The taxi was booked to pick us up from the marina at 4am on Sunday, October 5th. But apart from the fact that it was still the middle of the night, all was well. Magic was settled in her berth, all her canvas had again been removed and was stowed below, and she was as secure as she could be. Chris and Barb on 'Moonsail' had been looking after Clarkes Court Bay Marina for about a year and were going to keep an eye on her for us. We packed our bags into the taxi and headed for the airport.

We had a long day in front of us. From Grenada we were flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we had a long lay-over before our flight to Miami. From Miami we would catch a flight to Baltimore and were due to finally arrive there at 11pm. We did arrive in Baltimore by 11pm and good friend Kevin was waiting to pick us up and drive us down to Annapolis.

We spent a couple of days in Annapolis running errands before we had to catch our British Airways flight to London on October 8th. We arrived at London Heathrow at 9am on Thursday morning. We had been expecting Lorna to meet us, but Amy had surprised us and was also at the airport. There was just over a week to go before the wedding and we had a long list of friends and family we wanted to catch up with during that time. Dave also had fittings to attend for his morning-suit and although he had written it some months before, we had his 'Father of the Bride' speech to touch-up. The time before the 'big day' passed in a blur but finally October 18th was upon us.

The morning of the wedding dawned sunny and bright. It turned into a beautiful day and although it was breezy the sun shone all day. The service at St. Mary's Church, Boreham was lovely. Amy looked radiant, the bridesmaids were beautiful and Scott, the best man and the ushers were all very handsome. After the service everyone dispersed to Crondon Park Golf Club for the wedding breakfast and reception. Again, all the arrangements were perfect and everyone had a wonderful time. At midnight it was time to say 'good-bye' to Amy and Scott who were leaving that night for their honeymoon in the Maldives. We were staying the night with Sue & Steve, the good friends we had seen less than a month before in Carriacou, so along with another good friend, Martin we jumped in the taxi and went home.

The next day we had a wonderful Sunday lunch with Lorna, Daniel and some very good friends with whom we exchanged stories about the previous day. We had a very quiet Sunday evening, and then on Monday we headed for Heathrow once again to fly back to Baltimore. Tuesday saw us at the airport again, and another long day to get us back to Grenada. By 10pm we were back on board. Magic was in great shape, and although hurricane 'Omar' had done its best to devastate much of the Caribbean while we were away, Clarkes Court Bay had experienced nothing more than heavy rains.

We now had to come to a final decision as to what our next destination would be. Undoubtedly we had to begin to make our way back north to the USA and work. Our allotted time (and cruising kitty) was coming to an end and we had to go back to the real world. We had originally wanted to go west to Bonaire where, we had heard, the diving was fantastic. But that would mean making our way through the Venezuelan Islands. The number of reported boardings, robberies and piracy attacks in Venezuelan waters had been increasing during the summer and as a result we finally made the decision to head back north, the way we had come. There were some islands, including Antigua, that we had not seen on the way down and this would give us the opportunity to visit those. Decision made. Now we just had to get Magic ready for the return trip.

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We had left Chaguaramas at 8.40am, had managed to get the tide right going through the Boca, and had been spat out into Caribbean Sea at over 9kts. Initially the wind had been light and fickle and much to our annoyance we were having to motor-sail. However by noon the wind had picked up from a perfect direction and we were sailing beautifully with all our canvas flying. Behind us we were watching large thunderheads roll from the east over Trinidad and we could hear thunder in the distance. But with Magic charging through the waves at over 7kts we managed to outrun the storms and by the time we reached the Hibiscus Oil Field we were in the clear and having a wonderful sail.

Just after lunch and to the north of the Hibiscus rig Dave caught a small mahi mahi, the fourth we've caught, but only the second we've actually been able to land. Just before 4pm we caught sight of the coastline of Grenada in the distance. We were making excellent time. We sailed up the windward side of Grenada and although we were fighting a 2kt adverse current as we approached the north of the island, Magic was still making good progress. By 11.30pm we were in sight of Carriacou. A few hours later we finally had to switch the engine back on as the wind had dropped and the current against us was now slowing us down sufficiently that we were barely making way. But by 2am we were anchored in Hillsborough Bay. We had covered 113nm in less than 18 hours. We always knew that, in the right conditions, Magic is a 150 mile per day boat and we had just proved it.

