Travelling back to Trini

We left Suriname bound for Baganara back in Guyana and as we slipped our lines Ibegan to feel unwell. I could not keep my eyes open and rather ominously my right leg was starting to swell.By the time we had dropped the hook at the mouth of the Suriname River to wait for the right tide for enough water to get out I realised that I had been bitten and whatever it was my body did not like it! As a crew member I was as much use as a chocolate fire guard as all I wanted to do was sleep and in the meantime my leg was swelling up even more and turning a nice shade of purple. Dr.Fesel prescribed  amoxicillin , ibuprofen and anti histamine which we carry on board but I continued to burn up and once we arrived at Bartica and checked it it was off to find a doctor. We grabbed a cab only to find the driver was related to the doctor..it's a small world! After examining the leg and asking if I had bought what had bitten me with me ....I had no idea what it was but suspected a horse fly also known as cow flies in Guyana ...he asked what I had taken when John reeled off what he had prescribed he was very impressed and said 'just what I would have done' he gave me a prescription for stronger dosages and an injection and then the bill for sixty pounds which I could not begrudge him he was available,efficient and effective. When we finally got to Baganara John treated us to a couple of nights luxury as I had been told to stay off my feet and keep my right leg elevated. After a week chillin in Baganara it was time to leave and we travelled up the Essiquibo with Resolute fairly uneventfully until we came across a fishing boat that had laid his nets right across the river. As we slowly made our way towards him it became obvious if we were going to get around him at all we would have to follow the net to the boat and hope there was enough water to squeeze around him. We edged our way around and John shouted at him we needed10 feet (we only need seven feet but were erring on the side of caution ),he smiled said hello and told us 'there is more water over there', pointing at the bank. We did not take his advice and squeezed around him with a foot or so to spare!

                                  Eddie Grants house, two islands joined together by bridge and complete with gold dredging facility

Having travelled back from Guyana with a great sail til we reached the gap between Tobago and Trinidad when we lost the wind and had to turn Dorothy on...we still managed to return in two and a half days which we were pleased about. As we approached Trinidad we were stopped by the coastguard who seemed to have a lot of trainees on board. Firstly they asked us where we had come from....Guyana was our reply....'Where?' He asked puzzled.....he then asked John for his name trying to be helpful John started to spell out his surname ...'No' came the reply' just say it!'  Finally he sped off only to return to ask where we were from ignoring the red ensign flying serenely on the stern! 

                                                                      View from the Convent over the anchorage

We checked in without too much hassle and then left for some peace and quiet at anchor off Chacachacare our friends Colin and Gill joined us and though it can sometimes be a bit of a devil to get your anchor in we dropped the hook and after several attempts were satisfied we were going nowhere. We have a Manson Supreme anchor which we have been very happy this coupled with our anchor watch app has given us piece of mind that if we do drag we will know about it! We enjoyed three days peace and tranquility and when we came to leave our friends on Resolute were worried that they might have fouled their anchor so we told them we would wait until their anchor was up before we would leave. They lifted their anchor with no problems and were on their way ....we went to lift ours ......do you think we could get it up out the water ...no way. We drove forward, backwards, every technique in the book but only succeeded in bringing in the chain bit by bit and our Lofrans anchor winch was groaning under the strain. No matter what we tried the chain was straight and taught ...we were caught on something big! With 10metres of chain left we were resigning ourselves to the fact that we might have to get the hacksaw out, cut the chain and say goodbye to our expensive,but worth every penny, Manson Anchor! One last effort saw us bring the chain up so we could see the anchor in the water it had caught a chain and when I say chain I mean a huge mother of a chain! Lord knows how! The pointed end of the anchor had wedged itself into the chain and we had been dragging it around the Bay in our efforts to bring up the anchor! John put a rope through the anchor we dropped a bit of chain and with one almighty tug the huge chain was free and plummeting down to the sea bed from whence it came. It had taken us nearly an hour to get the chain up and we were now worried we were going to be late for our lift out. It was full speed ahead back to the pen at Powerboats for our lift. We need not have worried ....this is Trinidad and they were inevitably running late ... though in fairness this is also a very busy time for the travel lift with lots of boats splashing back into the water. We were coming out as we decided to go back to UK for three weeks, my mum was having her hip replaced and John was going to see his daughters and grandchildren. We feel the boat is safer out the water.

Vultures that hover ominously around Chacachcare