We left Grenada at 6pm the end of January for an overnight sail to Trinidad. This trip had taken us 14 hrs & 12 hrs previously but with adverse wind conditions, it took us 16 hours this time. After clearing Immigration & Customs, we were hauled out of the water at the Power Boats boatyard. This is a great yard with lots of wonderful people working for them. They are extremely customer-centric and refreshing to work with when so many we have come across have a "manyana" attitude. And we have a LOT of maintenance that needs to be done.

We are: having the (hull) bottoms sanded & painted, the reefing & (mainsail) outhaul lines replaced, a new cabinet (for dishes) custom built and a new (upright) refrigerator installed. The new fridge will take out the current cabinet where the dishes & glasses currently live. We're getting the anchor windlass cleaned & lubed, new batteries installed (& re-configuring them to be more efficient), fiberglass (on the hull) patched or repaired in a couple places, our sunshade patched, dinghy "chaps" made for our new dinghy (to protect from the sun & dog claws), scrapping & painting the saildrives, cleaning the props (& having one machined where it's slightly bent) and a host of small work items. Luckily, there are contractors in Power Boats or the surrounding boat yards who can take care of the bulk of this work. The rest is being done by Margi & myself, including lots of prep work to reduce the hour charges by those doing the heavy stuff.

But it's not all work & no play! We timed our trip to correspond with Carnival (Mardi Gras in New Orleans). We went to several of the pre-Carnival events - The Children's Parade, Old Town (classic Carnival) and the King & Queen of Carnival Finalists show. Then we left at 6am on Fat Tuesday for the big parade, which lasted from 9am until past 5pm. We left early to beat the traffic and get good seats in covered bleachers set up for viewing. These were full long before the parade ever started. As we were sitting next to lots of Trinis, they filled us in on backgrounds, talked about Trinidad and offered us drinks (coconut water & Scotch is delicious).

Pictures are in the Photo Gallery (a link on the right) and then in the Trinidad folder. Some of these are below with expanded explanations. The top photo is from the Kings & Queens Finals competition. One thing to note, all the pictures taken there were taken from quite a long ways away (so zoomed all the way in) in a dark setting and with the contestants dancing / moving for the judges. Hence, the quality in some leaves a bit to be desired.


In the streets of Port of Spain on Fat Tuesday

There were a lot of Native American Indian costumes & a few groups with all authentic Native American costumes. I asked some Trinis about this & was told they like to honor many different groups.


This one is one of the King of Carnival finalists


This ballerina was another King of Carnival finalist. He did a short rendition of Swan Lake that was fabulous. Then, to show he was still "Trini" he boogied to some socca (island music).


This was the winner of the King of Carnival contest - Psychedelic Nightmare. All the figures moved - bowing & then standing up, while the lighting (in the dark) was magnificent.


Here is the winner of the Queen of Carnival - in the Fat Tuesday parade.


As you can see, there were lots of fantastic costumes. They spend several months preparing them.


And, of course, lots of beautiful, scantily-clad girls.