We are back in Trinidad getting our boat ready to go back in the water and we have a bit of work to do before launching. The first few days are always a bit overwhelming if you are doing most of the work yourself. Boat yards are inherently filthy, gritty dirty places, but this year the clean up was a bit worse than usual. We had the yard grind off 16 years of bottom paint and the very fine dust settled onto the topsides and hull and baked on for a few months. After lots of elbow grease, toilet bowl cleaner and a mild compounding wax we have a clean and shiny boat (mostly).
Inside the boat there is a bit of mess too. There are cans of paint on the floor of the salon, sails in bags hogging the aft cabin. A new windlass in the box is the aft head with engine mounts atop, as well as a bag of rags, the cleaning supplies for stainless and other odds and ends. We have rented bikes so our helmets and spare tires are floating about. Chaos, really.

The weather at this time of year is usually quite rainy, but we have been fortunate to hit a spell of fair weather. This little holiday from the rainy season (June through December) is called Petit Careme. It is hot, but it is easier to get work done without the rain.

Okay, back to sorting the inside chaos until the sun goes down and it is cool enough to work outside.