adventures in tobago aboard S/V Charlotte D

We have been at Tobago since Nov 14, 2008, anchored either at King’s Bay or at Man O’ War Bay (Charlotteville). We have spent most of the time at Charlotteville, going the 10 nm to King’s Bay only when large north swells are running. We expect to remain here into the new year before cruising northward to the Grenadines and Martinique.

At the Charlotteville anchorage most of our needs can be met within a short walk from the dinghy dock. Diesel fuel is available on some days to jerry jug to boat. There is an internet café, public library, bakery (coconut bread!), laundry and at least 7 beach-front bars. Local-made ice cream comes in coconut, peanut and rum raisin. There are several small groceries on the waterfront for canned staples, dry goods, New Zealand cheese and Irish butter. Locally grown produce at the small stall includes avocado, yams, pumpkin, callaloo (dasheen), tyme, pineapple, paw paw, bananas, breadfruit, cassava (tapioca), endo, coconut, cabbage, simba peas and mango. The several restaurants have interesting local cuisine (catherine is pictured with Buss Up Shut, dhalpourri and a Roti). The restaurants have clay ovens.

The local fishing fleet of about 30 pirouges have unique names including “come test meh”, “jah rule”, and “inez pride”. When not is use, the pirouges are moored off the beach, fishermen swim out. The fish catch is off-loaded from the beach through the surf.

There are two basic fishing techniques; trolling hand lines for Wahoo (locally called Kingfish) and Tuna, or fish traps for reef fish (small snapper) and lobster (rare). Size and catch limits get lip service only. At least the Wahoo fishery seems secure since the abundant catch is all of large fish (1.5-1.8 m). The fish we purchase within minutes of their landing have been super. Catherine has greatly expanded her list of sauces and marinades for BBQ fish.

We swim almost every day. The weather is wonderful. There are brief showers almost every day; almost enough to keep our water tanks full (we use our watermaker about 5 hrs per week). Daily temperature range is 25-30 deg C (77-86 deg F). Humidity about 75%.

We made one day trip to Scarborough because the local ATM does not accept our cards and we wanted a few grocery items not available locally. The 3 hour round trip in new buses is economically priced at Canadian $2.70 per person. Scarborough (pictured below) is a much larger city. Very colourful, but also noisy and crowded for us.

We have encountered many interesting people here, both residents and visitors. Bee rides Junie his donkey to tend the cattle he has tethered here and there in the forest. Dougie runs a bar and restaurant and put on a great “Old Years Night” party last year, so we expect the same this year.

Bamboo cannons are a common entertainment of young boys. A few ml of Kerosene is poured onto smouldering coals in the lower end of the cannon, heated there by blowing through a slit to vaporize it, and then “touched off” with a flame transferred from the wink burning in the beer bottle. The result is a satisfying explosion of flame and smoke which hopefully spares the eyebrows of the operator!

We were pleased to meet a couple who just opened a small café after living here for 14 years (“I’m not from the US, I’m from New York City”). Catherine is pictured below on the deck of their café overlooking the “Charlotte D” at anchor.

There are only a few cruising sailboats here at any one time. Most are making their Caribbean landfall after crossing the Atlantic from the Cape Verde Islands. A Danish sailor solo aboard his 7.6 m sloop previously completed a solo circumnavigation of the Atlantic basin and is now on his way to the Pacific, planning to bicycle New Zealand and Australia. A British sailor left England 15 years ago aboard his 10 m sloop and has one more day’s sail to cross his outbound track and so complete his leisurely circumnavigation of the globe. He has sailed with at least 2 wives and several girlfriends, and is now solo. He is planning an air trip to England because of family concern that his parents “are about to fall off their perch”. A Finnish sailor left his homeland 22 years ago, has completed several circumnavigations, and is now into another with his Thai wife who he met on an earlier circuit. They plan to continue round and round “as long as we can hoist a sail”. Finally, a Swedish couple have completed half of their circumnavigation of the Atlantic basin in their engine-less 9m sloop, and plan to sail back to Sweden before the next hurricane season.

You can imagine the interesting conversations with these world travelers! Plenty of bragging and lying, for sure. But their accomplishments do attest to their competence . We can vouch personally for their abilities at drinking beer and rum!

The village spreads part way up the surrounding hills. The Tobago rain forest begins just beyond the last homes and offers some lovely but strenuous walking.

Catherine is keeping a cooler head these days after getting her hair braided and decorated.

