Back to work we go

5th November – 6th December 2012

Our BA flight from London back to Trinidad was excellent. It took about 10hrs with a brief stop at the island of St Lucia.

       

Most of the time we spent surmising as to the sort of state GWTW would be in and the huge jigsaw that lay ahead of us to put all the deck fittings back on. My sister and niece would be arriving in just over 2 weeks and the plan was to be ready to launch back into the water a few days later. Then we’d head up island and show them what cruising the Caribbean is all about. Yep, that was our plan. Little did we know that the odds for an on-time departure were totally stacked against us.     

Stepping off the plane in Trini the heat nearly bowled us over, totally forgetting how intense the humidity was. Before we left the boat back in July we’d booked a room at Power Boats again for our return as we knew it would be a hard slog putting the boat back together.

We figured that within two weeks everything would be sorted and we would be ready to go. Ha! Well the two weeks stretched out to four as we worked like drovers dogs. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that had to be done. Most mornings we were over at the boat by 7am, returning to our room around 7pm. It was totally exhausting, draining work and every night we were absolutely stuffed. Our launch date was scheduled for November 20th but as that date grew closer it became increasingly apparent that we’d have to put it back.

     

The deck painting wasn’t finished when we left Trini in July and on our return we weren’t very impressed with some of the workmanship. Quite a lot of it had to be redone. Also, below the waterline, we found gouges in the fiberglass that were the result of an overly zealous man with his sander. These too had to be redone. When my sister and niece arrived on the 16th we told them about the delay and this was met with mixed emotions. They didn’t quite understand the enormity of what we had accomplished  before they’d arrived or what still had to be done before we could go back into the water and start cruising again. In fairness to them though we had given them a date we’d be leaving and they had timed their arrival so they could enjoy a few days of sightseeing  around the island before we left. But as anyone who lives on a boat knows, lady luck is not always on your side and you just have to roll with the punches.

We kept our visitors happy as best we could but it was hard. Apart from a couple of organised  tours, trips to the pool and the mall they were pretty much left to their own devices as both of us continued working on the boat.

  

Finally, our new launch date rolled around. GWTW looked picture perfect with her shinny new paint job, new boom cover and matching sun strips on the jib and screecher. We felt like proud parents, well very tired ones to say the least.   

All went well until we hit the water and then fate delt it’s trump card. Still with the slings under our hulls, both our stern glands on the propeller shafts began to leak. Over the months that we’d been on the hard stand the rubber seals had dried out and cracked, something that you don’t know has happened until you are put back in the water. It was a steady drip and one that could not be ignored. We were hauled straight back out again, our morale sinking to an all time low. We started to think we would never be able to leave.

 

The replacement parts had to be flown in from the USA and  combined with the installation, saw us land-bound for yet another week.

 

 

 

A new launch date was set, this was to be our third one, and when that day came we were definitely a tad nervous.The launch went as smooth as a baby’s bum and we were so relieved.

 

There were still had a few jobs to finish off but we figured we could do them up island as we went along.

Our cruising season had finally began.

 

 

 

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The best laid plans of Mice and Men.

19th - 23rd July 2012

Our time in Trinidad was quickly, almost too quickly,coming to an end. So much to do and so little time. Most of the cruisers, unless they were staying put on their boats for the hurricane season, had already taken to the skies and left. Over the past weeks we’d said hello and goodbye to many of our neighbours who we’d shared a brief stint of land life with in the apartments at Power Boats Marina. We’d also made good friends with the cleaning ladies who serviced our room on a daily basis. Jessie, Barbara, Linda and Liz were a hoot and always made us laugh.They loved to have a chat as they changed the sheets and towels and one one morning they even showed me how to make to make a pineapple chow, which is the Trini version of salsa, but with a whole lot more punch!.  

With just 6 days until we boarded the big silver bird and were Sydney bound we were both getting rather edgy. It was a nerve racking business when we were told that the work on GWTW wouldn’t be finished  before we left. The jigsaw just wasn’t coming together as planned and suddenly we were juggling lots of balls. Shaun, our canvas maker, had come to an impasse. He’d reached the stage where he wanted to fit our new boom cover and make a few final adjustments, but he couldn’t as the mast, boom and mainsail were still under plastic wraps due to the decks still being painted.The sail maker over at Socca Sails had finished putting the new sun strips on the jib and screecher, but with the boat and all the lockers still taped shut we couldn’t get access on board to store them. On went our thinking caps on and find them an alternative home. The date for the installation of the external A/C unit ,which we’d need to combat the heat, humidity and growth of mould on board, needed to be changed and ditto for our move date from the hardstand  to the secure yard where the boat would stay until our return in November. In a fleeting moment of madness, we considered changing our flights home and stay in Trini till the work was finished but we soon squashed that idea as it would have opened a whole new can of worms.Talk about nightmares!

