Fishing Fiasco

bearcruzer

Nov 4

A Sportfishing tournament hosted by the Rodney Bay Marina that had to be postponed during the hurricane did take place within a couple of days after the storm.   Mike got a few shots of the start of the tournament when the mass of boats took off from the bay in a cloud of diesel smoke and large wakes.  We would dred the mornings and afternoons when the teams of boats would leave or return to the marina as the large wakes would cause DD to rock violently at anchor.   We did enjoy listening to the radio transmissions from the Sports fishermen when they hooked up or landed a big fish.   When we left St. Lucia headed for Martinique we rigged our fishing lines and dropped them into the water.   The weather was a bit unpredictable and just as a big squall hit so did a fish on our line.   I yelled” fish on” and took the helm while Mike began reeling in the fish.       I can’t say we are as accomplished as those sports fisherman.    We proceeded through a comedy of errors to bring in our catch.   As the rain and wind pelted Mike he yelled “It feels big,  better get the gaff.”   I locked the wheel in place and went below to get the Gaff and when I returned to the cockpit DD was heading in a different direction.   I brought her back on course when the fish broke the surface and Mike yelled again “It’s got a Spike!”   Marlin, Swordfish, Sailfish?   In our excitement, we had completely forgotten the other line in the water and the fish proceeded to swim over it.   Now we had two lines to contend with.   Again I locked in the wheel and went to hold the fishing rod while Mike precariously climbed up the Davits and brought the other pole and line to the same side of the boat to untangle it from the first.    Again DD wandered off course in yet another direction.   This was repeated twice more when Michael said,  “I’m going to need my pliers”  and then “get me some gloves”.    I, of course, had to grab the camera to document this auspicious event.     Meanwhile back at the helm, DD continued behaving like a beagle off leash and at one point was even heading back in the opposite direction.  Our friends watching from their boats thought we must really be fighting something big to be making all these obscure maneuvers.    Mike finally brought the little Sailfish to the back of the boat and with gloves on and pliers in hand, released it.   It was tired but swam gratefully away.   This was the perfect example of a learning experience at its best.   Lesson 1) After locking in the wheel in place,  PRESS THE BUTTON to activate the Autohelm,  Duh!…..the boat will remain on course.    Lesson 2)  When one line has a fish on,  reel in the other so it doesn’t interfere with the first thus avoiding the need to perform death defying acrobatics in less than stellar conditions while your partner is frantically praying.      Lesson 3) Have everything needed to bring in a big fish or to release it, in the cockpit and at the ready so as not to have to rummage below, causing sudden bouts of stress induced Turrets’ Syndrome.     Or maybe just Don’t Fish when it is stormy out………Naaaaaaw!  Not an option!

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A story worth retelling!

