44. Captain Kirk visits Sonic Boom

On Saturday Captain Kirk came aboard. Kirk from s/v Fiddler came around with his German friend to see Sonic Boom. So I showed them round. Last week an old sailor dinghied right up to me, waved and then slowly dinghied all the way round Sonic Boom. I wondered what he was doing. Finally he smiled and said in a thick American accent, ‘Yup, sure is a pretty boat,’ then left. The next day I put out a call on the morning cruisers’ net for a pilot book for Venezuela and Bonaire, and s/v Liberty called back and said they had one. When I went to get it, the captain turned out to be the admirer in the dinghy. 

Thanks Just Imagine

Today I went to immigration and checked out. Local radio has been playing non-stop ‘parang’ – Christmas music, played by steel drum or ‘pan’ bands; so to a calypso version of  ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’, I’m finally leaving Trinidad. After over five months I’m happy to be going and very happy with what I’ve achieved here. Sonic Boom is massively improved, with a new solar panel, a new outboard, new anti-fouling paint, and lots of wood, canvas and plumbing work done. I’ve saved a few hundred dollars from teaching, I’m clean, well provisioned and excited about the long sail ahead.

With a fond farewell, Honey Ryder sails off into the sunset

Honey Ryder left already. So sad to see them go, but I know I will catch up with them one day; we’re both staying in the Caribbean although at opposite ends...

Coral Cove Marina pool (and pool boy)

Although I won’t miss Port of Spain or Tunapuna, some things I will miss about Trinidad – the great food, and cheap prices. What I miss at the moment though, are white beaches, clear ocean and colorful fish. I’m looking forward to chilling out in Los Roques for a while before heading to Bonaire and then Curacao, which will probably be the next place for an Internet connection. First I’ve an overnight sail through pirate infested waters to La Blanquilla – I’ll leave at dawn.

tall ship anchored off Chaguaramas

43. Journey to the Bottom of the Sea

Trinity are having problems and will take a week or so extra to fix them. Their teak deck is falling apart; the rubber sealer that goes between the teak is rotten. So I’m helping them scrape that out and replace with new sealer. I don’t think anything could be worse than fixing my head, but this is pretty close.

At the same time I’ve been cleaning, sanding and sealing my own teak. I found some teak oil sealer in one of my lockers and thought better to use it. My cockpit floor is looking much better. Just Imagine gave me some material they had spare, so I started making cushion covers.

From scraping out old rubber to hand sewing material with little boats on, feels like going from one extreme to the other, but it’s important to have a really comfortable interior. Sometimes when I go inside other yachts, they’re so luxurious, I feel envious, but I’ve also found that with very little cost it’s possible to make big improvements. Now I’m on the look out for picture frames – I got some original illustrations from Jules Verne books.