Spring this year, April to July, found us working pretty hard. Summer found us spending our hard earned gains treating Larus and ourselves to some TLC. While Tim and I visited friends and family in Canada and the UK, we left Larus on the hard in Coral Cove Marina, Chaguaramas, Trinidad in the care of Nigel who was re-'Awl Gripping' our topsides and preparing the hull for more layers of our CopperCoat anti-foul.
Going elsewhere while your boat is out of the water is quite a good idea. Not only do you track dirt on-board every time you climb the ladder to your boat, but ants can climb too and birds are much more likely to hang out in your rigging and poop on your deck. It's hotter than on the water as well, and there are many more mosquitos to guard against.
The summer is also the wet season and which traps you on-board a in hot closed up boat and doesn't let you get on with work outside. All in all, it's best to be somewhere else.
Once we returned at the beginning of October, we found a very shiny hull in a lovely off white colour called Oyster. We then started finishing up all the bits and pieces that needed doing before she went back in the water.
Like our new lettering on the stern.
Tim also replaced all our deck vents. The old ones just didn't keep the salt water out when the sailing was a bit lively and we're very hopeful that these will do a better job.
Slowly but surely we're washing down the interior of the boat. A little bit of salt water goes a long way, and any salt left on the surfaces, curtains and upholstery with absorb moisture from the air. Salt is also very hard on varnish and fabrics.
You wouldn't think it would occur to ants to climb all the way up there, but we found them climbing the ladder on the first day. We think we're free of them now but are keeping vigilant.
We were very pleased when she was finally lowered back into the water.
While we were out of the water, I tried to keep cooking to a minimum because it was so hot. So it was particularly irritating, to go to the trouble of cooking 3 days worth of Coconut chicken curry with peas, put it outside to cool and forget about it till early the next morning. After much anguish, we decided that it was no longer fit for human consumption. It was however fit for the Coral Cove Kitties. Particularly after I whizzed it to puree and there were no peas for them to eat around.
We didn't stay long in Chaguaramas once back in the water and after a couple of days we headed to Tobago. Tobago is a little tricky to sail to; you generally have wind and current against you. We followed the recommended tactic of hugging the coast of Trinidad to keep out of the worst of the current till the north east of the island before for heading north to Tobago.
The area around Tobago is teeming with fish and we weren't surprised to have dolphins come to visit.
We often see them throughout the Caribbean, but we never get tired of seeing them.
We anchored in Store Bay, on the West coast of Tobago. Unlike Chaguaramas, the water is clean and fresh, and we were once again struck by just how shiny Larus now is. :D This is neither the first nor last time we will marvel over how darn good she looks with her new coat.
We also saw something quite unexpected.
Really, it was straight out of James Bond and we're still not completely sure how it worked but it was very impressive to see.
We haven't seen a lot of Tobago except Store Bay and Pidgeon Point on the West Coast of the island and decided to work our way up the north coast to Charlotteville on the most north easterly point.
Castara Bay was our first stop.
It had pretty cottages and hotels and a really wonderful beach.
Next we moved on to Englishman's Bay. This was a beautiful beach as well, but all the beaches on the north coast were hard to access because of the swell which made great crashing waves on the beach.
We did brave the swelling to visit this beach restaurant for lunch. It was Diwali and the sarongs for sale on the beach, reminded me very much of the bamboo poles and coloured flags, part of Hindu worship, that we saw all around Trinidad.
We don't often see cows coming down to the water to dabble their hooves in the sea.
We are now anchored off Charlotteville.
The North East of the Tobago has a very different feel to the South West. The South West is quite flat and built up compared to the mountainous jungle landscape of Charlotteville.
We have only had one day here, but there are a number of things that describe this part of Tobago to me.
The chickens you see everywhere.
We haven't seen it but, we have been told that you can find 'Common Fowl' on the menu.
The very unique signage.
A notice at the edge of the local sports field.
A notice IN the edge of the local sports field.
And the fishing boats, with their wonderful names and the decoration.
Pumkin
Unchain Spirit
Happy Boy
Beenie Boy
Simeon
Always Positive.
Fishing is a big part of this town's economy. When the days catch was brought in and ready to be sold, a conch shell was blown to alert the buyers.
It's a wonderful town and we will be sure to come back and spend more time. We'd stay longer now but need to be up in Guadeloupe for the 1st of November. From this corner of Tobago, we have a really good angle for sailing a north westerly course to Guadeloupe. We're aiming to do it in one hit, over 3 days and two nights. It should be a nice sail with light winds from the South East.
We have one confirmed charter in Guadeloupe, and a few others in the offing and expect to be there for a while.