August 27th 2013
Position 10° 40.749’ N
61° 37.899’
W
Granada to Chaguaramas, Trinidad
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Our cruise from Tyrrel Bay,
Carriacou to Prickly Bay, Grenada was one of those perfect events where weather,
seas and mechanics all came together. Our new day tank was put to the test for
the first time on a passage and performed as expected; Stonewall Jackson didn’t
miss a beat! Then the weather performed as well with calm seas and virtually no
wind. The 36 nm trip flew by, we trolled a line for most of the time but I
guess the only disappointment of the day was that we were completely skunked. We
left at 06:30 and arrived in Prickly at 12:30, an average of 6 knots. As we
entered Prickly Bay Judy on ‘Fairwinds’ hailed us on the VHF, she had seen us
enter the bay and coincidently they were upping their anchor to leave for
Tobago so invited us to take their spot in the anchorage, which we did. Sherman
was on the bow and we did get in a wave. It was sad to watch them leave as we
had not seen them in 6 weeks and would have loved to have had a get-together;
we will catch up, another time, another island.
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| St. Georges, Grenada |
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| Approaching Grenada |
Once we were secure John from
‘Out of Africa’ popped over in his dinghy to welcome us to the bay and quickly
brought us up to speed on the geography, i.e. where the dinghy dock was and the
cruisers bars, most important, Budget Marine and the routine for getting to the
grocery store. He invited us over for sundowners at 17:00. Steve and Jan from
‘Sealacious’, Jim and Tammy from ‘Sweet Chariot’, who followed us down from
Carriacou, where all there too and as usual we all had a great time; time flies
when you are having fun and we called it a day at 20:30. Before parting company
we agree to meet up the next night at Prickly Bay Marina for dinner, and
dancing as they had three different bands scheduled, oh, the cruising life...
Friday 23rd. We
ventured ashore with Jim and Tammy to the grocery store in Spice Island Mall
and stopped on the way to browse Budget Marine. Low and behold while we were
there John and Jen from ‘Aeeshah’ happened to be in the store so we had a quick
chat and arranged to see them for dinner at Prickly Bay Marina that evening. The
bus from Spice Island Marine took only 10 minutes and was EC$2.50 each. The IGA
supermarket was exactly as one would expect in a large US town and had just
about anything one wanted. We were low on everything so a dilemma arose of how
much ‘stuff’ we could carry back to the bus and the boat which would provide
the limitation of our haul. Everything to do with boating is a little harder,
more walking and more carrying, one just doesn’t realize the convenience of
driving a car to the store and driving it home. The hardest part is just
unloading the car in ones garage and carrying the haul some feet to the
kitchen. Boaters have to get the shopping to a bus or carry it on a long walk,
then load all the bags and back packs into the dinghy and then drive the dinghy
back to the boat which could be a mile or two away. Then lifting everything
again out of the dinghy in a rolly anchorage onto the mother ship is another
adventure requiring good timing as the dinghy rises and falls. In other words
it is all a little harder on a boat!
Dinner at Prickly Bay Marina with
the crowd was great; we had a great curry and sat with John and Jen to catch up
on their lives. The last time we saw them they were in Tyrrel Bay with their
two delightful grand children onboard, Rhianna and Ethan who have now returned
to their parents in Bermuda where they all live.
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| Leaving Grenada |
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| The coast of Trinidad |
A whirlwind three days passed
quickly and our short visit to Grenada was over. We had planned to leave at
16:00 on Monday 26th August which would give us an early morning
arrival in Chaguaramas, Trinidad the next day Tuesday. Our weather window was
excellent with hardly any wind and flat calm seas. Since we had left Florida
back in February we had not had a more enjoyable calm cruise. The day tank
again did its job and we successfully covered the 83 nm at an average speed of
6 knots without incident. We actually arrived a little early for the Customs
and Immigration so slowed our speed at the end so as to be able to check in
after 08:00 so we did not incur overtime fees! The approach to Trinidad is
guarded by the Bocas, the dragons’ teeth as the islands are known, and we
entered from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Paria between Monos and the Diego
Martin peninsula, a narrow channel but deep. Off to the east in the channel is
Scotland Bay which we planned to visit during my son Anthony’s stay. Once in
the Gulf of Paria a sharp turn to port revealed the complex of Chaguaramas.
