I
arrived back in Trinidad, after my half way around the world flights,
on Sunday evening May, 18. It was very hot, dry and Sadiqi was
covered in dust. There had been very little rain since I had left
three weeks before. This makes a change from the mould and mildew
that I had experienced when I left the boat in Malaysia.
Now
the hard work began with cleaning and painting the bottom of the boat
and doing innumerable chores while the boat was out of the water:
- Two coats of bottom paint Jotun Sea Quantum Ultra.
- Repairs to alternators. Serviced the engine.
- Repairs to head sail stitching.
- Food re-provisioning.
- Cleaning the boat.
While
in a boat yard I try, where possible, to still live on the boat –
saving on accommodation expenses.
I
was hoping to depart from Trinidad before the end of May. Forest
fires burned in the dry hills near Chaguaramas dropping ash all over
the boats. When the bamboo caught fire it sounded like a small war
as the bamboo exploded with loud cracks and bangs. Thankfully, the
forest fires did not appear to be much of a threat to the boat yards.
Several days later it rained enough to settle the dust and put out
the forest fires.
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| Forest fires - Trinidad |
I
purchased a new Lenovo laptop to replace the defunct dell. I was
given less than $100 US for the dell. I managed to resist the urge
for instant gratification of smashing the defunct Dell 14z laptop,
then soaking in sea water, even though I was sorely tempted after the
run around I had been given by dell US. I retained the hard drive and
after eventually updating windows h8 on the Lenovo, swapped the
drives and loaded my preferred operating system Linux Mint Cinnamon.
The Linux install was very easy and smooth.
Power
Boats boat yard prides itself on service and it was one of the more
pleasant haulouts that I have had. The facilities were good and
clean, the staff friendly and professional. I had worked on a
spreadsheet comparing the two boat yards; Powerboats and Coral Cove.
Surprisingly, Powerboats came out cheaper for my size boat (30 feet).
Coral Cove is cheaper if your don't use their chocks and scaffolding.
On
28 May Sadiqi was successfully re-floated.
I
checked out of Trinidad on Thursday May 29, at midday I set sail for
Grenada. In the Caribbean one gives Venezuela a very wide berth due
to the increasing incidence of piracy and general lawlessness.
It
was not an altogether unpleasant sail from Trinidad with mostly
easterly winds at 15 to 20 knots in 1 to 2 metre seas. Sadiqi and the
skipper got a good salt water wash to get the Trinidad dust and ash
off. With Smithy the wind-pilot at the helm and a fresh clean bottom
Sadiqi made good speeds. Around midnight I reduced sail to the head
sail only, as we were going to arrive in Grenada before day break.
I
dropped anchor at 7.00am Friday morning in Prickly Bay.
On
Saturday May 31, 2014 it was four years since Sadiqi departed from
her home port of Fremantle, Western Australia halfway around the
world. A lot of water has passed under the keel since then. Toby who
sailed with me from Fremantle to Carnarvon is sailing the Indian
Ocean on Sunflower. A big congratulations to Toby and Julie on their
engagement.
In
Grenada I was hoping to get more jobs done on Sadiqi.
Work
up the enthusiasm to get the sewing machine out and do repairs to
the awnings and canvas work. And update the blog.
Prickly
Bay being a social place I met up with:
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| Prickly Bay, Grenada |
Ted
on “Aurora” from Texas.
Ian
and Jacqui on “Blackhorn Lady from UK.
John
on “Sebastian” from California.
Phil
and Faye on “Jig Saw” from Australia
Wayne
and Tracy on “Margaret Ann” from South Africa.
Richard
and Kathy on “Mr Curly” from Australia.
Spice
Island boat yard was rapidly filling up with yachts with the approach
of the Caribbean Hurricane season (1st June). The
anchorages were also filling up as boats headed south where there is
less probability of Hurricanes.
Grenada
was tinder dry and brown with the dry season. The tropical waves
began to assert themselves at the beginning of June bringing much
needed rain. By the middle of June I could discern a slight green
tinge on the lawns of the mansions that overlook Prickly Bay.
