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Larry's LogOur first full day in Trinidad was filled with getting the boat into "at rest" mode. I put all the lines away from docking, tied the fenders off, helped Diane put up the sun canvas and then launched the dinghy and got the engine on. I also opened the outboard's cowling and poured some fresh water on the back where salt water gets in after coming down from on plane. Then I sprayed some WD40 there to try to prevent corrosion. After the dinghy was ready, we put up the small awning in the front and the main boat awning. It took a while to figure it out again after some months but it was cooler inside the boat after that. Of course, that afternoon we got some of Trinidad's "liquid sunshine"; rain with little wind. The rest of the day was just to 'chill out', a relative term in the heat and humidity of Trinidad. The next day started off OK but soon went downhill. Just before breakfast, Diane noticed the bilge pump light on and so I checked the hot water heater connections again and sure enough, one of them was loose again. I tightened it and checked with a paper towel wrapped around it for leaks after running the engine - it seemed OK but I'll have to look at it again in a day or so. After that, I decided to look over the engine since we had just motored for so long to leave Venezuela. I noticed some oil in the bilge near the engine and found that it was coming from the oil sensor. I cleaned up the oil and tried to tighten it but was only moderately successful. I think it will have to be removed and then adjusted correctly. I then checked the back of the engine in the bilge where the remote oil connection is on the engine. There was oil there as well but I think it may have been leaking around the oil pan from the sender - it just happens to stop there because that's the end of the engine block. Anyway, I cleaned that up as well and put new oil pads underneath the remote oil filter housing and the oil sender. I then ran the engine for 3 hours to charge the batteries and run the watermaker. At the end, the oil pad under the oil sensor was soaked so I will need to address that as soon as possible. That evening, Suzi and David came over, as did Jan. Dan wasn't feeling so well but we had a nice little party. It was 2 days before Christmas and we went to Chaguaramas by dinghy this morning. It wasn't a bad trip at all and only took 15 minutes since we could plane all the way from Scotland Bay to CrewsInn. I dropped Diane off there so she could call her parents and do a little shopping while I went over to the new Budget Marine store and did a little shopping of my own. I didn't buy anything but when I called Diane later, she said that I should go to the internet place and so I got on and although the connection wasn't bad, I still couldn't upload 3 of the 4 pictures I had taken for Diane's "Naked in Blanquilla" article for the Caribbean Compass magazine. She called me just as I was finishing - I did manage to do email and check some financial information, and we met for lunch at Joe's Pizza. Ron, from Jacobite, met us and we talked for a while until we finished and then we said we would see him and Lena when we got into the marina later next week. We then walked back to Budget Marine. I bought some small items and then we walked back to the dinghy and went back to Scotland Bay, again not a bad trip at all. We stopped for a brief while at Sojourner and then went back to Destiny for the evening. Christmas Eve day wasn't much fun. It started OK, as after breakfast I made up a new security cable with an old running backstay and some new nicopress sleeves I had gotten yesterday. That was fine. As I was working though, I noticed a thin film of oil on the water but didn't think much about it. Later on I was sorry I didn't look at the boat closer. Jan from Sojourner rowed over and we talked for a while - Dan was fixing their outboard. She mentioned that there was oil along the waterline and on the dinghy's waterline as well. After she left, going to another boat to invite them for Christmas tomorrow, Diane got in the dinghy and said it was pretty bad. We decided to hoist the dinghy to clean it since trying while in the dinghy was impossible. So I got in and Diane helped to get the engine onto the stern and I put the rest of the gear on deck. To compound everything, squalls were coming through with gusts to about 30 knots. I got out the towing bridle that we also use to hoist the dinghy by the towing eyes and we hoisted it along the side of the boat with the bottom facing us. It had a very dark streak of oil about 3-4 inches wide along the waterline but fortunately there was none on the cover. We used Simple Green to scrub the bottom and tubes with a scrubby pad and got all the oil off but the tubes still had a slight brown stain. First I raised it by the front and then we did the back by just hoisting it by the rear lifting rings. After that, I scrubbed the boat's waterline on the port side that Diane had done a little already. That wasn't bad but when I got around to starboard, there was