Position 10°40’614N 061°38’4184W
At anchor, Chaguaramas, Trinidad.
Hi dear friends, thank you for following my journey. Here is this week’s update.
Life Onboard:
Mother’s day is a big ting (not spelt incorrectly for that’s how they say ‘thing’ out here) in Trinidad, the radio stations have been building up to all week so I hope wherever you are your mother is in your thoughts today.
The other big thing this week was the last friendly the socca worriers (The Trinidad national football team) would play before leaving for Germany. The game was against Peru, the final score was one goal all. I also heard that somehow Liverpool now hold the F.A. cup after winning on penalties against West Ham, this just goes to prove often in life there is no skill involved, just luck and so it must be on this occasion. No seriously well done Liverpool (Lucky b******s).
Here the rainy season is quickly approaching, now although I said the rainy season, for most of the day it is very hot and sunny, the rain just comes in during the late evening although we are forecast for a few thunderstorms this week coming.
Here it has been a relatively quite week with only the usual new or returning visitors to Trinidad, then there are those who have finished and are flying home. Trinidad is a very popular place and has been increasingly so for the past ten years although since the hurricane-hit Grenada a few years ago it is busier than ever. People bring their boats to store on the hard (dry land) for the hurricane season, return four or five months later. There are over 1000 boats spaces on the hard, which are at the moment about half full however; by this time next month it will be full.
One last thing before moving on, did you know there is a worldwide shortage of silicon. I went to purchase another solar panel on Thursday only to find they only had one very small panel left and that they could not purchase any more. Solar panels which use the Mono-crystalline manufacture technique have ceased production worldwide, they are rapidly trying to develop a new production method but until then no solar panels anywhere in the world!
Makes you wonder what we are doing to our world.
The Boat:
Well the washing of the covers continues as does the tidying onboard, yesterday it was the turn of the electronic mess hidden behind the radar panel. A job I have been meaning to do for ages although I did tidy it up before leaving but now I am putting in all new connectors then tidying the cable runs. I have also rewired the amateur radio so it is now powered directly from the batteries, this should reduce any interference form the wind generator but it has not. The next step is to rewire the wind generator, which I will be doing this week however I will not connect the new wiring up until some friends visit in a few weeks, two pair of hand make it easier.
The LED navigation lights arrived this week also, you would not believe how compact it is, and using only 0.5amps an hour compared to the current 2amps with the bulb lit units. In addition, the electric windless is due in next week however the chain will not be here until the end of June, I have ordered 200 feet. eh, that brings me to my biggest bind about working out here when owning a European vessel. Everything is imperial so mixing and matching our out, you have to fit all new. For example I fitted the new pump on the heads (toilet) on Thursday and as the old waste hose was six years old and only have the inside diameter it should be (due to waste build up over the years) I purchased some new hose, roughly about the same size but imperial, would the dam thing fit the skin fitting (the connection going through the boat to the water) even after trying every trick in the book, like putting fairy liquid on the fitting and placing the end of the hose in boiling water to soften it so that it slides on easier. I ended up cleaning the old hose and refitting that.
Now, your going to laugh about this one although I was not at the time. I purchased a rather nice BBQ on Saturday morning so later that day I set out fitting it. It is the log style type and therefore difficult to fit single-handed but I thought I would give it ago. I fitted a bracket to the rail on the Port (left) quarter, which overhangs the side by about 20cm. I tightened this bracket as tight as I could then fitted the BBQ on the top while trying to fit a nut underneath, OK, you guess the rest, the bloody (sorry about that) bracket moved under the weight causing the BBQ to roll over and k-splash. Em there seams to be a theme going here for the past few weeks do not you think?
Seriously though it is very lumpy here due to the amount of traffic, it is often more smoother being at sea. Anyway as I stared at the eking BBQ gently being moved seaward for what seamed minutes thinking bye, bye BBQ. Somehow it floated so I just had go in after it and rescue this lovely peace of stainless steel, ah two washes in one day.. Bad habit I must get out off ha ha ha.
Well I think that is enough about the work onboard for now. To all the mothers out there I hope you are having a great Sunday.
Fair winds and calm seas.
David.