10-13 One year ago today we threw off the docklines. It has been a long fun journey from Florida to Trinidad! We have a date on Tuesday to have the boat hauled and the bottom painted. As soon as we splash again we will start our journey back north as far as the Virgin Islands.

10-18 Like most cruiser hang outs there are Pot Luck dinners and Mexican Train Domino games weekly. Vans run regular schedules from the boat yards and marinas to the markets, grocery stores and large modern shopping mall. Today we took the bus to town and purchased upholstery material for the interior cushions. Port of Spain has a fabric district with huge stores filled to overflowing with every imaginable type of fabric. We purchased a micro fiber type fabric (after testing a swatch with red wine) at a reduced price of 45TT. One US dollar is equal to 6TT so we paid about $8 per yard. Trinidad and Tobago is one country and cruisers are a large part of their industry. While there is much crime and theft here it is easy to understand. Minimum wage is 12TT and a loaf of sliced bread is 10TT!

10-19 Sailacious was hauled out of the water and set up on jack stands for the work to begin. We thought we were simply going to have a light sand and two new coats of anti-fouling applied. A few blisters at the waterline and more investigation revealed the need to strip the boat down to the gel coat. The inexpensive bottom job just got expensive. Ah, BOAT (Break Out Another Thousand)!

10-23 Today is day 5 on the hard and have finally reached the point where everything has gone to hell. We are being held hostage by incompetent contractor/workers. They lend new meaning to the term Island Time. I cannot even begin to tell you how frustrating this experience is. A while ago I was asked what was the biggest lesson I had learned so far, it is that workers are never punctual and will tell you what they think you want to hear. Here we sit at 10:00 still waiting for the crew that was guaranteed to be here and working at 8:00. We need to sand today and complete the sanding today that could not be done the last 2 days because of other boats painting and varnishing. We have just added up how many hours were actually spent working on the boat in the since we were hauled: 22 man hours! Oh, and that is men here at the boat, not necessarily working. One day we had a guy applying stripper, then he would sit for 10 min while another guy scrapped the stripper off - repeat as necessary. Steve an I can get more work done before 9 then they get done the rest of the day. Seriously! But that is not all - to top it off we have a colony of the smallest biting insects you have ever seen living in our V-berth. ARGH

Today I am going to start sanding and redoing the galley counter tops. When I did them after we bought the boat I did not seal the wood properly and we have some discoloration. Oh, more fun.

10-25 Monday morning and the bottom is scraped and sanded, today's schedule is to repair a few blisters and get ready to start applying bottom coats tomorrow. The galley sanding is really making a mess and when I cook meals I just figure that the saw dust is needed fiber.

10-27 I have the second coat on my counter tops and the dust under control, 4 more coats of gloss to go. I have a feeling this will temp me to refinish more but I hope to avoid any such temptation!
The crew has 3 coats of barrier coat and 2 coats of anti fouling on the bottom. We decided on Ameron, a paint made here on the island of Trinidad and a divition of PPG. The boot stripe ( at the waterline) was moved up 3 inches higher to aid in keeping the hull clean.
The last few days we have been cleaning and patching the hull above the water line (top sides) and this morning Steve and I put Poly Glow on and the boat is really shinning. After the hull is clean you just wipe on 3 to 5 coats of clear Poly Glow, no buffing or rubbing at all. I had used a similar product called New Glass II on my older Person on Lake Michigan and was happy with it. These products seal the surface and protect from stains while adding shine, much like a wax woud do if our paint was newer.

We are scheduled to splash on Friday and plan to head to see a bit more of Trinidad before heading back north. We hope to sail to Chacachacare, an island about 6 miles west of here. Until about 35 years ago this island was a leper colony. When a cure was found the island was abandoned but the lighthouse is still manned. This is a beautiful area with lovely beaches and great exploring.

10-28 Today we took a bus to the Angostura Distillery, the second largest distillery in the Caribbean. Angostura Bitters has been made the same way since 1824 and an important ingredient in the Old Fashioned, a favorite cocktail in the mid west. Every time I go back to my home town I have to have an old fashioned or two with my friend Tammy. I think of this cocktail and an alchoholic version of comfort food. Of course, Rum is distilled at Angostura as well and sold under several different labels.
We also wanted to see a Pan Factory as this is where the Steel Drums were invented, a by product of the oil industry. Discarded oil drums were originally used but the drums have beed refined to a precision instrument. Speaking of oild industry here, today we purchased diesel fuel for $1.50TT per litre or about $1.50/gal US . This is by far the lowest price we have paid to date. All the work that was planned for Sailacious is complete and she is really looking good!

10-29 More Frustration! While we were scheduled to splash today Tropical Storm Thomas has changed our plans. Trinidad is in the path of this large disturbance and the entire island is on alert, School was even let out early today because of anticipated flooding.
While we are in the yard a few more days we will come up with a few more projects to do ourselves. Maybe polish the stainless, another never ending job, or put another coat of Penofin on the exterior teak. All this subject to the weather and TS Thomas.

11-2 We are back in the water! 2 weeks of living in a dirt boat yard is enough for me. Yesterday we went to the supermarket and loaded up with groceries, early tomorrow we will clear customs and go to the duty free liquor store. We want to leave mid afternoon and will arrive back in Grenada in the morning