once you get in line, don’t slow down or you’ll get run over. In other words, “it’s a convoy!”

We caught up with Diane & Joe over dinner at Bananas and learned that they have reservations at the same marina as we do in Trinidad.

Now the only thing we need is that dang inverter!

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Mike & Sara joined us on our daily walk to Budget Marine; today was definitely exercise rather than a needed trip. We stopped to say hi to Nicholas in the store, now out of habit rather than anything else.

There was supposed to be a truck bringing fresh fruits and veggies to the marina at 11:00 but by 12:00 when he hadn’t arrived, we figured it was 11:00 GMT (Grenada Maybe Time) so, we turned around and hiked back.

Again we stopped by Indigo Moon to give Buddy a hard time. He had a gallon of paint that he was going to thin down to paint the entire bottom of this boat.

Later, when we were all sitting around the pool, we saw him come trudging back to his room. It looked like he had been through a war. He had cuts and scrapes from a zinc that had jumped out and attacked him and more paint on him than on the boat.

We heard from Moon Goddess. They finally arrived in Grenada. They anticipate meeting up with us tomorrow.

Photo: Cocoa Nut.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale is practically dancing a jig; the inverter left Puerto Rico for Grenada this morning. Once it gets out of the customs office, it should be here first thing on Monday morning.

We did our customary walk to Budget Marine, more out of exercise than anything, and told Nicholas the good news. Of course, he’s been following it just as anxiously as Dale has.

We walked by Indigo Moon in the yard and gave Buddy a hard time about all of the holes he’s punching in the keel of his catamaran. His boat was set up in a fashion where bilge water could spill into a void below it. So he drilled holes in the lowest section draining the water out and is filling the void with epoxy. Hopefully alleviating the problem of blisters which alerted him to the situation in the first place.

Mike & Sara had people on their boat completely disassembling their water maker motor; although they did find a frayed wire, they still came up with the same diagnosis; it needs a new motor.

By the end of the day, we were all sitting around the pool relaxing until we remembered that Friday was Mexican night at the resort restaurant. So we all jumped up, ran to change our clothes and met back up at the restaurant for Mexican food with a island twist. It’s not bad when it’s the only Mexican food in town.

Photo: Buddy & Meslissa off Indigo Moon.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale was delighted with the tracking number he was provided. He was able to see that the inverter left California this morning. Later in the afternoon, he saw where it had reached Memphis. By evening, it appeared to be in Puerto Rico. He seems to be comforted with what appears to be positive progress. I’m worried that if an inverter doesn’t appear as promised, he’ll snap and I’ll need a couple of men in white coats with a big net to control the situation.

Mike on Wayfinder seems to be on an even narrower ledge. The consensus is that he needs a new motor for his water maker. So now he’s waiting for parts. Of course, he’s been told that it’ll be here next week. Since he’s watched us for the past 3 weeks, you can hear the defeat in his voice. We have our fingers crossed for him.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Buddy & Melissa are back in town. They had taken a quick trip home while their boat was on the hard.

Dale & I made our daily trek over to the Budget Marine. The manager wasn’t in when we got there, so we killed some time having lunch at De Big Fish, a little bar & grill next door where we met Brian & Lisa off Wasabe. They’ve been sailing for 6 years; starting off from southern California and crossing through the Panama Canal. Of course, we had to swap our California stories; Dale was born and raised there and that’s where we met.

We convinced them that it was a lot less rolly in True Blue than it was over in Prickly so they joined out little group later in the afternoon.

We said our farewells to Mike & Sara on Wayfinder and they pulled out shortly after I washed my knickers and hung them out to dry. When they went by, Dale & I stood and saluted telling them that we were giving them the 21 panty salute.

A couple of hours later, they radioed that they were returning. They had spent a considerable amount of money having their water maker repaired at the local marina. They got out a ways, turned it on, and by golly, it had the same problem. They are not happy. We welcomed them back with open arms and rum punches. They certainly needed to relax.

On a happier note, we got word today that our insurance doesn’t require us to be in Trinidad for hurricane season; Grenada is still OK. It’s good to know we have an option. A lot of people don’t and with the rumors of increased violence coming out of Venezuela, it’s forcing more and more people into Trinidad. In my humble opinion, setting the entire marine insurance business at risk for catastrophic damages should a hurricane ever strike Trinidad.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale walked over to Budget Marine first thing this morning to confirm that the inverter had been ordered from this end. Now it is a question of waiting until tomorrow to confirm that it has been shipped. He swears that if he doesn’t get a tracking order immediately, we’re getting our money back and ordering the part through another company. I’m staying out of his way.

Sara & Mike radioed over inviting us to join them for lunch at Bananas. We ran into Wayne and Carol while there. A bunch of boats are catching the window on Wednesday night to Trinidad or Venezuela. Mike & Sara will be one of them. We’ll miss them but hopefully will catch up with them again someday on down the line.

Photo: Mike & Sara on Wayfinder

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

You are not going to believe this! It happened again! Our inverter still has not been sent.

As you may recall, when we last left our most unhappy camper, he was told that since St. Martin did not have the inverters they said they had, one had to be ordered from the manufacturer. As the Grenada store is a branch of the St. Martin store, St. Martin still had to do the ordering. We started becoming concerned when we couldn’t get a tracking number for the part shipped and sure enough, there was no tracking number because no part had been shipped. The cost of the part had not met the minimum required to ship to this area. The Grenada store manager was just as frustrated as Dale was, saying that if St. Martin had simply told him this when they first encountered the problem, he would have ordered two.

