A mere 293 days since arriving in Trinidad and now has come the time to say our farewells. We've made many friends in our time here, some of whom we'll meet up with as we sail the Caribbean, others who make their living serving the cruising community who we feel privileged to call friends. Our thanks particularly go to Billy Wray (Surveyor and Friday Rum Buddy!) and to Dennis Moseley for all of their efforts with Oceans Dream.

We had an extremely successful test sail on Tuesday of this week and today (Thurs), we shall leave Trini to head for the island of Grenada - approx 90 miles and a 13 hour sail. We've chosen to do the majority of the passage overnight so as to approach Prickly Bay in daylight. First, we have to visit immigration here in Trini to 'clear out' of the country and upon safe arrival in Grenada, Prickly is just one of two ports where it's possible to 'clear in' to the country.

We'll update you as soon as possible upon arrival.
Best wishes,
Jackie & Adrian
PS - as we were reminded on the Cruisers Net (radio) this morning and in case you weren't aware . just 35 shopping days until Christmas! Happy Shopping!

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OK, so what's the latest with regards to Oceans Dream? Well, having hauled last Friday we soon discovered the reason why we were taking on water in the port side. The culprit? Well, it turns out the trailing edge of the keels on our Admiral 40 were joined together with filler ... no sign of any fibreglass! It was possible to poke a wire in the exposed gap between the two halves of the keel in a number of places - as can be seen in the photo.



Still, the guys here have done a stirling job in correcting this floor whilst Admiral Yachts are attempting to once again, wriggle out of ALL warranty issues with regards to Oceans Dream.

Wednesday is the scheduled relaunch and we hope on this occasion to spend somewhat longer in the water than just a couple of days. Here in Trinidad there's a lot of activity as people prepare to head North as the hurricane season draws to a close. We too have revamped our original plans in that we'll be sailing 'de islands of de Eastern Caribbean' for a little while longer before we head west.

As ever, thank you for your continued support - your emails and comments are always very much appreciated.
The Crew of Oceans Dream
PS ~ we've not forgotten, we'll be picking up on the remaining warranty issues we have encountered in future blogs but this latest episode has slightly side tracked us.

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What's the beeping noise - yes it was that all too familiar noise of the alarm alerting us to the fact that there was water in one of the bilges. We had heard this many times on our voyage up from Cape Town but did not want to hear it now. After much investigation we found where the water was coming from and it was not good news. It appeared that there was water getting into the keel and then up into the hulls. This meant that we would have to lift out of the water to further investigate.

There followed a few hours of total misery that this could happen to us so soon after launching and we recounted the events of 17 Dec as we set sail from Cape Town only to return a few hours later with a leaking fuel tank.

The guys at Peakes Yacht Services could not believe there eyes as we returned in the dinghy and asked if we could be lifted back out. This is a very busy time for the yard as boats are being prepared from storage to be put back in the water. The earliest that they could lift us was Friday and so we spent a few hours 'at sea' before finding ourselves back on the hard.


Oceans Dream being lifed for the second time!

It was not only frustrating but also anxious hours of wondering where the leak was and would we be able to easily identify it. Fortunately having been back on terra-firma for a few hours we have been able to identify where the water was entering the keel.

We will update you in our next blog on the extent of the leak. We have of course contacted Admiral but have heard nothing yet.

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Having been lifted from the water on 16 Feb 2009 after our trans Atlantic voyage from Cape Town to fix the long list of problems we had encountered, the day eventually arrived for Oceans Dream to be put back in the water where she truly belongs. The 28 October was scheduled for a pickup in the travelift at 1130 and a launch at 1300 giving us some time to put some antifoul paint on the small patches of the hull where she had been resting.

The day arrived and we felt confident that we had everything ready - all we needed now was some fine weather so that we could get the antifoul on and not be overly challenged leaving the slip which has seen many a scrape when the wind and tide pick up. For us the tide was slack but we could not predict the wind or the rain. Having been successfully placed in the slings of the travel lift we were moved to the slip and then the heavens opened. Like a monsoon it poured for 45 minutes accompanied by strong gusting winds which saw Oceans Dream rocking in the travel lift. This did not bode well.

The storm ended shortly before the travel lift operators came back from their lunch and we were blessed with a lull in the weather. We said our farewells to the many workers who had helped us get ready for this big day as Oceans Dream was gently lowered back into the water and before too long we were motoring out to pick up a buoy in the anchorage.



It was really great to be back on the water and once we had got ourselves securely moored we celebrated with a cup of tea around our new cockpit table as the conversation turned to our cruising plans to take us through the remainder of the year and on into 2010.

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