Travalog Thirteen

Trinadad!




Greetings from Grenada and a short update from VIVA. No, we haven't sailed off the face of the earth. With no traveling, there's been no Travelogs! After five weeks in Trinidad over the holidays, we are now on our way north up-island. For numerous reasons, we now feel like we have arrived in the Caribbean!

After much anticipation over the previous six months, Trinidad has been a very pleasant experience. Most of our time was spent at Coral Cove Marina in Chaguaramas Bay on the Northwest end of the island. This is the main yachtie area with multiple marinas, boatyards and every service imaginable. We arrived just before Christmas, so we were able to enjoy all the festivities associated with the holidays. With the holidays and upcoming Carnival, it seems there was some sort of musical event every day.

Of course we had a long list of maintenance items, the most important being our boom repair. Unfortunately, the old boom was not repairable, and VIVA now sports a new Selden boom, supplied by Trinidad Rigging. We will definitely have more peace of mind traveling in these 15-25 knot tradewinds. The only other major repair items were rebuilding our two alternators, our primary source of power.

Steel drum making factory in Trinidad

We did have a chance to do some sightseeing, and found the locals to be delightful people. A varied mix of Africans, Indians, Orientals, Latinos, Europeans and a sprinkling of Middle Easterners, there seems to be no racial barriers. With such a variety of ethnic backgrounds, you can imagine the food was equally interesting. Our only problem was understanding the "Trini" dialect. This was our first English-speaking country in over a year, so it was quite a surprise to be struggling with the language again.

Unfortunately, we had not planned to stay for Carnival this year and the preparations are in full swing with preparation of costumes and lots of Steel Drum, Calypso and Soca music. We were able to tour some of the "panyards" and "mas camps" so we did get a flavor, and hope to be back down island next year.

And to finish out our stay this year, Steve managed to link up with the local yacht club, which sponsors buoy races every Sunday. I was invited to race on a beautiful Soverel 43, and after four Sundays, was appointed as guest helmsman and tactician.

The boat was subsequently entered in the Grenada Sailing Festival, a grueling 5-day 5-race regatta. Our crew consisted of the Trini skipper, two other Trini locals, three workboat sailors from the island of Carriacou, two young English couples and assorted last-minute pickup crew off the dock. Even with our novice crew, multiple breakdowns and gear failures, we still managed to finish fourth in Racing Class out of twelve. Pam elected to kick back on VIVA, which acted as the "mother ship", and ferried all the crew, extra beer and rum back and forth from the various anchorages. I'm not sure what was harder, the racing or complementary rum punch parties following each day's race! All in all, a really fun experience.

For the past few days we have had a chance to explore the anchorages on the south end of Grenada, some really beautiful spots. Our last trip here was in 1984, and it is hard to believe all the development and booming tourist economy. There are far more cruisers than we remember, or prefer, but I guess that is a sign of progress. We will move up to the lagoon in St. George harbor next week for a little provisioning and urban sightseeing.

After that, we leave for the island of Carriacou, about 15 miles north. We don't know much about that island except it can't be all bad with over a hundred rum shops and only one gasoline station! As for laid back, there have been numerous sightings of pelicans resting on a buoy, with a seagull sitting on the pelican's head…both appearing quite content in the afternoon sun! Sort of describes our life style.

Best wishes to you all.

Steve & Pam

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