April 14, 5:09 p.m....Mistress has been put to bed for another season.
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| Sleeping soundly |
Presently bunked in at the newly renovated rooms at PowerBoats. Quite nice.
Early pickup at 4:30 a.m. to Piarco Airport to catch a 9:30 a.m. direct flight with Caribbean Air to Toronto.
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| looking out to the bay from PowerBoats |
April 12...Clean dinghy hoisted on to deck, cover on helm, dodger and
bimini removed, walked miles to clear out of customs and immigration, unsuccessful
go at trying to unclog a line for the head, more lines washed and zippers for
suitcases were freed up, fenders washed and put away and more and more and
more!
April 11...Early morning swim in the pool for the last time.
Checked out of Crews Inn and backed out of
slip without incident to be ready for 10:00 haul out.
A bit early for the travel lift so motored
around the bay for a bit getting all the lines ready and fenders in the correct
position.
Peter backed in to the travel
lift slip again without incident and the travel lift was ready.
Barnacles scraped and bottom power
washed.
No problem getting the boat
secured on the hard.
For those who want
to see exactly where we are, check out Google Earth at W10⁰40.957, W061⁰38.032.
Carlton came and finished off the carpentry
work.
Now more work to be done!
Anchor chain hung up, deck hosed down, lines
being washed, instruments put away, dinghy bottom scraped and cleaned,
etc.
Sean came and installed the new
tarp and delivered the cushions with the new foam in them.
Before we knew it, it was time to have
dinner…..short walk over to Sails for pork chops and chicken.
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| in the travel lift |
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| barnacles after 10 days in Trinidad |
Guess he had fun too!!!
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| aisle type bar |
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| enjoying a carib |
More of the same, priced stuff, scrubbed cockpit cushions,
main sail cover put on, dinner on board.
Too windy to put away head sail, spent time at pool, bake
and shark for dinner again. Sun cushions scrubbed and foam discarded, head sail
bagged and fit surprisingly well as we were able to remove and fold on the large
dock outside our slip. Dinner at Sails,
so, although Peter’s ribs were good and meaty.
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| Brian Lara Promenade on Independence Square |
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| Independence Square |
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| Woodford Square with Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in background |
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| Woodford Square |
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| Fruit stands |
April 4...Little bit of cleaning; then to Port of Spain to look around
and confirm flight home.
Had my camera
but forgot to take pictures.
Plan to go back on Monday. Port-of-Spain’s
population is 1.3 million which surprised me.
It is a blend of new and old and very old.
Maxi taxi is $TT5 one way per person.
Poolside for a swim and then managed to put
the sail cover on.
Perfect temperature
to do the job at 5 p.m.
Late dinner at
The Wheelhouse, shrimp for me and huge piece of swordfish for Peter.
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| Port-of-Spain, Independence Square (street name) eight lanes with a boulevard in the middle. similar to University Ave in Toronto |
April 3...More cleaning, Peter ran errands. Excellent dinner at Sails Restaurant.
April 2...Continue cleaning, poolside and movie night, Die Hard 6.
March 31
March 30...Night sail was uneventful, in fact, we were the only vessel
doing a passage. At approximately, 3
a.m. we took a slight detour so that Peter could get a close up view of an oil
rig. It took forever to reach it and it
looked like a Polynesian resort all lit up.
This detour unfortunately had us incurring fairly strong currents which
slowed our progress considerably.
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| Swirling waters on entry |
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| waters and homes into Chaguaramas |
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| closer to the harbour |
We
arrived in Chaguaramus at 7 a.m. and headed for the custom dock but there was
no room. We then found a mooring and
quickly checked the mooring, locked up
the boat and dinghied in to clear. What
an ordeal……hand writing in triplicate with carbon paper and then the immigration
officer inputted the information into the computer. While there, someone came looking for Peter
of sailing vessel Mistress of the Wind.
Apparently, we had come lose from the mooring ball and were drifting and
had drifted into another boat. Peter
quickly unlocked the dinghy and went back to the boat. Luckily our friends, Al and Michelle, heard the distress over VHF and were on the
boat securing it to another mooring. No
harm done! I was relived knowing that
Peter had doubled checked the mooring which I had tied. The fault was that the mooring line between
the ball and the anchor had broken.
We then continued on to Customs and again, forms to be
filled in triplicate, money paid, overtime fees, harbor master fees and just
plain checking in fees for a total of $263TT, all of which had to have separate
hand written receipts and then entered into a hand written log.
Checked with Crews Inn to see if they had received our email
regarding an available slip. This took
at least ½ hour and then we had to check out the slip to see if it was
suitable. Only one slip was available as
the marina was full because many Venezuelans had moved their boats here on the
death of Chavez. They are awaiting the
outcome of the upcoming election before deciding what to do with their
boats. Slip was good, then dinghied back
to boat and moved it to the marina. Then
Peter had to come back with ships papers and passports, twice, as he forgot to
take the documents the first time.
Finally, we were settled and remember that we had been awake all night
and travelling since 3 p.m. the previous day, had a quick bit to eat and
crashed. Dinner was bake and shark at The
Wheelhouse. Excellent bun and fish.
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