Last few days in Trini for a while

Moonshiner comes out of the water at Peakes Boatyard....this is the biggest travel lift in the Caribbean...if you're interested!!

The new "back door"

It was raining....view of the backyard from boat.

A very small stream in Port of Spain but growing!

We shall be leaving Trinidad on Thursday for an overnight flight back to the UK and Guernsey so this is possibly my last blog for a few weeks…but not necessarily as I need to keep up my typing ..or something! We are due to fly back on the 13th August so watch this space.
In the meantime, life out of the water has been an interesting experience after 6 months afloat. I haven’t missed being constantly jiggled around by the wake of the local vessels (fishing or pleasure boats with simply huge outboards) screaming past at full throttle and at all hours of the day and night. We had this in most anchorages but it was especially bad here. It’s been a simple joy to be able to have as many long showers (hot or cold as necessary!) as I like, but being able to visit the loo can be arduous as they are quite a long way from where the boat is now. I also haven’t missed having to manoeuvre myself over the stern and into the wobbly old dinghy except that now we have a long ladder with very few rungs to negotiate as you can see from the photo. This ladder is very slippery after it’s been raining and we’ve had quite a bit of that this past week. The photos don’t do this rain any justice…..it was quite phenomenal!

We went into Port of Spain for the first time the other day although we have driven through it many times already en route to other places. Unfortunately, we picked the rainiest day of the season to spend in the city and crossing the streets eventually meant stepping into several inches of fairly fast flowing water. Various objects floated past us at some speed along the storm drains and I almost expected to see the odd “small child” being swept away too!!
We have enjoyed a busy social life while ashore as there are so many events organized by local entrepreneurs and live aboard yachties alike, ranging from daytime visits to the very good air conditioned shopping malls to bring your own BBQs, island tours, movie trips etc. I think we have done them all! Trinidad has been far and away the cheapest place so far in the Caribbean with the best shopping too…apart from the overpriced red wine about which I have previously been known to grumble!!

Anyway, I aim to make up for the dearth of the “red stuff” while I’m in Guernsey and elsewhere, looking forward to our return to the boat and the eventual heading west (November) closer to those wonderfully productive Chilean vineyards……

In the meantime, I’m really looking forward to seeing as many people as I can in the five weeks that I’m back and I promise in advance not to bore you with the photos!!

Mostly from deep in the rainforest

Howler monkeys, Nariva swamp.
Blue/green macaws, Nariva
Deep in the mangrove swamp, Nariva
The "Usual Suspects" Nariva. Lto R Pat and Mike from El Lobo, Dick, Pam and Jim from Delicado
A white faced capuchin monkey...better photos to follow soon!
Oh boy is it starting to get HOT here! Yesterday’s forecast gave 102degF and I think it may have reached that temperature really early….a day to stay inside the air conditioned boat and sort out stores and charts etc. I’m so glad the day before was gentler as this was the big “day out”; the long trip to the South of the island and the Nariva swamp, a conservation area where we went to see macaws and monkeys and anything else that may have passed our way…caiman, manatees, toucans, anacondas for example…. we didn’t see these elusive creatures or there would be photographic evidence!! Still, I’m sure we passed some by quite closely in the very dense mangrove……..

We had set off in the taxi bus at 5am to catch the tide in the mangrove swamp (and the animals and birds while they were active before the day got too hot) and it was well worth the long tiring ride there and back as you can see in the photos.

We saw scarlet bellied macaws and the blue/green macaws (which are well known as pets) flying overhead in pairs and screeching loudly. We also saw lots of other birds which I now have in the life list in my head and which I have tried to photograph badly but which might not be of much interest to non birders! Among our group of the “usual suspects” on this trip is a very keen birdwatcher, Aussie Dan (with Yolande) from yacht Jacana. He has a notebook in which he writes down each new species and I think most of us have now started to watch closely as we pass through anywhere and everywhere we go. Trinidad has an unbelievable variety of birds and animals. The dawn chorus here in the boatyard is wonderful.

