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Larry's LogThursday we went to the West Mall to get haircuts. If you've seen my picture (sans hat), you know there's not much left to cut but what was there was getting long. I hadn't gotten a haircut since Tom cut my hair in Martinique, about 3 months ago. After that, we did some shopping and went to lunch at McDonalds - same hamburgers and fries, and at cheaper prices than the States. We then went back to the boat and got ready for the potluck dinner that evening. The next day it rained. The annoying thing is that this was supposed to be Trinidad's dry season, yet it had rained more now than it did when we were here last, during the rainy season. Alpha Canvas had finished our new mattresses and want to deliver them but by the time it stops raining it's too late for us since we were expecting Ken and Vesta at 3:30. So I had taken out all the stuff from the aft cabin has to go back in. What a PITA. Ken and Vesta arrived and we had an early dinner and talked. They were anchored at TTSA and took a Maxi here, and came over early since there had been an increase in crime across Trinidad, but particularly at night. Their boat sale was finalized and they were going back to the States soon and we wanted to see them to say goodbye. They had been in the Caribbean for 8 years and said they were looking forward to new adventures. I hoped we would stay in touch. Saturday I finally got to do some more boat projects. While Diane did the laundry in the morning, I worked on cleaning out the heat exchanger. I had a small brush (from a gun cleaning kit) attached to a thin dowel that would go part way into the small tubes. Running this in and out several times and flushing it with clean water did a good job. When it was back in place, I would use some radiator flush solution to really clean it. I also sanded off the slight corrosion from the outside and applied some epoxy to seal the metal. That evening Diane made a shrimp dish with feta cheese, sundried tomatoes and artichokes over pasta - really good. Sunday morning we met David and Susie from Ariyl for brunch. They had a friend, Lisa, staying with them also. We enjoyed their company at the restaurant at Tropical Marine, a marina also across from CrewsInn. We had Eggs Benedict and a Bloody Mary that were pretty good. We walked back to the boat and we just worked on updating the logs for the rest of the day, since it rained for most of the day after we got back. The next day we went on a tour that Diane organized to see the House of Angostura (makes Angostura Bitters and rum) and a pan yard factory. The pan yard is where steel drums (pans) are made. Steel drums, called pans in Trinidad where they originated, are still made from 55-gallon drums, although Japan is now making some directly. The guy doing the pan tour was very interesting and he took us through all the steps, starting with a 55-gallon drum through a chromed and tuned instrument. I found out that there are 13 different types of pan, from a tenor, the highest voice, through triple bass, the lowest. From the pan yard, we went to the House of Angostura for lunch first and then our tour. Lunch was really pretty good and the tour was excellent. Of course, we got to taste the various rums and liqueurs that Angostura makes at the end of the tour. My only complaint was that we didn't have enough time to see thoroughly the excellent museum they had, which included a huge butterfly collection and several exhibits on local folklore. It was a very modern facility and the talk from our guide was very interesting, particularly on the development and production of the Aromatic Bitters. Trinidad is the only place where it's manufactured and the formula is a secret even to most of the workers in the factory. It seems that there are only 5 people in the world who know the formula of herbals and ingredients at any one time and they mix these ingredients in a locked room that only they are allowed in. After the tour and the tasting, we went back to the boat and relaxed the rest of the day. We hoped to get our new mattresses in the morning. Tuesday morning we did get our new mattresses. The one for the aft cabin fit perfectly but the one for the V berth was not quite right. The small part for the insert in front was too large and Carlos needed to take that back and re-cut it. He also took the board back and had it sanded a little since there was remnants of the old foam still on it. By the time Alpha (Carlos and his 2 helpers) came over and put in the mattresses, took off the old ones, removed the old insert cushion from the board, we had to leave for my doctor's appointment. We were donating the old cushions to an old age home and would call the cruiser who was coordinating the efforts for them when we got back. We got to Port of Spain, found the doctor's office and didn't wait 5 minutes before he saw me. After an examination and some