We arrived back in Tobago and decided to stay one night in a B and B before hopping on the short flight back to Trini and the boat. We stayed in a lovely place not far from the airport called Native Abode. It was a very friendly place and the breakfast was great...fresh fruit, a choice of mains, John had smoked herring ...it was yummy and I went for the more conservative option bacon and eggs which was also delicious. We found a small bar at the end of the road where we got a beer to celebrate our return. The other thing about Native Abode...the Internet was great and you could ring back to the UK free of charge. It also had satellite tv so we chose a film off of Netflix and settled in for the night with a bottle of wine. A good relaxing end to a tiring journey!
Back in Chagauramas
The next day we were met by Ian our taxi driver at Trinidad airport and were soon back on the boat. Everything seemed fine except the guy who was supposed to have cleaned and polished our hull while we were away had either done a rubbish job or had not bothered at all! We needed to investigate that a little further! Everything was just as we remembered it hot, sweaty and dusty!
We had already made a list of jobs to be done before we splashed back in the water. We had lost a prop from our bow thruster which we would need to replace and somehow the anode on the prop had disappeared....both were obviously casualties of sailing in South American rivers but could have been worse. We met two more Nerieds Rally sailors soon after arriving back...Fred and Claude off Magic Swan.....they had a much longer list than us and had had to sail back from French Guiana with no auto pilot and no engine....our little jobs paled into insignificance by comparison!
It was good to see our friends and fellow cruisers again...many had left to sail either North or West but there are still many like us with just one or two jobs to be completed before Christmas!
We had a new fridge waiting for us at Budget Marine which John has installed without too much hassle and the prop and anode are now firmly back in place. We have cleaned and polished the hull ourselves ....though I have to admit that John did most of the hard work whilst I took on a more supervisory role. Our plan was to shame the guy who was supposed to have done the job ....he told us the the black,smeared dirty hull that we came back to was the best he could do.....Give us a break! We were not born yesterday !! So he did not get paid the money we had retained we had already given him way too much for the garbage job he had done and he knew it so he did not argue.
One of our many jobs ....putting the sails back on!
The dilemma
The big question now is which way do we go ....? We had an inkling to go up to Cuba but getting back down to the ABC Islands could be a bit tricky wind wise. We do not have a US visa so Puerto Rico and US BVIs are out unless we mess around in the BVIs but it might be worth it. I think that we are going to poodle around the Leeward and Windward islands and then start to head west next May spending the next years hurricane season in the San Blas and Panama. Who knows ?? It could all change ..... Watch this space.
Back in Chagauramas
The next day we were met by Ian our taxi driver at Trinidad airport and were soon back on the boat. Everything seemed fine except the guy who was supposed to have cleaned and polished our hull while we were away had either done a rubbish job or had not bothered at all! We needed to investigate that a little further! Everything was just as we remembered it hot, sweaty and dusty!
We had already made a list of jobs to be done before we splashed back in the water. We had lost a prop from our bow thruster which we would need to replace and somehow the anode on the prop had disappeared....both were obviously casualties of sailing in South American rivers but could have been worse. We met two more Nerieds Rally sailors soon after arriving back...Fred and Claude off Magic Swan.....they had a much longer list than us and had had to sail back from French Guiana with no auto pilot and no engine....our little jobs paled into insignificance by comparison!
It was good to see our friends and fellow cruisers again...many had left to sail either North or West but there are still many like us with just one or two jobs to be completed before Christmas!
We had a new fridge waiting for us at Budget Marine which John has installed without too much hassle and the prop and anode are now firmly back in place. We have cleaned and polished the hull ourselves ....though I have to admit that John did most of the hard work whilst I took on a more supervisory role. Our plan was to shame the guy who was supposed to have done the job ....he told us the the black,smeared dirty hull that we came back to was the best he could do.....Give us a break! We were not born yesterday !! So he did not get paid the money we had retained we had already given him way too much for the garbage job he had done and he knew it so he did not argue.
The dilemma
The big question now is which way do we go ....? We had an inkling to go up to Cuba but getting back down to the ABC Islands could be a bit tricky wind wise. We do not have a US visa so Puerto Rico and US BVIs are out unless we mess around in the BVIs but it might be worth it. I think that we are going to poodle around the Leeward and Windward islands and then start to head west next May spending the next years hurricane season in the San Blas and Panama. Who knows ?? It could all change ..... Watch this space.
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