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| Pink Ibises |
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| A Hummingbird |
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| Green Parrot |
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Our view of the lighthouse from
our slip in Crews Inn |
Chaguaramas is a busy port as
well as a haven for yacht storage and repair. Our destination was at Crews Inn
which is situated on the south perimeter. The majority of the working yards,
Peake, Power Boats, Tropical Marine and Coral Cove are all on the north side.
Crews Inn has a full service marina and hotel which is accompanied by a grocery
store, swimming pool and several restaurants; a very nice facility. A short
walk to the north side there are more restaurants and two large chandleries
plus every marine facility, and business one could wish for. We checked in with
customs and immigration which was a very pleasant experience and cost us a fee
of TT$50! We made friends with the senior officer in the Customs department
and on the following Saturday night, Trinidad’s Independence Day we were
invited to their party. Riad, the officer we made friends with, was also being
promoted to the main office a little further down the coast towards Port of
Spain so it was a double celebration, it was a fun evening.
I fast forwarded there for a
moment as on Friday 30th my eldest son Anthony arrived for a
vacation from his home in Jacksonville Florida. We met him at the airport and
then drove the long drive back to
Chaguaramas with our first exposure to Trinidadian traffic...terrible is the
only word to describe it! There are just too many cars on the roads for the
roads. Most main thoroughfares are just two lanes and with gasoline priced US$0.91
there is no restraint in usage. The fuel is heavily subsidized by the
government and has been the same price for the last 20 years! For us cruisers
the price is different and brings the cost to more than in the USA US$4.54 per
gallon. As I mentioned before Saturday 31st is Trinidad’s
Independence Day and we joined in the festivities during the day by hiring a
taxi and guide to take us to Port of Spain and the pan yards. Pan yards are
areas where steel bands congregate and play their music. Steel bands originated
in Trinidad and this pastime is enjoyed by all the population and is taken very
seriously.
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| One of many pan yards around Port of Spain |
Seriously in as much as the bands vie for popularity and the fame and
fortune which accompany it. Some of the pan bands have as many as 200 members
and the remarkable thing is that all the musicians can play in sync,
incredible. We joined in the fun and bumped shoulder to shoulder with the
locals for two hours. At two o’clock we left the pan yard and walked to a local
restaurant and sampled a roti, we all had shrimp and, believe you me, it was
delicious. Sated for the journey home we boarded the taxi and drove back to
‘Partners’. We were hot, wet, it had rained hard and soaked us, and tired so
just laid low for the rest of the afternoon before venturing out for some dinner
and the visit to the Customs and Immigration departments party. A full day...
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| Anthony and his rented bike |
Anthony is an off road cycling
enthusiast so before arriving in Trinidad he had been in contact with several
of the cycling clubs here and had researched many of the riding trails. Coincidently
most of the good challenging trails were within a mile or two of
Crews Inn, ‘Partners’ home here in Trini. Anthony was planning on bringing his
own bike but due to expense and the inconvenience to transport it, endorsed by
the inexpensive bicycle rental fees in Trinidad, he decided to rent when here.
The plan turned out perfectly and he was able to ride many of the trails during
his stay. His last day he rode to an observatory 1,700 ft up a very steep
mountain, I was impressed!
When we arrived here in Trinidad
we were still fairly low on day to day provisions and with Anthony’s visit
looming we listened to the cruisers net on channel 68 on Wednesday 28th
August, our first day, so we could glean some information about where and how
to shop. We quickly found out that Jesse James is the man, a local character who has made
a reputation and living for years by providing excellent services to the
cruising community. After the net we immediately contacted Jesse to arrange,
first, a taxi to the airport so we could meet Anthony upon his arrival on
Friday and then also signed up to join the shopping trip Jesse had set up for Friday
to the Hi Lo supermarket and the Mall. Surprise, surprise Trinidad is just like
the US, MacDonald’s, Burger King, KFC they’re all here and the stores are just
like home, the prices are just less. Trinidad manufactures and supplies much of
its own food and produce so the brands we are familiar with are supplemented
with the local Trinidadian ones, the choice is huge. We stocked up ready for
the hungry sons visit!