bearcruzer

November 2 – 4

With the seas calming down, we opted to move DD off the docks at Rodney Bay Marina.  Although power was available to some yachts we were never able to get it working at our dock.   The entire Island is without running water except for what is caught or stored in individual cisterns.   The local radio station broadcasts a continuous series of how to gather and sanitize water to drink as well as requests for assistance and where to drop off food, clothes, bottled water, etc. for those less fortunate.  We took a walk with Ken and Katy of s/v Diana around the town.   Rodney Bay is better off than much of the Island, as power has been restored to many of the homes and business.   It is interesting seeing how many have had to adjust their business practices to continue to function without running water.    We did find one working restroom in the new mall but most public restrooms are closed.     We walked up around the point on what appeared to be a well maintained trail.  It turned out it is maintained for use by people who want to rent Segue’s for a low impact Island Adventure.   We got same experience for a lot less money and got some exercise to boot!   As we made our way along the path I was saddened to see a small dead hummingbird on the trail, the smallest victim of Tomas.    We continued on and came across a couple of men working to clear a small mudslide that had blocked part of the trail.   We talked to them for a few minutes, inquiring after their families and they were happy to tell us they were all well and making do without fresh water.    When we asked where the trail led?  They said up to the rock face fishpond.   When we asked what was beyond that.   We were told we shouldn’t go further as “there be Jumbies up their Mon and it not be Safe”.     After our hike, we stopped at a beach bar on our way back to our boats where we ran into a group of Americans who we learned had been constructing a series of zip lines for a tour company in the forest outside the town of Soufriere.     With massive mudslides and loss of life, Soufriere was the hardest hit town in St. Lucia.   This bunch were an interesting group of rugged mountain men,  many of which were heavily tattooed with menacing artwork.  They regaled us with their story of their time here on St. Lucia.    They told us of awakening one morning to find they had been robbed.  They reported the robbery to the local authorities and then decided that they would use their tracking skills to see if they might locate the thief themselves and retrieve some of their belongings.     The trail led from their bungalow into the forest, where the men discovered an intricate well hidden system of trails, water catchment systems and hideouts.   They knew they were on the right trail when they came across some of their own paperwork from a stolen briefcase.    When the thief saw this mud covered undaunted group of strangers coming toward him he took off running and the chase began.    They tracked and chased this elusive Island bushman through the forest for 5 days and nights, at times having to double back to pick up his trail.    This accomplished thief, who previously had always been able to slip into the forest to elude the authorities must have been astounded and outraged to find himself having to play cat and mouse in what had been his safe haven for so long.   Finally this crew of maverick foreigners succeeded in flushing the thief from the bush and into the hands of the local authorities.   However, the thief and his family’s subculture of witchcraft and jumbies, was well know within the dark undercurrent of this local town.    His gang, were none too happy when they heard of the details of his arrest and the part played by this group of outsiders.   The Americans comfort level with remaining in Soufriere deteriorated further with the subsequent suicide, by hanging, of this same thief while incarcerated.   They suddenly had the unwanted attention of this seedy group.   They even resorted to keeping 2 men on night watch during the remainder of their stay.   Then, to add insult to injury, Tomas hit.   Soufriere was completely cut off by road from the rest of the Island.   Because of the work they had been doing, they had at their disposal chainsaws and began clearing the roads of debris after the storm.  They were met with smiles and thumbs up from many of the residents of the town and scowls and death threats from the gang of hoodlums.   Needless to say, with everything they had been through, they were very relieved to finally catch a boat away from Soufriere and were celebrating with a few beers.   With the main airport closed, they did not know how soon they would be able to book tickets back to the States and spoke of stowing away aboard ship.   What a story!    As we stood together enjoying the sunset and with a gleam in their now glassy eyes, they asked “So which boat is yours?”