We knew what we had to do next… take a deep breath, and over the coming days we took many. Believe it or not, we both have quite orderly minds when we are faced with a challenge and realistically this one was no bigger than others which we’d faced over past years. It’s just that when there’s a log-jam in the inbox and the top half of the hourglass is running low on salt, the task ahead takes on a distinctly insurmountable look.

As our last week began to evaporate, we asked the guys working on  the boat if they could give us access to the inside for a couple of days. We needed to tie up some loose ends like shutting down the fridges and freezer, storing electronic gear and turning off soon to be unnecessary electrical systems, as well as moving some our creature comforts from the apartment we’d been staying in, back on board.

Slowly but surely nearly everything on the to-do list got ticked off including packing our bags for the long journey home. Anything that still needed to be done, boat wise that is, we were sure could be sorted out via e-mail or phone.

The day before we left was pretty hectic. A few hours were spent visiting various offices….Customs, Immigration and Peakes Marina, ensuring all of our paperwork for leaving was in order as well as GWTW’s so that she was legal to stay in Trinidad during our absence. Phil,our good mate from the Aussie yacht Tehani Li, offered to oversee the remaining work on the boat so letters of authority, amongst other things for him to take over our role, had to be lodged with the marina office. 

Finally the morning of our departure dawned. It was very sad leaving GWTW. We felt as though we were abandoning her in her hour of need. After one last visit  to check on her we gave her a pat on the hull and headed off to the airport. It was time to down tools and  go and have a holiday.                                                                                                                                          ************************************************************************

Black Gold

18th July 2012

Each morning at 0800, we flick our vhf radio onto channel 68 and tune into the cruisers’ radio net. It’s a great way of catching up on the day to day activities that affect our lives while staying in Trini. All the regular things are tabled. For example, medical emergencies, buy, swap or barter, treasures of the bilge, (a great way to offload unwanted gear off the boat), and the most important one of all, social activities. There’s always the usual like shopping trips, hiking, the weekly dominos challenge, but on this particular day Susan from the yacht Andromeda announced that she was putting together a trip to the southern end of the island. Our ears pricked up, somewhere new to go. It was a tour to the Pitch Lake.What the heck is a Pitch Lake we said to ourselves. Well, it sounded a bit interesting so we put our names down.

On further investigation we found out that the word pitch is quite an old English term for asphalt or tar, the stuff that roads are made from. We also heard from fellow cruisers that it was a  good tour and one that you were unlikely to experience anywhere again.

Our excursion day rolled around and along with a van full of like minded curious people we headed off to the southwest end of the Island to a village called Le Brea. With Jesse at the helm we knew that we’d be in for yet another fun day out. Stopping along the way to keep the wolf from the door, we snacked on the likes of  boiled chicken feet  and  tasty potato pies (not the kind we get back in Oz).

About a mile from the lake the road became quite bumpy and Jesse explained that as the pitch, oozing from the oil rich rocks below, pushes it’s way to the surface, the ground moves every which-way effecting anything and everything in it’s path including the foundations of the village homes

Pitch Lake, of which there are only three on the planet, is a natural wonder and has the largest deposit of asphalt in the world.

Covering about 100 acres it is reported to be 75 metres deep of semi solid black pitch. From a distance it looks like a giant parking lot. Surrounded by reeds and cashew nut trees our guide told us that it attracts about 20,000 tourists each year. Walking down to the lake we had to negotiate a  narrow track where the pitch was bubbling to the surface. We were told not to stray from the path as some parts of the lake are like quicksand. The hotter the sun the more soft, squishy and fluid-like the pitch becomes. One wrong step and it could be all over. Not a pleasant way to depart this earth I reckon.

Discovered in 1595 by Sir Walter Raleigh, he used the pitch to caulk the wooden seams of his boat. Today the pitch is mined by the Trinidad Asphalt Company and exported worldwide to pave streets and roads including some in New York City. We were told that during the mining process a 40 x 40 foot hole in the lake refills itself in only three days.