We had come directly to Carriacou to meet up with our good friends Steve & Sue who had come here from the UK on a diving holiday. We managed to catch up with them at their hotel and arranged to meet. Dave picked them up in the dinghy and they came aboard Magic for the first time. We decide to spend the evening anchored off of Sandy Island where Dave grilled the mahi we had caught on our way from Trinidad. There is nothing to compare with the flavour of freshly caught and prepared fish and our guests were very complimentary of their simple dinner. We talked late into the evening and then took Magic back to Hillsborough so that Steve and Sue could get back to their hotel.

Over the next week we joined Steve & Sue diving the island. Max and Claudia at Carriacou Silver Diving were very helpful and took us to a couple of beautiful spots. The diving itself brought back wonderful memories. It doesn't seem possible, but Dave & I have known Steve & Sue for over 20 years. We all belonged to the same scuba diving club when we lived in Chelmsford, and Sue & I were very often 'dive buddies' on the many weekends we spent indulging in our favourite sport. Being back in the water together was even stranger for Dave & Steve however. Back in 1988 Dave suffered an 'incident' while diving a wreck off of the English south coast and ended up spending 11 hours in a recompression chamber. Steve was his 'buddy' on that day and joined him on the helicopter ride that took Dave to shore. Our first dive in Carriacou was also to be the first time that Dave & Steve had been in the water together since that memorable day 20 years before. Fortunately everything went really well and it was great to be back 'enjoying a bubble' with buddies we felt so familiar and comfortable with.

Our first dive took us just off of Mabouya Island. Two tugs have been deliberately sunk here by Max to create an easy dive. The tugs are already attracting a good deal of life and we spent almost an hour investigating all the nooks and crannies for fish, small invertebrates, moray eels and lobster. Didn't find any lobster though!

Our second dive took us out to The Sisters, a group of rocks rising out of the ocean situated just off of Tyrrel Bay. The dive here was wonderful and we saw scores of fish, moray eels, lobster and turtles along with soft corals and sponges. Towards the end of the dive we got caught by the current and had to swim hard to get back to the dive boat. By the time we were getting ready to make our ascent, I found that I had used much more air than normal. As a result the aluminium tank I was using had become very light and was starting to become buoyant. I dumped all the air out of my jacket and was maintaining my depth, but was still lighter than I felt comfortable with. I gestured to Dave so that he could understand my problem and could keep an eye on me as we were coming to the surface. The last thing I wanted was to reach the surface before I was ready! Dave, however, misunderstood the gravity of my situation and proceeded to hold me down. Unfortunately his enthusiastic efforts on my behalf had me scrunched against the rocks with my face in the coral. Not exactly what I had in mind! Fortunately after much gesticulation on my part he got the message and after he picked up a suitably sized rock and stuck it in my jacket pocket I was able to swim freely again. We surfaced without further excitement, got back in the dive-boat and headed back to shore.

We had been keeping an eye on the weather for a day or so as some heavy winds and nasty squalls were forecast to be headed in our direction. As we were heading back in to Hillsborough the wind was starting to pick up. As usual, we all went back with Max to the dive shop for a shower and to change. We had noticed as we passed Magic in the harbour that another boat had anchored very close to her, but as we intended to move once we had cleaned up we were not too worried. It was a mistake. As we were preparing to go back to the boat the wind made a dramatic change of direction and started to howl. In a matter of moments we watched as Magic swung around on her anchor in response to the wind change, and the boat that had been close before was now lying against her. Dave & I ran for the dinghy and sped out to our boat. The couple on the other vessel were trying to fend off our much larger and much heavier boat, but they hadn't even started their engine! We climbed on board and managed to push them off while Dave yelled at them to get their engine fired up. After much scrabbling we had sea-room again and quickly checked for damage before we hauled up our anchor and prepared to move. The forecast bad weather was upon us. The wind was blowing over 30kts directly from the west which meant that it was howling straight into the harbour. We appeared to have suffered no damage and powered out into the harbour. Our intention was to move to Tyrrel Bay which, theoretically, should be more protected.