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Hurricane Tomas

bearcruzer

Oct 29-Nov 1, 2010

We compared notes again in the morning and found that we had all gotten up in the middle of the night for the 2:00am weather update from NOAA.  The disturbance was now upgraded and named, Tropical Storm Tomas.  It also had taken the more northerly of the tracks and was due to arrive with plenty of rain and winds gusts > 39mph within the next 24 hours.   We joined a small floatilla of boats all moving from outside of the bay into the protection of the Marina.  Misery loves company and we had plenty, company not misery.  We shared the G dock with s/v DaniellStorey, s/v Diana, s/v Good Medicine, s/v Beauty and the Beast, s/v LosLoper , s/v Songbird, among others.   We nestled DD into her slip and spent the rest of the day securing her to the dock with at least a dozen lines spiderwebbed in every direction and adjusted her ½ dozen fenders between her and the finger dock.   We put on her sail cover and then lashed ropes around it to keep it from billowing in the strong winds.  Wound her headsail tight with extra wraps of rope.   We stripped her of her bimini and dodger,  removed the blades from the Windgen,  lashed down the Solar Panels, brought in the chartplotter and the handheld cockpit VHF microphone, and stowed anything that wasn’t attached securely to the boat.  She looked naked but ready.   There was no shortage of advice on preparing the boats for impending weather and plenty of hands to help.   After securing our own boats the crews of G Dock then proceeded to secure unattended boats around us as a precautionary measure.  A family of 10 from Poland who had chartered a sailboat for a holiday, suddenly found themselves hiding from a Hurricane.  They decided to remain on the boat and were delighted to glean whatever information and assistance we could offer to help them prepare for the storm.     TS Thomas continued on a heading that would take it between the Islands of St. Lucia and St. Vincent.    It was predicted to become a hurricane after passing the Islands but changed its mind and decided to slow its forward progress and linger becoming a Category 1 hurricane just before it reached the Islands.  The eye was expected to pass just south of St. Lucia around 2:00pm on Oct 30th.      The winds began in earnest around 11:00am and we were without power and fresh water within the first hour.   Many of the cruisers, not being afraid of a little wind and weather, donned their foul weather coats and ventured out and around the docks during the light of day.  Mike and Dave were almost blown off of the dock by a couple of strong gusts.   I went out to snap a few pics around the Marina of the last minutes adjustments and preparations.    While leaning into the wind next to the dingy dock, I caught a small movement in the foliage next to me.  A wet but still industrious hummingbird was enjoying a last minute meal before the winds became too strong to maneuver.  He would release his hold on a twig, be blown back a few feet and battle his way back into the shrub, again grabbing hold and feeding on the red flowers that were within reach.   Boats continued to stream into the marina as the storm intensified.  We handled lines for a large Catamaran who took a couple of tries battling the wind before we were able to grab his lines and tie him off to the dock.   Around twilight we heard a loud tearing and pounding.  An unattended Catamaran a few slips away from us lost its headsail.  A couple of men climbed aboard and braved the winds to drop and stow what was left of it. There was very little fetch inside the marina but during a few of the bigger blows, waves could be seen breaking against the hulls of the boats on the outer docks.   As darkness fell the wind and rain became steadier.  The neighbors of G dock retreated into their boats to watch the storm from portholes, hatches and windows. The winds and rain continued to build during the night as the eye moved out into the Caribbean.  Being that St. Lucia was now situated on the Northwestern edge of the Hurricane she was hit with storm force winds and rain for a more extended period of time than St. Vincent to the south.   It is amazing how water with the help of wind can find its way into any small gap, crack, or crevice.   The rain and wind abated around 10:00am the next morning.  The Crews of G Dock emerged from their boats damp but intact.  We only saw a couple of unattended sailboats with damage to covers or sails however there were a few smaller powerboats that did not fare as well and had sunk during the storm, still tied to the dock.  During the entire storm we never lost internet service and so were able to keep in touch with family and friend back home.  We contacted our cruising friends that were further south to make sure they had weathered Tomas safely.   Domino, made a 1:30am dash back to Grenada from Bequia when they saw Tomas shift north, ah the advantages of a powercat.  Nauti – Nauti took a mooring on Canuoan and made it through.  Queen Emma reported Admiralty Bay in Bequia was a washing maching with a number of boats sunk and one demasted as well as others who had to motor around because of poor holding.   Hurricane Tomas generated winds in excess of 70mph on the Island of St. Lucia though I don’t think Rodney Bay saw much over 50mph.  It also dumped 8 inches of rain causing massive Mud and Landslides destroying homes, roads, and bridges.  There are 14 reported dead with another 7 missing. Soufriere near the Pitons is completely cut off from the rest of the island with all roads leading to it destroyed.     Power is being restored as quickly as possible.   Many areas are without clean drinking water and are cut off from getting supplies. Only 1 of 4 radio stations on the Island remained up and running during the ordeal and has provided a steady stream of information allowing persons to call in who are looking for contact with friends and family and answering questions about services and relief efforts.  Communications are slowly being reestablished, Digicel, the primary provider of Cell Phone communications has given all their prepaid customers $10.00 credit for them to be able to contact family and friends across the Island.   We spent the day after the storm putting DD back together and are now anchored back outside of Rodney Bay.   We are greatful that such a wonderful hurricane hole is here.  The graciousness of the people of St. Lucia will not be soon forgotten and we pray that those who have lost family find peace and that the lives that have been so disrupted by this storm may return to normal as quickly as possible.

