14 July 2011 Prickly Bay to Chagaramus, Trinidad (Day 1)
I felt a little “dull” this morning, so I caught up on the Alba Chronicles and published a couple of weeks of my ramblings on our web site.
At ten o’clock, I went to clear out of the country. It took half an hour to do it. I had to wait ten minutes while the customs guy faffed about filling in forms for someone else. Everything is so sequential - I tried to ask him to give me some forms to fill in to save a bit of time, but he just showed me the dismissive “hand” and I had to wait. He then leisurely put away the paperwork from the previous guy, re-filled his stapler, slowly turned off his calculator, put it into his drawer and then shuffled some more paper. He then carefully separated four copies of the clearance form, slowly inserted three sheets of carbon paper and handed the forms to me to fill in. I bit my lip – bloody petty bureaucrats.
Back on the boat, Glenys and I did more tidying up, hid a few more of our things from the pirates and waited.
We left Prickly Bay just before six o’clock and sailed out into a reasonably calm sea with 3 to 5 foot waves and a nice 15 knot wind from the east. Glenys had prepared a stew for dinner and we ate in silence as the sun slowly set - we were both pretty nervous because this was our first overnight sail for over 15 years.
Glenys did the first watch from eight o’clock for two hours while I went to bed. When I got up at ten o’clock, the full moon was out and we were sailing along nicely at 5½ knots. My watch was fantastic; I played about with the sails a little and just stared at the silvery sea and the moon.
15 July 2011 Prickly Bay to Chagaramus, Trinidad (Day 2)
At midnight, I reluctantly woke Glenys for her watch. The wind picked up during her watch and we were bounding along at 6½ knots for a while. There was a yacht sailing about ½ mile behind us for most of the night and Glenys managed to increase the distance between us during her three hour watch – it only takes two yachts to make a race. For my part, it was pretty hot below and the lee cloth that we set up on the port-side berth was not very sturdy making it difficult to sleep – another job to sort out.
Glenys woke me up at three o’clock and it was still beautiful sailing conditions. I didn’t have time to sit and stare this time because there were two oil rigs coming up and a fleet of fishing boats trawling in the area – at one point I saw lights for ten boats randomly motoring about. I had an encounter with one of the fishing boats who approached on a collision course from starboard. I was expecting him to turn at some point, but he kept remorselessly coming on. Eventually, I had to make a radical turn to starboard and sail down-wind for five minutes to clear him and his nets.
Dawn came and the winds dropped. Glenys’s watch from six to eight o’clock was a slow affair – our shadow yacht (“Indigo”) passed us. She spotted dolphins and dragged me out of bed at half past seven, but they were very lethargic and not interested in playing in our bow wave – I couldn’t blame them we were only doing 3½ knots. I pulled out our stay sail for the first time ever, which gave us an extra knot or so of boat speed.
We arrived at Chagaramus at eleven o’clock. The regulations say that all incoming yachts have to go to the customs dock, which is a nightmare of a dock. It’s made of concrete with no protection for a yacht’s topsides and there’s not a lot of room to manoeuvre. We came in a low tide and our depth gauge was showing 2.3 metres which gave us 20 cm of space between our keel and going aground. We coped with a lot of cursing. The clearing in process was quick and we managed to pick up a spare mooring just before a massive downpour which lasted half an hour – welcome to Trinidad.
In the afternoon, we wandered about in a daze trying to find where everything is and trying to organise all of the jobs that we want to do. It’s very frustrating arriving on a Friday – we didn’t manage to achieve anything, apart from getting very hot and irritable.
We spotted “El Lobo” on the way back to the boat and Mike gave us some recommendations of various companies that we could use. We had an early dinner and crashed out – exhausted.
16 July 2011 Chagaramus, Trinidad
Life seemed a bit better this morning after a good night’s sleep. We caught a “Maxi Taxi” (a small local bus) into Port of Spain and wandered around the bustling town centre. Our main aim was to find materials to make cockpit cushions and the in-fill for our bed. There is a large selection of shops selling material and we found a great shop for general upholstery items including foam.
For lunch we decided to try a “Double”. These are sold by street vendors and consist of two pieces of Barra bread (like small chapattis) which are covered with chick pea curry. The whole thing comes in a piece of grease proof paper. It tastes nice, but is incredibly messy to eat. One is not quite enough for lunch.
We took a maxi taxi back towards Chagaramus and called at West Mall, where we wandered aimlessly (after having a Chinese meal as our second lunch.)
We bought two pirated DVDs in town for £0.50 each and decided to watch one. This involved getting out the 21 inch monitor and the digital media player that has been stored in the front cabin since April. It took me an hour to rig it all up and I was quite excited about watching the first TV for nearly five months. Unfortunately both DVDs were rubbish quality. We persevered with “Thor” which was the better of the two, but by the end of it we wish we hadn’t bothered.
17 July 2011 Chagaramus, Trinidad
After our disappointing movie last night, I packed away the monitor and media player – I wonder when that will see the light of day again. We moved into the Power Boats Marina – I was a little bit worried about backing in between two piles, so I asked Peter and Kate from “Ravens Eye” to give us an extra pair of hands. It all went pretty well and, by judicious use of the bow-thruster, I managed to back in without any dramas.
We spent the afternoon planning what jobs need to be done. It’s so hot and humid here that we want to leave as soon as possible – our plan is to leave in a week’s time.
I spent some time investigating solar panels and their sizes. I’ve eventually decided on two 185W panels that I can get from Island Water World in Grenada - they are over 50% more expensive than the on-line prices quoted in the States. However, there’s not a lot I can do about it – the shipping costs would be huge.
