28/Jul/2006, Chaguaramas Bay, Trinidad
Slight mayhem in the boatyard yesterday - a wee storm came through Chaguarmas. Unfortunately, one of the boats couldn't quite handle the strain of the yacht supports and oh dear, the domino effect came into play and 3 yachts fell over. This is a picture of one of the yachts - the insurance company may have a field day with this one. Of the other two yachts - one broke its mast and the other, just having been brought ashore 4 hours earlier, ended up lying on its side. Are there some yacht surveyors out there who can hazard a guess at this - the whole boatyard is gossiping! Rumour has it this boat had a soft hull - you know that way glass fibre goes when it's been wet for a long time.
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One of the highlights of being in Trinidad is being able to visit Matura Beach on the east coast of Trinidad to see the Giant Leatherback Turtles laying their eggs in the sand. A two and a half hour journey from the delights of the boatyard in Chaguaramas took us to Matura Beach, courtesy of Jesse James Maxi Taxi Service. It's a long ride, most of it in the dark as we don't leave the boatyard until 5.00 pm. There are 5 other couples on the bus with us. However, Jesse entertains us with a constant supply of information and stories to keep us amused. He says there's only a 50/50 chance of seeing turtles. We arrived near the beach, where's there's a few tables and a washroom for our convenience. Jessie provides us with a typical Trini dinner of chicken, rice and vegetables and a soft drink. Before we've even had a chance of finishing eating we're told there's a turtle on the beach. Food forgotten, off we go. Our guide says the turtle is about to lay her eggs several miles along the beach. We duly tramped along the beach, the pounding waves to our left and the dense, dark jungle to our right. The clouds were covering the sky and the weather looked ominous. We could barely see where we were going. However, we could see a small, dim red and white light shining in the distance - a guide was telling us to follow the light. We eventually reached the turtle and the guide. The guide gave us a narrative on the life cycle of the Leatherback Turtle while Mum was laying her eggs. Up until the point the turtle starts laying her eggs, she is very sensitive to disturbance, but during the egg laying process she goes into a trance and we were allowed to touch her and take photographs. The whole process takes some considerable time, but just as she was covering her nest of eggs the rain started and we all decided to head back to the bus. Of course, we got soaked to the skin on the way back to the bus, but nobody really cared! We passed another six turtles as we walked in the rain, either lumbering out of the sea or preparing their nests to lay their eggs. We were within two hundred yards of the bus when we saw our last turtle coming up the beach - had we known that number six was coming ashore we wouldn't have had the long hike along the beach, but hey, we would have missed the other five! Thanks Jessie for a wonderful evening.
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We've really made the "big time" - here's a clip from the July issue of the BOCA. They didn't quite get all the facts right, but altogether we're rather pleased with it. link to the BOCA
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Our friends Denise and Paul from "Vixen" finally made it to Trinidad. We last saw them in Vero Beach, Florida at Christmas time. They motored into Chaguaramas Bay and we waved like mad things to them as they passed on their way to Customs and Immigration. We got together with Paul and Denise last night at Joe's Pizza in Coral Cove Marina. We're really looking forward to having some fun with them both. They brought along Kent and Faye from "Southern Mist 11" - they had sailed down as buddy boats from Grenada and altogether we had a great night.
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What a surprise to find that we had won the June BOCA prize! BOCA is the free publication printed in Trinidad for the yachties every month. Our prize was lunch for two in the Cafe Feel Oh and Jack Dausend from the BOCA office and the restaurant manageress Arlene made sure we enjoyed ourselves. Thanks very much guys for a great lunch.
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"Freya" sitting in the boatyard - all she needs is a white picket fence to make her look like "a cottage by the sea".
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Today Trinidad & Tobago were playing England in the World Cup. The restaurant in Powerboats, "Sails" had organised a huge TV screen in their pub, so Alan and I went down to watch the game. Everybody was dressed in red and Trini flags were everywhere. The atmosphere was brilliant and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves getting totally immersed in the game and the antics of all the Trinis in the pub. Whole families were out to enjoy themselves. There was total silence when England scored their first goal, and then again at the second goal, but there was general euphoria when Trini scored a goal, only to have it declared "offside". However, it's now 4 hours later and the Trinis are still in the pub "celebrating" their defeat.
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The problem with living on the hard is that you end up in a guddle - there's never enough room. Alan thought it would be a good idea to clean out the chain locker - which means emptying the whole of the Focs'le into the main cabin and then emptying all the chain over the side. We did have a tidy boat .....
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07/Jun/2006, POWERBOATS, CHAGUARAMAS
IT'S HOT! We've been hauled, and we're now sitting on the hard in Powerboats in Chaguaramas, Trinidad. We've spent the last week putting the boat to bed and generally getting organised to spend the next 4 months or so in Trinidad.
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We arrived back in Trinidad this morning after having sailed from St George's in Grenada overnight. Unfortunately, we arrived on a public holiday which, apart from being a nuisance, cost us extra for overtime rates for the Customs and Immigration people! We picked up a mooring in the Bay and hope to get hauled tomorrow in Powerboats. It's hot and it's very sticky. The only good thing about staying on a mooring buoy in the Bay is that it's cooler than on the hard - but we're very hot already! We had forgotten just how hot it gets here.
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Anne and Alan went for a walk, and ended up in the Yacht Club - you get a nice view over the anchorage, and the beer is good too!
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Alan in a BT phone box, trying to be ET, but like home, they don't work!!
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We anchored in St George's Lagoon, Grenada yesterday. Good old Island Water World are providing us with a free wi-fi connection straight to the boat - yippee!! We had drinks in the yacht club tonight, and we'll do a bit of exploring tomorrow.
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Some of the island transport in Carriacou, Grenada - they keep the Ferrari's hidden so the tourists don't see them!
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We spent four nights in Carriacou - a wee island about 14 miles north of Grenada, and belonging to Grenada. We checked in with Customs and Immigration in Hillingsborough and then moved round to Tyrrell Bay the following day. We liked Tyrrell Bay - there's lots of yachts here, but it's very quiet.
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