caked on oil all along the side. So I scrubbed that as best I could and got the worst of the oil off but there was still a brownish stain all along the side. Hopefully some acid wash will remove it when we get hauled. As I was writing below and Diane was taking a shower, Jose, Elena and Marina from Nausica came by in their dinghy. They hadn't left for Grenada but stayed in Chaguaramas and came into Scotland Bay earlier. They didn't see any oil at all. Evidently it stayed on the outside part of the bay. They asked if we wanted to come over tomorrow so we told them we were going into Chaguaramas early to make a call and then see some people. We also said we had to go over to Sojourner at 4 but could we come over after we got back from town. They said to just call on the radio when we arrived. For Christmas Eve, we had some champagne and escargot as an appetizer and a nice dinner. On Christmas morning, we went in to Chaguaramas again so Diane could call her parents and her aunt. We also stopped by Motu, Lady J and Jacobite. Mo insisted we have a drink with her and Joe (she had made a mixture of rum and scotch by mistake) and she gave that to me and that's what she had as well. She didn't tell me it was a mix until after I drank it and while it tasted a bit strange for rum, it wasn't bad over ice. We wished them a Merry Christmas and then went over to Lady J. We talked with Jim and Jacque for a while and then went to see Ron and Lena but they were a bit busy getting the Tropical Marine Christmas dinner organized so we didn't stay long there. By the time we got back to the boat, it was almost 2 and Nausica called to say they were leaving for Grenada soon so they would not be able to come over. We wished them Feliz Navidad and we later saw them motoring out and waved. Hopefully we would see them again. Soon after we got back, it was time to go over to Sojourner for our Christmas party so we loaded up the dinghy with the food Diane made and went over. We met Mike and Maggie, a British couple from Kinsa, and Ray and Dawn from Beauty and the Beast. We had a very nice time and had a good Christmas dinner with ham that Jan made and lamb that Suzi made, and of course the Swedish meatballs that Diane made. The day after Christmas was upsetting. We slept well but right before breakfast we saw more oil on the water. We quickly hoisted the dinghy out but it already had gotten oil on the bottom again. We were about to put it back in so we could take the engine off and clean it thoroughly again when I saw more oil on the water so we had to wait. We had breakfast and interestingly, saw that one of the bananas we had in the boat was partially eaten, presumably by a fruit bat. We knew they were around, Jan had said she had them inside the boat and found half eaten bananas and droppings inside, but we had been careful about using screens and closing the companionway. It must have happened while we were at Sojourner last night for the Christmas party. After breakfast of chiappas, I used some of the raw gasoline that Jim had given me yesterday to see if it would remove the oil stains on the tubes but the stains didn't budge, although it did remove the new oil OK. I think its better to use the Simple Green though. After the new oil dissipated, we put the dinghy back in and I cleaned the boat's waterline on the port side with the Simple Green. Of course, there was still a brown stain where the oil had been. We then did the front of the dinghy the same way as before, taking the engine and everything else off and hoisting it up with the bottom facing us. The oil was at least as bad as the other day but we now had the method to get rid of it, at least as best as we could. We did the front and sides and then broke for lunch. After lunch we did the rear part of the inflatable and called it quits for the day. The starboard side would have to wait. We hoisted the dinghy and that was it. In the late afternoon, I started a rope mat that I had wanted to do today. That kind of "sailor" work I enjoy. Around 4:30, David and Suzi came over and Suzi helped Diane with an article she had written while David and I talked. The next day, after getting the dinghy ready, Diane went into Chaguaramas by herself and said she did fine, although she didn't go as fast as I usually do. She checked on our reservation at CrewsInn marina, bought some groceries and dropped off the garbage. While she was gone, I checked the engine for the oil leak - I think I've found it at least, started the engine to charge the batteries and started the watermaker. In this brackish water, its output is 6 to 8 gallons per hour, finally getting what was advertised. After everything was running, I checked the refrigerator since it was running almost constantly. Diane had defrosted the freezer and since then it wouldn't turn off unless you turned the thermostat far down. I looked at it and the switch was OK but the sensor was under a bottle and so I moved it into the open. Hopefully that would help, and as it turned out, Diane later said she could adjust it properly. Once the engine and watermaker were