Trinidad

We have now moved onto Trinidad to get hauled out and do some hopefully routine maintenance! We left Prickly Bay at around four in the afternoon which we hoped would mean that we arrived at Chaguramas early morning. This meant that we sailed through the night when less likely to catch the attention of any Venuzalian pirates and we would go through the Bocas del Manos in day light so we could see the effect of the tide and current more easily. We managed to sail for four to five hours and then the wind disappeared and we were left to motor for the rest of the journey. The passage through the Bocas del Manos was interesting you could see the current and tide clashing ,whipping up the sea and slowing us down to under two knots. Once your out the other side.... no problem. The currents and tides around Trinidad are weird...John tried to find out as much as he could before we left but all the information we got together seemed to be contradictory....one said something another the exact opposite. Our friends came through the Bocas ....no wind with the current giving them a two knot push!
                                                     Damp humid day in the yard!

We tied up at the customs quay and made our way to immigration ....chap was very friendly but everything has to be carbon copied in triplicate! We met a guy in the office who we later discovered was our neighbour on the slip at Powerboats who told us we needed to make seven copies of another form. We looked at him in disbelief ...surely not! We went up to the desk with just one copy and no problem! When we later took the copy to customs the customs officer enquired ' where's you copies?' Acting dumb he took pity on us and photocopied the required number! When Mike our neighbour asked us how we got on and we told him we only needed one copy we explained it by saying 'ex colony ...so we get preferential treatment! ' or rather just lucky!!

                                                  Orion with a nice clean bottom!

We came out the water the next day ...no problems and we were pleased to see all the growth on the hull just drop of with a light scape ...we would need to touch up a couple of spots but no other difficulties. Yippee!
Powerboats seems to be a well run yard and we were put next to the Roti Hut where lots of the workers come to get their breakfast and lunch and very tasty it is too! So now it's a couple of weeks hard work in the heat and humidity before setting off for the ABC islands.