Peter has started playing with a harmonica. It is fun, but not really music yet. Catherine feels almost ready to produce her first fiddle CD. Beach time is very important at least every couple of days.

Of course, boat maintenance continues without end. We restored operation to our manual bilge pump with spare parts on hand.

Both dinghies required attention. For the sailing dinghy it was routine and expected. The runners on the bottom of the hull and the skeg had lost their fiberglass coatings from pulling the boat onto beaches for 4 years. Fortunately, there is a boat repair shop here run by Curtis who, with his family, also operates the internet café and laundry. Curtis agreed to rent us some covered space in his shop so we could do this repair.

For the motorized dinghy the attention was not routine and not expected. While we were off on a hike the dinghy was washed under the jetty after dragging her anchor, lodged there and was submerged by the rising tide. Yes, it was sunk, putting the outboard engine under water. After rescue it too was taken into Curtis’ shop. We removed the carburetor to get seawater out of fuel pump, bowl, throat, intake manifold and cylinder. Gave all a good wash with WD40 and oil. That tough engine runs again.

The engine cowling was badly damaged. We used the remaining fraction of cowling as a mold to lay up fiberglass to replace the missing section. This was trimmed to fit and attached with fiberglass inside and out.

The dinghy was holed in two places. These wounds we ground out and repaired with fiber glass.

A larger dinghy anchor is now on our shopping list. And, we have resolved to in future bring dinghies onto the beach above the high water mark when we leave the area of a dinghy dock for an extended time. A valuable lesson hard learned.

We hope all our friends and family are enjoying winter as much as we are, and we look forward to hearing from you.

“Salt water is the cure for everything; in one form or another, sweat, tears or the salty sea”
Isak Dinesen

report of S/V CharlotteD from Charlotteville,Tobago

Catherine and Peter returned to the Caribbean on Oct 30, 2008 to begin another winter season of cruising aboard the “Charlotte D”, our Alden 47 ketch which had been laid up ashore in Trinidad since April while we summered at our home in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

You can see how much Catherine enjoys painting antifouling on the bottom. A nasty but necessary job! And it was hot! 38 deg C in the shade of the hull!

We completed the onshore recommissioning in record time for us, were launched and happily floating once again by Nov 7; loaded with groceries, fuel and fresh water. The launch itself, always a tense time for us, was executed competently by the experienced yard staff of Peake Yacht Service.

We immediately departed crowded, noisy Chaguaramas for the quiet isolation of the Five Islands anchorage. How happy Catherine appears as we motor away from the Launch Slip!

The remainder of the preparations for departure were completed with the boat in the water, which was blessedly cooler. We were fortunate to have light winds in early mornings for the bending on of sails. There were 4 days of in-water commissioning to make ready for our departure from Trinidad.

We sailed, well motorsailed really, the 87 nm from Trinidad to Tobago during Nov 12-13 and cleared in with Customs and Immigration at Charlottteville, Tobago, from where we are posting this blog entry. The “Charlotte D” is one of eight sailboats at anchor here, representing Switzerland, Germany, Bermuda, Luxembourg or Netherlands (almost identical flags) and Canadian (us).

We found ourselves quite tired by the physical labour of preparing the “Charlotte D” in the 30 deg C heat of Trinidad plus the tension of the squally passage to Tobago, but Oh-So-Happy to be here in the peace, quiet and scenic beauty of Charlotteville. Check it out on Google Earth! The location is 11 deg 19.715' N and 60 deg 33.143' W.

We expect to lay at anchor here for several weeks enjoying daily swims in the ocean, losing our Canadian tan lines and exploring ashore in the Rain Forest. Then there are the local bars and cafes, the ice cream bar, the internet café, the fruit stand, walking on the beach, the bakery and the Roti Shop!

Of course, there is the never-ending maintenance of engines, electronics, domestic systems, and canvas and sail repairs. Catherine did a lovely repair on the sunshade before relaxing under it with her fiddle. Later she baked a delicious loaf of her rye bread with wheat berries and flax seed while Peter BBQed Tuna Steaks.

We especially like the waterfront fish market where one purchases directly from the fisherman within minutes of their landing of the tuna or wahoo. Yesterday it was a 2.5 kg Tuna for about $ Cdn 10. The fish are caught on hand lines from 5 m piroques within 2-4 nm of the mouth of this bay. We are pleased to patronize the local fishermen who go solo into the ocean with no lifejacket, no radio, and no GPS, however, we do look forward to our own catches as we cruise the Windward and Leeward Islands until April.