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Running for Cover

bearcruzer

Oct 27&28, 2010

We arrived in Bequia at sunset on a holiday.    There are so many holidays in the Caribbean it is next to impossible to even attempt to keep track of them.   On the way up Ken on s/v Diana caught a nice Wahoo and so we enjoyed dinner with them aboard their boat.  We had planned on spending a couple of days in Bequia and reuniting with Marie and JP aboard m/v Domino but they were in Friendship Bay and we ended up in Admiralty Bay.   We spoke with them briefly and made plans to meet up the next day.    Well as they say, the best laid plans……etc.  We checked the weather and saw a BLOB…..that’s how we refer to unstable systems that form in the Atlantic.   This one was building quickly and was forecasted to move into the southern windward Islands possibly as a Tropical Storm by the end of the week.   We decided we would put some miles between us and the impending southern storm.  We called Domino and told them that thanks to the weather, we would see them up Island somewhere and headed up to St. Lucia where we were told there was a good hurricane hole in Rodney Bay.  We had a great sail up.  Both Diana and DD had hits on our fishing lines.  Ken pulled in a small Mahi and let it go.    We had a very big hit in the same area. Unfortunately, it hit on on our lighter weight line and rod and after running out the line for a ways it snapped the line and took our lure.    Ken got on the radio just after it happened and told us about his Mahi.  He uses a hand line with 200lb test and rigs it onto his boat with bungi cords.   It is obviously quite effective.   We will need to rig our reels with heavier line, 40lb test just won’t do anymore.    We swapped fishing stories and continued onto St. Lucia where we were greeted by our friends on DaniellStorey.   We exchanged ideas briefly with Dave, Michelle, Ken, and Katy, comparing notes on the impending Storm.  We agreed that if it decided to veer more northward by the next day we would all move into the protection of the Marina in Rodney Bay.  In the meantime I had better make a batch of BBQ Brownies, we may need comfort food in the coming days.

 

Friends,Fins,Fish,Fun

bearcruzer

October 21-27, 2010

After hearing the fishing stories from DaniellStorey about his great fishing day and then hearing  from Domino and Dancing Dolphin about our luck.  Ronnie just couldn’t stay tucked into Grenada another day.  Enough was enough.   He and Babbie, under the premise of meeting a friend who was supposed to be coming to Carriacou, showed up in Tyrell Bay.   Their friend never did arrive.  The Crew of Domino had moved north to Bequia and so missed the surprise reunion with Campechano.   We spent much of the weekend enjoying their company and even took their boat out to White Island for a day of fishing, snorkeling, and picnicing.   We only caught a barracuda but it was something.   Ronnie says he is due for a big fish day, just not that day.   We had a good time with them snorkeling around little White Island just south of Carriacou.   We were not too disappointed, not catching fish because we had spent the a couple of days with Ken and Katy of s/v Diana who are also here with us in Tyrell Bay, catching lobster.  We have enough seafood to last a while.  One day a small pirogue came by the boat.  We are traveling north again and so we expect to see an increase of boat vendors, etc.  The young man handed us a handwritten flyer advertising a fish fry on the beach.  It was being hosted by the families of the local ladies who run the vegetable stands on the beach.  The Crews of Diana, Campechano, and DD all got together and enjoyed some great local fair.  After the weekend Campechano returned to Grenada to meet their daughter who is flying in for a visit.   Ken, Katy, Mike and I paid for a couple of nights on the moorings next to Sand Island.  It is a picturesque narrow white sand Island with a few palm trees surrounded by a ring of coral.  We enjoyed a couple of days of great snorkeling.   It has been established as a marine reserve and so the health of the coral is improving and the fish life is becoming more abundant.  We saw larger snapper and Rock Hinds.  I watched a very cool dark brown Octopus swim by and upon seeing me, flattened himself against the rocks and changed his color to perfectly match the specked multicolored surface of his background becoming nearly invisible.  We swam through clouds of thousands of small silver fish we refer to as shiners.  There are pelicans and boobies swooping in and if you are snorkeling in the right place at the right time and find yourself in the middle of one of the large schools you might be privileged to get to see one of the birds diving into the water close by. We even found a large lobster in about 8 feet of water.   He taunted us by walking part way out of his hole to check us out.   We thought about grabbing him but there is a strict no fishing rule within the Marine Park, which must surely explain his bravado.  We had seen live lobster, his size, for sale from the fishermen in town who told us they were catching them with snares, by scuba diving in 70ft of water.   The Crews of Diana and DD, stopped for lunch and picked up some additional fishing lures before checking out of Carriacou/Grenada waters to continue our journey north.   Next stop, Bequia.