It took us an hour to motor around the headland. When we got to Tyrrel Bay we were quite shocked by the conditions. Boats were pitching wildly on their anchors and moorings. The sea was running 2 - 3 ft, and that was in the 'sheltered' part of the bay! There was no way that we could anchor safely amongst the other boats. Our only option was to 'drop the hook' on the other side of the bay outside of the mangroves. We found a spot and dropped the anchor in 50ft of water! It was the first time we had ever used all of our anchor chain. We were also pitching in the rough seas but there was no-one around us so for the moment at least, we felt safe. As we were sitting on deck wondering what we should do we watched a couple of boats manoeuvre their way through the narrow entrance into the mangroves. Dave jumped up. "We're going in there!" he declared. He jumped in the dinghy, and taking our hand-held depth-sounder sped off in the direction we had seen the other boats go. Within minutes he was back. "There's 12ft in the channel there and then 15ft once you get inside the mangrove. The entrance is narrow, but we can do it". OK, if he says so!

We hauled anchor again and positioned ourselves in front of the passage into the mangroves. Very gingerly we felt our way in. There is no chart for this and either side of Magic we could clearly see the sand bottom inches below the surface. For a few minutes we held our breath, but then we were in! And it was as if someone had flicked a switch. Outside the wind was howling, the seas were rolling into the bay and boats were pitching and rocking violently. Inside there was a brisk breeze, but other than that all was dead calm. And the breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay! We dropped our anchor and backed up against the mangroves where we tied off Magic's stern. It was time for a well-earned drink.

We spent three days in the mangroves while the weather howled around us. During that time we did discover some damage that had been caused by the boat in Hillsborough. A stanchion had been bent, we believe by the other vessel's anchor as she collided with Magic. Dave made temporary repairs but the stanchion will need to be fixed properly once we find a good 'stainless guy'. Steve & Sue came and spent more time aboard with us, and on their final night in Carriacou we had a wonderful dinner with them at their hotel. The weather was still awful and frequently the heavens would open and the rain would just pour. The restaurant was on an open veranda so when we had yet another downpour just before dinner we all retreated to the kitchen and kept chef Lesley company while we enjoyed our drinks.

We reluctantly said 'au revoir' to Steve & Sue on Friday, September 19th. The weather was finally due to settle down over the weekend and we had to head back to Grenada. In a few weeks we were due to fly to the UK for Amy's wedding and we wanted to make sure that Magic was well settled in Clarkes Court Bay Marina before we had to leave. On Sunday the weather was good. We left the mangroves at 8.30am and again sailed down the windward side of Grenada to Clarkes Court Bay. We were anchored off the marina by 2.45pm. We had a lot to do. It was still officially hurricane season and Magic had to be prepared so that we could leave her. We had a quick dinner and an early night ready for the work ahead.

Windward Islands

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We finally managed to make our long awaited trip to the Asa Wright Nature Center (AWNC) on August 27th, a few days after we retuned from Annapolis. We had originally intended to visit before we left for the US but the need to get Magic ready for her haul-out coupled with bad weather forced us to postpone the trip. The good news about the postponement was that our friends on 'Keesje II', Peter and Wendy as well as our friends on 'Discovery', Carl and Marilyn would also be joining us. We had decided on the overnight trip as other friends who had been day visitors had told us that they would have preferred to be able to spend more time at the center. We were also looking forward to a night off the boat. Since returning to Trinidad we had been living 'on the hard'. In other words, Magic was still out of the water and although we had hired an a/c unit from the yard it was still stifling hot below. In addition, we were making at least a dozen or more trips up and down the ladder a day, moving stuff back on the boat and running to the local chandlery whenever we needed a part. A night in the cool at 1,200ft in the rainforest would be a welcome change.

