Archiv
CW 37 2002
01.09. - 07.09.2002
IF everything goes well we'll leave tomorrow. That's what we said on Wednesday,
September 9. But things don't always work out the way they were supposed to.
Yes, the anchor winding system did arrive and we did get it through customs
without any problems, but when we opened the box we got quite a surprise.
It was the wrong one!
Would you believe it?!
Now we're standing here, fully provisioned and everything ready to leave and
the wrong part arrives. We immediately, via express, ordered again in St.
Martin, the expected delivery date being Friday.
If that works out we'll pick the thing up from customs on Friday and Lui,
one of Aikanes mechanics will work on the weekend for us and install the winding
system on Saturday.
And then we'll wait and see what else might come along.
Even though we're not really leaving we are going on a tour on Thursday. In
the late afternoon, after the last jobs are done, we untie the ropes and go
to Chacachacare.
We've got a date with Julia's there, wanting to sail to Venezuela together.
We're barely out of Chaguaramas anchoring space as we set sail. We sail along,
doing a neat 7 knots. It's only 10 miles to our destination; a short trip.
And yet, the tour is long enough for us to get caught in rain and to see some
dolphins again.
Two of them swim with us for a while, playing with the hulls.
This has been said here many times before, but still, it's wonderful to see
and watch these creatures!
Arriving at our destination we find Julia's in a beautiful, quiet bay. We
go alongside, since, without an anchor winding system we really can't drop
anchor very well. After a little docking drink and a swim in the cool water
we start preparing dinner. We're having a delicious Kaiserschmarrn!
It's so enjoyable to be here. Clean water, stillness, finally nature around
us again and nice company.
So we spend the night and only return to Chaguaramas on Friday.
On Friday we have breakfast together on our boat.
But our relaxing quickly ends as the wind turns, causing us to change position,
getting fairly close to land, with rather little water under the hulls.
So we quickly say good-bye, detach ourselves and return to Chaguaramas. Again,
there's nice sailing wind today. We're cruising a little and make a good 7
knots again, with the main sail partly down.
Now we can test the jobs done on the rig again and we sail whole wind, bringing
the sails as close as possible and everything is as it should be again. Perfect!
It's a good feeling and terribly relieving to see and to know and in this
case even to feel that everything's all right again.
Today we see a few dolphins again, but these don't come close to the ship,
we only see them from afar and around noon we're back at the Crews Inn. The
afternoon passes quickly, doing a little here and a little there.
Tonight the moment of truth comes: will the anchor winding system arrive and
will it be the right one this time?
We'll simply hope for the best and end the day with a dinner at the Lighthouse.
Saturday, September 7, and after a short night I'm already up at 6.30am, sitting
in a car, on my way to the market in Port of Spain, because, if we do leave,
some fresh fruit and vegetables would be nice.
By the time I get back aboard our precious, long awaited part has already
been built in. Lui finishes the last connections and that thing purrs like
a cat, working wonderfully. Finally!
Now I still have to do the laundry quickly.
Every time I pass the landing with my laundry bag under my arm everybody starts
grinning. The reason: after our arrival at Crews Inn I was constantly walking
around with a laundry bag under my arm for at least a week. For whatever reason
it got clammy in parts of the boat and all our clothing started to smell funny
and some even turned moldy, so everything had to be washed.
Oh well, so I'll just accept the last silly comments and that will be that.
Thomas takes care of the formalities with customs and immigration. Having
signed out we quickly go to the Duty Free Shop and get some beer, wine and
rum and then get the hell out of here.
We take off from Crews Inn, stop shortly at the petrol station to get a few
liters diesel and then finally leave Chaguaramas.
Today we're going to Chacachacare again, but we can't sail and we don't see
any dolphins either. Oh well, if they were always around they wouldn't be
anything special any more.
And Julia's is not around any more. Apparently waiting for our anchor winding
system took too long for them to wait and they already left.
Since it's really busy here during the weekend and the ground isn't perfect
for anchoring, it takes a while for us to find a somewhat acceptable anchoring
place. Just before 7pm our anchor chain drops threw the new winding system
into Sanders Bay where we will spend the night.
And that was it for this week.
Tomorrow we will leave Trinidad and set course for Venezuela.
Our trip and what the new week held for us,
… next week here:
same time same place!
So long
Diana + Thomas
