Trinidad

We were in Carriacou for two weeks and started to feel the local rhythm of the place. As I have mentioned before, living aboard cruising is a mixture of two modes of sailing.

Living aboard is just that. It doesn’t really matter where the boat is,at anchor or marina, many of the routines are the same. Living in a small space, with unique concerns – where is the laundromat, how far can we drag, is the dinghy full of water again – but essentially connecting with the neighborhood and locals ashore and moving with the rhythm of the place. Your neighbors are both other cruisers that come and go, and the local establishments ashore.

Cruising is more like a of tourist visiting different places. You sail, you arrive, you see, you enjoy, and then move on. Certainly, you interact with locals and businesses much more than just “tourists” and you do have many of the same issues of “living aboard”. But moving about and exploring new sailing areas is the main function of cruising.

There is no clear time distinction between these two modes. As I wrote, it is a mixture of the two and that depends on individual temperament. There is no “right” combination. But we have found that after two or three weeks in one location “living aboard” dominates and we could see how Carriacou could become a place to spend more time as liveaboards. Tyrell Bay is a good anchorage with a good variety of restaurants, beach bars, and marine supplies (Budget Marine). Sandy Island, Paradise Beach and other anchorages are good for day trips. It is similar to Bequia for the same reasons, although we would give Bequia higher marks.

A small island, however, does have its disadvantages. In the case of Carriacou, it had a major fire last month at the only electric generating station on the island. Two of the four generators burned out and it affected the whole island. We noticed it on one of the first nights we were there. All of a sudden, all the shore lights went out. They were “load sharing” the power and rotated who would lose hours of power each day. Didn’t affect us too much but when we were at Paradise Beach Restaurant, the power went out just as we were finishing our dinner. Electric lanterns were broken out and fortunately the charge machine still worked so we could pay for our meal. The island is still waiting for generators from Grenada or Trinidad. 

We moved on from Carriacou earlier than planned for a variety of reasons. The sail to Trinidad direct from Tyrell Bay is around 18 hours and so a weather window is looked for. By this time of the year, late May early June, the “rainy season” usually starts to kick in. Although the trade winds are calmer now, they blow more with a southern component. That, combined with a strong Equatorial current running north and the higher chance of squalls, doesn’t make the sail prohibitive but if you don’t have a schedule, why not wait for the best weather? That is what we did. The fact that many cruisers we knew already made it to Trinidad persuaded us to reach Trinidad early.

The sail down was great. However, we motor sailed most of the day because of my concern regarding the bob stay fitting on the bow sprit. A few days before, I noticed a small ¼ inch crack in the bow plate that secures the bob stay to the bow, right on the waterline. Not a great thing to see. I don’t think it was going to fail immediately but why take a chance? I decided not to use the jib and sail only with a reefed main and stay sail, in order to lessen the tension on the rig. I did not need to race to Trinidad and risk loosing the rig. I also used the spinnaker halyard as a backup forestay just in case the bob stay pulled out. As it turned out, by motor sailing even with reduced sail area, we needed to slow down and not enter Trinidad before dawn. That we did and by 8 in the morning we took a mooring in Chaguaramas and just about completed voyage #13.  We would stay on the mooring for three days preparing to be hauled.

Chaguaramas is our “home base” in Trinidad and is rebounding from the two year shutdown due to the pandemic,which closed down all of Trinidad to visitors and nationals trying to return to their country. The boat yards look like they are busier this year than last but the industry still has to compete as other islands “upped their game” in attracting cruisers and charter boat operators offering competitive services. There is, however, a large local boating population that has kept the yards active. The fact that the island is not as economically dependent on cruisers/tourists as other east Caribbean islands, the historic importance of Trinidad to cruisers is always a concern. 

Besides cruisers, Chaguaramas is home to the “oil patch” boat service industry, local and Venezuela fishing and recreational boating. All this makes the harbor look more “industrial” than your usual Caribbean marinas. There are no meg-yachts here!       

But here we are for the next few months. We will “vacation” off the boat for July and August and truly be tourists in our ancestral land. Well, hopefully more than just tourists seeing our children, grandchildren, relatives and friends. We anticipate feeling the rhythm of the place.