Mel and I had been toying with
the idea of leaving Passages in Trinidad instead of Grenada but after seeing
how quickly mildew develops and grows, with the humidity in Trinidad, we know
we are making the right decision to leave Passages in Grenada. Trinidad is much
cheaper for work to be done on a boat, although it is always done in island
time, which at times can be frustrating.
Fuel in Trinidad is so cheap –
make sure you are sitting down when you read how cheap petrol is -TT$2.70 per
litre!!! (US$0.42/AU$0.52)
Monday, we once again the
hired a car for two days. We needed to get our gas bottles refilled and it was
cheaper to hire a car and find the factory that fills the gas bottles than pay
the “agent” to do this for you. Hiring a car cost only TT$150 a day (AU$25)
whereas the agent could charge us up to TT$180 just for the gas. Mel and Ivo
went off and spent a better part of the morning completing the job – apparently
they had some entertaining moments, taking the wrong turnings, going in the
wrong direction, etc.
When the men eventually made
it back to the boats, they had lunch before we went to see the
Bamboo Cathedral,
as it was bright and sunny. It was
amazing to see the different structures and configurations the bamboo made. The
sound of the bamboo swaying in the wind was quite magical.
After going for a walk under
the bamboo, we headed for the big grocery shop to get some fresh produce (which
is always in short supply on the yacht).
Tuesday bright and early, we
were in the car and heading east for the Asa Wright Nature Centre and later to
the Caroni Swamps to see the Scarlet Ibis (national symbol of T & T) and
the white Egret.
Information taken from the
Cruising Guide to Trinidad and Tobago by Chris Doyle 4th edition
2012 pg 44
“The Asa Wright Nature Centre
is situated in the Arima province of Trinidad – east of Port of Spain. It is a
200 acre nature preserve set at an elevation of 1200 feet in lush, scenic
mountain area. Previously the centre was a coffee, cocoa and citrus plantation.
In 1959, William Beebe established
a tropical research station close by and many of the scientists would stay with
the Wrights. One of these visitors, a well-known bird painter Don Eckelberry
persuaded Asa Wright to turn her property into a reserve after her husband
passed away.”
Before Asa herself passed
away, she handed over the property to the Government but insisted that the
property remained a reserve which it still is.
The old estate house which was
built in 1907 is the main administration building, with a big
verandah where
one can sit and watch the many birds feeding on the feeders.
We decided to go on a short
hike along one of the many trails found in the AWNC. One can stay at the centre
and many people fly in from all over the world do stay to see all the amazing
birds found in the area.
We arrived at the main swamp
area at around 5.00pm and as if on cue, slowly more and more Scarlet Ibis and
Egrets congregated on the islands. The Egrets, once they have landed, disappear
into the bushes while the Scarlet Ibis tends to stay on the outside of the
bushes and trees. It was a truly magical sight to see! The whole day had been
truly magical – getting up close and personal with the hummingbirds and as
close as possible to the Ibis.
We were dropped off at the
Customs building and ran to the Immigrations building, only to be told that we
just needed to hand in one of the many papers Mel had filled out on entry to
Trinidad and that was it. When we check out of Store Bay, as we intend sailing
up the coast to the north of Tobago to Charlotteville , we have to come back to
Immigrations to collect the form before making our way up the coast.
It felt good to be back in our swimming costumes and to go for a dip in the water when you felt hot.
Love
Trinidad has 13 hummingbirds,
9 of which can be found flying around the verandah of the Asa Wright centre.
We watched the birds for
almost 2 hours flying passed us and enjoying the fruit and feeders. It was a
wonderful experience sitting, eating our lunch in amongst all the beautiful
birds. We saw hummingbirds as I have already mentioned, honeycreepers,
woodpeckers and even the Tegu lizard in amongst the bushes.
Our short hike was only 1 ½
hours and we saw the lek (area) of the white bearded Mannakin – the males are
known for their elaborate acrobatic mating dancing to attract the female birds.
The female will choose the male who has the cleanest nesting area and the most
elaborate dance. The males will do whatever they can to win the females
attention and even drop leaves and twigs on other males nesting area.
We heard the Bearded Bellbird
who will spend hours trying to attract the female with his call.
