21 September 1995 Man of War Bay, Tobago
Miserable weather with squalls and rain caused by the ITCZ and a tropical wave. We did school work in the morning. Put some more fuel in the tank from a jerry can - it is full now.
We dropped the kids off at the beach in the afternoon, while Glenys and I tidied up the boat ready to leave tomorrow. I’ve finally got my sailing memoirs up to the point where we left Ipswich! At this rate we will be back in Portugal before I start writing about spending the winter of 1992 there!
In Craig’s school work there was a story about a boy who had to get his eyes tested and then had to wear glasses – it was titled “Super Kid”. Craig was interested in what an eye test was, so I made an eye chart and we pretended to check his eyes. To my horror he couldn’t read the bottom three lines – we’ll have to get his eyes tested properly in Trinidad.
22 September 1995 Man of War Bay to Englishman’s Bay, Tobago
No school work this morning. It looked like a nice day, so we tidied up the boat and Glenys nipped into the village to get some food. I filled 4 tanks. We said goodbye to everyone and motored around to Englishman’s Bay.
Glenys and I went for a dive which was nice and deep (well I thought so, Glenys wasn’t impressed!) I’ve become very trigger happy and shot 3 grouper, 1 hog fish and a big eye – too much! The boys had fun playing in the river. I went over to “Liamuga” for a quick chat. They are a Wharram Cat who know “Tekaroa” well. They don’t know where Pete and Kirsty are but they do know that they left St Martin before Hurricane Luis hit. We had a nice peaceful night.
23 September 1995 Englishman’s Bay to Bucoo Bay, Tobago
We were woken by fishermen seine netting. They actually laid their nets about 10-15 metres in front of our boat before they woke us. It was almost as if they wanted us to catch our anchor on their net so that they could get us to pay for repairs! We managed to extract ourselves without any problems and motored down the coast.
The weather is pleasant, but there is a low at 13°N 45°W which we need to keep an eye on! We went around to Mount Irvine Bay and were surprised to find 15 yachts anchored there – last year we were the only boat anchored there. We did a dive and then left for Buccoo Bay. I cocked up the approach and went straight over the top of a 4 metre reef before entering Buccoo Bay, where we anchored in splendid isolation.
We went for a quick walk around the village, but most places were shut. Buccoo village holds a goat race at Easter and there are many splendid looking goats tethered about the place. I stayed up until eleven o’clock writing my CV – I must be mad!
24 September 1995 Bucoo Bay to Store Bay, Tobago
Miserable weather, there’s a lot of convection activity over Tobago. The low at 45°W appears to have dissipated, but there is a new low at 16°N 38°W. We did school work in the morning and after lunch decided to go over to Store Bay, ready to clear out tomorrow and go back to Trinidad. We dropped anchor next to “Vaquero” who told us that tomorrow is another bloody holiday. We’ll have to wait until Tuesday to clear out.
25 September 1995 Store Bay, Tobago
There's a low at about 13°N 46°W which is moving slowly and a strong tropical wave at 38°W which has lots of activity and needs watching. We did school work and then went to the beach for lunch, rotis, shark and bake, etc. We messed about on the public beach for a while and then retired to a quiet beach so that we could get a haircut. It was a fantastic place with palm trees bent out over the sea. We used one as a seat while Glenys cut our hair. We had our next to last bottle of wine for dinner.
26 September 1995 Store Bay, Tobago
The strong tropical wave is at about 40°W and has a lot of activity. We had Huevos Rancheros for breakfast because we have no breakfast cereal and no bread left. (It’s only been 3 weeks and we’re out of drinks and essentials). We then went into town on the bus to clear out. 10 minutes to clear out and 3 hrs 20 mins waiting for buses and messing about in town. We had rotis for lunch at one of the beach bars. Quiet afternoon – I must remember not to drink beer at lunchtime.
27 September 1995 Store Bay to Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Up at quarter to six, tidied up and left. Discovered that our batteries were down to 22.3V – I must have another one down. I’ve had nothing but trouble with the crap batteries that I bought in St Martin. We had very little wind, so we motored all the way to Chaguaramus Bay. We were initially heading for La Vache Bay, but were doing 7-8 knots over the ground so we just carried on.
Miracle of miracles, we caught a Dorado – I put a smaller hook on and it seems to have worked.
It took us 5 attempts to anchor because we couldn’t dig the anchor in without dragging. Eventually we pulled back a bit and left it to sink in. I hate Chaguaramus. We dropped the boys ashore and tidied up the boat before retiring to the Lifeline Bar. Typically we stayed in the bar too long, had chicken sandwich and chips and got drunk – welcome back to Trinidad!
28 September 1995 Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Bit of a hangover this morning. Glenys took the boys to the doctor to get something for the warts on Brett’s feet and also to get their eyes checked. The doctor said that we should get both of their eyes tested properly. I went and picked up a new bike wheel, dropped off the broken printer and came back for lunch.
Glenys went into town and it poured down. I re-anchored (twice) with Brett and dropped off my steel dive tank to get the inside tumbled. I also ordered a car for tomorrow. We had another evening in the bar, but forced ourselves to leave at eight o’clock to go back to the boat for dinner. Unfortunately, we were all bad tempered because we were so tired.
29 September 1995 Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Up early. I went to customs at eight o’clock and picked up the new Adverc regulator. I rang the car company to remind them to drop off a car at nine o’clock. I went to pick up Glenys and the boys but we ended up re-anchoring again.
After a few bad tempered exchanges, we arrived ashore at ten past nine. No car! I rang them up and they said they were waiting for a car to come in. I rang at half past nine and again at ten o’clock when I was told that they wouldn’t have one until lunchtime! We ended up getting a maxi taxi into Port of Spain and picking up a car from another company.
We then drove to a couple of carpet warehouses and bought a 4x4 metre piece of carpet for the saloon and cabins. We visited a few shopping malls and went back to Power Boats to drop Batman and a Pirate off at Organ’s birthday party. Glenys and I took the carpet back to the boat and found out that we were still close to another boat, so we re-anchored off IMS. 9th time lucky...
Glenys and I then went and did a big shop, came back to pick the boys up and went out for a pizza. The locals have a curious habit of smothering their pizzas with ketchup and mustard. I would estimate about 6oz of each on a medium pizza for two people. It looks gross and must ruin an otherwise delicious pizza!
30 September 1995 Chaguaramas, Trinidad
We dropped the car off and went into Port of Spain. Brett and Craig had their eyes tested. Brett came out at -0.75 and -1.00, short-sighted but not bad enough to warrant glasses yet. Craig came out as being short-sighted as well, but he also has an astigmatism which the optician said was more of a problem, so we bought him some £80 glasses. The opticians is very high tech and said they could make the glasses within an hour! We said that we would pick them up on Monday.
We then went to the movies and saw “First Knight” and “Top Dog”. It only cost us £3 for 4 hours entertainment for us all! We went back to the bar and got drunk again.
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