35. A Tropical Wave

There’s been some bad weather in the Caribbean, but no hurricanes near Trinidad yet. A tropical wave did pass over last night – heavy rain and strong winds. Flooding, trees down and landslides around the island. I rescued my neighbor’s boat from another that had dragged on its anchor. I jumped in my dinghy and stopped them banging into each other.

S/V El Lobo, my neighbor (before the storm)

Honey Rider returned this week, perfect timing for a customer appreciation party

at Coral Cove marina.  So happy to see Tom and Sabrina again, and Honey Rider was pretty much as they had left her.

S/V II Diamonds

At the end of next month I will leave Trinidad and head west to Curacao. Sailing to Curacao will be very different from my sail south down the chain of islands. It’s much further for one thing – about 450 miles. I will make stops on the way but the distance between islands still means at least two overnight sails. It’s two hundred miles to the first stop, La Blanquilla, which may take 30 hours. One nice difference will be that the current and wind will be behind me – it should be fast easy sailing.

Another problem is pirates operating off the coast of Venezuela. A lot of cruisers avoid Trinidad because it’s so close to Venezuela, which has always been a risky place, but has got worse over the last couple of years. I had thought of stopping at Los Testigos, but have been warned against it. It’s best to stay at least 40 miles off the coast.

I will also avoid customs and immigration until I get to Bonaire. They can be as bad as the pirates. I’ll stop on La Blanquilla, Las Roques and Las Aves, before Bonaire. None of those islands have any kind of facilities. I may not even go ashore, so I’ll need to stock up on provisions in Trinidad. I’m thinking it should take a week to get to Bonaire, which is a beautiful undeveloped island, and should be a nice change from Trinidad. I’ll stay there for a few days before I go on to Curacao.

S/V Zurbagan, a beautiful 90ft racing yacht headed back to Crew’s Inn