Living in a hot air dryer dryer.
Oriole
Tue 16 Apr 2013 19:31
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Crews Inn Marina, Chaguaramas,
Trinidad. 10:40.76N 61:37.89W
We left Carriacou on Tuesday afternoon for an
overnight 110 mile passage to Trinidad. It was hot and sunny again and
still no rain, but the sea between Grenada and Carriacou was extremely confused
and uncomfortable. It was spring tides with a fast flowing stream
over relatively shallow bottom with a big swell. Once we were clear of the
of the passage between the islands the sea settled down, the wind filled in, and
we flew with the needle nudging up to 8 knots at times. There was no moon,
but the sky never got completely dark. We could not work out if this was
light pollution from the gas platforms or Tobago, but both were still a long way
away. Perhaps it was just the brilliant display of stars.
The automatic identification system (AIS) is a
wonderfully reassuring device on a passage like this where there is an
appreciable amount of commercial shipping. We identified a ship on a
collision course with us when it was still twelve miles away long before its
lights were visible. At eight miles it altered course to avoid us just
before I called them on the radio. He had been plotting us
on his AIS and had our name at the tip of his fingers.
Contrast this with a rig support vessel which was right in our path going round
in circles in a most unpredictable way. We had his name from the AIS but
he would not answer when repeatedly called on the radio. Anyway we
managed to get past him without too much anxt. However we picked him up
again a few days later when he was leaving Chaguaramas, and still
refusing to answer the radio either to us or North Post Radio, the local ship to
shore station, who I had alerted! Needless to say the skipper of
Oriole was incensed. A little Google research revealed the ship to be a
relatively new high tech American flagged rig support vessel, one of three in
the area, with a shore based manager with a local phone number! On Monday
morning, a phone call revealed a delightfully helpful guy who admitted that
there had been other complaints of the ship not responding, and as it was now
tied up to the dock he was going right down there to investigate. That all
of the four radios on the bridge were not working is unlikely, that they were
turned off or being ignored is perhaps more to the point! Even the rig had
been unable to contact them!!
Still on the radio, the local cruisers morning chat
session yesterday reported a near fatal accident caused by a large local
motor yacht charging through the anchorage at high speed producing a huge bow
wave. Several boats were damaged by their dinghies crashing into them and
a guy working up his mast was thrown off into the water and apparently nearly
drowned. There has been a recent proliferation of these fast motor boats
which go out in droves on Sunday afternoons. Crews Inn used to be almost
exclusively inhabited by visiting sailing yachts, but is increasingly dominated
by these noisy gas guzzling party boats. There have been some horrible
accidents with fatalities in smaller fast boats, and there will be more
unless the problem is controlled.
 These predators are breeding fast and
they are dangerous!
Meanwhile the laying up process is proceeding
apace, and the weather has been ideal - hot, dry and sunny, with no rain
since we arrived nearly a week ago, and practically none since we left Antigua
in February. We washed off all the sails starting at 0630, they were
all dry by 0930 and packed up and in the sail loft by 1100.
Chris has now washed everything that moves and a few more things
besides.
The little yellow motor car (The Yellow Peril)
which we have previously been lent by its generous owner and has found its way
into our hearts inspite of its less than basic climate control (windows only)
has been superseded by a smart luxurious vehicle, again by the generosity of the
Kelshall - Pantin clan. It feels as though our status has now been
elevated to that of high class yachting executives!
So our waterborne life is coming to an end again,
we haul out on Monday and fly home a week later. Meanwhile Trinidad
carries on us usual. Boats come and boats go. The parrots fly across the
anchorage always in pairs morning and evening, the corbeaux (Trinidad's
vultures) soar above us searching for carrion, an occasional frigate bird
delicately steals the catch from another seabird, pelicans fly past in
formation and we wake to the cheerful cheeky call of the kiskadee. On a
good day we also catch sight of the secretive oriole flitting about in the
tops of the trees. Its been a great season
with some good sailing and very social in the various anchorages we have
visited. It has been hard work taking enough exercise to compensate for
the partying. We plan to be back for more in November, so until then,
thanks for being with us and this is "Oriole clear".
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