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Log #41E Trinidad 1 - Chaguaramus
Written at Manamo River, Orinoco Delta, Venezuela
Oct. 9, 2006
On this rainy day on the Manamo River, I am trying to get caught up on my logs,
as I haven't written any since arriving in Trinidad on Sept. 19. The 61 mile
overnight voyage from Store Bay on Tobago to Chaguaramus just outside of Port of
Spain on Trinidad was uneventful. We were able to sail for only 5 of the 13
hours the trip took. No dolphins were sighted, and no fish were caught. We
enjoyed the night sailing, the sight of the mountainous north coast of Trinidad,
and saw the mountains of Venezuela in the distance to the southwest - our first
glimpse of South America.
Rounding the northwest tip of Trinidad, we motored down the Boca de Monos (the
Monos Channel) between Trini and Monos Island. We had a look into Scotland Bay,
a well sheltered anchorage which we plan to utilize at some point in our stay on
Trini. Around Delgada Point, we went north of Gasparillo Island into the large
industrial Chaguaramus Bay, wending our way through the hundreds of yachts,
fishing boats, barges, oil supply vessels, tugs, and other anchored ships to the
farthest inlet, to the Immigration and Customs dock at Crews Inn Marina. I
thought of anchoring and taking the dinghy through the hodge podge of vessels,
but the regulations are quite strict and no anchoring for any reason is allowed
before checking in, regardless of the time of night or day, or day of the week.
We had heard horror stories of boaters who were fined for not reporting in
directly. At least we were reporting in during regular working hours and did not
have to pay the overtime charges.
At the Customs dock, Ursa Minor, with Brian and Judy whom we met in Grenada, was
just leaving, allowing us to come alongside. The check in was reasonably
efficient with only one form to be completed in each (Immigration and Customs)
office, in quadruplicate using carbon paper. We then anchored in the midst of
the conglomeration of yachts, some on their own anchors and others at YSATT
(Yacht Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago) mooring buoys, in about 30
feet of water. We were quite nervous for the first day or so to be sure we had
enough swinging room to avoid the other yachts anchored and at moorings nearby.
The combination of weird currents, tides, and variable winds would cause the
vessels to swing every which way, often pointing them in opposite directions and
swinging them (and us) perilously close. The waters were noisy, dirty, oily, and
rough, with wakes from dinghies, water taxis, tugs and fishing boats added to
the currents, winds, and tides, stirring the anchorage in what has been
described as the unpredictable pattern of a washing machine.
Love it or hate it, Chaguaramus has all the haul out and storage facilities,
marinas, chandleries, metal shops, rigging shops, sail lofts, electronics, fibre
glass, and inflatable repair services a cruiser could want; not to mention
dinghy docks, bars, grocery stores, internet and WiFi facilities, tour agencies,
car and DVD rentals as well as a handy bus route and maxi-taxi service into
downtown Port of Spain. Because of insurance restrictions on being outside
(south) of the hurricane zone from June to November, Trinidad has become a
cruisers' Mecca, with thousands of boats spending months or years in the area.
One of the several yachting magazines (Compass) indicated that over 1400 boats
were located in Trinidad by June of this year. Yachting is big business in the
Caribbean and especially in Trinidad.
We heard so many horror stories of cruisers being robbed, boat invasions and
murders, that we were quite apprehensive about being here. There were so many
dinghies stolen over the past few months that the cruisers organized their own
anchorage watch with three boats sharing the night hours to patrol the anchorage
and keep a lookout for any security problems. We volunteered our services for
the 0300 to 0600 shift on Sunday nights (Monday morning actually) for the couple
of weeks we were there. We were asked to just keep a lookout over the anchorage
and shine a spotlight periodically around to deter any suspect security
violators. Since this system has been in place over the past few weeks, no
thefts have occurred. If any violators were identified, VHF channels could be
used to warn other boats and to contact police or coast guard, as well as
sounding our air horn to alert other boats, and shining spotlights in the
direction of the problems.
There is a VHF net at 0800 each morning, not unlike that we had in Grenada. It
extended through Chaguaramus, Scotland Bay, Carenage Bay and even over to
Chacachacare Island. On the net, we were able to give away several items
occupying space on board, meet other cruisers, and get information about
activities and tours we wanted to enjoy. Judy got some Sunbrella and zippers
with which she intends to make a new bimini for Veleda and a cover for the tubes
of the dinghy. We took our non-functioning Simrad Wheel Pilot into a local
dealership for repairs, only to find out it needed a new circuit board and some
mechanical repairs which would have cost $3100 TT (or about $600 Canadian). We
decided not to do the repairs and to garbage the unit, as we have not been happy
with its reliability and have had several major repairs done since we bought it
in 2001. That repair would be over half the price of a new one. We will go
without a back up self steering system for a few years or until our next ocean
passage, as we are quite happy with our Raymarine below deck steering system.
We had a couple of patches put on our Carib hard bottom RIB, Wave Dancer, and it
is good to have a well inflated dinghy that doesn't have to be pumped up every
other day. We have wandered through the several chandleries to pick up odds and
ends. I am lucky that Judy does not want to go shopping for clothes or jewelry,
but enjoys browsing through good hardware stores and chandleries. We bought Judy
a new Sail Maker's Palm (her old one accidentally went through a washing machine
and drier, and became very uncomfortable to wear), as well as fuse holders,
Hypalon adhesive, a pilot book, and other miscellaneous impulse items. We got a
ride into POS (Port of Spain) with Mike, a Canadian single hander who has been
in Chaguaramus for many months. He took us to a sewing machine repair shop where
we had our machine serviced and at last learned how to wind the bobbin. We also
did a major re-supply at the large Hi Lo superstore in the West Mall.
Subscribing to a WiFi service for a month for only $100 TT (about $20.00
Canadian), we enjoy the luxury of sending E-mail and surfing the net from the
boat at anchor, without worrying about the time or cost. We also registered at
Power Boats Marina for $120 TT, allowing us to use their dinghy dock, showers
and laundromat for a month. The shore towards the east end of the bay is lined
with the many marinas, docks, and yacht services. Further out to the west are
the industrial docks, repair facilities and a few large floating dry docks. The
cavernous shed behind the Crews Inn houses gigantic spools of cable and the
docks have large ocean-going cable-laying ships alongside. A mile or so out are
a few large oil tankers and a couple of LNG ships with their bulbous domes
painted fire engine red. These ships keep all their deck lights on at night, and
look like strings of festive Christmas lights on the black horizon.
We watched as a large tug manoeuvered another large ocean going tug into the
floating dry dock, only a couple of hundred yards from us. I am sure some of the
closer anchored yachts felt the prop wash as the tug nudged the other tug into
the dock. It was interesting to watch; however a couple of days later when the
tug was high and dry inside, the workers started sand blasting the hull, sending
plumes of dust over the anchorage, and a loud industrial hissing sound from the
machinery. This cacophony and deluge of dust lasted for three days, 24 hours a
day. At night gigantic arc lights on the dry dock, supplemented by all the spot
lights on nearby ocean resupply trawlers, turned the darkness into a brilliant
white spectacle of the grey tug with its high bridge structure and bulbous bow
defiantly looming through the shimmering waves of white dust being blasted from
its lower regions. I was glad we weren't closer as the dust was wafting over
part of the anchorage, depending on the direction of the breezes.
Our anchor was secure, and we felt comfortable in leaving Veleda for extended
periods of time to tour the island, as I will describe in my next log.
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