Once we got down to the lake the heat rising from the surface was quite intense and that familiar smell of of fresh asphalt tingled in our noses. It was a weird spongy feeling underfoot as we walked along, with the imprints of our shoes clearly visible. Way too hot to walk on bare-footed, the pitch strangely resembled an elephant’s skin, all wrinkled and dry, except of course where it had turned to fluid. With the exception of a few very hardy reeds the lake was devoid of natural life.

   

   

Further out on the lake everyone had a chance to scoop up some of the gooey pitch on a stick. We just had to make sure the wind didn’t whisk it onto our clothes.

   

Many people believe in the lakes’ medicinal benefits. Apparently the sulphur content that seeps into in the water sitting atop of the pitch during the rainy season can cure a long list of minor skin aliments as well as psoriasis and arthritis. A few of our group decided to take a dip and even Liam splashed his face, though I’m not quite sure what he was hoping to cure, aging perhaps?

Leaving the Pitch lake we made a quick lunch stop for some excellent roti's and then continued on to a seaside Hindu temple, the name of which escapes me. Adorned with flags and ornate statues honoring various gods, the wafting smell of an open air cremation just across from the temple was a little off-putting.

From here we stopped at one more temple before heading back to to the marina after another great day out thanks to our tour guide extraordinaire, Jesse. 

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All Creatures Great and Small

1st –10th July 2012

 

Just where has the time gone, we keep asking ourselves. So much for us thinking that we would run out of things to do during our three month stint on land here in Trinidad. Now we have only 23 more  sleeps until it’s time to leave, yikkes!.

The countdown mode has begun and we still have a long list of things to do before our time runs out. The rain continues to fall, well it is the wet season after all, and our workers are starting to get behind due to the weather. We really don’t want them going at it hammer and tongs just to meet the deadline, so we’ve told them to slow down and do it properly as we want it done right.They are still adamant that they will finish on time…we will see.

We have been popping over to the boat a couple of times a day to check on the progress and overall we are very happy with the job so far.There have been a couple of discussions with the gelcoat team re some wavy patches on the hulls, but after a few more days of fairing back, the outcome has been great and at last we are seeing shinny hulls with a mirror finish, something that we have not seen in years.                                                                                            

Work on the boat aside, there were still a couple of tours that we wanted to do before leaving.The main one being to see the Giant Leatherback Turtles. Once again Jesse James was the guru on this subject and we booked a trip with him to see these magnificent creatures.The females only come ashore to nest at night during the months of March to early August and then 7 -12 weeks later the hatchlings begin to make their way down to the water.

This trip is one of the most popular amongst the cruisers especially as the month of July wears on and the likelihood of seeing more babies increases. As with all things to do with mother nature sometimes it is the luck of the draw whether or not you actually get to see what you are going out there for. Luckily the Gods were smiling on us the day of our trip.

With a van full of eager yachties we left Chagauramas in the early evening all set for the 3 hour ride across the island to Matura beach on the northeast coast. Stopping for dinner along the way we arrived at the beach about 10pm where the guides from the community based organisation, Nature Seekers, were waiting for us. During the six month nesting season the beach is off limits to the public unless you are accompanied by a guide. This is for the safety of the turtles as they will not come ashore to lay their eggs if they sense any sort of danger.

But before I get into our experience here are a couple of interesting facts about these ancient mariners.

A Giant Leatherback Turtles’ lifespan is 30 - 50 years. After reaching maturity they mate every 2-3 years.Having said that the female only begins to mate at age 20 –25. Rumor has it that the reason for this is that the males have so much respect for the females that they wouldn’t think of deflowering her any earlier, the jury is out on that rumor. Growing to a length of 1 - 2m they weigh in at a massive 250 –700kgs. These particular type of turtles are one of the deepest diving animals in the sea and have been recorded at depths of 1,280m. They also hold the record as the fastest moving reptile, being clocked at an incredible 35klm per hour. The female lays around 110 eggs in each clutch and deposits 5 –7 clutches over a period of 10 days with about 85% of her eggs being viable.The depth and temperature inside her nest determines the sex of the hatchlings. Incredibly, the females always return to nest on the beach on which they were born and so the cycle of life continues. From the moment a male enters the water as a hatchling he never sets a flipper ashore again for the rest of his life.