As well as the birds, we got incredibly close to the white faced capuchin monkeys who were gorging themselves on the mangoes and throwing twigs down to us. One of them, a young one, was extra bold and playing a game of dare to get as close as possible. We all managed to get some great photos,(even me!) though the best shots here are down to Jim from Delicado….Thanks again Jim!

After the capuchins, we trekked deeper into the rainforest to find the howler monkeys. They live all around us here in Chaguaramas and we can hear them bellowing away high up in the trees but they are almost impossible to see. In the Nariva Swamp however it was possible to get right up underneath them….the noise is incredible. They were basically yelling at us to go away which we eventually did of course. Apart from birds and monkeys, there were many very large and brilliantly coloured butterflies….. I shall have to look them up when I’m in Guernsey I think.

I’m hoping to do another trip before flying back to Guernsey next week, this time to see the turtles egg laying and/or the hatchlings making their bid for the ocean. It’ll be another long trip, this time at night. We’ll see…..

We have a good social life here in Chaguaramas as many boats stay here for some time for the hurricane season and so crews get to know each other. There is something going on just about every evening….BBQs, trips to the cinema, etc and very cheap day trips to shopping malls and supermarkets. The prices are good too, still the lowest so far in the Caribbean I’ve seen. I think the pound may be improving slightly too against the dollar though I have hardly any idea what is going on in the outside world these days……. I hadn’t heard about Michael Jackson until the news was at least 24 hours old!!

Today is slightly cooler than yesterday at 91degF and it looks as though it may rain later. We are going to a BBQ later so I hope it stays dry and also because the rain brings out the biting beasties especially in the evenings…..I’m only just getting over last week’s attack by a squadron of mosquitoes……I have used up all the seriously strong insect repellent bought in St Lucia and am on the hunt for anything with an extra high DEET content as it’s the only one that works….ebay here I come!!!

A Tropical Paradox

I think Trinidad has become my favourite island in the Caribbean although I didn’t get to see the islands North of Martinique! The weather has been very kind so far (until a couple of days ago that is), and unseasonably so apparently…..it should be very wet, hot and humid with only light winds. The winds can be light, especially first thing, around 6am, when Chaguaramas Bay is glassy calm. This can be a little unfortunate as all the boats seem to accumulate lots of debris overnight around the hull which is only slowly washed away, either out to sea or into a corner of the nearby marina! This flotsam is the usual 21st century plastic rubbish, leaves, coconuts etc as well as a daily thin coating of oil from the various working boats around. Nice!! At least it doesn’t smell….much! The other morning I got quite a shock when I spotted a hand sticking up out of the murky waters…….It turned out to be just an old glove but at first sight……..!!

Trinidad also the cheapest island so far, some things are even as cheap as "back home"…..not the wine though….for some reason, it’s very hard to find a bottle for under about £8 even though it may only have had to travel from Chile. I was pleased to be able to buy some cans of Murphys though…..It has lots of iron in it so it’s terribly good for you of course!!

Anyway, the boat has now come out of the water and currently stands in the boatyard at Peakes until some time at the end of August…… look for it on Google earth if you can....quite a nice spot near some trees (so I can see and hear the birds). Those funny parrots that madly flap their way in pairs,screeching wildly as they head for their roosts each evening are "orange winged parrots" and they now fly overhead very close to the boat.

The boat is however quite a long way from the showers and the long, metal ladder from the stern to the ground has very few rungs….difficult when you’re carrying heavy bags of laundry or shopping. Oh well, the exercise will do me good I suppose..
At least they have managed to install the absolutely essential air conditioning now, after leaving us exposed for a night to the vicious attacks from the mozzies which appeared in their millions after some serious tropical rainstorms two days ago….about 3” of rain just fell from the sky. Being close to the trees and standing water left the boat in a dangerously unprotected position. At the last count, I had received nearly 50 bites from the little monsters. The worst ones are four on my hand which itch terribly.