running, and the frig fixed, I went back to working on the rope mat I wanted to make for the dinghy cover. I followed a diagram from the knot book we borrowed from Jacobite and made a roundish type mat that was pretty nice. The one I finished yesterday was oval at the end and straight on the sides. Both were good but I liked the round one better. As I finished it though, I noticed that the engine exhaust water wasn't coming out the way it should so I went below and checked the watermaker. Sure enough, there was no output and the high-pressure pump wasn't getting any feed water. I shut it down and then shut down the engine since it was evidently some kind of blockage on the engine intake. I took off the engine compartment cover, closed the main seacock and checked the raw water strainer - no problem. I opened the valve to the bilge and water would drain. Closing that, I opened the seacock and saw that very little water was coming in so it had to be a blockage outside the hull, most likely a jellyfish that got sucked up into the grate and then wedged in. Just then Diane came back with the dinghy and I explained the problem. I got in the water and sure enough, a jellyfish was stuck hard into the intake. These jellyfish are much firmer than the ones we're used to up north and this one was firmly inserted into the intake's grating. I knocked it off, cleaned the intake a bit more and cleaned off the depth sounder and got out. Since I hadn't used my fins, it was harder to jump back into the dinghy from the water. After a quick rinse, I restarted the engine and watermaker and we had lunch. The afternoon was just relaxing though and I started doing another rope mat. Since it was Friday, there were a few boats that came in, some cruising boats from Chaguaramas and some local boats for the just the day. It made for a noisy afternoon though. We went over to Chacachacare the next morning, leaving at about 10 and arriving at around 11:30, motoring in flat water with little breeze. We left the main awning up but took the engine off the dinghy and took down the small awning over the bow. We also made water as we went over, getting about 6 gallons per hour in the brackish sea fed by the Rio Orinoco to the south. We anchored in about 15 feet of water on a gravel bottom that's over rock in Sanders Bay, on the north side of the main bay that indents the island. Jan and Dan were near us and they came by in their dinghy later and had a 'look' bucket, saying that our anchor was OK although on its side with a small pile of rock and gravel in front of the flukes. We had passed the doctor's houses from the old leper colony coming in, one of which seemed inhabited by a local family. After anchoring, we got the dinghy ready and then just relaxed for a bit. We took a little dinghy ride later and stopped by Beauty and the Beast, visiting Ray and Dawn for a little while until it started to rain. We rushed back to Destiny, closed the hatches and amazingly, got there before the main squall came through. It would have soaked everything. While we were visiting though, we saw a new species of hawk, a Grey-Headed Kite, actually a pair of them, flying around the back of the boat. It was a very quiet place, even on a weekend, and very pretty, with birds flying near shore and the jungle slowly taking over the settlement that had been abandoned 30 years ago. Sunday we went to see the Nun's quarters as well as the 2 other buildings that are on the south part of the island this morning It was very interesting to see these buildings although they are in various stages of decay. There were still the rusting steel bed frames lying around but unfortunately, locals had vandalized some of the place, ripping up floor boards for firewood or building material and of course, there was graffiti on the walls. Still, it was interesting. We met a local man who was in the lowest building on the hill that was keeping a large group of iguanas that he and some friends had caught in a closed room. He said they were going to eat them. Probably tastes like chicken. I also saw a hawk, but couldn't identify it, flying around among the trees. We then went for a dinghy cruise around the bay and thought about going ashore at the commercial dock but knew there was a ferry coming in that day so we skipped it for another time. We were also going to land on the dock near the infirmary but it was too rough and decided to wait until we had our dinghy anchor to keep the boat off the rough concrete. So we visited with Suzi and David since they were leaving that afternoon and hoping to check out tomorrow and leave on Monday. They weren't positive since the weather was supposed to get rougher. We stayed for a bit then went back to Destiny and relaxed the rest of the day. We knew we would be working hard once we got into the marina and especially when we hauled, so we wanted to 'store away' the rest (if that's possible). Dan and Jan came by to invite us for a drink later that evening but since Diane had already started cooking and I had started the engine to charge the batteries, we invited them aboard instead. |