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Pirate Attack!!!!

bearcruzer

The same morning we left Grenada we picked up the end of a report on the Safety and Security Net regarding a cruising couple who were attacked by Pirates off the coast of Venezuela.   I did not catch the name of the persons attacked and so when we arrived in Tyrell Bay and were able to access the internet I found what I was looking for on Noonsite and was devastated to hear that it was our friends Ellen and Jim from s/v Boldly Go who we had last seen right here in Tyrell Bay where they had hauled their boat out to paint the bottom and do some repairs.  We had just been talking about them and wondering where they were.  You may recall from my previous blog entry on Carriacou a couple of months ago, I spoke about Ellen and I both growing up in Orange County and our fathers both working for the same company.     The only information I have regarding the incident is what I have read on the Noonsite page as follows:

Cruising yacht “Boldly Go”, crewed by Ellen and Jim Birrell, were attacked by pirates on 16 October 2010 at approximately N011 05.000 / W063 23.000 (4 1/2 hr sail west of Los Testigos en route to Porlamor) at 10:00 a.m. Venezuela time.  The couple were assaulted and held at gunpoint while the pirates ransacked “Boldly Go” taking all valuable items they could carry back in their 16′ pinero (wooden boat). Both Ellen and Jim are physically fine after their ordeal and are currently in Porlamor, Isla Margarita, at anchor,refitting their yacht and working with the GuardaCosta and Policia located in Pampatar, Isla Margarita (15 mins away).

I have emailed Ellen to see how they are holding up.   They are currently in Margarita, Venezuela.   They just replaced their notebook computer but will not be posting any information about their plans until they are well out of Venezuelan Waters.   They are having to replace all of their communication and navigation equipment before Boldly Go can safely leave.     Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Good Fishing around Carriacou

bearcruzer

10/20/2010

As hurricane season comes to an end, it is the time of year when people who have kept their boats below 12 degrees Lat make ready to continue their travels throughout the Caribbean and points beyond.    In Trinidad, I had met Marie at a women’s group meeting, yes we do have support groups for us crazy female sailors.     She and her husband JP have spent the last 4 years building their dream Motor Catamaran, DOMINO in Paraguay and are now traveling North.     We began referring to ourselves as Big D and Double D on the radio and our friendship blossomed from there.   They traveled from Trini and anchored near us in Hog Island where we got to know them a little better.   We have enjoyed hearing the story of how DOMINO came to be and all the adventures and misadventures of building her.    I have also been privileged to gain some valuable recommendations on getting my shoulder back into shape from Dr. JP,   Thank You.   With a functional Auto Helm and the prospect of good weather for a few days we opted to continue our journey North and head back up to Carriacou for a few days.    Domino also left the same day and we had a bit of a fishing competition going on.    We kept in contact via the Radio and they told us they had spotted some tuna.     As we were leaving Grenada, we caught a 2 ½ ft Barracuda that we through back.    Then nothing.    Domino who was ahead of us announced they had caught a large 52” Wahoo off of Isle Ronde between Grenada and Carriacou.   JP said it took a while to bring it in and he had to walk it around the boat before landing it.   We altered course to take us closer to the Island in hopes of matching their luck.   Still Nothing.    As we were arrived at the mouth of Tyrell Bay,  we began making preparations to anchor.   Just as we were thinking about bringing in the fishing lines we heard a loud zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and Mike yelled, “Fish On!”   I slowed the boat and Mike brought in a nice Blackfin Tuna.   We couldn’t match Domino on the size of the fish but we were happy we did not get skunked!  We got an e-mail from our friends on Campechano back in Grenada, they had no luck that same day and so we felt pretty good about our little Blackfin tuna.    We joined Marie and JP aboard DOMINO that evening for a celebratory dinner.    We have fish in the freezer and all is well!

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Passing Time with good friends!