We saw some beautiful flowers
like the Hawaiian Sugar bush, the Crab claw, the pink flamingo and
many leaf
cutter ants busy going about their business carrying bits of leaves twice their
size.
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| Hawaiian Sugar bush |
We were reluctant to leave the
Asa Wright Nature Centre, as it was so enjoyable but we knew if we wanted to
visit the Caroni Swamp and see the amazing sights of the Scarlet Ibis and the
Egret, we had to be there by 4.00pm.
The Caroni Swamp and Bird
Sanctuary is an extensive swamp marshland where flocks of rare scarlet Ibis fly
home every evening around dusk to the small mangrove islands within the swamp
area. One can only see this amazing sight by boat and the boats leave around 4.00pm.
It was wonderful going amongst
the swamps and the many inlets and cannels. We saw quite a few blue herons and
even saw a tree boa curled up on a branch in one of the many trees we went
under.
At the anchorage where we were
staying, we had met a lovely couple from Port Elizabeth, South Africa Gerda and
Rob and their two sons Alex and James. They left South Africa mid-2013, crossed
the Atlantic, been to Brazil, motored 700km up the Amazon. They are planning on
heading up to the Bahamas then down to Panama and into the Pacific in January
2016.
Gerda and I decided that we
needed to do something very “normal” and “girly” so on Wednesday we caught a
bus/taxi to the big shopping centre close to the anchorage and had some retail
therapy. We had coffee in one of the many coffee shops there, walked in and out
of the many shops, bought a few Christmas decorations at the very cheap and
nasty Christmas shop, had lunch, did some more walking in and out of the shops
before heading back to the boats at 4.00pm. It was very good for the soul to be
doing something other than looking at boat parts or things for the boat.
The whole week we had been
watching the weather forecasts to see if there would be a weather window so we
could sail NE to Tobago. Thursday through to Saturday looked like the only
opportunity we would have for at least another week to 10 days, so we decided
to check out of Trinidad on Thursday morning and sail for Tobago.
We knew the sail would not be
a great one as we would be beating into the wind and we would have a 2 knot
current against us. Many yachties do not go to Tobago because of the prevailing
conditions, or if they do, they usually sail from Grenada to Tobago first then
onto Trinidad. We knew that in order to sail from the Gulf of Paria, through
the Boca de Monos then out into the Caribbean Sea, we would have to take into
account the tide. It is best to sail through the Boca de Monos with the rising
tide, as going against the tide means motoring at 6 knots, so we had to wait
until about 5.00pm.
We decided to leave the Carenage
anchorage at about 1.00pm and head for either Scotland Bay or Morris Bay for a
few hours until the time was right for us to sail through the Boca de Monas.
Scotland Bay was rather
crowded as many boats were doing the same as us as the weather window was just
right for those heading up north to places like Grenada, so we decided to head
to Morris Bay which was on the opposite side of the channel. We put down anchor
for about 2 hours, had a nice shower and prepared for an overnight sail to
Tobago.
Many boats were sailing through
the Boca de Monos at the same time we were and it was like peak hour traffic as
all the boats were heading out of the passage for their intended destination.
The one thing that I have
always found amazing/interesting about sailing are the rules and regulations
and how they vary throughout the world. Some countries insist that to own a boat and to
sail it, you have to have met certain requirements, which can be seen as a
money making racket, while in other countries, one can buy a boat and sail it
into the sunset – no questions asked about your knowledge, competence or
experience. I know this is like opening up a can of worms but it is very
interesting. My opinion, for what it is worth, is before you drive a car on the
road, you have to study the Highway Code and go through a driver’s test as a
car is a dangerous weapon. I feel a boat is the same thing – it can be a
dangerous weapon.
On our sail out towards
Tobago, we were sailing but a yacht that was motoring decided to cut right in
front of us – yes, they may have thought they had plenty of time to motor
passed us but on the water, they came far too close to us. Technically we had
right of way as we were sailing and they were motoring so they should have gone
behind us. It was quite a scary experience. Thank goodness we were keeping a
close watch in case we had to take preventative measures.
