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Diane's DiaryOn 10/8, I took the maxi to the new Hi-Lo supermarket that just opened on 9/6. They have a free shuttle service back to the marina. Unfortunately, the truck is a bomb & I waited 1 hour for it since I had so many groceries. I won't go back there again unless I just have a few groceries & can take a maxi taxi back to the marina. On 10/9, I had Wally & Mike over for dinner for turkey enchiladas since both of their wives were back in the US. We appreciated both of their help. On 10/10, S/V Legacy came to Trinidad. We had not seen them since Grenada in July so it was good seeing them. They docked in Power Boats where we are so we got to see them a lot. We went to Joe's Pizza with them that night. We went to Joe's Pizza several other times while we were on the hard because it's the only decent cheap restaurant around. We spend less than $20USD for dinner for two so it's s cheap night out. The other restaurants are either expensive or the reputation for food is not good. But mostly, we were too exhausted from working on the boat all day to go out at night. Just walking the 10 minutes to Joe's Pizza seemed too far. I walked over to Shari the seamstress to get the things I left while we were in the US. I was angry because they still weren't done after almost 2 months. She had asked me to bring a whole bunch of stuff back from the US too. I brought her vitamins but didn't have room to bring anything else of hers back since we had a lot of our own things. I also did a lot of shopping for Larry for boat supplies. Instead of him wasting his time going, I went instead since I couldn't do many of the boat projects he did. Our insurance company requested we get an insurance survey done. This is basically a waste of time as they want to make sure the boat is ok, but the surveyor doesn't even run the engine or test to make sure everything works so most cruisers think it's a waste. The boat has to be hauled out of the water during the survey. However, it needed to get done so we looked for the cheapest surveyor possible. I found 2 young guys with all the right credentials for the insurance company that were just starting their own company. They did the survey for $150. The next cheapest one I could find was $264 & one was $440 so this saved us a considerable amount. The most expensive one wanted $440USD- quite a price difference. 10/13 was our 16th wedding anniversary but we were both tired from working on the boat & not in the mood to celebrate. We did have a bottle of champagne & took the bus to Crews Inn for dinner. We had no drinks at all & the bill was still $60USD - pretty expensive. We rarely eat there. But we wanted to go someplace nice tonight. On 10/14, I made eggplant parm for dinner & we had Legacy over for dinner. I took a day off from working on the boat. Frankly, in this heat, it's really tough to work on the boat. Ruth lent me a book, "The First Time" by Joy Fielding. I read it quickly so I could give it back to her. I enjoyed reading it though it is a soap opera stylebook. We watched a video tonight. 10/16- I walked over to Coral Cove to see Dazzler, stopped by Shari, & Just Dessert. I sanded the water line down. We watched another video tonight. I got really sick today with stomach cramps & diarrhea. It's unusual for me to get sick out here - it's very rare that I'm sick. In the almost one year we have been gone I have only been 10/17 - I wasn't feeling so great today; I still had some stomach cramps. But, I still waxed the stanchions, sanded the teak handrails (only part of them needed to be redone so I didn't have to do all of it. They just needed a touchup.) I also helped Larry with the seacocks, & started sanding the companionway. I never got a chance to treat the teak companionway before we left the US & it definitely looked pretty bad. 10/18- I called the surveyor; he's going to come at 9am tomorrow. I walked to Coral Cove & Peake's to get some boat parts for Larry. It rained from 10:30-12. Larry is working on the seacocks and disconnected the water so we'll have no water on the boat for a few days. I know I won't enjoy that! It's bad enough living on the hard- it's doubly hard not to have any running water. 10/19- the surveyor came at 9:20 this morning & spent about 3 hours doing the survey. We passed. He took pictures of the boat but it's a real mess since we are "under construction". Someone needed to be with them to show them where everything is, so since Larry needs to continue working on the seacocks, I did it. We had our French neighbors, Jantek, over for drinks since they had us over for drinks a few days before. 10/20- I started painting the water line with epoxy paint so we could raise the water line. The stuff is a pain to use because if you don't follow the time limits to paint all the coats, you have to sand between coats. I didn't want to sand, as the stuff is really hard. Fortunately, I got all the 3 coats on today. Tomorrow I'll do the last coat & then start with the bottom paint. I was thoroughly exhausted when I finished. My legs were cramping up from continuously climbing up & down on a box I had to reach the waterline. 10/21- I got the last coat of epoxy paint on & a coat of bottom paint on within the time limits so I didn't have to sand. Fortunately, I got the coat of bottom paint on after the rain but before the time limit was up. I lucked out! 10/22- rain again! I wet sanded the boat but couldn't finish due to the rain. Larry also couldn't finish his work because of the rain. 10/23- I finished doing half the boat with bottom when the rain started. Due to the rain, I wasn't able to finish the other half today. 