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Over the course of this last 10 days we have enjoyed reuniting with many of our Grenada and Trinidad friends.   There have been a number of dinners and cocktail hours aboard each of our boats.  I have enjoyed being able to jump off the boat into clean water again.   Mike’s foot is healing well.    I hiked out to the Seven Sisters Falls again with Carl and Carrie of s/v Sanctuary to celebrate Carrie’s Birthday.  I had brought a few bananas with me and we stopped again at Monkey Point where we had a couple of greenback monkey come right up to us for their treats.  One even grabbed at Carries dress looking for more.     We were joined by John and Patty from s/v Anhinga who I had not seen since Boqueron, Puerto Rico.   We had a nice walk but only the girls braved the cool mountain water at the falls.   When we returned  I baked Carrie some of my famous BBQ Brownies for her special day!    Mike, who was still not up to hiking, spent the day with  Dave from s/v DaniellStorey and our newest friends Ronnie and Babbie on s/v Campechano.    Ronnie, an avid fisherman, loves to take people out fishing on their beautiful 47 ft Catana Catamaran.     He has a vast wealth of knowledge and can read the sea and the birds to know where to fish.   They came home with some tuna and rainbow runner.    Ronnie’s love is fishing and Babbie’s is her horses back in Puerto Rico where they live.   We have enjoyed a number of wonderful meals together and look forward to meeting up with them as we travel north.  They have also invited us to visit them in PR where I will have the opportunity to go horseback riding.     We are not the only ones moving north.  Ken and Katy of s/v Diana who we had met briefly in Grenada and got to know better in Trinidad also returned from there and anchored next to us in Hog Island.  We have spent a number of fun evenings with them and they introduced us to some other St. Johnians,  Josh and Lou on s/v Survivan.   Josh and Lou operate a great day charter out of St. John and we were treated to a wonderful evening of laughter, singing and impromptu songwriting.    I’m not sure the songs we came up with will hit the top 40 anytime soon though with titles such as “Falling Off my Nachos” and of course, that all time favorite “Giardia, the Beaver Disease”.   OK, so there was a little rum involved that night!   I know from the highlights I have shared that you might think our lives are just one big party but in reality there is always chores to do, laundry, grocery shopping, repairs, and etc. that make up the bulk of our days.    We took the bus into St. George and finally met with Herve, our RayMarine Representative, to pick up the new motor for our Auto Helm.    Michael has it installed and it appears to working well but on the same note we noticed that our back up compass needs to be repaired……It’s always something!

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Heading North Again

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We met up for a goodbye pizza dinner with Carmen and Tom of s/v Ellida who have been on the hard here in Trini since June.   They plan on heading north by Mid November.    We met them through our friends Carl and Carrie, DD’s rescuers, from s/v Sanctuary.    Carmen is a chiropractor and has been helping Mike and I with our various aches and pains.    She also is an amazing photographer and has been giving Michael pointers on using his new Camera.     You can check out some of her work at www.meanderingmoments.com.   She has a zeal for Travel and Photography that is matched only by Tom’s enthusiasm for sailing and of course their passion for each other.     We will miss them and look forward to meeting up again later this season.  We have also enjoyed the company of our new friends Ken and Katy aboard s/v Diana.  They are from St. John USVI and Ken and Mike know many of the same people.    We have been busy trading books and movies with them.   I can’t really say we will miss the Island of Trinidad all that much.   It has given us the opportunity to upgrade, make repairs and reprovision but we will not miss the stifling windless heat(that is except when squalls would hit the anchorage), the filthy water, or the sleepless nights waking up to every small sound to check and make sure Mighty Mouse is still locked to the Davits.  Due to the theft and security issues Trinidad Yachting Business are down by 50%.    We hope that they will be able to do something about it but we will probably not be returning anytime soon.    We had a smooth experience checking out with customs and immigration and purchased some Duty Free Wine and Spirits prior to leaving.     We fortunately had an uneventful overnight passage back to Grenada.  We traveled alone, always a little stressful as we are close to Venezuela a know piracy zone.   It was the night of a new moon and so very dark.   Hand steering for the first part of the evening wasn’t bad as we had the brightly lit Oil Dereks for reference but once we were beyond them it became more difficult as there were no reference points on the horizon.  You can steer by instruments but staring at a lighted screen quickly tires the eyes.      We steered a course by the stars and kept a sharp eye out for other vessels and pirates.    We took 2 hour watches to keep alert as we still do not have a functioning auto helm.    We compared notes the next morning and agreed that we both felt such a sense of relief to see a light turn on below during the last ½ hour of our watch and knowing that we could soon have a break.      We arrived in Grenada at about 8:00am and were greeted by our friends Dave and Michelle aboard s/v DaniellStorey.    We anchored DD in our same spot off the beach on the west side of Hog Island.  Mike got to take one dip off the boat before he slipped while tying up the sun shade and cut his foot on the ladder.   We were able to stop the bleeding fairly quickly and so we cleaned it well and I used butterfly bandages to close it up.  No swimming for Mike again for a few days.    How convenient for this to happen just when we needed to clean the bottom of the boat.    I think he did it on purpose, the lengths some people will go to avoid scraping barnacles.    We enjoyed a great reunion of sorts when we took advantage of 2 for 1 pizza night at La Phar Bleu Marina and had a great evening with Dave & Michelle from s/v Daniellstorey,  Carl & Carrie from s/v Sanctuary,   David and Trudie from s/v Persephone and met some new friends Ronnie and Babbie from s/v Campechano.

