Passage from Trinidad to Tobago

Sunset from Store Bay Tobago

Tobago is part of the nation of Trinidad and Tobago.  The island is approximately 20 miles north of the NE tip of Trinidad.  The important factor in that statement is EAST - to windward.  Common sense would tell a sailor to visit it when coming south for the season.  Yep, common sense.  Visiting Tobago has been on our list for the past two seasons but we always seem to run out of time at the end of the season.  So we went to option B - go from Trinidad to Tobago.  It can and has been done.  We talked to several cruisers who have done it.  Step one was to get our attitude set correctly - it's going to be a motor sail.....plain, simple fact.  Two, depart in the best conditions possible (d-uh, something we try to do on each passage). The best conditions for motoring into the wind and current means little to no wind or current.  Odd thing for a sailor to be searching for but those were the weather conditions we wanted.

We dropped our mooring ball at 00:06 (just after midnight) and motored out of Chaguaramas.  The half moon was not yet up, although there are lots of various lights in this commercial port.  Tom sat up on the starboard bow to keep an eye out for traffic and floating debris - lit and unlit.  We motored through the Boca quickly on an out going tide, getting a nice boost as we went.  There was a strong scent of sandalwood in the air as we passed through.  Very strong.  Perhaps sandalwood trees?  

Once clearing the Boca, we turned east along the north coast of Trinidad.  "How far off the coast do you travel when you guys take your boat to Tobago?" I asked Dave on sv Cape.  "The locals will tell you as close as you dare...1/4 to 1/2 mile."  Gulp. 

sv Honey Ryder at anchor in Store Bay Tobago

It was a tad weird being so close of an unfamiliar coast in the dark of night.  I had the first watch and being so close to shore definitely kept me awake -  NO issues there.  See....I am not a big fan of sailing close to land.  Close to land raises the percentage you can hit something....like....land!   ICW?  Meh......not a big fan.  This started back in my childhood.  Sailing on small lakes as a kid, my dad would sail the whole lake - shore to shore....often getting really close to the shore,.  Very close!  I can remember more than one occasion where the wind would shift or die (as it often does close to land) and then I, as crew would have to fend us off the shoreline, whether it was scrubs ("just grab hold of the branches and pull us around") or getting out in ankle deep mud to "push us around".  My thoughts the whole time I was physically tacking us off a shoreline were "We have to whole lake to sail, why do we have to get so close to shore?"  Those thoughts have not changed.  No doubt my dad remembers our lake sailing differently.  Isn't it funny how our childhood experiences warp shape us so?  In his defense, we were sailing on small lakes so I am sure he was just trying to get the most of the lake.  Back to the present, same story.....great big ocean, why do we need to be close to shore?  Yes, I know we have to get close to land to visit land, but overall I prefer sailing room, lots of it.  Besides, close to land you have to pay attention all the time....lest you hit something....like land.  At sea there is room to sail about without fear of hitting something....other than a submerged shipping container or another ship.  Okay, reduced fear of hitting something.  At sea, you can relax, think, dream, listen to music, read, etc...

So anyway...we motored along approximately 1/4 to 1/2 mile off the coastline.  Luckily, there were no fishing floats or nets.  We saw two small fishing pirogues.  Both had small flashing lights in addition to the driver's flashing headlamp.  That light configuration takes awhile to figure and and trust me......it is NOT in the Colregs!  Thankfully neither pirogue approached us, although my pulse did increase as they passed by.  At times there was actually a slight counter current to the Equatorial Current that races up and over the top of Trinidad so our speed wasn't terrible - say 4 knots average.  

Morning came and we continued our motoring east.  It's a big coastline  At Grand Riviere Bay we finally turned NE toward Tobago.  Of course the wind was a touch NE and so we set the main only and continued to motor sail.  Soon after setting our sail, we spotted a huge leatherback.  One of the nesting locations in Trinidad is Grand Riviere Bay.  The females travel thousands of miles to come ashore and lay their eggs there April through March.  This one was a tad early but I guess when you are pregnant, you are pregnant.  Remember when we went to see the giant leatherbacks in Grenada?  Truly unique experience.  If you ever have a chance to go and see that - do!  

Crown Point Beach

Anyway, we continued to motor sail NE towards Tobago.  We arrived at Store Bay on the SW Coast of Tobago and dropped anchor at 14:45.  One of only 4 boats in this anchorage.  While customs is open 24/7 (in theory) anything after 16:00 is over time AND more than likely immigration is not open 24/7.  So we made a decision to wait until the next morning when we knew both would be open to check in here.  Technically we are already checked into Trinidad and Tobago, but they make your check into and out of both places.  We had a passage beer, put the boat in anchor mode (passage mode is different than anchor mode) had something to eat and then basically slept. 

Bonus:  All that motoring meant our batteries where fully charged and we had hot water for 3 days after arriving.  