“The price of peace is the happiness of our enemies.” Bertrand Russell.

Report from S/V Charlotte D in Grenada

Yes, I know, we are way behind in posting this report of our time in Grenada during March 2008. Http://www.grenadagrenadines.com/general.html It is a lovely island, famous for scenic beauty, flora and spices. St. George’s Harbour (below left) is the flooded crater of an extinct (we hope) volcano.


Catherine’s cousin Gen flew down from Connecticut to crew for 10 days aboard S/V "Stardancer" captained by our friend Keith. The white hull in the background below is Keith’s fine vessel, which Gen learned to steer.

Luckily, we ended up in the same anchorage with S/V Stardancer and so enjoyed time together. Of course, these happy times with Gen and Keith included dancing on the beach, drinking beer on the beach, eating on the beach, sitting on the beach and eating in beach-front restaurants. Our usual winter life style actually.




HOG ISLAND ANCHORAGE.
This was our main anchorage for our time in Grenada. Scenic, well-protected, convenient to "amenities", populated with friendly fellow cruisers and frequented by locals and tourists looking for fun. We were pleased to discover that our old friends Tom and Jean were already anchored there when we arrived and they were soon aboard for tea. Check out their blog, http://svjeanmarie.blogspot.com/ The weather was so spectacular that we often had dinner in the cockpit. (Here it is just caught tuna stuffed with rum-soaked raisins and smoked on grill.)


A main feature of the Hog Island Anchorage is Roger’s Cali Bar, with tres chic decor including graphics of lizards smoking the local "safe-substitute" for tobacco.





The bar is posted with mainly leftist-to-Marxist political opinion.



Peter got into the rasta mood of the place by quickly growing more hair than he has had for years.


ISLAND TOUR
We enjoyed a guided tour around the island by road with a group of fellow cruisers. Our guide Michael was a wealth of local knowledge. Of course, one must do the tourist thing of getting photographed with the ladies of the fruit hats since these outfits exist only for tourists to photograph. The ladies of the fruit hats are positioned at the start of the path to the waterfall.



Afterwards, the tour group enjoyed lunch together.



SPICES
Grenada is "the spice island" and we learned a lot about how they grow, are collected, processed and shipped. We benefitted from "lectures" from several knowledgeable people.



There is spice or herbal remedy for every human ailment. The concoction that Catherine purchased is guaranted to "make Johnny go 100 miles"! We will report (if we survive)!



COCOA
The beans that are the basis for chocolate grow in pods that sprout directly from trunks and branches of cocoa trees. These trees grow wild and are cultivated throughout the island. The beans removed from the pods are fermented under banana leaves and burlap before drying and polishing .



Henry was our tour guide of the Belmont Cocoa Plantation and he is shown below with a spread of sun drying cocoa beans before they are bagged for shipment. Apparently, very little chocolate is produced on Grenada, most of the beans being exported. We were surprised to discover that the beans themselves as well as the pure chocolate extracted from them are not at all sweet.



RUM
The history of sugar cane production is not a happy one. African slaves and impoverished indentured labourers from various countries were exploited to satisfy the sweet tooth of the world and produce the raw material for rum. This distillery has been in production since the 1700's. A water wheel still powers the cane crushing to extract the syrup and the copper still is wood-fired.


From the foul appearance of the vats with bubbling cane syrup one would never imagine that a tasty drink would result. In fact, as you can surmise from the facial expressions, Antoine River Rum does not appeal to everyone. After the tasting we purchased several bottles of their product and it put happy smiles on my face!


SEINE FISHING
This is a community effort 100% based on manual labour. The nets are spread in the bays from oar-powered wooden skiffs. This netting yielded surprisingly large tuna in good number.


Things get pretty busy at the final stage of recovery of the net. The village will eat well tonight!

RETURN TO TRINIDAD FROM GRENADA
On April 1 we sailed south from Grenada. Catherine fills her night watches with various activities.

Trinidad is, for now at least, the summer haven for the "Charlotte D", chosen because of the low incidence of hurricanes. After securing our boat ashore, we flew to Miami on April 9, and onward to our summer haven on Cape Breton Island.

Madeare and Eunoia, aboard S/V "Charlotte D"

"Praying is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere." Gypsy Rose Lee