This means another week here. The manufacturer ships on Wednesday, it takes 2 days to get here, another day to clear customs, which, of course, brings us to the weekend and everything stops until Monday. Only this time, we’re shut out of a very nice weather window we’ve been watching for the past couple of days in which to transit to Trinidad.

Dale’s fried! Instead of having 4-5 days of time toodling around Trinidad until our reservation date on the 1st, we are now are up against a 4-5 day crunch of hoping a weather window opens for us to make the 20 hour passage. It can happen but we might have to do it alone. We’ve been more inclined to travel in groups the closer we get to Venezuela, just to be on the safe side. Who knows, Rainbow Rider may catch up to us yet.

We finished the day by playing 15 rounds of Mexican Dominos with Carol & Wayne on Take Time. (They have a really big set of Dominos). It was fun and a great way to get Dale’s mind off the inverter. We finished about midnight.

Photo: Carol on Take Time; Wayne's underneath cleaning the bottom.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Happy Father’s Day to all of you Dads!

As mentioned before, nothing happens on Sunday, so all was quiet today, particularly with the on and off showers. Dale has been making steady progress through his Patrick O’Brian series of books, taking the opportunity to lay in the hammock and soak in all of the brownie points due a Dad on Father’s Day.

Jim & Freddie off Chez Freddie dropped by for a quick visit before heading into town to look for a restaurant to celebrate Father’s Day.

I tried my hand at making a pizza for dinner again. I broke out the bread maker to make the dough this time. Still not quite there. Too much bread in the crust. I told Dale that at the rate I’m going, I should have this down by the time we get back.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Today Dale & I rented a car to run our errands and invited Mike & Sara to join us as they had turned in their car last week. We checked at Budget Marine, still no inverter. We dropped by the pharmacy and tried to pick up some medicine but they were out of what we needed until Monday afternoon. We were able to do some grocery shopping and pick up fresh veggies. We stopped at a restaurant too far for us to walk to from the marina and enjoyed a tasty meal surrounded by beautiful flower gardens.

When we returned, I spent some time repackaging and vacuum sealing everything before heading over to Take Time. Wayne & Carol had invited us to return to their boat for the nickel tour. They have a 48’ Kadey-Krogen Whaleback trawler. Very nice. Wayne and Dale talked forever about their various improvements to our respective boats. Wayne is just as handy as Dale is and apparently grateful to have someone who speaks the same electrical language as he does. Carol and I talked recipes. The four of us joined Mike & Sara and Freddie & Jim at the pool later in the afternoon.

Wayne and I and a couple from Ireland took advantage of the slide at the pool. It’s the size where you can’t tell if it’s for children or for everyone. Since there were only adults at the pool we figured what the heck! We had a blast.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

I can’t say as we did a whole lot today. We dinghied over to Prickly Bay only to find out that our part was still not in. Not only was it still not in but they didn’t have a tracking number in which to tell us where it was in the process of being sent (not that we could have counted on it anyway).

We did have dinner with Sara & Mike (Wayfinder), Freddie & Jim (Chez Freddie), and Wayne & Carol on Take Time. Carol really outdid herself in preparing smoked pulled pork with homemade buns. All the rest of us brought cole slaw, baked beans, long grain rice, 3 bean salad and green salad. A regular down home barbeque.

We finished up the evening by playing Mexican Dominos. Of course, it was another version. Each time we play with new people, we use different rules. Then again, that’s half the fun!

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Today was a beautiful day. It was also a holiday and everything was closed. So we read our respective books. I tried my hand at making calzones again (my last attempt with pizza dough was better).

Then we ended the day by visiting with Sara & Mike on Wayfinder. That is, after Dale fiddled with the dinghy engine again (guess there’s water in the gas tank that we’ll have to address.)

Sara and I both contributed two appetizers each to our visit and called it dinner. We decided that great minds think alike. She brought barbequed meatballs and brie with crackers and I brought barbequed smokies and Flutes au Fromage; a French bread/cheese stick I picked up in one of the French islands. The guys didn’t seem to mind the similar dishes and everything was gone by sundown.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Although we still had the occasional rain cloud pass through today, we were able to retrieve the laundry we left over in Prickly Bay on Monday. That is, after Dale did a minor adjustment to the dinghy engine. It seems we picked up a bit of water in the engine. Once he cleaned the spark plugs and changed the reservoir of fuel, it fired right up. Thank heavens it conked out on us 20 feet from the Palace instead of out in the ocean as we were rounding the tip of one harbor into the next. That would have meant a lot of rowing; most likely for both of us. Plus some anxious moments.

As we approached the laundry hut, the wash woman had my bag ready as I walked up. She said that she remembered me because of the large amount that I had left. (Oops) She did a great job. Nothing lost; everything neatly cleaned and folded. Best yet.

When we got back, we touched base with Sara on Wayfinder (Mike had gone to the dentist). She loaned us 5 gallons of gasoline until we can rent the car on Friday. Otherwise Dale was going to have a long walk to the gas station in town.

Sara was telling us that they made reservations at Isla de Margarita since the mainland of Venezuela is rumored to be getting more and more violent. She told us that Margarita is supposed to be safer. “Just go into the marina; don’t anchor“ she told us. That doesn’t give me warm fuzzies either, no matter how inexpensive it is. It seems to me, the islands beyond Trinidad are becoming more difficult to justify going to. Dale says we need to weigh everything before making up our minds. We’ll see.