Facing it, always facing it, that's the way to get through. Face it.
- Joseph Conrad -
Trinidad
It had been exactly 3 years since my first visit to Chaguaramas - typically the only port in Trinidad visited by cruisers. Presumably the place was the same, but my experience of it was slightly different. Or maybe the place had changed slightly but I experienced it the same way. Maybe the five-day experience was a blend of the same and the different, the changed and the unchanged in both my way of experiencing it and its way of existing. It's difficult to say, the world is just too damn complex! Let me do my best to simplify my thoughts...
Bocas de Mono was calm and the current was against us again. I later discovered that it's not really a tidal flow, but a permanent west-bound current that might slow down or even stop on a spring tide but usually always flow against arriving yachts. The air was humid and my skin was sticky, despite a cloudy sky. We were one hour from being charged overtime in customs and immigration and therefore drove straight to the Customs jetty - a high concrete pier adjacent to the Crew's Inn marina complex. There was no wind and as if the hot concrete and blazing sun wasn't enough, some of the yachts lying in Crew's Inn were pushing out more hot air from their air-conditioners. Active cruisers? I doubt it.
Trinidad had changed their rules on diesel. Price: about 0.25 US dollar a litre. International yachts: about 1.00 US dollar a litre.
Obama and us arrived at the same time. That became evident the night before when we entered the 100-mile security zone that surrounds the Rock-star-messiah-like-president whenever he leaves his bedroom. A completely unlit helicopter flew around us in the dark of the night as we were sailing in from Grenada. As far as I know, it could have been completely invisible, but it sounded like the sitting about one meter from our mast. I saw even less after the boys had scanned us with their spotlight. I hope they like sneaking up on naked men like that, maybe the pictures will appear on the internet some day later - uncensored! As I walked into nicely chilled customs office, the TV set on the wall was showing Air Force One landing in Port-of-Spain. This, and the associated disruptions caused by the summit of the Americas did not speed up our clearing in at all. But most importantly, both Obama and us had arrived safely and the welcoming authorities were friendly and cheerful to all of us.
Chaguaramas was a pit stop for us, as it is for many. It's a pity because this large island is lush and green with plenty to see. The month of April was nearing its end and we had a few miles to do before we would end up in Panama - away from the hurricane season. We drove in to the Power Boats marina and took a vacant spot next to the travel lift. Not really a marina berth in my opinion, but a semi-secure, wildly open place where carefully rigging a large number of ropes between the two pilons and the gaps between the planks of the jetty resulted in access to power and water. The air was fiercly hot and humid, with not a breath of air moving in any direction.
A few long-term stayers here too. Not a good way to park a dinghy (the one on the port side), but I suppose it won't get stolen very easily...
The task: fill up with water and diesel. Stock up with groceries for the next two months. Put a new coat of paint on the deck. Buy the list of boatie bits, including fuel- and oil filters, engine oil and a number of other stuff that might be hard to get before Panama. The success was mixed. No-one sells solar showers any more (you remember those camping shower bags?) and no-one had the kind of fuel filters I needed. The work yards were full of covered yachts of part-time cruisers. (I'm not saying that in a bad way, after all I stayed 21 months in Finland before continuing again!) There was a handful of arrivals but no-one seemed to be going anywhere. The VHF morning net on ch68 was filled with mostly american yachties who seemed to know everyone well and who were suspiciously enough able to give us local advise with up to 10 years of experience. I quickly stopped asking questions about Jamaica or Cuba.
The food shopping was a slight disappointment, though we didn't go to all big shops. The two large stores were .. hmmm.. alright. Basically everything was available but the selection wasn't what I expected and the prices were higher than before. Never mind. Give Annina a food store and a large trolley, she'll fill it up with no problems. At the end I had just had to bite the bullet and get what was there. We didn't know what was in Curacao and presumed it to be at least more expensive.
Port-of-Spain, the capital of Trinidad was not surprisingly hot and noisy. We spent hours looking for the Cuban embassy and then hours again trying to find the city's only travel agent which has the authority to issue travel cards (visa) for Cuba.
We managed to find some phosphoric acid and prepare the already rustless and primed deck for a fresh coat of International Perfection. The top-shelf 2-pack polyurethane paint did not impress us in Finland but the fault obviously lied in the +5C temperature and bad preparation. With extra non-skid added, the second attempt turned out much better. The deck was finally bright white and had a good non-skid surface. There you go. The painting is not so much about the paint, but the preparation, application and environmental conditions when putting it on.
The Northstar chart plotter was still foggy in the mornings, from the inside. The hugely impressive Navico customer care was limited to Europe and now that Mario Bastos was no longer able to personally deliver a new unit for us, we were left to deal with the North Star Customer Care. I was impressed initially, after all, I got a reply in a few days. The message was Hi Lauri, I'm currently checking with management to see what we can do for you. We appreciate your loyalty and we will be in touch. Best Regards, Mark, Technical Support. The unit has been changed twice before.
I treasure that e-mail from Mark because that was the last I ever heard from him. It's been two months and I have sent many more e-mails to him. I worry about him. What happened, Mark? Are you alright?! It's pity he was the only one replying to the support e-mail. Wonder if his boss has noticed Mark's disappearance.
Annina painted the deck, braving the heat and holding on tight as the boat kept bouncing in its pen like a wild horse. End result looks good. The wild traffic behind us of 18-20-year-olds driving daddy's 35 ft speedboats (some with 3 x 300 hp outboards) created some dangerous seas. We were bow in and Aliisa's ass was just two meters from two big steel pilons. To soften the pull on the stern lines, I had tied them from the opposite corners so they cross each other. That may have cost us the wind vane. Dunno yet, I haven't had the motivation to look at the damage caused by the lines being caught under the vane. The last mission was to get our travel cards for Cuba. It was very easy, but finding the right place was very difficult. And that was our day number four. Day five was tidying up and that's Chaguaramas for us. Our dinghy trip across the harbour to see Customs was cancelled by the outboard, which again did not start. (We have a 2.6m zodiac and they are impossible to row). Option B saw tied on to the customs jetty again.
Not really any great stories to tell you from Trinidad. There was nothing spectacular about it, nor was it particularly unpleasant. The harbour is open to swell, marred by high-speed traffic and suffers from regular dinghy thefts. The security at all the marinas seemed fine. Most locals in Trinidad were friendly and helpful. In fact, I felt a warmer, more welcoming and cheerful atmosphere than Grenada. But that's me, trying to analyze each country's's character. Don't pay any attention, because I can only tell you my experience. Enough. Let's bugger off now. We have miles to do.
The bow was bouncing up and down, almost a meter at worst. Getting in and out of the boat was difficult at best, sometimes dangerous.
Young Michael and his parents Valerie and Daniel from Sy Namaste were the first "old" yachtie friends that I met. That was in Carriacou. Apparently Hans (Sy Mopepo) was in Grenada but I didn't see him. In trinidad I had the immense pleasure of seeing Bob from Sy Nemir again. It was a pity Joanie, Ryan and Lisa weren't there too. And it's a shame we're not 20 anymore, we could have gone 'til morning...
Hold on to your visa card, It's all here again. Should I buy some shiny bits and bobs, a little something that I don't need? Just to keep the world economy going...