The guides had already been out patrolling the beach and looking for signs of the turtles before we’d arrived and to our delight one had been sighted a few hundred yards along the beach. With red globed flashlights in hand, so as not to annoy or alert the turtles of our presence, we set off. Our group spread out as we ambled along the foreshore and being mindful of some large dips in the sand and scattered driftwood Liam and I slowed down a little. From a boaters perspective, but I guess not from a pregnant turtles’ one, the shoreline looked very inhospitable with scattered rocks and large waves crashing onto the steep sandbanks. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. There right before us was a female ever so slowly making her way out of the surf. We stood in the moonlight mesmerised. She was gigantic. Pulling hard with her front flippers she gradually increased the distance between her and dark waters behind. We watched her for a short while and then left her in peace to do what she had come here to do.

Catching up to the rest of our group we stood quietly watching another female already busy digging a hole to lay her eggs. Surprisingly, this only took about 20 minutes. She worked hard using her rear flippers digging a steep sided hole and packing down the sand to ensure that it didn’t collapse before she could lay. Once she was satisfied that all was in order she then went into a laying trance and around 50 white eggs slid down into the deep nest below. During this time, according to our guides, she is completely unaware of her surroundings. It is then and only then that we were allowed to take flash photos and pat her.

Her leather skin and was cool but soft to touch, unlike other turtles which have hard shells. In the dark it was hard to gauge just how big these animals were, but once we could put the lights on we realized how truly magnificent they are.The laying trance lasts only a short while and then it is back to hard work using all her flippers turning this way and that as she covers and recovers the hole again to prevent predators from finding her nest and poaching her eggs. After this she makes her way back down into the water exhausted, never to know the fate of her babies.

Leaving the rest of our group behind Liam and I joined Jesse for a walk along the beach in search of some hatchlings. We had just about given up when we came across a little fellow stuck in some flotsam as he tried to make his way down to the waters edge. He was tiny but full of energy.

When the babies hatch they have a small pouch in their tummies which nourishes them for about 2 weeks, sort of a starter pack I guess. With a bit of luck they make it out into the ocean before they exhaust their initial food supply.Their usually diet is sea grass and jellyfish, but for these little guys it’s a big ask to forage on your own out in the big wide world. Sadly, the majority of hatchlings never make it.

The biggest threat to this endangered species are humans. With fishing being a large industry in the waters around Trinidad many get caught in nets and die,and at the sake of persevering their livelihood, the fisherman prefer to save their nets rather than cutting them to free a turtle. Often fisherman will sacrifice the life of the turtles by cutting off one of their flippers in order to release them. Ultimately this means death to these gentle giants. The other big killer is floating plastic bags which turtles often mistake for their favourite food, jellyfish.

Leaving the beach that night, having been touched by mother nature, made us feel very special. Not many people get to witness such an extraordinary event and it is one that we will both remember for a very long time. 

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All work and no play,well not really

1st –30th June 2012

We’ve now been full time residents in our apartment at Power Boats yard for the past two and a half months and are adjusting to life on the land quite well. The last few weeks have been lovely hot sunny days, which has been great for the work that’s happening on the boat. But just lately we’ve noticed the weather patterns starting to change.

The wet season is slowly beginning to kick in now and most days, come late morning, the tell tale dark storm clouds roll over the hills surrounding Chagauramas bay ( where we are) and we have a torrential downpour lasting an hour or more. This creates havoc around the boatyard as the workers and owners run for cover to escape the deluge falling from the heavens. It is also starting to have an adverse effect on the  time schedule of our work, mind you our guys still assure us that GWTW will be finished by our agreed date in the middle of July.

Life for us is now getting more and more sedentary. GWTW has had her doors and hatches covered over with protective plastic, paper and reams of masking tape and it has become increasingly harder for us to have access to the interior during the working week, although we do tend to sneak back on board on Sundays when the contractors are having their day off. We even managed to set up our BBQ in the cockpit one time and enjoyed a fabulous lamb roast, the seating left a bit to be desired though.

 

 

 

 

The work on the boat has been coming along nicely but we are starting to get cabin fever and felt the need to get out of the “house” and experience a little more of Trinidad than just the area around Chagauramas.

 

As we mentioned in an earlier post, Jesse James, the local guy who looks after most of the cruisers’ needs down here, also organises day tours, so we along with ten others signed up on what Jesse calls “A taste of Trini” tour. It is an all day eating fest starting at 9am and sees you returning absolutely stuffed at around 7pm. The one big thing that no one had told us is that we needed to abstain from all food at least 24hrs before the tour ‘cause otherwise you will just explode! Apart from the eating, there is a common driving force on each tour and that is to beat the number of dishes consumed by the group on the previous one. Our magic number was to do better than 50 tastings. Now to be clear, the tour takes in only food items grown, made or produced here in Trini, so processed foods and the likes of Macas and KFC are definitely not on the agenda.