10/24- A BIG DAY- our last day on the hard. After 22 days of being on the hard, we are finally getting splashed & heading back to Crew Inn Marina. Yea, the land of running water, pool, beautiful showers, clean laundry room with HOT water. Oh, the little things in life that keeps us happy! Bon Voyage Power Boats- I hope we never see you again! 10/25 - Splash Day. We went into the water at high tide & after the workers lunch so we could finish some last minute things. We went back to A dock at Crews Inn - yea. I NEVER thought this day would come! It's great to be back to the land of wonderful showers, hot water, clean bathrooms, great laundry, gym & best of all the pool! We joined the weekly potluck for dinner where you can grill your own food. We aren't allowed to use our grill at the docks- for obvious reasons- so this is the only time we get to grill our food on a regular basis. 10/26 Friday I cleaned the boat today- it was filthy from being on the hard. Even the inside has a layer of dust in it. I vacuumed, cleaned the galley & put things away. We still don't have the propane hooked up yet so we went out to dinner at Crew's Inn. The food is ok but the service can be terrible. They add 15% tax & 10% tip to the bill so 2 hamburgers, fries & nothing to drink was $20USD. Since it is so expensive we rarely eat here. Dinner at Joe's pizza for a much better meal, with drinks, is always less than that. 10/27 Sat Well, we had so much dirty laundry from being on the hard I did 3 loads today. Rumor has it that Crew's Inn & Coral Cove is the only places with hot water for the laundry. That makes a big difference when trying to get stains out. Larry worked on reconnecting the propane but he still didn't finish. At 5pm, we went to a wine & cheese tasting party at the wine store right in front of our dock with Just Deserts. After, they drove us with their dinghy (since ours is not even in the water) over to Power Boats for the Cruiser Band concert from 7-10. They had food- hamburgers & hotdogs etc that wasn't great but we ate it anyway. The concert was FREE & great. We had a really nice time. The music was very enjoyable. 10/28 Sunday S/V Jacobite came to Trinidad today- we last saw them in Grenada in July. Since they came in on a Sunday they had to pay heavy overtime fees for checking in on a weekend. We cruisers usually try to avoid arriving anywhere on a weekend because the fees are usually so much higher. I finished an article I wrote on our experience with the WTC attacks. At 3pm, we hired Members Only to take S/V Legacy & us to the movies in Port of Spain. We had gone to the early show the last time we went but since the kids are back in school now, there's no early show for adults. We could have gotten a maxi taxi bus there but were worried we wouldn't get one back so it was safer to hire Members Only. The price difference was 8 TT vs. 20 TT roundtrip or about 1.50USD vs. 3.50 so it's not a huge price difference to pay for safety sake. Crime is very bad in many parts of Trinidad so you have to be very careful. We saw Denzel Washington in Training Day- a horrible movie & very violent. I do not recommend it. Then, we saw, Swordfish with John Travolta, another bomb. Oh well, the double feature movie only cost us $2USD each! Popcorn & soda were another $2USD for both of us! Afterwards, we went to TGIF for dinner. It's always nice to have good old American food although it isn't cheap. 10/29 Monday Larry is still working on the propane- we haven't had it for over a week now & it's a pain in the neck. Hope it gets fixed soon. I didn't get a good night's sleep last night because there's a loud buzzing sound coming through the boat. It isn't on our boat, it's actually coming though the water. I'll report it to Crew's Inn. I got a pedicure done today for $6USD- she did a pretty good job too. 10/30 Tuesday Larry finally fixed the propane today- yea after 1.5 weeks it's good to have it back. He played chess with Wally from Dazzler. The treadmill is broken at the gym in Crew's Inn so I used the bike instead. It's not a great bike but it's better than nothing. 10/31 Halloween! Wed I went to Price Club with the bus for $7USD roundtrip but it's worth it for all the great food. Plus, they have a lot of American & Canadian products, both good. I got back to the boat around 1pm &started to put all the food away. I purposely didn't go to Price Club when we were on the hard as it would have been too difficult to hoist all the food up the ladder. I went on the bike for about 45 minutes but got back to the boat to wait for the trick or treaters. The cruising kids came to all the boats & I think they had a really good time. I got frozen Michelangelo ravioli from Price Club & we had it for dinner tonight. We haven't had this in over a year, as we can't find it down here & we have always enjoyed it. 11/1 Thurs Ruth from S/V Legacy & I went to see the swimsuit lady who comes to Crew's Inn about every 2 weeks. The labor alone is about $20USD & the material is about another $10USD so it isn't exactly cheap but it is a custom bathing suit. It does look like she does an excellent job & everyone seems pleased with their suits. I managed to get 2 Speedo bathing suits at home on sale for about $25USD but that was at the end of the season. Ruth wanted to go into Port Of Spain to look for bathing suits so I went with her. We both bought more material. I spent about $70USD for material but this will be good for 2 tank tops for me, a shirt for Larry, & 2 dresses for me. There's no way you could buy the material that cheap in the US. We got back to the boat around 4:15pm in a driving rainstorm. I paid the driver an extra TT (about.25USD) & he drove me right into Crew'sInn. |