I thought I might have at least acquired some immunity from bitey things by now but our seasoned Aussie yachtie traveller friends tell us that you just have to keep them out by closing everything up on the boat with screens and using seriously strong repellent all the time. So it looks as though I will have to carry on using the meanest DEET based products I can find while I am at any risk.
I was told just recently that I should be proud of all the marks I have acquired from the bites and look upon them as battle scars. Hmm! Incidentally, I got chatted up yesterday by a young Rastafarian..... no, really...he asked for my phone number. I suppose I was quite flattered but the lighting was poor and I was sitting down!!!

We have booked a long day trip this Saturday with the delightful Jesse James and his air conditioned bus, to the South of the island and together with Pam and Jim (Aussies on Delicado), Dan and Yolande (Aussies on Jacana) and Mike and Pat from Sunderland, we will be visiting the swamps (insects beware!) where we hope to see howler monkeys, scarlet macaws and toucans among other exotic tropical flora and fauna. The whole day trip is costing about £35each and this includes lunch. Can’t wait.
I must make sure that my camera battery is charged this time. That is another good thing about being ashore…. constant access to electricity. My favourite toothbrush has received its first proper recharge since leaving Guernsey 6 months ago.
So……photos with the next blog…… after the weekend.

Photos from the Swamp

Here as promised are some more photos of our "day out". Sorry if you're not a birder but they are just so colourful and different that it's hard not to take photos of them all...even the common ones. I've still to see a parrot close up but I'm hoping!

On the right is a close up ( not taken by me, so many thanks to Jim from Aussie!! but I took the credit for spotting it first!) of the pygmy kingfisher. It's red, black and white which are the colours of the Trinidad flag.

Below right are the scarlet ibis flying in formation back to their roosts in the mangrove swamp. I didn't take this photo either! Did the Red Arrows get one or two ideas from them I wonder?

Below is a nice portrait of our guide, Shaun, who knew simply everything about the wildlife that we saw on our trip through the mangrove swamp.

More ibis.......they really are this red! I have been trying to get a close up picture of the brown pelicans but I'm always just a little too slow with the camera.....I have plenty of time though and they appear regularly. Maybe I'll entice them by throwing them one or two fish. They always know where to look, following the fishermen as they put out their nets.

Hibiscus....very easy to photograph well!!

Lizard at theNational park about 18" long...they get bigger. It was quite friendly really......eating scraps of bread left out for it.

The "view" from the verandah with a strange hanging nest top right if you have good eyes!

They have some lovely painted houses here.

I thought the cannon and the bougainvillea juxtapose quite well.....this is near to where we are currently moored.

We (10 of us that is) decided to go on one of the all day guided tours of the island and it turned out to be one of the best days so far. It was an early start at 8.30am as we had a 2 hour air conditioned bus trip to the mountains and rainforest in the north of the island to visit an old plantation (cocoa and citrus) which is now a national park.
The scenery, bird, animal and plant life were all spectacular so a couple of photos just HAVE to be included though I know National Geographic could do much better! We had a guided walk through the rainforest bird and plant spotting ( and ant avoiding!) followed by a buffet lunch at the old plantation house where we could sit and enjoy the incredible views and see gorgeous hummingbirds etc up really close on the verandah. Most of my photos were rubbish but I am relying on the others with their more expensive cameras to provide me with decent copies sometime soon!
We then had another long bus trip back towards the capital, Port of Spain, and to the mangrove swamp for a 2 hour boat trip in the early evening to watch the scarlet ibis flying to their roosts. My camera battery had died by this time so I have no photos at all….relying on the others again……I hope there are some good close ups of these birds. They are just so incredibly SCARLET. Fantastic against the blue sky or dark green mangrove trees. There were lots of other lovely birds to see, herons, egrets etc and I spotted a tiny kingfisher (red, black and white) which our guide got quite excited about. He is an avid birdwatcher and instantly knew what each species was.

