11/18/2009, Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Ahhhhh, back in Chaguaramas again. We left Nashville at 2pm CST and arrived (via Miami) in Port of Spain, Trinidad at about 11:30 AST (Atlantic Standard Time, EST-2 hours). Not bad, but the two hours spent in T&T customs and immigration was a bit much. We arrived at Peake Yacht Services and our BED at 2am Thursday. Unchained looks good. Those cheap blue tarps you buy that usually last at least one year, are TOAST after four and a half months in Trinidad. Closer inspection reveals the boat is damp inside. It looks like the dehumidifier fell during one of the two or three times they moved the boat during the last four and a half months and was damaged so it still ran but did not dehumidify anything. This must have happened in the last six to eight weeks or there would have been serious mildew/mold issues. It has rained every day but the locals that do work have been by a lot. One offered to buff the topsides (between the waterline and the toerail) for $250.00 US. The days of Trinidad being a place to get good work done inexpensively are over. Needless to say Captain Scrooge declined the offer. Our neighbors in the yard are a nice young couple from Sweden and we have seen several of our cruising friends from last season. As I write this part of this update we are living aboard. We moved out of the hotel this morning (Saturday) and had a rental air conditioner installed in the v-berth hatch ($35 US/week). We couldn't live aboard without it and it will help dehumidify the boat some. We have the interior cleared of the stuff we stored inside (Yamaha outboard, sails, etc.) and the main is back on the boom battens in, reef lines attached and under the sail cover. I can't put the jib on until we are back in the water because it has to be hoisted fully to install it and that is a no-no when you are on the hard. One good puff of wind and over you go. We did get an e-mail from the shop in Antigua that repaired (not very well) our transmission last April and we have received a full refund. That helps since bottom paint is $353.44 US per gallon and it takes three plus gallons for Unchained. We will wait till we are up the island chain before we get any canvas or wood work done. It still won't be cheap but it will be more reasonable. The Flamboyant tree behind Unchained is in bloom and it is beautiful. The Almond tree next to it is full of nuts also. You may recall Sue is allergic to almonds. We are scheduled to go back in the water on Monday the 16th at 1030 and will look for a weather window and partners to head to Grenada. There is a ship in the harbor at present that would make a good companion, if we could keep up. A US Navy ship (destroyer or frigate I thing) is tied alongside the pier across from Peake Yacht Services yard. Oh well, back to work. The sun, rain and inactivity for 4 ½ months create numerous small problems so along with the regular projects needed to set sail there are unexpected minor chores. I just found three circuit breakers that don't work anymore. I remember learning in history class that salt was used as money. I'd rather be poor. I used to think islanders had it good because they never had to worry about water pipes freezing but heat is just as bad. Today (Sunday) is our anniversary. Twelve years ago on our honeymoon we set a goal to learn sailing and go cruising in retirement. We're here! One negative this year is the crime rate in Trinidad is up. Seven dinghys w/motors have been stolen in the last week. All of them were in the water locked to their big boats. Ours is still aboard and like the motor, locked down. When we put in next Monday we will bring them both aboard each night and lock them up. It's a shame and inconvenient to have to re-launch and remount the motor each day but there is no other choice. Sanding is done, painting starts tomorrow (Thursday), other minor chores are going well. The picture is self-explanatory !!!!!!!!!