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| Cruising the Gulf of Paria |
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| Oil and gas well drilling ship |
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| This is what you call rain! |
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| Relaxing |
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| Anthony swimming in Scotland Bay |
It is now September 7th
and Anthony left us this morning at the crack of dawn to catch his flight back
to Orlando, FL. We had a packed week and managed to fit in a two day cruise
around the Bocas passing within six miles of the Venezuelan coast as we
ventured out into the Caribbean Sea to do a little fishing. We also anchored
for one afternoon and night in Scotland Bay which is protected from weather on
all sides with the bonus of wonderful and spectacular scenery. Unfortunately,
true to form, we tell it as it is, the beach area at the head of the bay plus
all the other coves and beaches in the vicinity that we explored in our dinghy,
were disgusting. The floating trash and
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| Scotland Bay |
discarded rubbish just spoiled the
experience and we will probably not revisit. We are hoping that the government
will sponsor a clean-up and a campaign to educate the population so as to
improve the garbage disposal habits of the people. We have never seen a country
which has a worse problem than here. Scotland Bay is the local playground and
at the weekends the locals visit in numbers. There are no facilities what so
ever in Scotland Bay so a start would be to arrange some trash cans and an
emptying schedule of same. For an oil rich country this would not be too much
to ask we feel.
The techno for this post is the
RO pump and the anchor light repair. The anchor light is a quick rant. While we
were in Scotland Bay for the night I turned on the anchor light, you guessed
it, nothing. Well, this morning I climbed the mast to find the bulb laying,
disconnected from the socket, the light assembly is an Aqua Signal Series 40.
Considering that the light is an expensive one I feel that the socket could be
of a little heavier build. The socket is flimsy and I had to bend the contacts
to hold the bulb in the socket so it would not vibrate loose which is obviously
what happened before.
The RO pump is the other rant.
When we bought ‘Partners’ she had just had new fuel tanks installed which had
entailed the dismantling of many of the systems in the engine room to be able
to reach the outboard sections of the hull where the fuel tanks are located.
One system which was removed was the water maker. Once our purchase of
‘Partners’ was complete I asked Sailcraft Service, in Oriental, NC, to
reinstall the water maker and test it. FOJ (First Officer John) and I tried to
make water during our return to Sarasota and were unable to get the system
going. A long story, after much time and effort, John worked tirelessly and
finally we got the water maker going. Fast forward to Carriacou, Granada last
month, the RO pump began to leak oil and water! Here in Trinidad we met Chris
who used to work for Echo Marine the big water maker people here in Chaguaramas,
Chris quickly informed me that the red transportation cap, ensuring no oil
leaks from the pump during transportation, had not been replaced with the
orange cap which allows the pump to ‘breathe’ i.e. allows the pressure build up
to escape as the pump is in operation. Because of the wrong cap the pressure
had ruined the seals in the pump and that is why it had developed the leaks. I
am not the expert here but want all of you reading this to be aware that when
you employ someone who purports to be an expert ask them how many systems they
have worked on. Sailcraft is a sailing boat yard and very few sailing boats
have water makers, enough said! Within a couple of hours and US$200 later we
had a rebuilt fully operational pump. The outstanding thing here was not only
the great service Chris provided but was also that in its rebuilt state the RO
pump was now making 37.5 gallons of beautiful RO water and hour or 900 gallons
per day. We were happy with the 21 gallons an hour the pump was making before
it started to leak, the equivalent of 500 gallons per day. Soooo, thanks to
Chris we have discovered we have a 900 not a 500 gallon per day water maker and
we didn’t know it!
We have settled in to Crews Inn,
home for ‘Partners’ while we are in Trinidad. Now Anthony has departed and we
are alone again we will begin our exploration of this big island. Lavinia is all excited to go to the movies; yes they
have a movie theatre! There is also an Apple Store so I am hoping to get my
iPhone repaired after its dunking in Tyrrel Bay!
September 8th. Yesterday Bill Miller of ‘Ann Louise’ (http://www.journeyoftheannlouise.com)
contacted me to say he and Ann would be arriving back in Chaguaramas on the 11th.
Their boat, a 48’ Kadey Krogen is on the hard being stored in Peake Yachting
Services while they returned back to their home in South Carolina, USA for the
summer. We are looking forward to our cruising buddies return and can already
taste the celebratory beer! We have not seen Bill and Ann since they continued
on their journey to Trinidad from Culebra, Puerto Rico where we started to
suffer from a series of mechanical and electrical failures which prohibited us
from accompanying them south.
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| 'Ann Louise' |
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| 'Partners' & 'Ann Louise' |
More to come from Trini soon...
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