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Larry's LogFriday that week wasn't as crazy as the last few days. In the morning I worked on another winch and finished around 11:30. Diane came back from a pedicure and said we should go to the gym to weigh ourselves (that was the only scale around). I thought I had lost some weight on the diet so I said OK and we went over. I think I lost about 8 pounds; not bad for 10 days. Kendall, the new gym instructor was there and he and Diane managed to convince me to do a small workout so Kendall helped me and I did about 20 minutes on the machine they have. OK, so I finally did it - maybe I'll even go back. After that and lunch, I worked on my code again and then reviewed the General license questions and took several practice tests. I did pretty well on the tests so now I really have to concentrate on the Morse code. Ron, from Jacobite, stopped by to pick up some scotch we were going to sell and we talked for a little while and I gave him a different code program that should work on his machine. I then continued practicing my code until dinner. The next day I did another winch - 4 down, 4 to go but the 2 biggest are still to come. Finishing that around 11:30 again, I relaxed for a while and did some more code practice until lunch. I really want to pass the tests and finally get my license. The rest of the day I took some practice tests, and did well on all of them. Naturally, I did some more code. Since Mo and Joe were leaving soon to fly back to the States, we wrote several letters for them to mail for us. We also enclosed the article that Diane had written, with 3 of my pictures, and was then published in the Caribbean Compass. We also decided what Carnival events to see since there were so many and some were fairly expensive. I also did another fresh water flush on the watermaker so that the membrane would stay in good shape. We went over to Motu at Powerboats about 4:30 and visited with them and Mima for quite a while. After a few drinks, we went to Joe's for dinner, although Diane and I just had a salad. Sunday morning it was back to doing winches again. I finished the small reefing line winch but had to get out the Dremel tool to file down the plastic piece under the self-tailing guide since it wouldn't fit back inside easily. Steph came over for a while and when she left, I continued with my Morse code. Diane's father had gone back into the hospital yesterday and she was concerned so she called her mother. Everything seemed ok but there were some problems and he wasn't feeling well. They were going to operate Tuesday again to see if they got all the gallstones. That evening, Ben, from Adventure and a single-hander, came over for dinner. He is also an interesting guy since he was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois. We had a very nice evening. The next day, while Diane went shopping for fabric, I worked on the large (#65) primary winch on the starboard side. It took me all day to take it apart, clean it and then put it back together. It was the third time I had done these winches and it went back together fairly easily; the first time I needed an exploded diagram and it still didn't work right but now everything worked fine. Diane came back from shopping with Steph but the fabric store was closed because the owner went to a funeral so no fabric, but she did get some stuff at PriceSmart. We didn't do much after that since it was almost 4pm by the time I finished the winch and so I just relaxed and then did some more practice tests on the Technician and General questions. This morning, Tuesday, was the first time I was net control during our current visit. I enjoy doing it but didn't think I would be. But Jerome, on Herman Melville, decided not to take over from Trinity on Tuesday because he wouldn't be here too much longer. (As it turned out, he was in Trinidad as long as we were.) Diane told me this and that I could do Tuesday mornings if I wanted. After the net and breakfast, we went to the gym to do a little workout. The rest of the day was busy doing miscellaneous things. In the early morning the next day, we went to visit Motu since they were leaving for the States tomorrow. The boat was on the hard at Powerboats and we went over to say goodbye - Mo was going home for 3 months and Joe lived in Annapolis and we might not see them again. Out of 14 cases of beer that they bought in Venezuela, there was only a 6-pack left, which Mo gave to us. After we left them, Diane went over to Tropical Marine and spoke to Jesse and Sharon about the calypso concert on Saturday while I went back to the boat. She also visited with Jacobite. A bit later, Steph came over and we talked about the investments we wanted to make with our house proceeds. We also called the broker who was handling our account. I had called the dentist since I missed my appointment but fortunately, I got another at 2:15 so shortly after Steph left, I left. The dentist finished the crown, nice job, and I came back to the boat after buying a Valentine's Day card. While waiting for the maxi, Jesse James drove by and very kindly gave me a ride back. Back at the boat, I started to redesign the mounts for the boarding ladder and then we went to the second Taste of Carnival event, which was excellent. There was an ex tempo calypso artist, Black Sage, that was particularly good and more of the traditional Carnival characters. There was a pan band from Peake's Marina that was very good. I got up early the next day to practice the Morse code