The Asa Wright Center comprises almost 1,500 acres in the Arima and Aripo valleys. It was originally a coffee, cocoa and citrus plantation but in 1967 was transformed into a 'non-profit' Trust by a group of conservationists trying to protect the Arima Valley and its wildlife. The center is now world renowned as a destination for students of tropical ecology and is of specific interest to birdwatchers. It is also apparently included in the book '1,000 Places To See Before You Die', although we've not verified that ourselves.

Our tour organizer was again the famous Jesse James. We've mentioned Jesse before. He runs a taxi and tour service based in Chaguaramas which caters to the yachting community staying there for the hurricane season. Jesse runs trips to the local supermarkets and malls, the fresh vegetable and fish markets and movie night as well as a variety of hikes and sight-seeing trips. He is a very helpful and efficient resource for the cruising community as well as being a genuinely nice guy. We relied on Jesse a good deal.

We clambered on to the bus a little after 9.30am. We had a long run to the Asa Wright Centre, one road in, one road out and the condition of that road was a worry due to the heavy storms and rainfall we had experienced the weekend before our trip. But Jesse's first concern was our stomachs and an hour or so into the ride we had to stop for 'doubles'. Most of the really good 'street food' in Trinidad is of Indian origin and 'doubles' are no different. The ones we had had from the van that parks just outside the Power Boats gate every morning were pretty good to us but no, Jesse assured us, the ones we were about to experience were far better than anything we could find in Chaguaramas. Who were we to argue with an expert? With mouths watering in anticipation we anxiously awaited sight of the Taj Mahal of doubles shacks. So when Jesse pulled on to a block of concrete outside an industrial estate where two mobile 'hot dog' type vans were parked, we were a little dubious. OK, one had a brightly colored blue and white canvas top, but even so. But again we were proved wrong. The doubles were wonderful (ignore the potential cholesterol issues here). Deep fried dough flavored with saffron which puffed up beautifully filled with a spicy chick-pea mixture. And at TT$4 per item (about 66 US cents or 36p in sterling) we could have more than one! Did we want to sample the other snacks they sell? Silly question, Jesse. We certainly did. So we tucked into Saheena (deep fried callaloo) and a ball made of mashed peas that I've forgotten the name of as well as more doubles. All good vegetarian stuff washed down with mineral water. Duly fed and watered, we got back on the bus to continue our journey.

The road to AWNC had been damaged by the storms but was still passable so we made good time, arriving at the center just after noon. We were allocated rooms, dumped our gear and then went immediately back to the veranda to take a look at the bird-watching area the center is famous for. Every morning at 6.30am the staff set up tables immediately below the veranda where they place fruit and other 'goodies' to attract the birds for observation. Trinidad until relatively recently (in geological terms, that is) was part of South America and broke off from that continent less than 10,000 years ago. As a result, some of the spectacularly colorful birds native to South America are also found here. Now neither Dave nor I can call ourselves avid bird watchers, but we were fascinated by the comings and goings from the table and happily sat and watched. A group of day visitors were about to be taken on an orientation hike, but we decided that we would prefer to be in a smaller group and would therefore take our first hike the following morning. Fortunately for us, one of the staff guides who was actually off-duty happened to overhear our discussion and offered to take us himself. We happily accepted.

The center insists on all visitors taking an orientation hike with a guide before venturing out on the trails unaccompanied. There are a couple of good reasons for this. One is that it gives visitors the chance to learn about the history of the center, and be introduced to some of the more common birds and plants, but the second is snakes. As well as enjoying some of South America's most beautiful birds, Trinidad is also home to four species of venomous snakes one of which, the fer-de-lance, is responsible for more deaths in Central and South America than any other snake. Now for those of you who don't know, our Dave has a slight aversion to snakes and as our guide was happily narrating his tale of the fer-de-lance seen stalking juvenile agoutis across the car park the previous week, Dave, even with his tan, was turning paler and paler. Fortunately he agreed to join us on the hike, with the proviso that he would be second in the line. Why? Well because, as we were reliably informed by a self-appointed snake expert, if there is a snake hidden on the trail the first person wakes it up, the second person causes it to position itself to strike and the actual strike hits the third of fourth person in line. As our guide would be up front, Dave would be second and I would be, well, third. Get the anti-venom lined up please!

