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Larry's LogDiane met me in Customs just as the rain was letting up. She said the marina didn't know anything about our mail either but would try to track it down at the post office at the airport. We went back to the boat, cleaned up the water from the rain and just relaxed, and hoped Shane would show up soon to install our air conditioner. We had rented one from him before when we were on the hard at Powerboats felt he was pretty reliable. Sure enough, about 3:30, he came by and got the unit installed in about 40 minutes. It fit in a housing that was placed on top of the main hatch. It worked beautifully. The cool air felt great, especially since we were hot from getting in and getting the boat straightened out after our passage. That night we just took showers (wow, unlimited water and hot water if you want it!) at the marina and ate out in the restaurant there. The food was pretty good although I just had a cheeseburger, my first in about 6 months. It tasted really good!! We slept well that night, needing a blanket. Wednesday morning, the next day, Diane went shopping. Of course; what else would she do after being without big supermarkets for so long? The ones in Martinique were very good, and pretty large, but there was a language barrier and they didn't stock the brands or even the same type of food we were used to buying. So she had called the Members Only Maxi Taxi Service and made a reservation to go. This is owned and operated by Jesse James who is a wonderful person to deal with. Diane asked his wife, Sharon, if Jesse knew anything about the mail delivery and where it might be. Sharon said he was going to the airport and would pick it up for us but we would have to leave a copy of my passport and ship's papers, along with a note that gave him permission to pick up the package for us. So while Diane went to the PriceSmart (the local Sam's Club type store) I made the copies, wrote the note and left it for Jesse at the marina office. I went back to the boat and started washing it down. I wanted to wash the boat, rinse off the sails, then put on the sail cover and finally the awning. I had just started to wash the boat when Mike from Just Dessert came by. They were still here from when we left, just finishing all the projects they had and were planning to finally leave at the end of next week. We talked for a while and then Stan Dabney, a yacht broker that Diane and I knew from the States, saw me and came by. We knew Stan was in Trinidad because Ken, from Great White Wonder, was selling his boat and was using Stan. He had come down to Trinidad with a client who was very interested. I asked him how it was going and he said very well and if the survey went well, the boat was probably sold. They had done a sea trial yesterday in about 25 to 30 knots of wind and the boat sailed "like a witch." Stan complemented me on how good Destiny looked and left to go back to his client who was on the boat while the survey was being done. Mike and I talked for a while longer and then Ken came by. I said we had just seen Stan and he said that the client really did seem very interested. He had followed the boat for a year before making his interest known. Ken stayed for a while and then went back to find Vesta. Mike and I continued talking. Then Ron, from Jacobite, came by. He and Lena were planning to leave very shortly and wanted to make sure they said hello before they left. They had gone to Margarita and come back during the time we were gone, and were now planning to go north for a while. Mike said we would catch up at dinner tomorrow night and I said Diane would call Dawn to make "final arrangements." Ron and I talked for a bit and he told me about the problems he was having with his outboard. It seems that he brought it in for a check and they discovered that the drive shaft bearings were problematic and had a very difficult time getting it repaired. It was supposedly going to be finished today and they were just waiting for that and Lena's bicycle to be fixed before leaving. I asked if they wanted to get together for dinner at Joe's Pizza and he said probably not but that we should come over for drinks after we finished dinner tomorrow night. I said sure and after a while Ron left to go find Lena and get his last minute errands done. I finally got back to washing the boat when Mark, from Cameron, happened by. We only talked for a few minutes before he said he had to find Anne and go back to their boat, at TTSA. OK, again, I got back to washing the boat but by then, Diane came back from shopping. We put the groceries below and I finally finished washing the boat after lunch. We went to dinner at Joes' with Mike, Dawn and Chuck that night and really enjoyed the reunion. Of course, we had to launch the dinghy first and get the engine on. The YSATT shuttle, a minivan that had been running between the marinas in Chaguaramas when we left had been discontinued because there weren't enough