Toiling for the last time......well this year anyway....in Trinidad

Well, we are afloat and bobbing around in Crews Inn Marina for a few weeks before finding an anchorage and looking for a weather window to leave Chaguaramas and this wonderful island. So far the major engine service has done us proud and Susan is the delighted recipient of new cockpit cushions, no need to mention the colour! So, this year we have new cockpit cushions, new cockpit canopy and sprayhood – excellent work by Sean and his team at Superb Canvas, replaced the anchor chain (280ft or 85 metres), have a new bow boarding ladder, second wind generator mount on the gantry, an inverter, major engine service, new anti-foul, and re-seated hatches, plus numerous small repairs and servicing; are we ready for the new season or what! We also traded the old 4hp 2 stroke Yamaha as three outboard engines is probably a little excessive.

The splash back in became a bit hectic as Peakes, at the last minute, asked us if we could go in an hour early to ensure a fair tide for a delayed catamaran launch - not really a problem but it did create a fair bit of work and rushing around. Thankfully Falco, who has serviced the engine, was able to come to the boat and check things over – he was very insistent we called him when we were launched, and after tracing a small leak, pronounced the trusty Volvo in good shape. Yippee!

Once on the water we could test the fridge (worked) and the thru-hulls (no leaks) and the outboard and dinghy – the dinghy was fine, but the outboard proved to be recalcitrant. Ran for a while, then cut out and refused to restart. Checked the filters and replaced the fuel. Engine started and ran ok. Following morning, when we had to cross to the other side of the bay, it refused to start, so paddled all the way there and back – some muscles, well lots really, were complaining! Checked filters, carb, silently told it that we weren’t happy, removed carb and sprayed Carb and Choke into it, replaced carb after some time looking for, and retrieving, the nut that had made its way into the deepest, darkest reaches and most hard to reach parts of said engine, muttered fiendish threats of torment if it wouldn’t do it’s job, and it finally started. So off Andrew went for a test. Andrew by this time was wringing wet with sweat and looking a very sorry state. Following day, it started first time and off he went for another test all seemed well – was this a result? A trip across the bay to get the House DVD and Susan’s sun glasses, left in the UK and very kindly and generously brought out by Anne from Freya of Clyde, proved successful as well. Andrew is almost happy with the outboard again!

We didn’t do the whole Divali thing this year, the Festival of Light down in Felicite, as we had enjoyed the trip last year. However we did go to the Divali Nagal market which was a great experience. The food was fantastic from the various stalls, the pepper roti was an experience and rarely seen outside Divali, the material on show was amazing and the colours wonderfully vibrant and very reasonably priced, and the music entertaining. There were also numerous stalls selling fireworks in a way that would send shivers of horror through Health and Safety inspectors back in the UK – however, there were no incidents.

We had an entertaining evening with fellow cruisers at a pot luck to celebrate the American Thanksgiving – amazingly Barb (from Tussan Tek II) had managed to roast a turkey so in addition to the usual mixed dishes, folks could have turkey and gravy. And very nice it was too. Can’t beat our bangers though, well nearly!

And talking of bangers, Susan heard what sounded like firecrackers or flares, going off the night before the pot luck – Andrew was fast asleep; after all it was after 9pm! It turned out that these were shots fired by police at a known “hood” who was spotted in the area. He was chased down the pontoons between the boats in the marina and dived into the water. The bangs were shots from automatic rifles carried by two police officers. Thankfully no one was hurt, but there were a lot of shaken cruisers on the pontoons!

Susan did her final Net Controller stint on the 28th which is also when Andrew did his last weather report for the Cruisers Net(and was flirted with by several ladies) – we have enjoyed doing this and have had some positive feedback on how they are conducted and delivered, which is really nice. If we are asked next year, you never know! Good Net Controllers are fairly rare in these parts, and weather folks seem even rarer.

Unfortunately our final gorge walk had to be cancelled due to heavy rain on the Eastern side of the island – we had done part of this walk last season, but were looking forward to doing the whole gorge. It will still be here next season though. Sunday Domino’s has seen mixed success but is never the less great fun. Susan has also restarted her line dancing exercises and is rewarded by a dip in the on-site pool. Very nice too.

Susan also went to a carol service at the Presidents palace and we both went to see Skyfall at the Port of Spain IMAX. The carol service was very different with a variety of different groups singing and playing music. The Steel Pan National Orchestra were playing and they sounded wonderful, they did great versions of the William Tell Overture and the Hallielujah Chorus. There were several choirs including a childrens' church choir that had 'snow' being blown across the stage. Susan really enjoyed herself. Skyfall was seen at the IMAX cinema with a huge screen and good sound system and was really enjoyed, not the best Bond film ever but was ok.

We also went to the American Embassy for a visa interview to visit the US Virgin Islands after applying online, and they have let us in – maybe we are not so disreputable as we think [Symbol] . An early start saw us queuing for about 40 minutes, after which a sit in a fairly cool interior room, eventually led us to a very nice American who said our applications had been approved. Excellent. So we are looking forward to seeing a few more islands, though it has to be said that they are very popular with charterers, so we shall see and report back later.

We are really excited with Phil and Ruth’s news and look forward to two new grandchildren in 2013 – Jen’s new offspring in February and Phil and Ruth’s in June (ish). Wow – looking forward to going back to the UK next summer to see even more family, absolutely wonderful! We are so thrilled.

Happy birthday to Ian – hope the move goes well and looking forward to seeing the new house!

Happy Birthday Chris, hope you have a good one. (we know we are late for one and early for the other.....)

So it’s time to leave Trinidad, a wonderful and intriguing island, and head north for another season. We are looking forward to seeing friends and new cruisers throughout the islands and, in particular, Andy and Lesley and, hopefully, Sue and Paull next year. The possibility of racing in Antigua Race week is a very exciting prospect as well. Another, and probably our last full sailing season in the Caribbean beckons, and we are looking forward to it immensely.

More as and when.

Susan & Andrew
S/Y Andromeda of Plymouth
Trinidad

PS as many of you will have noticed we are still in Trinidad due to a mishap Andrew had. When he was leaving Andromeda to go to play dominoes he went to step on the dock and missed and so scraped his left shin quite badly. He received first aid from the marina staff and last Monday we went to the local hospital to get it checked over and he has been on antibiotics and been back for two follow up appointments. We are now looking after it ourselves and hope to go and anchor/moor in the bay here before leaving end of the weekish after some nasty weather has blown through.