As luck would have it, we didn't meet a single snake on our hike. But we did see many birds, wondrous plants and an incredible colony of leaf-cutter ants that was over 15 years old. Over that time, the ants have worn a path to and from the colony that ran for over 200ft before it disappeared into the undergrowth, and was more than 2ft wide. We watched as ant after ant approached the colony bearing a portion of leaf several times their size. Soldier ants guarding the entrances would 'QC' each leaf and turn away any they found to be sub-standard! Even ants are fascinating, who would believe it!

After our hike we returned to the veranda for afternoon tea (very colonial) and then it was back to our room for a shower and to change for dinner. Coming out of the bathroom I found Dave kneeling on the floor gingerly lifting the edge of the cover on his bed. I had a strong suspicion that I knew the answer, but I had to ask the question anyway - "What are you doing?" "Looking for snakes!" "And what are you going to do if you find one?" "Run like hell!" Well, at least I know where I stood where snakes were concerned. Very much second.

A complimentary glass of rum punch was served at 6pm. Well, OK it was a glass of 'punch' with not a lot of rum until, that is, Dave brought out the bottle of rum we happened to have in our room and remedied the situation. We then watched a video on the wildlife of Trinidad before dinner. After dinner we took our guide's offer of a night hike to try to see some of the nocturnal animals of the rainforest. Again, luck was with us, no snakes. But we did see tarantulas, preying mantis, stick insects, various lizards and tree frogs. The noise of the rainforest is actually quite deafening at night, and by far and away the creature responsible for the highest decibel levels is the tree frog. About the size of your thumb nail, this little creature has a size to noise ratio that must be stunning. We found several before heading back to the center for a nightcap, and bed.

For some reason Dave didn't sleep very well. I had noticed a small tear in the insect screen covering the bathroom window and so had made sure that the bathroom door was very firmly shut. No unexpected visitors in the night for me. I slept well, but we were both wide awake and on the veranda by 6.30am the following morning to watch the sunrise special. The coffee was hot and plentiful and the staff had already been out loading up the tables and bird feeders. The number of birds coming to the table was incredible. All shapes, sizes and colors. I couldn't possibly mention all of the species, but a number of them are shown on the AWNC website (a link is below) so take a look if you're curious. We watched for over an hour and then headed for the breakfast table.

Another hike was scheduled for after breakfast and this one took us past the trail that leads to Dunstan Cave, the home of the centers' colony of Oilbirds. This colony was all but wiped out earlier in the century. The juvenile birds are very rich in oils (they weigh up to 50% more than the adult birds) and were killed by the local Indians for lamp and cooking fuel. After the area became a conservation centre the birds recovered and there are now estimated to be over 130 in the colony. All during the hike we were able to hear the call of the Bearded White Manakin. Finally towards the end of the hike we actually saw the bird. It is famous for its spectacular mating display, but our bird was content to sit in its tree, singing its heart out.

We made it back to the center for lunch, and then it was time to leave. Jesse was as prompt as usual and we loaded ourselves into the bus. We were in for another stroke of luck however. Would we like to go home via another route and see some more of the northern side of the island. We could also stop and one of the best 'shark 'n' bake' huts in the north of Trinidad - Jesse was concerned about our stomachs again. Yep, that seemed like a great idea and off we went.

The drive was beautiful and we saw more of the northern rainforest. And finally we stopped at Maracas Bay, a popular spot with locals, got out of the bus and were directed to Richard's Shark 'n' Bake Shack. Now we've been offered shark many times before but have always responded with the same answer - "No, thank you. We are divers and we have an agreement with the sharks. We don't eat them and they don't eat us." So I was surprised when Dave handed over his money and took possession of a bun filled with fried and battered shark meat. He then went over to the condiment bar and piled in onions, avocado, tomatoes and various relishes. I looked at him curiously. "Yes, I know" he said guiltily, "But it looked so good". And apparently it was. But we haven't eaten shark since.

We were back at Chaguaramas by 4pm and back to living 'on the hard', at least for a few days more. But our trip to Asa Wright was wonderful and if we get the chance to do back there again one day, well I won't complain.
Link to Asa Wright

Trinidad

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