Arrival in Trinidad

We left Prickly Bay, Grenada on Thursday morning at 1:30 am., to do the 80 nautical miles to Chaguaramas, Trinidad, where Cat Tales is slated to be hauled out for storage. We left so early so as to reach the Boca canal during daylight hours. The narrow, mile long Boca is quite doable in the dark, but with strong currents in many directions, standing waves, hidden rocks, rough edges and coral outcropings, and howling monkeys (okay, we can't hear the howlers, but we know they are there...), we'd much rather do it in the daylight with two perfectly working engines.

We had an uneventful passage during the dark hours of Thursday, except for the wind having a bit of south in it, and the current pushing us westward being rather strong. I steered until 5 a.m., while Dawn slept, then I caught an hour of sleep before taking back over at the helm. We knew we had picked the wrong day for the trip by 8 am., when the current and wind direction continued to be uncooperative. The day had some blustery parts to it as well, with the wind growing to 28 knots at times, in strong rain and mist. By noon, the wind had clocked around to directly south, and we were heading to Venezuela, with the Boca 30 miles straight upwind (30 miles at 5 knots is 6 hours). The Boca was not out of the question, but the extra tack would take us there by the dark hour of 9 pm.

However, something or somebody intervened, and the wind dropped to less than 6 knots, and we were able to motor directly into it, We did 3 knots of this for an hour, then our speed increased to 4 knots thanks to a favourable current. Then the wind shifted to the east, and we had a following sea. We arrived at the Boca just at sunset, but had to motor against a tough current in the standing waves. We got through the Boca and into sheltered Scotland Bay just in the last light of day, and put the sails away by moonlight.

I think the great Flying Spaghetti Monster (Check out this fantastic hardly known deity on the internet) fixed the day for us with his noodly appendage. We're now believers.

We had a nice nightcap, a little leftover pizza, and a good sleep, before moving to a bouy in Chaguaramas and clearing Customs and Immigration. At the buoy, an anchored boat was rather close to us, but he was aboard and it was his responsibility to stay clear of us. Well, I overestimated his feeling of responsibility, and before he moved, a ragged corner of his steel arch took a nice chunk of gelcoat out of Cat Tales. That represents 3-5 hours work for me. Kaka occurs!

We're presently slated for haulout at 9 am. on Monday. We have some small chores before then, and a birthday party for me Saturday night at Sails Restaurant, just a dinghy ride away.