Changes in Trinidad

We are writing this from CrewsInn Marina, where we have moved to facilitate our autopilot installation. To catch up, we talked in the last blog about going on the shopping trip on the Saturday. On Sunday Denny stopped over for a visit and although we had intended to go into the marina to meet with fellow Canadians Leona and Bill (Voyageur C - Halifax), it started raining so we just lazed around. Monday was errand and small jobs day. I took the Sea Anchor out and hung it up.

The sea anchor is a 19 ft parachute attached to a bunch of nylon strapping. This in turn is attached to a huge swivel clamp that, when we want to use the anchor, we attach to 320 ft of line. A sea anchor is used when you're at sea (of course) and you run into the kind of storm in which the use of any sail, other than a storm sail for stability, is not feasable due to strong winds. The main thing you want to do is remain on top of the water. Of course during these types of storms the waves are usually overpowering so the last thing you want to do is to get caught in the trough of the waves. The problem is, even when running the motor, the conditions are sometimes bad enough that you can't keep the boat into the waves and wind - enter the sea anchor. You attach the 320 ft rope to the sea anchor, which is in a bag, make sure the bag is open and throw the whole thing overboard. Oh yeah, make sure you attach the other end of the 320 ft rope to the bow of the boat!!! The water pulls the chute out of the bag and it opens out off the bow and starts to drag. Since it is attached at the front, the rear of the boat then swings out behind and the boat is headed into the waves and wind. Due to the size of the chute and the distance from the boat, there should not be much backward movement at that point. According to the old tars I have talked to, you then go downstairs, batten the hatches and wait for the storm to pass. I forgot to mention that there is a line coming out of the bottom of the bag to which you attach any kind of float i.e. small fender, old vinegar bottle etc. After the storm you spot your float, reel it in, which brings in the bag and the chute and Bob's your uncle.

So, back to Trinidad. The sea anchor had not been out of the bag since we got it so looked kind of moldy and gross so we left it hung up to let the elements clean it. It is still there!! Monday we also cleared out the rear hatch where the autopilot will be installed and ran all the cables through the boat to connect everything.

Tuesday we waited for the marina to call and about 11:30 took the boat into it's new temporary home. The slip has a short walkway down the starboard side to which we attached the docking lines. We also attached two lines off the front to two cleats on the dock in front BUT at the rear we had to connect our stern lines to pelican poles. Pelican poles are poles standing about 10 ft out of the water and situated off the docks about 30 ft. They define the lanes for each boat while in the dock and are used to attach the stern lines to in order to keep the boat from swinging back and forth at the rear. By the way, you can also back into these slips and in that case insert stern for bow, bow for stern, front for back and back for front in all of the above. We back up our boat as little as possible because with the 3/4 keel and prop position, it's a b..ch.

CrewsInn Marina is quite nice. We are in the 'high-rent district' - the power boats on either side are probably in the million dollar range. The marina has a swimming pool, laundry, showers, electricity and security plus there is no outdoor bar so it is quiet. The water is just as "bilgy" but we don't get as much big garbage floating around and the boat waves are a lot less. Of course just after we came in it started to rain and there was a big lightning strike and we lost our shore power so were still on boat power for the day. They finally fixed it about 7 PM and we settled in.

Wednesday we went on a full day tour. In the morning we went to the Asa Wright Nature Centre. Very interesting tour with a very knowledgeable and personable guide, Isaak. He could imitate an amazing variety of bird calls and was very quick at spotting and pointing out a huge variety of flying things. There was a chart showing average varieties of birds over a certain size of land - 1000 sq miles I think. Anyway, Trinidad had 234 per and the next closest (the countries included South America, the Caribbean and Central America) had 93. Very impressive displays.

Some of the birds, animals and flowers at the centre.

Crested Orinpendola

Land Lizard

Agouti

Angel Trumpets

After doing the tour, eating at the centre and walking around a bit, we left and went to the Caroni Swamp where Trinidad's national bird, the Scarlet Ibis, are found in great numbers and where the main nesting area for them is. We went out in a flat bottomed boat through various parts of the swamp, seeing on the way boa constrictors curled around branches in the trees, many egrets (snowy and common), little blue herons, cormorants, and Great Black Hawks. We finally got into an area where we could see the Scarlet Ibis returning to the nesting areas. They are incredibly red, with the wing spread of a Canada goose but a much more slender body. They get their red colour from eating the tree climbing crab which has carotene in its undershell. If they can't get that diet, they lose their colour.

Scarlet Ibis

By the way, something to ponder - how many of you know our national bird, our national flower and our national animal. We went on this tour with Leona and Bill and since everyone in the islands seems to know the answers to these questions, I asked Leona, Bill, Cheryl and myself those questions. Guess what - the beaver was the only one we knew. BAD Canadians, BAD,BAD Canadians!! Does anyone out there know the answer - without checking the internet!!!


So, today has been marshall our forces and attack our projects. We hope to get the autopilot done here, re-cover all our salon cushions as well as the 2 from our cabin, get our spinnaker pole working properly, re-finish the companionway hatch cover, doors and entryway and clean the sea anchor.

And so to work!!