The sail to Tobago was
awful!!! It brought back all those feelings, thoughts and questions as to “Why
am I doing this?!!!” Let us just leave it at that!! We eventually arrived at
Store Bay to find that there were mooring balls which are free to use, at the
moment. In Store Bay, which is on the west coast of Tobago, the main electric subsea
cable running between Trinidad and Tobago comes ashore there. On our chart it
shows us where NOT to anchor but we were grateful for the use the mooring balls
which meant no anchor alarm on – we could catch up on some much needed sleep.
Once we had attached ourselves
to the mooring ball, it was a HUGE rush to get to Customs and Immigration
before 4.00pm as we thought we would have to pay overtime fees of US$50 per
boat.
Although Trinidad and Tobago
are “one nation”, when we left Trinidad we had to clear out of Customs and
Immigration and inform them we were sailing to Tobago. Their control systems
are manual, so they returned our clearing in documentation for delivery to the
authorities in Trinidad – very weird.
There are buses in Tobago but
there are also private taxis – these are individuals who drive around in their
own cars offering lifts to people. All you need to do is go onto one of the
main roads and wave a car down. There is price control so we knew that we would
only be charged TT$6 (US$ ÷ by 6/ AUS $ ÷ by 5). We walked to the main road,
stuck out our thumbs and a car stopped for us. After negotiating the price
(always do this before you get in the car) and informing the driver where we
had to go, we all piled in and off we went.
Our driver was a young guy who
had had his driver’s licence for 3 years and he was extremely proud of his new
Mazda. However, he jumped a traffic light and a police car was in front of him
so saw this happen. Further up the road, the police car slowed down to let us
pass. Well a little further up the road, we heard and saw a police car flashing
his lights and the siren blearing – we soon realised that the police car wanted
us to stop and pull over. Oh dear, this was all we needed as we were running
out of time to get to the Customs and Immigrations.
After some very sweet talking
by our young driver, who received a very stern warning by the Police Officer,
we were on our way again.
Frustration!!! We quickly made
our way back to Customs as we did not want to pay any overtime charges, only to
be told that the overtime charges only apply to crew checking into Trinidad and
Tobago for the very first time – it was their first port of call/or entry point
i.o.w. we had already officially checked into Trinidad and Tobago and this was
NOT our first port of call or entry point. Nothing is very clear when it comes
to Customs and Immigration, as Mel had specifically asked the officials in
Trinidad before checking out there and they had said overtime charges will
apply!
Anyway … we were all legal and
soon found a great place that sold homemade ice-cream, so after a delicious
ice-cream cone, all frustrations were completely gone and forgotten.
We eventually caught a lift
back to Store Bay where we had a good look at the beautiful anchorage we were
in. Lovely crystal clear blue waters and white sandy beaches. What a difference
from Trinidad’s dirty oily polluted water! Poor Passages has a dirty black ring
around her from all the oil and muck while we were anchored in Trinidad.
Also in the anchorage is a
couple who we met in Nevis, Lucy and John on Maraki. It was lovely to catch up
with them and to see what they had been up to since we last saw them.
Saturday it was lovely to wake
up to such a beautiful and yes, a clique view – white sandy beaches, with palm
trees fringing the beaches and the crystal clear blue waters.
It felt good to be back in our swimming costumes and to go for a dip in the water when you felt hot.
We spent time on the boat
cleaning and sorting a few things out but went ashore mid-afternoon to see what
was around.
There are plenty of restaurants,
fruit and vegetable vendors, car hire places – we enquired about hiring a car
as we would like to see the interior of the island as well as the lovely coast
line.
We visited Fort Milford which
was built in 1777 by the British in the same place that the Dutch built a fort
during their occupation of the island between 1642 to 1660.
Sunday – after a lazy morning
we went ashore and went for a long walk along the sandy white beaches to Pigeon
Point and into the nature reserve where the famous Buccoo Reef is found. It
felt so good walking in the lovely waters and the scenery was beautiful. Mel,
Ivo and Maya had fun climbing up a palm tree.
So here we are – it is the
already the end of November and we are in an absolutely beautiful part of the
world. While we are here we hope to see and do as much as possible but we are
always looking at the weather to see if there is a good weather window for a
sail up to Barbados. We would really like to sail there in the remaining time
with Fata Morgana, as they are also keen to go.
So who knows where we will be
this time next week…. Watch this spot!
Until next time, take care.
Love
Captain Mel and Admiral
Caryn/xx
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| Tegu lizard |
