Update from Trinidad

Created by doina. Last modified on 2006-05-09 10:06:50
Countries: Trinidad & Tobago

We have pretty much settled in to life in Trinidad; typically, as we spend more time here and develop a daily / weekly routine, it seems less and less like a foreign place and more like where we live now. We expect to be here until probably October - November. I am sitting in the cockpit at sunrise, typing out this email: the early morning air is cool (low 70's), the wind is slack and the cove we are anchored in is laying down flat (the evening land breeze usually cancels out the NE Trade Wind during the cool night hours), a formation of Trinidad & Tobago Army recruits just passed by on their morning jog up the road that meanders along the waterfront (brings back memories of Navy Boot Camp and Deep Sea Diving School), the delicate sound of a steel drum drifts across the anchorage as the Pan Man (an artsie/craftsie yachtie from Vermont) is practicing, and all is well.

Life at TTSA - Moving the boat from open Chaguaramas Bay to the snug cove off the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA) has worked out well for us. It costs us $60US per month, so it certainly isn't inexpensive on a cruising budget - but being based out of the TTSA has certainly increased our quality of life here. Jean has posted some pictures of TTSA on our Yahoo picture site so that you can get an idea of the layout. There is an administration building, work shed (a big draw, enabling us to get some of our dusty & dirty projects off the boat), laundry (US$2.50 to wash and the same to dry), heads & showers (no hot water), small pool, bar cabana, TV cabana, affordable restaurant for the occasional cook's day off, work docks for daytime boat mooring and to take on water, dinghy dock, and a really active small boat sailing center. The buildings are typical Caribbean wood frame construction.

The sailing center has Opti prams for the small kids, Lasers, and some other larger centerboard racing boats. Each day after school the kids are out sailing, and it is a pleasure to watch them learn the skills of handling a small boat under sail; among the younger kids, the girls seem to do better than the boys because they are more coordinated, and seem to be able to focus more effectively at the Opti-age. One of the local boys finished second in the Opti world competition 2 years ago - a significant achievement. The club is certainly nothing fancy by US yacht club standards, but they do keep it clean and neat, and the members are quite friendly towards the international temporary members. The boats that belong to the club members are arranged in rows on permanent moorings; moored fore and aft with their bows into the predominant easterly Trade Wind - which really gets up on most afternoons. Tthey have a very active racing schedule. In fact, this little club sponsors the Tobago Sailing Week that has become a major international regatta (see http://www.simplytobago.com/regatta.asp for more info). During the weekend the club is full of people, but during the week we temporary members have the place pretty much to ourselves.

On Tuesday mornings Jean takes an organized shopping trip via Maxi-Taxi to a very nice supermarket and meat market. Pick up and delivery is right at TTSA and the cost is only $5TT ($6.3TT equal $1US). There are about a dozen other international cruising boats anchored off the club, and we are developing a sense of community.

Since February's Carnival is over, the transient population that is attracted to Trinidad principally for that major event have moved on either north up the Lesser Antilles, or west towards the ABC's and the Panama Canal. The anchorages have thinned out, and the demand for goods and services has let up dramatically. There are currently empty slips in all of the Marinas that were booked full for several weeks around Carnival.

Cruising Community - There is a 30-minute Chaguaramas Cruisers VHF radio net each morning at 0800 on Channel 68; Jean is Net Control (moderator) for the Saturday net. There is a standard net format which includes: Safety & Security Issues, Weather, New Arrivals, Boats Departing, Individuals departing by commercial air and willing to take flat-stamped mail back, Social Activities & General Announcements, Help Wanted in finding parts/information/services, and Free & Barter treasures of the bilge. Examples of typical events announced under "Social Activities & General Announcements" might be: Mexican Train Dominoes at the Crews Inn breeze-way, Book Swap at Coral Cove Marina Cabana, AA meeting at the Power Boats conference room, basic seminar on wireless Internet for the cyberspace impaired, bird watching trip to the Asa Wright sanctuary, trail hiking in the Chaguaramas hills, and night turtle egg laying trip to the North Coast.