and after the net, I studied the license questions and went to the gym to work out. After that and lunch, I walked over to Tadioue Marine to see if my compass bulbs came in and to give Lenox Woodworking the drawing for the ladder mounts. I walked back with Steph and then looked at the code some more. The next day, Friday, I managed to get some boat work done. Diane went shopping while I took apart the other primary winch and cleaned the large pieces like the drum. I then practiced the code some more and then I made lunch after Diane came back with some beef salami. I made salami and eggs, like I used to do many years ago. The next day was a long one although I didn't get much boat work done. Carnival events are really starting now and we getting more involved. There's so many its hard to choose which ones to go to but they all cost some money for admission and of course transportation, so we have to pick and choose. I wanted to see at least one steel band (pan) event and Diane wanted to see the costumes (mas) so, right now, we're seeing about 10 events. I walked over to see Jesse, our tour operator and maxi driver (and very nice guy) and give him the money needed for the camera 'accreditation' needed so I could take pictures at the various events that we would see at the Queen's Park Savannah (where most of the main events are held). I walked over to some of the chandleries to find mineral spritis (no luck) and stopped briefly at Mima and borrowed some polishing disks and compound for a rotary tool so I could polish the stainless steel flat bar I was going to put on the dinghy transom. Back at the boat, I finished cleaning the remaining winch parts of the large port side primary winch, so that's ready to be reassembled. After that, I studied the code and General license questions. I worked out in the gym and then got ready to go to the calypso show that evening. I had lost about 10 pounds on the diet so far and was pretty pleased. Getting ready to leave at about 6, I tried on my long pants as it was a 'casually elegant' event, and luckily they fit, but only because I had lost some weight! The 'Calypso Spektacula' was really good, although some performers were simply unintelligible to us and the other Americans there. Some singers though, were just great and we saw Black Sage again, who performed for us at the Taste of Carnival that week. He was fantastic again although we weren't nearly as close as we were last time. The performers all have 'stage names' and some of my favorites were Gypsy, Bodyguard, Chalkdust and Trinidad Rio. The show lasted from 8:30 to past midnight with about 20-25 singers all told and 2 really funny emcees. The woman emcee, Donna, was particularly 'off-color' (raunchy). The first act songs, in keeping with the traditions of calypso, were social or political commentary, and included very current events, like the possibility of war with Iraq, and the recent political turmoil in Trinidad but many were simply about the 'human condition." The second act included more Soca, which is a combination of calypso and Latin salsa, more rhythmic and some thing you could dance to. In all, except for some jokes that we didn't get and some songs we couldn't understand, it was excellent. We got back around 1 and watched the last leg of the America's Cup that we had also recorded. The Swiss, with New Zealanders as much of the crew, won. We got up late Sunday since we got to bed so late but I was up to catch some of the morning net. We just relaxed for a bit in the morning and I did some more practice tests and some code. We then got ready to go to the Pan semi-finals competition that day.It was raining when we got there but the Grandstand was covered although the stage was not so the bands were waiting until the rain let up. They finally started and the procedure was to roll the instruments out on different size stands and a large wagon that held the drums and some other instruments and set up the band in the middle of the large stage. Each band had about 100 members and it took some time to get everything on stage and setup. We heard about 13 bands (out of the 31 scheduled) in the 5 hours we were there since it took about 20-30 minutes between bands and each band played only one song that lasted around 10 minutes. We heard several really good bands that we later learned made it to the finals. I was taking pictures that required buying a photo accreditation for 90 TT, which I had displayed. I was stopped once though and the man said that the camera pass I had wasn't good for pan events although I was told it was. Another cruiser and I went to the event's office but the person in charge of the accreditation wasn't there. We waited a while and then went back to the competition. I took some pictures after that anyway and then went back to the office after the next band finished. I found the woman in charge and she confirmed that the pass I bought allowed me to take pictures. She said she would take of the problem and clear up the confusion; I thanked her and went back down. I had no further problems, although I was only approached after I had already taken 12-13 pictures. Hopefully the word would get out that the passes we had were OK. The competition was excellent although there were certain bands that were better than others, naturally. Of the ones we heard that day, the best were Silver Stars, Phase II and Invaders. Interestingly, several played the same songs. We left the Grandstand around 6, found Jesse's Maxi near TGIFriday's and went back to the boat. |