Asa Wright Nature Centre

Joanne, John, Sabrina and Jean Louis

We shared a rental car in Trinidad with John and Joanne off s/v Out of Africa and Jean Louie off s/v Sagarmatha for two days a couple of weeks ago.  The car was basically a rent-a-wreck but it got us around.....however there was some question/worry of that at various times.  Ha!

Stretching our legs and wondering if the car will make it

The first day was spent running errands.  Day two was spent sight seeing.

Look closely, do you see it?

As a South African, John is used to left hand driving and expertly drove us up into the rain forest to Asa Wright Nature Centre (their spelling, not a typo).

The former estate house and grounds were donated and eventually in 1967 became a protected conservation area for the protection of wildlife, study and enjoyment of all.

The main house veranda makes an outstanding viewing platform.

Numerous hiking trails and a cave are on the grounds.

The big focus at Asa Wright Nature Centre is the birds.  There is something like 17 different types of humming birds.

I know very little about birds (nothing really) but there were guides to help us spot and indentify the many, many, many birds there.

We saw four toucans as well as parrots in trees further off through high powered scopes positioned on the veranda for our use.

Tom and John went for an hour hike with one of the guides.

Joanne, Jean Louis and I opted for the veranda.

We all ate lunch on the veranda.  It was so peaceful with the sounds of all the birds as our lunchtime soundtrack.

It wasn't just us and the birds having lunch, an agouti came out for some lunch as well.

Leftover hanging bird nests (sacks) were visible in the distance as well.

Listen to the sounds on the video.  It was like that the whole time we were there.  Bird sounds non-stop.

SmartPlug Follow Up

I contacted the SmartPlug people late this afternoon via email.  I had an email response back in less than 15 mins.  Terry explained that the plastic clips are vital to the design.  Since our SmartPlug came with two of the three clips broken, this caused the failure.  As I stated before, we had to install it since we were departing and WM didn't have any more in stock.  SmartPlug has offered to send us a new one (to US address) as this is covered by their warranty.  I am impressed with the customer service.

SmartPlug - Maybe Not

July 2013 we purchased and installed a SmartPlug.  See the blog posting details here Dumb Plug SmartPlug.  We got this based on the recommendation of another Caliber couple - no names, eh Jason and Christie!

This morning after flipping a couple of switches on our nav station panel, Tom noticed something wasn't right.  He started checking a couple of items.  Shore power plugged in at power source?  Check.  Shore power plugged in at boat?  Visual look? -Check.  Physical inspection? Check, wait.....WT.....the cord completely fell out of the head of the SmartPlug when Tom went to physically check it.  Not good!

On further investigation, the rubber seal that helps secure the cord into the plug head completely failed.  This along with the two broken, plastic clips inside (see previous posting Dumb Plug Smart Plug) leads us to question the overall value of the plug itself.  The concept seems good but the quality inside the plug seems to be seriously lacking.  I plan to contact the company and I will let you know what they say.