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Diane's Diary7/31 Tuesday We left Grenada about 5pm last night. We had a beautiful sail over. There was not much wind, less than 10 knots & the waves were only around 3-5 so it was perfect for me. I had taken the Sturgeon around 9am & followed up with another tablet at 5pm but I don't think I really needed it since it was so calm. We wanted to arrive in Trinidad after 9am as Trinidad charges OT if you enter their waters before customs opens at 8am so we weren't in a hurry to arrive. It was a beautiful night, & the stars were shining brightly. We had peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. I tried to get some sleep as it was going to be a long night so I went down below to sleep around 7pm. Unfortunately, it was so hot below with all the hatches closed that even with the fan on I couldn't sleep. I got up around 11:30 & let Larry sleep. He chose to sleep in the cockpit due to the heat below. Unfortunately, I don't think he slept at all. It's also hard to get your sea legs back after being in port for several weeks. I used my Walkman, which really helped me to stay awake. I was dancing to the music to try & stay awake. We had the jib & mainsail up but were only making about 3.5 knots. At that rate it will take a lot longer than the 14 hours we thought it would. Oh, well, it's a beautiful night, & we aren't in a rush so we'll continue to sail. I stayed on watch until 4am when I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer so I woke Larry up to take over. I knew I needed to get some sleep & was absolutely exhausted so I went down below to try & sleep. Fortunately, it was a little cooler now so I was able to sleep. I woke up around 6am & was hungry so I heated up some corn beef hash for the both of us. Larry tried to get some sleep then but couldn't. I took over watch. We weren't going very fast at that point & the current was against us so I persuaded Larry to turn the engine on or we would never get there. Around 10 am we approached Chaguaramas harbor. I called Crews Inn marina where we had a reservation for 8/1. We had emailed them Sunday to tell them we would arrive 7/31 & requested our slip early if possible. Crews Inn told us to come in at the customs dock at the end of their pier but since our slip was on that same dock it didn't make sense. Fortunately, our good friends Mima happened to be at Crews Inn when we called & gave us directions to come into the customs dock. She knew we would be tired after the long passage & we were so she helped us out. When we got to the customs dock, it was full so I called the marina back & they told me to call customs & request to go into our slip. Customs never answered so I called Crews Inn back & they said we could proceed into our slip. Steph, on Mima helped us into the slip. It was really hard on Larry since he didn't sleep at all & was very tired. At least I had a few hours sleep. Steph really helped us a lot. Since we didn't have any Trinidad currency she even lent us the money to check in. We could have paid in American dollars but the currency exchange is always better if you pay in local currency. Strangely, immigration wanted to see me also - I have no idea why. Standard procedure on the other islands was to have the captain only to proceed to customs & immigration. I have not had to go to customs in any other country. We saw our friends from Great White Wonder & they came on board. It was nice seeing everyone again but I was tired & really just wanted to sleep. We knew we wanted an air conditioner since it is very hot in Trinidad especially at this time of year - the rainy season. Well, within the hour the AC man was at the boat. He promised to install it that afternoon. Later that afternoon & $90USD later we had an air conditioner installed. Thank goodness for AC- it's almost a necessity here. I don't think you could be in a marina without it as it's so ungodly hot. The humidity is almost unbearable. We are glad to have the AC & it was well worth the money. We went to lunch with Mima - we last saw them in Martinque in May so it was nice seeing them again. I checked in with the Crews Inn marina office & they gave me the keys to the place. The bathrooms & laundry are locked & are for marina guests only. The laundry is $2 USD per wash or dry. It's a pleasure to have a Laundromat again. The laundry just wasn't getting that clean using hand laundry & cold water. The marina is just great - the grounds are beautiful, there's a pool, gym, laundry, water aerobics. We may never leave! The marina happened to be having their monthly party tonight so naturally we couldn't pass that up. Larry wasn't feeling well - he thinks it was from the heat so he just wanted to stay inside in the AC. I took a quick shower & went to the party. They had a band, some dancers, free rum drinks & appetizers. It was a nice introduction into the marina. Sounds like we'll really like it here. I met some other cruisers & got back to the boat around 9pm. Larry was still laying down- I'm sure it was a combination from lack of sleep & the intense heat down here. There's little wind here so it makes it seem much hotter than we have been used too. 8/1 Wednesday Today is a holiday here in Trinidad- emancipation day- the day slaves were freed. For us, it was a day of slavery though - we had not been in a marina since we left Martinique in May so we had lots to do. We had tons of laundry - I did 8 loads today. I had been hand-washing clothes for a long time so it was great to use a machine. They even have hot water here- something we haven't seen since we left the US. We had lots of stains on our clothes that I wasn't able to get clean doing hand laundry in cold water. One of the workers kindly lent me a product they use to get stains out- turns out its MaryKate On & Off. I would never thought of using it to take out clothes stains but I guess it really works well as I tried it on all the stains & it did a great job. Anyway, it took me hours to get the laundry clean. Larry worked on the boat - he put chafing gear on the dock lines & did lots of other boat chores. Everyone thinks we cruisers sit around all day drinking beers all day but that couldn't be further than the truth. The sun & heavy boat usage makes gear break down much more frequently than in the US. We had dinner with Mima tonight - I brought some crab quiche I had leftover. We walked over there but I think we will launch the dinghy- we are only about 100 yards away from there across the water but have to walk around the marina to get to the other side- about 15 minutes away. It doesn't sound like much of a walk but in the hot sun the walk is brutal. Also, there are some security issues so it's best not to walk around from one marina to another at night. We watched some cable TV when we got back to the boat- we have about 65 channels here. We haven't seen this much TV since we left the US! It's definitely strange to have it- we really got used to just reading at night. I didn't miss it when we didn't have it but now it's nice to have it again. I think it's definitely the "boob tube" & is definitely distracting us from our boat work! We would be better off not having it! Since we have it we are tempted to watch it. 8/2 Thursday Well, since we have TV to watch at night we are definitely staying up later at night & getting up later. We used to go to bed around 9pm & get up around 6am. Now we are going to bed after 10 & not waking up till around 8am. We will definitely have to correct this, as it's definitely much cooler in the morning to do boat chores. They have a terrific cruisers net here at 8am daily. It's even better than the St. Marten radio net. They have weather, new arrivals & boat departures, ads by business, security problems, boat items swap etc. We listen to it every day. |