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A visit to Asa Wright

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Just one more week here in Trini.   We rented a car one day and Mike took me up to Asa Wright Nature Reserve.   We had rented the Car from Economy Rental Car.   The prices are very reasonable but you take your chances on comfort.   All the cars have dings and dents and none of the cars have shocks.  You learn quickly to dodge potholes.  Most have some little quirk or another that you learn to take in stride.    To have the freedom of wheels after being on the boat for so long and at the mercy of public transportation is a real luxury.    After a couple of wrong turns we managed to make our way through Port of Spain and onto the main hwy that lead toward the Islands Interior.     We noticed on this day we were attracting quite a lot of attention as we drove along.    People were honking and pointing at us.    Now even though we are a rather unique couple we began to suspect that we might not be the focus of all this attention.    Mike rolled down the window and a kind local informed us that our right front turn signal light was dangling from its connections and “de police will give you a ticket, Mon”.     Mike was able to snap it back into place where it remained for a few miles before we had to repeat the procedure.    He finally got it to quit falling out by wedging it into place.  As we turned onto the narrow shaded single lane road that led deeper into the forest we felt the air cooling somewhat.  This was a welcome reprieve as our air conditioner had quit after the first hour on the road.    We wound our way through mountain villages and neighborhoods where small colorful shacks and bungalows were tucked into the sides of steep hills with no apparent entry other than narrow stairways made from stones or cement or occasionally just cut into the hillside from the main road.   We saw signs indicating the property lines of the Reserve long before we came to the entrance to the Nature Center.   It is huge.    We parked the car and took our binoculars and cameras and headed to the Main House which is now a B&B.   It is known for its wonderful veranda and marvelous birdlife that frequents it feeders.     The reserve itself has over 10 miles of trails however only overnight guests have access to them.   Day visitors are only allowed on one short trail and must go with a guide.  Our guide JoAnn was very helpful and educated us on some of the more interesting aspects of the bird and wildlife of the area.   We enjoyed relaxing on the veranda where most of the best photo and bird watching possibilities are anyway.   The feeders afforded us a wonderful view of abundant birdlife as well as Agouti and a Large Tiger Lizard and numerous butterflies .      We brought our lunch with us and were entertained by a group of ants that appeared  from a crack in a nearby cement pillar.   They proceeded to carry off any crumbs from our lunch.   Some of the pieces  of cracker we had dropped were as large as a quarter but hundreds of  the industrious little ants lifted and carried them at quite a rapid pace across the floor and up the side of the pillar and into their nest.      After lunch we hiked down to a cool pool that has been created by damming the small creek below a waterfall above the Nature Center.    It has cement benches around the pool for sitting and soaking and a place to change clothes.     After a wonderful afternoon at the Center we climbed back into our car and decided we would take the even more rural road that continued north through the forest and came out on the north coast of the island.    This road was partially paved for a while but then became a dirt track.  It was not unusual to have to creep around a fallen tree or small landslide with little room to spare as the road clung perilously to the side of the steep hillsides.   Around every turn the forest seemed to be trying to reclaim the track from the few cars we met during the next couple of hours it took us to negotiate this stretch of road.   We knew we were getting close to civilization again when we met one of the Maxi Taxi buses coming the opposite direction.    We made it to north coast and then turned west and headed to Maracas Beach where enjoyed some Bake n’ Shark, a tasty local meal of deep fried shark placed into a bit of fry bread and served with a variety of condiments.   We got there just as Richards, the most famous of many colorful little Bake n’ shark shacks, was getting ready to close for the day.   We walked out to Maracas Beach as the sun was setting.   We climbed back into the car and watched as a dark cloud crept over the Island from the direction of our anchorage.    As darkness descended, the deluge began and we were thankful that our wipers and headlights at least were in working order.    We joined a long slow train of cars snaking their way along the narrow roads back toward the northwest side of Trini.   We breathed a heavy sigh when we finally pulled into the parking lot at TTSA.   It is always a relief to return to the anchorage when we know a squall has come through to find DD sitting where we left her.    It was a day filled with many new sights and touch of adventure and will be fondly remembered as one of the highlights of our time here in Trinidad.

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