We left Grenada for Trinidad at 2:30 am with the goal of getting into Trinidad with lots of light. Our friends Chris & Shelia on Never Bored were leaving the same bay we were in at 4am. They have a 44' catamaran & are quite a bit faster than us so we thought our leaving should put us into Trinidad about the same time. It was a bit bumpy at first while we were close to Grenada but as the sun came up the seas dropped and the rest of the trip was relatively smooth & enjoyable. we did have a current running against us of 1-2 mph so we didn't make as good a time as we should have with the wind & seas we had. Still, we got into Chaguaramas, Trinidad less than an hour after Never Bored and cleared customs before 5pm (although they charge overtime after 4, so we paid about $45 extra).
Both boats then went around to another anchorage - off the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Ass'n (TTSA). That Saturday we took a bus into Port of Spain to the market. There are 2 types of busses on the island. The "Maxi-Taxis" are minivans like you see in Grenada, St Lucia & Dominica. They cost 5 TT$ (about $.90). These run on irregular schedules but usually you can get one in 5-10 min. Then there are big busses such as you would see in many US cities. These are air-conditioned and run on regular schedules (about once an hour) but only cost 2 $TT (about 30 cents).
Trinidad, like many of the islands, has many unique foods. For breakfast, there's a concoction called a "Double" - it's made of 2 small (6" diameter) tortilla-like patties with a chickpea mixture spooned onto them and then some different sauces. Ask for "peppas" if you want it spicy hot. It's easy to eat 2 or even 3 for breakfast and they cost less than 35 cents each. They are messy though!
Here's me eating a double at the market
Since Chris & Shelia (on Never Bored) had been here several times, they showed us around the area where we were staying (Chaguaramas)and took us down to Port of Spain shopping a couple times. Trinidad is one of the larger islands in the eastern Caribbean and with the income from oil and natural gas (gas being the primary source) it's also one of the wealthiest islands. With a total population of 1.3 million, Trinidad is also one of the more populous islands we've visited. Consequently, Port of Spain has more of a "big city" feel than we've gotten from most the other islands with the exception of Fort de France in Martinique. Of course, Port of Spain has its own distinct flavor. The streets are jammed with shops while street vendors set up at the curb-side selling all sorts of produce, clothes and other merchandise. It's definitely a lively city!
The top picture is of the market.
So we took a bus (Maxi-Taxi) into the Port of Spain market. While bigger than most, it's similar to many of the island markets we have been to except the variety of foods exceeded most places we have seen. After wandering around the market, we browsed through shops up and down the main section of the city. Something interesting, at least to me, is the plethora of KFC places all around the island. There are myriads of chicken places with KFC being in the forefront. And if you prefer Pepsi, it's one of the only places you can get it.
The KFC in Port of Spain does the highest volume of any KFC in the world. Here's maybe one reason why - there were several of these parked out in front.
This is the bus depot, which I thought was an interesting building
After being at anchor for five day we motored back to Chaguaramas harbor and got hauled out of the water by Power Boats Marine Facility. Chaguaramas has 10 boatyards and people who can do just about anything you want done on a boat! That was one of the big draws bringing us here as we had a long list of work projects to accomplish. The day after we were hauled out I had workmen lined up for most of the labor-intensive tasks and those I wasn't equipped to handle. We also rented a window air conditioner with a hood to duct the cold air into the cabin. It's noticeably hotter here and even at $6/day it's a relief to escape into a cool boat after working outside!
I did get the use of a crane (free) so went to the top of the mast to check everything out.
Among our work days, we rented a car with Chris & Shelia for a bit of island exploring. We drove up to the north coast and to a couple pristine beaches, sightseeing as we went.
Here's a view along the north coast (above) and Shelia & Margi in a bamboo forest (below)
Coming back we stopped at a huge mall & then realized that if we left we would be driving (crawling) in rush hour traffic for almost 20 miles. So we went to a movie - saw the new X-Men movie, which was excellent and it cost $3.50 each. The next day Chris & I went to get diesel fuel. We had to go to a service station to get the "local's price" ($1/gal). Since you're only allowed to buy 25 gallons at a time, we stopped at 2 stations to fill all of Chris' fuel jugs and then made another trip to fill his tank. Along the way we also went to the LP Gas facility and got our LPG tanks (for cooking) filled. We have 10 lb tanks, which cost almost $20 to fill elsewhere. Here it cost me $2.50!
At the end of our second day with the car we took Chris & Shelia to the airport as they were flying back to Canada for the summer (storing their boat on land for the duration). We're now finishing up our projects and hope to be back in the water next week. Our plans are to stay here for a while longer and do some more island tours before heading back to Grenada.