Barbados to Trinidad - End of Season 14

Hi All:

Well, here we are, looking at the tail end of another season, while the folks back home are still struggling with the prolonged winter, delaying the start of their sailing season.

It seems all to soon, that we are back to doing hard time with Two Moons, who has been stripped of her all her sail wear and is standing in a dusty and hot (realy hot) boat yard in Trinidad. Our plan is to undergo a bit more extensive maintenance this year, while sitting out the hurricane season.

We launched in January, and put only 2400 nautical miles behind us, before arriving back on the hard as of the beginning of May. The boat is starting to feel more like a cottage on stilts or a land yacht, than a sail boat. But Trinidad is said to be the place to get maintenance and repairs undertaken, but does it have to be so bloody hot! Its only May!

Our last post ended as we were leaving Barbados where we had another lumpy sail into Bequia, an island of the Grenadines. Port Elizabeth was a delight with colourful houses ringing the full harbour. There was no roll for the first time in a month!

Bequia - port Elizabeth

 Canouan came next, a private island of the rich and famous. There was nothing more than an upscale hotel with no landing facilities so a day later we moved on to Mayreau. Here was that quintessential Caribbean Island shown in all those tourist brochures- palm trees, white sandy beaches, aquamarine waters and colourful beach huts. We hiked to the top of the island to overlook Tobago Cays, a nearby national Park, very popular with anchorages, and dive and snorkelling spots among a series of reefs. But seeing choppy waters and breaking surf we opted to head on to Union Island, Chatham bay. No palm trees but good snorkelling in clear waters. Even 4 meters down we could see huge star fish bigger than a dinner plate living beneath the boat.

 

Mayreau at sun up

Mayreau - about as good as it gets

We checked out of the Grenadines in Clifton harbour where we met Tevin, a scam artist, renting out mooring balls he didn’t own. We also had authentic buss-up-shirt, a Caribbean specialty, delicious though messy.

 

 

Mayreau anchorage

We sailed on to Grenada, skirting Kick-em-Jenny an active underwater volcano that was rumbling and threatening to erupt. Tyrell Bay in the island of Carriacou came first, then Grenada proper. When looking for an anchorage, we eyeballed St. George (island capital) and the Carenage, whose waterfront is listed as a must see. We thought it has seen better days, so we moved on to Trueblue Bay, where because of all the ongoing waterfront construction, we felt like we were anchored in a Home Depot parking lot, so on to Prickly Bay – finally a real cruiser friendly place.

 

On an island tour, we sampled many of its fruits and spices. We saw “Janet Houses”, homes built after a hurricane by that name with wood supplied by Dutch Guyana. Only about 10 by 12, they were used exclusively for sleeping as the climate allowed outdoor living year round. Our guide had fond memories of these homes as he grew up in one along with 15 relatives. He also pointed out a low growing fern like plant whose fronds were sensitive to touch. These fronds would curl up when stepped on and were used by slave catchers to track runaways. The Grenada chocolate factory was a taste treat, more so than the output of the oldest operating rum distillery. Rum produce in this 250 year old facility is for immediate consumption (zero aging), and at 75% proof is considered a flammable substance and not allowed on aircraft! For export they produce a 68% bottle and a chocolate rum. Regardless, the drink is really rough and just half a stagger away from being called moonshine.

Tell tale plant - open
 



Tell tale plant - closed after touching the fronds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feeding sugar cane into 250 year old crusher

Not much Health & Saftey on this crush site

The sugar cane run off sits in the sanitized`` vats

 

 

On a weekend we participated in the 1027^th Hash run on the island – a long standing Grenadian tradition.  It is essentially a paper chase with the track laid out with paper piles showing the way, or leading off to false trails. The run or walk thru island scenery is followed by beer, in more ways than one, and as “hash virgins” we were bathed in beer on the pretext of a photo shoot!

 

On the Hash route

Show up with new shoes and they will fill it with beer and make you drink
 

Our last sail for the season to Trinidad meant sailing past Venezuelan waters, where in the past, piracy has been an issue. It is recommended that you sail at night, in a group, skirting the oil rigs, without lights or AIS and filing a sail plan with the Trinidad coast guard. We encountered a lot of tanker traffic and in the interest of safety turned everything back on and sailed straight through without issue.

 Nearing Trinidad’s coast reminded us more of Canada’s Georgian Bay than a Caribbean island - no palm trees just wooded hills and rocks. Rounding into Chagauramas Bay, where we hauled out, we both thought -  Hamilton Harbour! This is definitely a working harbour, supporting the many oil and gas wells lying just offshore. But it is safe, being outside of the hurricane zone and has all the expertise and supplies necessary for any boat job. The one down side is that Two Moons is four boat lengths down wind from the very popular Roti Hut and every day from 9:30am on the delicious smells drive Mike to distraction. The other down side is the heat and rain, making slow work progress.. Even with her Turkish birka shielding her from the sun, it is frequently over 30 degrees Celsius inside the boat before 10:00am. And although this is said to be the dry season, the daily torrential down pours quickly turn the boatyard into muddy slop.

 

So once we get some of the major projects completed, our goal is to fly home early June where we are looking forward to our first Canadian summer in over 15 years. It just better not be too hot or rainy!

No rainin` here on Mayreau Mon - jus`limin