Chaguaramas has quite a cross-section of cruisers; some come here year after year, keeping their boats on the hard in one of the 4 large local boatyards all summer (while they are back home), and then moving them to local marinas to sit in the same slip all winter (while they play dominoes & bridge). Others use Trinidad as a base of operations to cruise the Caribbean, and then hang out and catch up on maintenance in Chaguaramas during the hurricane season. Trinidad is south of the hurricane zone, but then so was Grenada - until Hurricane Ivan proved otherwise. As a result of its location at a crossroads of the Atlantic and Caribbean, Chaguaramas also sees many international sailors cruising blue water boats on their way to or from major voyages; we have made some new friends here from all parts of the world.

Communications - We have to walk about a mile to get to a "wireless" Internet service that is slow, unreliable, and expensive. Referring to this connection as "wireless" is being overly generous, because if you get more than 15 feet from the antenna, the signal drops out... During one session last week Jean spent over 2 hours trying to get about one-half hour of Internet time. Because of the difficulties with the local service, we usually quickly download at the cramped Internet & International Telephone Center, write any responses back aboard the boat, and then transmit the reply on the next go-around ashore. To add insult to injury, the owner of the cafe/bar that is next door to the Internet shop told Jean that he did not want any computer users sitting at his tables or using his electrical power! We used to eat lunch about once a week at his café, and we always bought cold drinks while sitting at his tables - but no more! We will use up the minutes that we have left at this facility, and then move to the next Internet shop another quarter mile further down the highway. Fortunately, there is a pay telephone at the TTSA Clubhouse for which we can buy calling cards at only $.17US per minute, so it is inexpensive and easy for us to call back to the States.

Boat Work - Since spending the summer months working on the boat at Crisfield, MD on the Chesapeake Bay, we have spent the last 6 months cruising the Caribbean and enjoying our boat - and the wonderful lifestyle that it provides. The usual number of projects associated with active cruising (typically directly proportional to the number of miles in one's wake) has crept their way onto the ever-present TO-DO List. Since arriving in Trinidad we have pretty well gotten those projects completed, and now it is time to start the larger long-term cosmetic paint & varnish work that we came to Trinidad to complete.

Cruising Plans - Since we are in an area with plenty of active cruisers, there is a lot of information available from other voyagers regarding destinations in this and adjacent areas of the world. Here are some of the ideas we are considering: Less than 2 miles from our current anchorage at TTSA are the Five Islands, located just offshore in the Gulf of Paria. We figure that one of these weekends when the dance-club music becomes just too much to handle, we can pick up the hook and motor out there for a day or so. We also want to cruise the islands located in the Mouth of the Dragon, between Trinidad and Venezuela. In particular we want to explore Isla Chacachacare, and its abandoned leper colony. It is supposed to be quite an interesting place, but not to worry, no chance of catching leprosy at this long-vacant facility. Before we leave the area and head south we want to sail north to Tobago, a sandy beach and clear water tropical destination just a day's sail north of Trinidad. Our first stop on the way south down the northeast coast of South America will be the Orinoco River delta in Venezuela, one of South Americas great river systems. The delta fans into the Atlantic at the Mouth of the Serpent (pass between southwestern Trinidad and Venezuela), and is a wild and remote jungle area fed by 5 tropical rivers that come together upstream to form the Rio Orinoco - which drains hundreds of miles of the interior of Venezuela. We have begun to put together a file of information on the Rio Orinoco, and expect to spend some time there on the way to Guyana. On our last go-around we spent some time in French Guiana, but due to time constraints had to pass up Suriname and Guyana. So now is our opportunity to see these interesting countries - but not to drink the purple Kool-aide at Georgetown! Further south in Brazil we hope to explore the Amazon and its tributaries. Well, I suppose that's enough dreaming for now - better get back to work.

You can check out photos of some of our travels at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/svjmarie/my_photos

Tom, Jean & Schatze too

S/V Jean Marie, Chaguaramas, Trinidad