Our tourguide/busdriver (Jesse James!!) did a running commentary on the history of Trinidad, past and current, as we bounced along in the charabanc and he certainly knew his stuff too!

So all in all, an excellent day out and highly recommended to anyone and everyone who comes out here. Hoping to do another tour soon...this time, turtle watching!!

The boat comes out of the water in just under 2 weeks now and I am flying back to Guernsey on 9/10July. I'm looking forward to having as many "proper" showers as I like while the we're in the yard....We have been on water rationing since February in St Lucia....average total daily use on the boat for everything....4 gallons!!!

In "Trini"

Bird here in internet cafe, a kiskadee, quite common apparently but a first for me. Sorry it's blurred!! We have also seen parrots but didn't realise it at first. They fly to their roosts in the evening, in pairs, chattering very loudly and look as though they are flying backwards. Very strange. Pelicans also around. Will try to get a photo soon.

, View from internet cafe. Moonshiner out of picture on left. Beach looks clean enough to swim in!

There are 4 dolphins in this picture, or parts of them anyway. It's quite hard to take photos of fast moving animals underwater, I found out!

This is the one who looked at me, doing a roll, showing off? Not much of a "looker" though?!!
Sorry, I still haven't managed to post my blog the right way round, so all the pictures always get posted first, in reverse chronological order. I'm probably just too lazy to learn how to do it properly. It's the heat you know!! So: here's the "blurb" that you should have read first......

Had an overnight (22hours) sail with reasonable weather from Grenada to this place (Chaguaramas, the 2nd biggest town) in Trinidad with the only problem en route having to dodge several working oil rigs at 2am. I had no idea there was such a large oil industry here...... where has all the revenue from it gone? Trindad isn't poor as such from what I have seen so far but there is no sign of oil wealth really.

We had an escort of 6 dolphins for about 30mins who were performing rolls and turns around the bow...picture included....I had eye contact with one of them for quite some time, a first for me and rather nice really!! Think they were a bunch of old boys...they all looked slightly battle scarred!

Anyway, we are here now and the boat is coming out of the water, for some time, in two weeks to have a few essential maintenance jobs done before the long trip westwards later this year.

I was expecting unbearable weather and it IS hot, true, but there is a pleasant breeze for most of the day at the moment at least with average humidity around 70% which I can cope with!!

This is a very nice place to lay up for a while, much cheaper than the other islands and excellent facilities for yachties, all the chandleries and workshops you could wish for I believe.

We sailed to Trinidad from Prickly Bay in company, by arrangement ,with four other boats, Troutbridge being one of them and the others sailed by 3 Australian couples who have become good friends and all of whom have sailed from Australia via the Indian & Atlantic Oceans, over many years, to the Caribbean. We may very well find ourselves heading west later on this year together.......sailing in company is probably safer!!!

Murky depths

The "perfect" beach which is actually quite a rare sight in the Caribbean.

The working water wheel dated 1785 at the Rivers Rum factory.

A monkey in my pocket!!

Dick dons wetsuit etc.

A nice green lizard sunbathing at least 8"long too!

We are leaving Grenada in about 4 days, Tuesday I think, for Trinidad. Whilst in Prickly Bay anchorage, both Moonshiner and Troutbridge have been extremely attractive to the marine flora and fauna here and both boats have grown long green beards in which millions of little shrimps and crabs have built their nests. Long beards are not very aerodynamic (?), slowing the hull speed down quite dramatically and we want to arrive in Trinidad in daylight, so some trimming has been required. Pete used a paint scraper very effectively for most of his 2 hulls with his shallow draft (1.2mtrs) but Dick ( draught 2.2mtrs) had to don a wetsuit (photo inc!) and a long handled broom and had to give up in the end because the water was just too murky at depth. All the little shrimps and crabs were incensed at being evicted too and showed their displeasure by nipping and biting their landlords! Sounds like fun.......don't think I'll volunteer for this job unless the boat is high and dry first!!