discussion, he gave me a presciption, ordered an ultrasound and another blood test. I was to take the blood test after the antibiotics prescription was used up and then see him again. The ultrasound facility was in the same building as the doctor and so we went to make an appointment. I found that I could take it that day and so decided to go ahead rather than come back. It required little preparation (drinking 5 glasses of water) so I had the ultrasound exam and then left to fill the prescription. Unfortunately, there was no pharmacy close by so we went to the West Mall and got it filled there. We then went back to the boat, called to get rid of the old cushions and just relaxed after running around all day. Carlos had brought back the insert and board so we would be able to sleep in the V berth that night. Wednesday was also busy with "medical" things. We had dentist appointments in the West Mall with the same dentist we had seen before. In the morning, since our appointments were at 11:30, we went back into Port of Spain to look for fabric for the slipcovers Diane wanted to make for the cabin cushions. We found some nice fabric with a nautical theme and then hurried to the dentist. He found no problems with our teeth this time, and just cleaned them. Last time I had a small cavity and had to go back. After the dentist we ate lunch and went back to Chaguaramas. Back at the boat, I went to update the web site and do some research on the Internet while Diane went to the pool and gym. Thursday was the weekly potluck dinner at CrewsInn so Diane got stuff ready for that. This was a special one though since Mother's Day was Sunday, and CrewsInn did a really nice one with a small fashion show, a singer and some Latin dancing. They also invited anyone to come rather than just people at CrewsInn, and there were about 35 cruisers there. In the morning though, while Diane washed the bimini top, I took the rust spots off and polished the bimini's stainless tubing frame. As any boater can tell you, stainless steel is not stain proof. I also did the wind generator pole at the same time and that took most of the morning. In the afternoon, I worked on removing the insides of the raw water pump but didn't get too far since I wasn't sure of how everything was put together originally. I didn't want to break anything and then not have a spare or be unable to get the part in Trinidad. So I went very slowly. A couple of hours before the potluck though, Ken and Vesta stopped by. The boat was sold and the new owner was in Trinidad and going to take possession in a day or two. They were going to stay at a hotel and then fly to St. Martin for a few days and then on to California. Just as they left, our friends from Sweet Lou, Frank and Louise, came over. We had invited them to the potluck and to have a drink on the boat before so we could get together. They were from our old yacht club on City Island although we hadn't known them very well when we were there. We saw them again when we got to St. Martin when we noticed the boat had a hailing port of City Island. We didn't have a chance to really get together there and we had kept missing them through the island chain. They had gone to Venezuela last year and then went directly to Puerto Rico for a few months. They were back in Trinidad for only a short while until they flew back home and it was really nice to finally get together. After some drinks, we all went to the potluck and very much enjoyed it. The next day I worked on the water pump and heat exchanger again. I finally got all the pieces out of the pump but one of the clips holding in the bearings did break. Fortunately, I had the pieces from the old pump and that was one of them. The last step in rebuilding the pump was to replace the bearings so I wanted to get the old bearings off the shaft though but found it impossible by just tapping it with a hammer. I also didn't want to damage the shaft so I used a block of wood as a pad, but after the wood split I realized that this wasn't accomplishing anything. I had to find a machine shop that could hydraulically press off the old bearings and press on the new ones. I have a book that describes how to do it without a press, by heating the bearings and chilling the shaft but after trying that twice, I could only get the new bearings on the spare shaft partway. So I went to find a machine shop. Luckily, the third place I tried (but all in Tardieu Marina) had a press and got the new bearings on the new shaft fairly easily but had a more difficult time getting the old bearings off the old shaft - one had gotten a bit rusty. I had decided to use the new shaft and save the old one as a spare. Unfortunately, in the process of getting the old bearings off, the shaft was scored so badly that I wouldn't have felt comfortable using it, so I discarded it. Since I planned to get a new rebuild kit anyway when I got back to the States, it wasn't a big deal. |