Armed with our cameras and appetite Jesse, complete with his undying sense of humor and armada of local knowledge, picked us up in his shinny silver van right on the bell of 9am and off we set on our culinary adventure. The day ahead would take us from Chagauramas through Port of Spain, the capital of Trini, past small towns and fields and over to the east coast of the island. Travelling down the coastline  we stopped at palm tree lined Manzanilla beach and made many stops at out of the way villages, where most tourists never visit, and then snaked back through the teak forests and winding roads of the central highlands and swamplands to the west coast  ultimately arriving back home to the marina after dark.

            

Our first stop was a small shop not far from the boat yard and on the menu was Coconut bread with Smoked Herring and Salt Fish. A Trini breakfast staple apparently. It was a very tasty little morsel but left us with that not so popular waft of fishy after-breath. Would we choose this for brekkie normally? aahh, probably not. Next up was another breakfast dish, Doubles. Now this one we had indulged in before and it is an absolute treat. It’s a very messy concoction of flatbread overflowing with tasty chickpeas all mixed up in a mild to hot pepper sauce depending on what your taste buds can cope with. Doubles are a true Trini favorite and you see heaps of roadside stalls set up with long lines of patrons hoeing into them wherever you go in the morning. Stopping roughly every 15 minutes to top up our tummies, by lunch time we were bursting at the seams and yet there was plenty more to come.

          

Jessie came well equipped providing everyone with bottled waters, plates, paper towels, (a must), and cutlery. We sampled delicacies such as Curried Duck, Rose Bake ,which is Bok Choy leaves with a tamarind sauce, BBQ Pig Tails, Cow Heel Soup, another favourite of the Trinis, very tasty though  a bit of a chewy texture for us, Boiled Chicken’s Feet, Sugarcane, Polouries, a sweet dough with mango chutney and an assortment of Indian pastries just to name a few. After a long day in the saddle we topped off the night with birthday cake and scoops of vanilla ice cream. Cruisers love a celebration especially when it’s someone's birthday.

 

          

The day was a great success and we managed to ingest 52 different types of foods. Luckily I kept a record of all the dishes we ate so the tally was legitimate. When I read over the list I really don’t know how we did it. Below is what we ate that day and hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!

Coconut Bread; Smoked Herrings; Salt Fish; Doubles; Cow Heel Soup; Beef Pies; Cheese Pies; Rose Bake; Desheen; Stewed Chicken; BBQ Pig Tails; Chickito-figs; Kitchorie- split peas; Aloo Pie-Potato; Chicken’s Feet; Silk Bananas; Cocorite; Brazil Nuts; Sugarcane; Cashew Nuts; Pineapple Chow; Milk Fudge; Fried Plantain; Green Fig Salad; Boiled Cassava; Fried Casava; Geera Pork; Roti; Bake & Shark-kind of a hamburger; Stewed Beef; Curried Mango; Curried Pumpkin; Curried Goat; Dahl, Rice; Sadia Roti; Buss up Shut Roti-another messy dish; Curried Chicken; Bignan Choka; Fried Boti Beans; Sorrel and Moubi drinks; Watermelon; Soursoup; Polourie, Mango Chow; Roasted Eggplant;  Coconut Turnover; Sweetbread with Raisons and Cherry; Barfi-an Indian sweet; Kurma; Ice Cream and Chocolate Cake. What a mouthful…literally!

But our day was not without incident. Rain and winding country roads don’t always mix. Rounding a bend we came across an accident which had just happened. A collision between a truck and a glass carrying ute blocked the road completely. It was all hands on deck as the men folk leaped out of our van to lend a hand to help clear the mangled mess.The driver of the truck was shaken and cut badly from the broken panes of glass on the ute and Annie gave him some much needed roadside first aid. The utility had driven over a couple of downed power lines which had flicked up and caught around the truck’s front tire pulling the truck into the path of the passing glass carrier.The two vehicles then became firmly wedged together and took a lot of manpower and over an hour to separate.

Eventually the power company arrived and cut away the offending cables from the truck and everyone was once again on their way.So as you can see even when we’re not working on boats there’s always something to keep us all occupied.

And that folks was our day out. We had a really fun trip with Jesse and all our fellow sailors and are already looking forward to booking on to our next mini escape from life in the boatyard. Oh and just so you know were so full we didn’t need breakfast or lunch the next day, now that’s gotta be a first.

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