Fort Lauderdale to Trinidad - 2000

Our latest trip was a voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Trinidad to move Darwin's Passage out of the hurricane belt. In a period of 33 days we travelled over 2000 nautical miles. This was our shakedown cruise for this boat and we are pleased to say that she passed with flying colours. Upon arrival in Trinidad, we noted a rather amusing experience. It would appear that our bottom paint sufferred from a slight incompatability problem between the two final coats. We went from Red to Blue!!

Hull prior to leaving Fort Lauderdale and after arriving in Trinidad:

Here are the notes of our voyage from the Captain himself....

We finally arrived in Trinidad to complete this stage of the voyage of Darwin's Passage. I thought to write a few paragraphs telling about our arrival and stay even though I have not yet really documented much of the trip down.
We spent a few days (August 3-6) in Carriacou which is one of the three larger islands of Grenada. It is rather poor (yet relatively expensive) but quite a friendly place. It gave the impression of being less racially integrated than some of the other islands we passed through though as you can guess our visits were very superficial. What seems to be true at least is that the black indigenous population and the white ex-pats seem to be in more separate worlds than we experienced elsewhere.
Customs clearance at Hillsborough was less well organized and less efficient than we have seen for awhile and in any other previously British island, though without the tension and bribes required in the Dominican Republic. The bay in front of Hillsborough was open and not that well protected. We rolled a lot at night. We could also hear reggae music just as if it were in our own living room even though we were quite removed from the shore. On the more positive side, there was excellent snorkeling off Sandy Island and its reef. We were one of only a half dozen or so boats in the bay.
In contrast, a second bay supported well over a hundred sailboats. This is the bay that is home to the Carriacou Yacht Club which was sponsoring the annual Carriacou Regatta. There was also a small haulout facility. This was the area of the major white, expatriot mostly US and British) community. We had a pleasant afternoon or two there (one visit by bus and another when we anchored there for an evening). We met an interesting Canadian there. He is Brian, an ex-Coast Guard man and an excellent artist which is how he currently supplements his income. He had really captured the market at Bequia and the Moonhall residence. We met him while he was drawing a wooden boat (perhaps 60') under construction. We did attend an evening onshore with music, children and a few dogs. Nothing outstanding, but still an event. We left this anchorage after our one night stay and headed for Trinidad mid-morning on Sunday (August 6). Trinidad is an easy run being SSW. The ocean was quite clam so we took the shorter route (106 NM versus 120 NM) on the windward side of Grenada rather than sail in the protection of the Island. Winds were relatively study and soft at about 12 kts for the remainder of the day and we sailed at 6 kts in a most comfortable fashion.
As has become our habit on short hops, Amanda and I both stayed in the cockpit taking turns being responsible for navigation. We made some effort to slow down as we did not want to reach Trinidad while it was still dark. Around 2:00 AM we noticed some distant lightning and a darkening in parts of the sky. The radar defined a squall line 3 -12 NM ahead so we cut our sail even more. Nevertheless, we were surprized by the 35 kt winds and the heavy rain that slammed us for over an hour. Amanda got soaked as we pulled in the remaining genoa and much of the rest of the main. She also went forwards to undo a tangle in the furling. Safety lines are essential of course, but she did well under some heavy circumstances.
By dawn we could see the headlands shaping the Gulf of Paria in the region known as the Mouth of the Dragon after its tidal currents. The intensity of currently flow is understandable as a peninsula extends outwards from Venezuela to meet the northwestern tip of Trinidad essentially forming a gigantic reservoir which empties with the tide. Flow rates of 3-5 knots are quite common. We were slowed by the tide while still 10 - 15 miles away from the Dragon's Mouth and luckily it was calm by the time we were making our entry. We passed between 1000 foot hills in the 1/2 mile wide fjord like passage closest to Trinidad. The small islands create three such passages.
We arrived in Chaguaramas about 10:00 AM and completed customs and immigration procedures by noon.We checked out what was possible in this tremendously busy harbour (over 1000 yachts now take refuge there, mostly on the hard, for the hurricane season). We elected to stay at Crews Inn which offers the nicest of docks, a pool and even has two restaurants! It was a good choice as it was really very hot being just 650 miles north of the equator.
Monday through Wednesday were cleaning days, inside and out, We had the help of Gary and Brendan, two industrious local fellows which made a difference. We also had a parade of repair people (e.g., watermaker, dingy, rigging, sails etc.) who appeared on request. We enjoyed what was overall, prompt, profession service at reasonable but not cheap. They are learning to work with yachties in this area.
We worked extremely hard physically. Amanda was a dynamo on the boat, sorting and storing things. I made some repairs which often necessitated a walk from the south shore whre Crews Inn was situated to the north shore on more than one occasion each day. It was a 2-3 km trip but it was also 35-40 degrees Celsius. The trip was often made sweating to the point that our eyes stung. Eventually we learned to hitch a ride in a dingy!
We met several interesting people, surprisingly many were from Canada. Doug of KISS Marine was a Toronto refuge making wind generators. He had sailed the Caribbean with his wife for a few years and when she went home he stayed behind and set up a business. Rick, a manager of the boatyard at Crews Inn had a similar history. The same was true for the sign painter and one of the sailmakers. Of course many of the sailors were also Canadian.
We negotiated with Crews Inn but did not get a real quote from Scott by Wednesday so we were hauled out on Thursday AM at Power Boats. Ray ran the large lift but we tested its limit at 49 feet and 23 tons and our back stay had to be undone in order for us to fit. A new parade of tradesman came by (painters, varnishes, cleaners etc., all looking for work. Everyone was polite which made it reasonably pleasant. Most of the tradespeople appeared to be good at their job.
Thursday evening however, we reached an agreement with Crews Inn about the painting of Darwin's Passage and thus Friday AM we were plopped back into the water. We then sailed back to Crews Inn where we were again hauled out. This time we looked insignificant on the world's third largest lift, capable of carrying an over 200 ton ship! The boat was then disassembled and moved indoors for a complete (bottom of the hull to top of the mast) paint job.
Our impressions of Chaguarmas are good. The two cultures are naturally very different,. but the explosion of boat owners leaving their boats in Trinidad is creating a real economic machine which is revitalizing the region.
During the last days in Trinidad we gave ourselves a real treat. We rented a car and drove to the Asa Wright Nature Centre in the rain forest north of Arima. This 1200 acre estate has been returned to nature and everything has been done to attract the local birds. The house with its 24 rooms was built in 1907 and is classy. The verandahs overlooks a valley which permits the panorama to be studied with ease, but the placement of fruits and bread attracts many kinds of birds making sitting on the veranda an awesome experience. The meals were wholesome and local in flavour as was the coffee which was grown on the premises. We must have seen 10 species of hummingbirds and dozens of other birds as well. We were treated to a skilled Trini after dinner storyteller.
The drive on what is mostly a single lane up the mountain side and then down again was a bit of a harrowing, but it went well in our most delapidated rental car. We even visited Port of Spain on the Sunday. Our departure was early on Monday morning. Thus ended this phase of our new S/V Darwin's Passage life.