We went for a meal at the bar with Alan and Ann from “Freya”. Ann is one of the controllers for the local radio net and we gleaned some useful local knowledge from them.
18 July 2011 Chagaramus, Trinidad
We did a serious amount of running around. I arranged for Gittins to service our main engine and generator – the estimate is £700 including parts. We have a clacking noise coming from the front of the engine which is a bit worrying and they will be trying to sort out my air leak on the fuel.
I obtained a quote for the Arch from Mitch at West Coast Fabrications, which was $3,980 US dollars. He is working on one in his workshop which looks very good. It will take two weeks to make it and fit it. He wants to make it from 1½” stainless steel tubing and put extra strengthening on the uprights which is going to be a lot heavier than my design. I’m not sure how much strength is needed.
We had the life raft picked up to be serviced, they say that it will be back to us by Friday. It hasn’t been serviced since it was bought five years ago – they are supposed to be done every three years, so it is well overdue. We’ve been quoted £600 to service it – gulp!
I talked to Caribbean Marine Electrical about my plans for enhancing the charging systems on the boat. He was mostly in agreement with my plans. The first stage is to buy a “smart” regulator and possibly a new alternator which will set me back over $1,000 US.
Glenys wandered about, bought some Sunbrella for the cockpit cushions and obtained a quote for a man to do the upholstery for the infill for our bed.
We sweated through the afternoon - there is no breeze in the marina and the heat was intense. At six o’clock, we went to an informal gathering of cruisers and met a few of the others in the area.
19 July 2011 Chagaramus, Trinidad
I was up at half past six this morning. There was a lot of noise from locals going out fishing and I was restless anyway. I walked around to Jeff’s Outboard and arranged for him to service our 15hp outboard engine in the next couple of days.
Jonas the Rigger turned up and did a survey of the standing rigging. There is nothing wrong with it, but he recommends that we replace the standing rigging in two years’ time. It was interesting to pick his brains and I learned a lot about the rig on our boat. He told me that the running backstays were very important part of the rigging and I should be using them a lot more. He suggested that we need two more winches and should replace the current running back stays with rope which will make it much easier to handle. He’s going to get us a quote – I’m guessing $3,000 US.
Falco the diesel mechanic turned up and serviced the engine. The water pump was leaking and he gave the primary fuel filter a good clean because it was gummed up with thick diesel residue. Other than that, the engine is in good working order. The clacking noise mysteriously went away when he’d finished his service which is slightly worrying.
We finally received an emailed quotation for the Arch from TechNick in Grenada, but he is quoting $5,000US and has a few caveats in his quote. I obtained another estimate from a fabricator in Power Boats - he said that the cost is normally about $4,000 but it may vary depending on what they have to do. He wouldn’t give me a fixed price and I get the feeling that he will ramp up the price when the job is finished. It looks like West Coast Fabrications is the best bet, so I went back to him and told him that his price was higher than I expected. I asked him to re-quote me with davits which will allow us to lift our dinghy out of the water. We’ll see what he comes back with.
We sweated through the afternoon - even though it kept raining, the humidity and heat was oppressive. We felt like we were trapped because we had the rigger and the mechanic on board and one of us had to be around all of the time.
In the evening, the temperature became more bearable and I re-did some of the drawings for the Arch ready to run through a few design points with West Coat fabrications.
20 July 2011 Chagaramus, Trinidad
I finished of the modifications to the Arch design drawings and went to see Mitch. We agreed a price of $4,200 including the dinghy davits. I really like the guy; he has a good sense of humour and listens to what I’m saying. I’ve got to go back tomorrow by which time he’ll have drawn up a contract and he can get started.
This means that our plans have changed slightly and we’ll miss the Grenada Carnival, which is a pity. Mitch will come and measure up this week and can get started next week. In the meantime, we’ll nip up to Tobago for a couple of week’s holiday and when we get back, he should be ready to do the first fitting of the arch. I’ll then have a week of frenzied activity while I sort out the rear deck and alter the wiring for the solar panel, the wind generator, five aerials, the stern navigation light, etc, etc. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to return to Grenada in the middle of August and still head over to Curacao in the last week of August.
The rigger turned up and finished off the small jobs that were stopped by the heavy rain yesterday. Falco the diesel mechanic turned up and spent all day servicing the generator. He didn’t find too much wrong apart from the seal and bearing had gone in the salt water pump and the valve clearances were out of specification. He’s taken the injectors away to be checked – hopefully they will back the day after tomorrow and we can escape to Tobago on Monday.
Glenys foolishly decided to wash all of the curtains – it took her two hours to get them down, two hours to wash them and two hours to put them back up. They still have mildew marks, so she’s planning to get some new material in Port of Spain and make some new ones at some point in the future.
We had rotis for lunch at the roti shop in the boat yard which is about 20 metres from our boat. They were delicious and the temptation to have one every day will be hard to resist. This is not good news for my waist line.
In the afternoon, I dropped off the outboard to be serviced and walked a mile to another boat yard to see Echo Marine who manufactured our water maker. They sent an engineer out immediately to give the system a quick inspection – the best bit was that he gave me a lift back to the boat. Once on board, he sorted out the o-ring on the high pressure hose which gave me problems a few months ago and explained a bit more about the system, which was very helpful. He couldn’t find anything wrong, so he said goodbye and no charge. This is the first time that I’ve had some one on board that hasn’t cost me $50/hour.
The afternoon was blisteringly hot again and when it cools down at six o’clock, the mosquitos come out. I had four bites in rapid succession before I went for a shower – I’ll be glad to be away from here.