Trinidad – by Gary

Well it’s taken me a while to get an approach to this blog, coz all we did in Trinidad was work on the boat – how boring is that?

Sure in Trinidad there were some sights to see, some places to go, but fresh back from Europe, all the kids wanted to do after school (an intensive 5hrs per day – gotta catch up, groan, moan) was hang out with Emily, curl up and read a book or watch a video.  Couldn’t blame them really.  Besides which there was so much to do on the boat – so many jobs to keep Vicki and me busy!  And Trinidad is a fabulous place for getting those jobs done, it has everything a yachtee could need (or they’ll get it in for you).

Why is Trinidad so good for working on the boat you ask?  Well many Americans and European retiree sailors have developed a rather neat life style; they spend the northern hemisphere winter sailing the balmy waters of the Caribbean, then during the summer season they store their boats ashore and head home.  Summers are not good for sailing here; it’s hot, humid and wet while the weather back home is perfect and besides... its dangerous! It’s the time of year when hurricanes spawn out in the equatorial Atlantic and sweep across the Caribbean Sea.  But Trinidad is just far south enough to be out of the hurricane belt, so it has become the storage location of choice.  And to service the needs of all these yachtees (coz once the boat is out of the water you might as well catch up on some maintenance right?) there is an amazing suite of shops, supplies and expertise.

So there we were, working on the boat... and come to think of it, just about everybody else we knew was doing the same thing.

Just a few of the hundreds of stored boats.

Sandy and Max seemed to work from sun-up to sun-down on their pride and joy Volo – she is a corka boat which they built in Queensland.

Anne and Barry lavishing maximum effort on Cat’s Paw IV.  We have been bumping in to these guys ever since Fiji, almost 3.5 years ago.  Sadly Trinidad is a parting of the ways for us – they are headed north, while we go west.

Jasmin doing some finishing touches to Le Mistral.  At the time Tolly was off at the yachtee shop attending the other ever popular Trinidad yachtee past-time – spending money.

Emily, Kim and Tom working on their ‘trawler’ Emily Grace.  We have known these guys since Madagascar, another sad farewell.

Brian and Dorothy were maybe the exception – they got some balance, worked on their boat Tagish...

... and got out and did some exploring of the island.  Well done guys.  We first met Brian and Dorothy in Tana, Vanuatu (we went to the volcano together) and have been bumping in to them ever since.  We are both headed through Panama in the new year – so we will get to hang out with them for quite a bit longer.  YEAH.

Mojombo, finally on her way back into the water (where we did some more jobs).

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