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11/01/2009, FWB, FL
This is the first blog of the 2009-2010 season and I'm writing it as we visit in Florida before driving to Nashville to fly back to the boat. This is the season we head back to the U.S. after we pick the boat up in Trinidad. We fly down on November 4th and we are looking forward to returning to the boat. We loved seeing all our family and friends these four months but it has been hectic. We landed in Nashville on June 18 spent two days with our daughter, drove to Knoxville to pick up some clothes and then drove to Colorado Springs (two day drive) for our niece's wedding (it was beautiful!). After four days there we drove (two days again) to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida to spend the 4th of July week with another daughter then to Shelbyville, TN to visit another daughter and celebrate (a little early) Sue's birthday. Three or four days there then on to Louisville, KY to visit a son where I ended up in the hospital for about nine days (no, not exhaustion). It turns out I suffered a tick bite, probably in FL. Then we drove back to Shelbyville to spend more time with our daughter before driving to Knoxville for two days to load the van for our trip to our cottage in Canada. Finally a rest for two weeks and we would need it. From Canada we drove back to Louisville for a few days then on to Nashville to baby-sit our two year old grand daughter and her seven month old brother for ten days. Back to Shelbyville for a week then Louisville for another week then back to Knoxville (house chores and Dr. appts.) before driving to FWB, FL for another visit and its only September twenty seventh. This will be our last year outside the U.S. and it may be because we don't know if we can survive another summer of "driving and visiting" It is now November 1 and we are packed and ready to head to Nashville tomorrow. We have three Army surplus duffel bags that all weigh within a half a pound of the fifty pound limit. I load them up, hang them on a scale and them add or remove items to get within that half pound target. We pack some clothes, some foods we can't find in the islands (sugar free and caffeine free mostly), items we can't carry on (pocket knife, lotions & shampoos etc), SCUBA equip we brought home for service, and LOTS of paper back books. LOTS! There are many "book swap" locations for cruisers in the islands but they are usually the same books we have already read. So it's lots of NEW books. We are also taking a half duffel of children's clothes for one of the churches to distribute. We also have two carry-ons each. Mine (a little over forty pounds) has all the valuables (cameras, computers, satellite phone, etc.) We also carry all our medications. Do you know how hard it is to talk your prescription drug provider out of six months of Rx, forget about seven and a half or eight months worth. We have completed all the medical tests we get each year and are officially healthy enough to return to our low stress, high fiber, healthy life style. We are looking forward to meeting with some family and friends on the way home this season, mostly in the Bahamas. We would appreciate everyone's good wishes and prayers as we sail home this year. Please also include a prayer for our oldest grandson, Michael, who will be going to Afghanistan this spring. I am sending this first update from Florida (where the picture was taken) and will start updates from Trinidad within a week of our arrival.
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06/17/2009, Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Last blog for 08-09 cruising season. When last we talked I had just climbed the mast to free up the jib halyard. Somehow the knot tying the halyard to the snap shackle on the head of the jib had jammed against the sheave for the spare halyard. It was easy to fix (Hooray!) and the view fifty feet up at five thirty in the morning was great. We have divided up the boat chores into three groups. One group is chores that can be done now like dropping the sails, washing salt off the boat, stowing gear, etc. The second group is things that will have to be done the last day we are in the water like flushing the engine and the outboard with freshwater, deflating the dinghy, removing the dodger and empting the refrigerator/freezer, etc. The last group is things that we will do after we are on the hard like storing things inside the boat, covering the boat with tarps, disconnecting the batteries, wiping down all surfaces with vinegar to stop mold/mildew, etc. Sue says "protecting her huge collection of sea shells and coral for future hobby projects." is very important. Closing up Unchained is not that hard, it's just time consuming. Hopefully we will have some time in between chores to enjoy Trinidad some. We will have sundowners with fellow cruisers and swap stories and we plan to take an evening tour to watch the Leatherback turtles lay eggs on one of the northern beaches. We're talking about hundreds of turtles every night that weigh around 800 pounds. They say that the turtles are in a kind of trance when they are laying eggs. The Trinidad government and several private groups do a good job of protecting this activity. For the last seven months we have been anchored in bays that are pretty much "cruiser" spots. Now we are back in a bay that is heavily commercial. (Sue says..."lots of waves, smelly omissions, water too dirty to snorkel in, too many people to enjoy nature and more waves") We watched one of the guys at Peake Yacht Services (where we haul out) washing down the ramp where the travel-lift hauls boats out. They scrape the hulls and then pressure wash them. He was using the pressure washer to hose off the ramp and along with the old barnacles and soft algae he was washing lots of bright blue bottom paint into the bay. No EPA here! It would be interesting to bring home a water sample and see how bad it is. (6-17) We did go to watch the turtles lay eggs last night with ten other folks. Our taxi/tour guide was Jessie James. He is a local favorite among cruisers. He is also the guy who will take us to and pick us up from the airport. The picture with this update is of one of the turtles we saw last night. You must not use bright lights because it confuses them but red light is acceptable. When they stop digging and start laying and they are in the trance state you can take flash pictures and actually touch them. After that time, it's back to no lights again. We got back to the hotel about 0030 and went straight to bed. We have shared drinks with six or eight other boats we have cruised with. Unchained is 99.9% ready for storage and we are getting back into "civilized" mode. Tomorrow at 1445 we will leave Trinidad for Nashville. It's been an interesting year, much different than last year, with lots of new experiences. If you are considering spending some time cruising I would recommend you do it sooner than later. Things are changing. It will always be a unique experience but the Caribbean is becoming more like Florida and less like it was even ten years ago. So say older cruisers we have met. Next year will be the return North and then West to the U.S. where we hope to keep Unchained for a while (although she may be offered for sale while we use her) and sail U.S. and Bahamian waters. Have a great summer, see you in November. Bill & Sue
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