Cruising - Big School of Learning

Zero hour:   -Shop Class --a hands on lab

First period:   -History and Geography

Second period: - Language Lab

Third period:  -Social Studies

Forth period:  -Human Ecology --including hands on food and sewing labs -(perfect as its right after social studies and right before lunch)

5th period:  -World Politics and Current Affairs --(after lunch so sleep can set in for some students, confusion and/or delusions for others)

Six period:  -Science -- oceanography, biology, natural science, astronomy, chemistry (hands on lab in corrosion) 

7th period:  -Economics and Mathematics -- currency exchange rates, budgets, real/black/gray and rum markets

Extra credit:  -Technology Lab --marine electronics, communications, audio visual

Physical Education:   --throughout the day weather permitting, depending on classroom setting 

*Like  many, most public school districts in the USA, budget constraints have caused the consolidation of some fields of study as observed above. 

Frosty Xmas. -New Freezer

New freezer

That is correct.  We are currently enjoying a chilly Xmas thanks to a new freezer.

Old freezer

Our old freezer (16 yrs old) stopped working in November 2015.  The control module burned up.  We were not able to buy just the replacement control panel on such an old model.  This meant we would have to buy a whole new unit =$$$$.  Consulting our budget, we decided to wait a year and just make do with a fridge only.

New control module

Well, Santa got wind of our predicament and decided to treat us with a new freezer for Xmas!  Thank you, thank you Santa and Mrs Clause! 

Freezer and fridge - empty

Tom got the new unit ordered but it wouldn't make the December ship from Italy via Miami.  It would be on the January ship.  Okay.  Slight change in our cruising plans.  No worries.  We now had a reason to come back to Trinidad and oh yeah.....it would be Carnival time!  

Fridge part - holding plate

Tom felt confident that he could get the new unit installed and running.  However, he opted to wait until after carnival because we only arrived just before Carnival.  Nearly all of Trinidad business shuts down during Carnival.  If he needed to consult with one of the marine refrigeration experts, chances are they would be closed or unavailable until after carnival.

The stove is missing!

Missing stove found

The first step in replacing anything is getting the old out.  In order to do this Tom also had to temporarily removed the galley stove.  It gave us a chance to clean behind and under......eeew.

New evaporator plate with copper tubes - DON'T kink it or them!

Pulling the old copper lines out wasn't a big deal.  Putting the new ones in he had to be careful not to kink them while snaking them back through tiny runs and weird angles.  But of course he got it done.

Old evaporator plate

Even though there was nothing wrong with the evaporator plate on the old unit, we opted to put in the new one.  It comes as one long, straight plate.  The installer then has to bend it to fit the install location.  Bending it carefully so as not to kink it and therefore making it useless.  The installers being us.  Gulp!

Measure, mark, measure again

As usual, Tom had done much reading, research and thinking ahead of time on how to best accomplish this project.  I read a bunch of sailing blogs.  I happened to remember a blog posting from sv Soggy Paws when they replaced their refrigeration while in some remote Pacific atoll.  Note - A common definition of Cruising is fixing your boat in exotic locations!  Ha!  Anyway, sv Soggy Paws used a wine bottle to help them bend their evaporator plate.  Tom measured and marked and measured again just to be sure.  He held the bottle in place firmly and I gently bent the plate.  It was a tad nerve wracking but  we completed curve one.  Okay.  Measure, mark, measure again to be sure, hold, gently bend, curve two done.  Success.  Then Tom did a test fit in the freezer box.  "How the heck did I maneuver the old one out?"  It was a little like a puzzle but he got it in by dipping this end down first and then carefully rotating it forward and then shifting it up and to the left.  It fit!  He took it out and did the final bend on the forward port end and then put it back in - using the same contortions as before. Perfect fit - woo hoo!

First bend complete

Second bend complete

Tom hooked it all up.  This model has quick connects so that made it easier.  Then the moment of truth.  He flipped the switch.  Power - check.  The copper line going out of the pump started to feel cold.  Yay!  The plate did not.  Okay, wait a bit.  Nope.  Hum?  He checked all the connections again, not chilling.  Hum?  Think, check again, ponder, check again.  Finally, he shut it off and called one of the marine refrigeration guys.  They discussed in detail Tom's install .  "When you did the connection at the quick connect value, did you hear a hiss?"  Sherwin asked.  "No" replied Tom. "Then it probably needs charging."  This make and model is supposed to come fully charged with refrigerant from the factory but Sherwin says he has witnessed more than one unit out of the box under charged.  Sherwin arrived the next afternoon, looked things over, put his tester on it and declared "Looks good but just as we suspected, it needs charging."  He hooked up his big bottle and charged it up.  Then he flipped the switch and soon it was chilling down.  Woo hoo!

Quick connector

It has been chilling since.  We have been testing with frozen hamburger patties and bottles of water to freeze.  It's going well.  However, we need to get it filled up more with food for optimum running mode.  This Saturday we will stock up on fresh meat and fish at the fresh POS market and next week hit Price Mart (like Costco) for a final stock up.

Installed and running.  The lower area is the freezer.  Upper is fridge.

So, we are excited about our frosty Xmas present.  It will make this cruising season that much more enjoyable.  Thank you AGAIN Santa and Mrs Clause! 

Final note - On the old unit, the pump and motor were mounted vertically so the sea water could potentially leak down from the pump onto the motor.  Sea water = corrosion = leak = more corrosion.  This burned out the motor causing a voltage surge through the control module thus burning it out.  The new model has been redesigned.  The pump and motor are now mounted horizontally.  Much better.