Trinidad Arrival

Another wonderful evening/overnight sail! Plenty of wind and a few ships to avoid with AIS my watch 21.00-12.00 went smoothly, just a few Dolphins cavorting in the moonlight, then off to sleep and I’m called at 07.00 awake to the Trinidadian coastline.  We sign in with Customs/Immigration and Peakes Marina, then have a few hour more kip!
We have now been here just 10 days, two of them public holidays.
During which we unloaded the ‘cycles’ and went to The Trinidad & Tobago Yacht Club and around the coast here at Chaguaramas.
   Malcolm has now booked our flights home, earlier than we wanted due to lack of seats. Trinidad to Tobago on to Grenada then 9 hours to Gatwick.  A fraught day when we expected to land into a general strike, only time will tell.  Meanwhile, we organise a complete cover for the topsides to protect ’Piano’ from UV & sunlight.  Sam came to wash and put a layer of polish on the hull to protect it from the ravages of the atmosphere.  Richard has just fitted the air-conditioning and it is pleasantly cool down below for a change (26ºC and humidity only 48%).
The whole Peakes team has been to reposition ’Piano’ so that she is now level and has a rigid cradle to satisfy the insurers.
We have been loading gear from the outside lockers to a storage room so that we have a space to fill when we start doing work below decks and need to empty interior lockers.
  During an odd hour we give ‘Crescendo’ a well needed scrub and her outboard has been flushed through with fresh water ready for Hurricane storage in ashore.  The Bimini has been taken down ready for storing too.  It’s all going very well.

On the social side, we had Vicky and Porter ( Cinnamon Teal) over for sundowners. Vicky has a large hand in the Cruisers net here and knows all there is to about everything!  She organises Dominoes (afternoon) and a Cruisers BBQ on a Sunday evening we went along with our next door neighbours Penny and Chris last night.  About 30 people were there and we gained many more friends from various parts of the world.  It was a truly International event.
This evening we are able to have a farewell swim & drink with Mary & James who arrived yesterday while I was playing Dominoes.  They didn’t have such a good crossing from Grenada—I’ll get the details later.

Whispher Bay

We are in Whispher Bay
Saturday  11th June, Bus ride to Grand E’tang then we walk the Lake Trail.  It’s a nice walk however quite muddy in places better for the dry season maybe. Native Mona Monkeys live here but we only see a couple at the end of the walk.
Sunday 12th, BBQ on the beach at Hoggs Island Chicken Callalooo and Potato salad plus cold Caribs.
Monday 13th June, there was a holiday (Whitsun ?)so that meant a VERY LOUD party on Sunday evening. We were still both awake 0100 when Malcolm did a boat check and found the Avon (Crescendo) missing! The wind was ashore so we thought ok we'll look downwind in the morning....We announced on the Yachties 'net' what had happened and if anyone saw it would they bring it back/ help us look for it /take us to get a new one/ etc etc. Ok so one guy answers our plea and has seen a lone dinghy on his way to us so he & Malcolm go investigate and YES it is Crescendo minus the fuel tank (but even that is good news) Our new friend Tony then finds a local fisherman who has an old Yamaha tank for sale and takes Malcolm to buy it, we have a spare line aboard so all we need is a squeegee thing and Tony says he has a spare! so we are mobile again before lunch !  We invited Tony round for sundowners but he said no come over to him which we did and had a jolly good session with him and his wife Sharon
Tuesday 14th, Round the Island tour with Clemant Baptiste. We took a picnic lunch and set off at 8.30 then walked down to the pick-up point at Nimrod (Juniors) Rum Shop. We were there for 0900, but Clemant apologised at 10.45 that he had been held up.  No problem we travel to Port Louis where he gives us the history of the invasions to date.  Port Louis Marina was named by Peter De Savery in honour of the old capital which was bombed during a bout of firing.  There are 4 other Forts on the Island.  We then proceeded around the coast road, such that we could see all the Bays along the way to Halifax.  Our next stop was Concord Falls— a short climb down some steps to the pool below but I wasn’t tempted to take a swim in the cool mountain waters!
Back aboard the air-conditioned mini van we continued though Gouyave and Victoria right up to Duquesne Bay and Sauteurs.  From this outlook we could just make out Petite Martinique and Carriacou.  By now it’s almost lunch time but there is one more stop and that is the Rivers Rum Factory.  Where out guide did an admirable job of explaining the process of squeezing the sugar cane to extract the juice. This is then piped to traditional bowls to be evaporated and fermented to about 16%. This then passes to the distiller a few times until 79% is reached which is then bottled, the remainder continues until the higher specific gravity is reached.
Lunch for the 10 other travellers was at the Chocolate Factory.  We ate our picnic in the shade.
  After lunch we continued homeward through the disused Pearls Airport and Grenville towards St David’s Harbour and then back to Lower Woburn and Whispher Bay.
Wednesday 15th, Malcolm went into town for more money and supplies while I terrified myself aboard in the worst squall of the trip.  The sky was black and the winds heeled the boat as though we were sailing! And I could barely see the shore!
Thursday 16th sign out of Grenada and slip for Peakes Marina in Trinidad

Prickeley bay

2nd June
   Anchored off the point into a bit of a swell but not too bad. Had lunch and chilled out.
  Went ashore to the Regis outlet and Mike came aboard to run tests on the new Battery Charger. Both he and Malcolm decided that the differences in the AVO readings are within the tolerances of it’s specifications.  Malcolm is happy with Mikes explanation and so we go with what he tells us.

Next we head for the supermarket to stock up on shopping then had a beer to cool off.
2nd June,  No rain overnight well not much so up fresh and early.  Malcolm nips in to the chandlers for a new length of wire for the external anode.  We set off for a secluded Bay where there will be less rolling and straight into a very confused sea. Since this is only a short motor we continue until the engine begins to cough and splutter– and the dies completely!  We decide to return to St Georges since this is where the best technicians are and a calm spot too.  The sailing was slow but enjoyable and gave us time to think.  Maybe the confused sea and huge swell had stirred up the gunk at the bottom of the fuel tank ??  We anchor under sail and have a slap up Club Sandwich for lunch then get started draining the gunk and changing the fuel filters.  Yes there is gunk a plenty!
Friday 3rd. A phone call away and Ricado says he will come to clean the fuel and tank either Sunday or Tuesday so we go into Grenada Yacht Club to find James and Marie.  A discussion and then lunch aboard it is decided that James will comes out and fix a spare diesel can straight to the engine so that we can motor straight in.  Bingo what a great idea Merci Beaucuop James!
Sunday 5th, Ricado arrives with team and proceeds to drain the gunk and water of which he says we have 50 litres or so.  It then takes 3 hours to run all the good fuel though the high tech filters to be cleaned.  Only when he is satisfied that the engine runs does he begin to clear up and depart.  Malcolm is then able to change the oil filters and we are a happy boat again.
Monday 6th. A set of credit cards arrives –just one more set and  Malcolm may even crack a smile.  We have Marie and Jean Jacque over for dinner to say a big thanks for all their help.
Tuesday 7th, we go out to anchor again and the nice guy from Port Louis Marina comes out in his rib to deliver the second envelope we were expecting and yes there are smiles.
Wednesday 8th, We set off again for Clarkes Court Bay/ Whisper Bay. After a windy start we have a brilliant sail and arrived in a beautific peaceful Bay.