"So, when are we going to Trinidad?" asks Dave.
Trinidad and Tobago are two separate islands that lie roughly 80 nautical miles south of Grenada, or just North of South America, or near Venezuela. And are a popular destination for cruisers as they are outside the Hurricane Belt.
"OMG Dave, just how on Earth did we get this far" I wondered. I mean, South America?? Venezuela??
WOW.
"We need winds with North and East in them to make our journey sailable" says Dave, eyeing the various weather reports he religiously studies on a daily basis.
"Agreed", says I.
"And we want to visit my friends, spend some time exploring and come back BEFORE the winds change for the winter season, making the return trip un-enjoyable" says Dave.
"Agreed", says I.
And so we made a quick decision... with an appropriate weather window coming up, we proceeded to say some sad good-bye's to our friends, knew we were going to miss the arrival of other friends, got a few extra provisions, wished
Mike and Rebecca best of luck on their new life as they head North, and at precisely 5 p.m. weighed anchor, upped our sails, and pointed Banyan's bow... South! 174 degrees South to be precise.
We watched Grenada slowly disappear (notice the squall line?)
One reef in the main and we journeyed along - one tack would get us all the way there.
Amazingly beautiful evening colours (notice the threatening squall?)
The evening skies, notice the clouds forming into a squall?
And just as the sun sets, another squall in the works.
The seas were very reasonable at just under 2 meters and we sailed along on a beam-reach. It was all enough to give me a bit of a jittery stomach that threatened upheaval every time I moved.
Dave, bless his heart, is truly an amazing guy, that handled the whole journey almost all by himself. I kept him company, but was, unfortunately, not much company.
The night continued on, the stars twinkled out to play and every now and then, the radar blinked some approaching squalls that were dodged. We saw some pretty impressive lightning illuminate the skies and thankfully escaped untouched, but I did run below and put our computers and things in the oven, "just in case".
There wasn't much traffic during the night-time transit although radio silence was deafening (perhaps no one wanted to VHF anyone else for fear of pirates listening in) and the "watch out for oil rigs" seemed like quite a non-issue after the fact.
In the early morning hours, we cried "Land Ho" as we saw the mountainous forms of land that is Trinidad off in the distance.
Despite having checked the Tables of Tides and Currents to time our arrival, we still found ourselves fighting an almost 2 knot current against us. And like the proverbial kettle trying to come to boil we watched, and watched, and watched some more, yet somehow never seemed to get any closer to land. Le Sigh.
Closer to the Boca Inlet, the current and wind directions were in a battle, a few ensuing waves splashing across our bow with a few boat-shuddering bursts. The churn at the inlet proper intensified creating quite a bit of a washing machine effect and we were fighting almost 4 knots of current at this point in time.
And we thought we had timed this right?
This all reminded us of the very narrow passes that were The Bahamas, that would routinely spit cruisers in/out of the narrow reef-lined passes if the entrance/exits weren't timed quite right.
The views were quite spectacular...
but changed drastically as we rounded the bend and headed into the very industrial Chaguaramas (the economy here is primarily industrial and there were boat yards galore, with many rusty cargo ships littering the bay).
The Rules state that you HAVE TO bring your boat alongside the dock, immediately, before doing ANYTHING else, and all members of the crew need to report to Customs and Immigration.
Not ones to disobey (m)any rules, we did just that: found the lighthouse, found the tire-laden dock, tied up alongside without incident, and immediately proceeded to the Customs/Immigration Offices.
Immigration had us complete a bunch of paperwork, 6 carbon-copies (press hard) of the same page that were then, dutifully stamped and coded, separately !! One HOUR later we were done there.
Then it was cheerfully off to Customs, where many more forms were required along with the $50 TT (Trinidad and Tobago Dollars which equate approx. 6:1).
What transpired next was fit for a Charlie Chaplin Game of Giggles...
"Can I pay that on Visa?" asks Dave.
Official lady shakes her head, nope.
"Do you take EC?" asks Dave.
"What's EC?" Official lady asks.
"Easter Caribbean dollars, from Grenada" says Dave.
Official Lady shakes her head, negative.
"Do you have U.S. dollars" she sing-songed?
"Do you have a banking machine?" queries Dave?
"You can check with the hotel" says Official Lady "Or you can walk to Coral Cove"
So we walked to the hotel just down the way. And explained our situation. That we had some EC to change and could they, would they? Nope they cannot. Do they have a banking machine on the premises? Nope they do not. The banking machine moved across the bay Coral Cove. Would they take our Visa and debit some cash? Nope.
They did, however, suggest that we grab a "Maxi Taxi" and cab over there.
"Yup, with what money??" asks I?
So we started walking along when a car honked behind us... a very kind gentleman offered us a drive and before we knew it, we'd gotten a very impressively large wad of cash (just imagine 6:1??). And then back to the Customs office where we paid our $50TT.
So, from start to finish, two-and-a-half hours later, we got back onboard
Banyan, overheated, exhausted, and ready to get outta there !!
Did I mention that during all this time, NO ONE, not Customs nor Immigration, asked where our boat was, could they come onboard to inspect, etc, etc, etc. Oh well, sometimes it pays to follow the rules, however sometimes you just have to wonder !!
We rounded the bend of the bay, sailed into Carenage Harbour, and anchored in the vicinity of the other boats near the TTSA (Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association) Club, and the muddy bottom sucked our anchor right up.
The liquid-glass water was non-moving in the high-heat of lunchtime, muddy brown and floating with garbage. Exhaustedly we got dinghy off deck, engine on and dinghied ashore to check-in with the Club. A quick and refreshingly cold (no other option) shower at the Club. Spent some time chatting with Shiloh, and SeaShell, who had also journeyed to Trinidad overnight. Shiloh mentioned that there was now a Customs/Immigration office in this bay as well... interesting?!
Then it was back onboard Banyan where we vainly tried to connect to the Wifi we'd just paid for. No such luck. We were in an exhausted zombie-like state, dozing in our cockpit and having unintelligible conversation by 4:30 valiantly stayed awake till 5:30 but we were down and out by 6, before the sun even set in Trini.