31. Chaguaramas

Trinity have already left and are back in Berlin. I am looking after the boat – checking the dehumidifier and batteries, and cleaning up, mainly bird poo. Now I’m helping Honey Rider get ready for their departure, and will look after the boat while they’re gone. Sad to see everyone leave, but not too bad since I know I will see them again soon. Also, the cicada that’s been living under my cockpit table for the last two months is still chirping every night, keeping me company.

Power Boats Marina

Life in Chaguaramas bay carries on – so hot and humid, Sabrina and I wondered whether it was worth getting dried after a shower… Nelly Rose are still here, and we watch the World Cup together. After the Holland game last week I spent the night at their nephew Fop’s apartment – the first night I spent on land since I moved aboard Sonic Boom. Solid floors (Chaguaramas is quite rolly) and walk-in showers, it was lovely.

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Food here is so cheap. My favorite is ‘doubles’ – two eggy pancakes with chana masala (chick pea curry), mango chutney and hot sauce. Only served early in the morning, it’s not my normal breakfast, but for four TTdollars (75cents/50p), they’re a bargain.

Crews Inn Marina pool

Buses, or maxi taxis as they’re called, cost five Trinidad dollars to get to Port of Spain, about twenty minutes away. It’s a big noisy polluted city, but not without it’s charms. Some great architecture and more cheap restaurants/food courts.

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30. Trinidad

The passage from Grenada was a good one, made so much easier and more fun, by buddy boating with Honey Rider. I managed to keep them in sight the whole passage, which really made a difference – I could just follow their light (until I overtook them by mistake), and we spoke on the radio every few hours. It took us 16 hours. We set off at 10.30pm and we arrived just 15 minutes before customs and immigration closed at 4pm the next day. Perfect timing!

Anchored in Chaguaramas, Trinidad

We kept in touch on VHF channel 69, which turned out to be the channel Peake's and Budget Marine use. We didn’t know at the time, but all our conversations as we approached Trinidad had quite a big audience; a bit embarrassing, but we don’t care. Anyway, at least now everyone knows Sonic Boom and Honey Rider have arrived in Chaguaramas.

Chaguaramas

We both noticed a sudden rise in temperature as we approached Trinidad. We’re only a few miles off the coast of Venezuela. We also noticed the turquoise blue Caribbean turned green, and later found out that’s due to the massive run off from the Orinoco River. After all the bad things people had said about Trinidad, I had low expectations but it’s beautiful. The harbor is big and commercial, and the water is as bad as Simpson Bay lagoon, but so far I really like it.

I anchored in Chaguaramas Bay and met up with Trinity and Nelly Rose – more World Cup games and happy hour beers. I’ll be looking after Honey Rider while Tom and Sabrina go back to the states, and Trinity while Robert and Kerstin go back to Berlin. It means a little bit of money for me, and I can look forward to seeing them both again when they come back after the hurricane season in October/November. In the meantime I will look for some English teaching work.

Trinidad is the cheapest island so far. The street food stalls are incredibly cheap. There’s a big Indian population here, so great curries. I will have free access to showers and Wi-Fi in the boat yards where Honey Rider and Trinity are staying. At Coral Cove, where Honey Rider are, there’s also a swimming pool.