passengers to warrant keeping the service. It only ran between 6pm and 11pm but it had been very convenient. Well, it wasn't a big deal to get the dinghy ready and we had a nice dinner. Ron came in during the meal and told us to go to Jacobite after we finished for some drinks. OK. We went over to Jacobite after dinner (Joe's is in the same marina complex where they were and Just Dessert was in the one next to it) and had a very nice reunion with Ron and Lena. They were going to leave tomorrow and wanted to see us before they left. We stayed for a couple of hours and said we hoped we would see them again someplace. They told us they were going to go back to Venezuela that summer so maybe we would see them there. The next day was also a busy one. What's the next thing a cruiser does after shopping? Laundry! Diane did 6 loads at the CrewsInn facility; they actually had hot water. Most Laundromats in the Caribbean do not. I continued with the boat, putting on the sail cover and awnings. I then started with my list of projects. Since it wasn't raining and wasn't supposed to rain for some days, I started on the port side chainplate for the upper shrouds. It wasn't leaking but I knew that the core was exposed directly under the caulk and I wanted to do the same thing I had done to the others on that side - dig out the core near the hole and fill it in with epoxy and then use caulk. That way if it ever did leak, there was no chance that the core would get wet. Dinner that night, Thursday, was the CrewsInn weekly potluck. Diane had bought some of the "Omaha" hamburgers and we enjoyed seeing some friends who were here, particularly Paul and Vivian from Autumn Wind. We hadn't seen them since we left in December. Paul was just about finished with fixing his engine and was planning to take a week out of the marina in about a month to make sure everything was working correctly. It seems that some seawater had gotten into 2 cylinders and rusted the pistons. He managed to fix it without completely rebuilding the engine - at least he thought it was fixed. It remained to be tested. The next day I went into the Internet place at CrewsInn to check email and make sure I knew proper procedure for renewing my driver's license by mail and to download the forms. We then went into Port-of-Spain to get my eye exam so I could send it in. Another cruiser's guest was going back to the States and kindly offered to bring it back and mail it there. Everything went fine and the eye test was actually quite complete with more modern equipment than my eye doctor at home used. On the way to catch the maxi (minivan bus) into town, we saw one of the drivers that often worked for Jesse James. We went over to say hi since we hadn't seen him since we got back. He asked where we wee going and when we said Port-of-Spain, he said to get in. During the ride, we talked about the latest developments and he picked up some people along the way as fares. When we got to our stop though, he wouldn't accept any money. When we got back, I dropped off the renewal to the DMV and continued working on the chainplates. Saturday I just continued working on the chainplates but Ken and Vesta stopped by in the late morning. Everything had gone well with the survey and it looked like the Great White Wonder was going to sell. They were probably going to leave for St. Martin and then Sacramento in about 3 weeks. Sunday was pretty much the same as Saturday - I continued on the chainplates, finishing another one. I got delayed when it started raining but managed to finish another. Monday we went over to the various vendors we needed to get some work done with and got estimates of time and expense. I also went into some of the chandleries to see what the prices were of the things I needed. When we got back to the boat, I went over the side to put a plastic bag on the prop. I had heard that this would help keep the prop clean particularly since Chaguaramas is well known for fouling. We would see how this works. Tuesday I continued working on the next chainplate while Diane made some phone calls. Carlos, from Alpha Canvas, came over to see about the new mattresses we wanted made and also about some other small pieces we wanted to be done. We decided to do both the v berth and aft cabin mattress since the one in the aft cabin was the original one and was pretty bad. The one in the v berth, where we slept, was getting bad since it was just 4 inches of foam that was probably about 6-7 years old. We wanted them done with 3 inches of harder foam with 2 inches of softer foam on top. On top of the foam was to be polyfill which would make it soft. Then we would have the mattress fabric cover. The bottom though was to be textilene so it could breath and hopefully reduce mildew. We were going to get the aft cabin mattress made in 2 pieces so it would be easier to move. Right now, it was one large, unwieldy thing, about 7 feet long and 4 feet wide. When I had to move it out of the cabin, it barely fit through the door. |