BACK TO THE CRUISING LIFE .

After a particularly cold winter back home on the Cape West Coast in South Africa we are now back on our boat in tropical Trinidad . What probably made this one feel even colder is that the last winter we spent at home was in 2013 as 2014 and 2015 were spent in Brazil and up until July 2016 we hung around the equator off the North Coast of South America , a very different experience to winter on the West Coast .

After nearly five months on the hard at Peake Yacht Services Windward is in great shape albeit she needed a bit of cosmetic work done on her to get her back to her pretty self again after many miles under her keel since we left home in early 2014 . Her teak deck has had a complete treatment to brighten up the timber and has now been restored to the original honey colour as new and her topsides have been acid washed followed up by a polish and wax . The rivers in Brazil particularly the Kourou River in French Guiana left a brown stain above the waterline but now we have a shine second to none . The brightwork has been restored and is looking great after a number of coats of Deks Olje and the stainless steelwork is due to get a thorough polish . Mechanically she is 110% with our Perkins engine fully serviced , a brand new electro-magnetic clutch on our watermaker and all the systems throughout the boat checked and tested including the latest software updates on all our electronic equipment . The amount that it cost us to service our liferaft and replace all our flares , back home you could buy a decent small car and still have some change . By the time we sail for Grenada she should be as good as new and hopefully the “ To Do “ list will be scrunched and tossed in the bin .

Being our first full season in the Caribbean we have lots to get excited about with so many islands out there waiting to be explored . From what we have been told by many cruisers that we have met here in Chaguaramas is that one must not rush through these islands as there are so many things to see and do and being keen hikers ( walkers ) there are plenty of options whether it is a hiking trail or just exploring the surrounding area from the anchorages .

From the communication side of things it is a lot easier here than it was in Brazil and Argentina with mainly Portuguese and Spanish being spoken there , although after two seasons of cruising Brazil we could get our message across quite comfortably along with various hand signals . Speaking of hand signals , l discovered after six months of being in Brazil that the classic dive signal meaning “ l am OK “ or in everyday use indicating that something is perfect , has a very different meaning to Brazilians . After a wonderful meal or after some good deed being done for us l would show the relevant Brazilian this hand gesture not realizing that in effect l was calling him an a..hole . I often wondered why some chefs did not seem to enjoy my sign of appreciation .

Getting back to the local Trini's , you sometimes need to concentrate carefully when chatting with them as they have a unique version of the good old Queen's English . Prior to arriving in the Caribbean the only time l had ever heard them speak was probably listening to the West Indian cricket team being interviewed on TV or radio . But they are a wonderful bunch of people who will greet you even if you are walking past on the opposite side of the road . Proper etiquette requires you to first greet someone and check on their well-being before asking for directions or posing a question . With a large Rasta population reggae music is played everywhere and my man Kerwin who has been giving me a hand on the boat plays some of the best reggae that l have ever heard , all day while we work . After noticing that this white man was enjoying the reggae beat the volume was immediately turned up and now and then l get told who the artist is and from which island he is from .

Changing the subject completely , the other day while lying flat on the saloon floor and checking out our bilge pumps our boat started to shake violently with the rigging slapping the mast and all sorts of gear rattling around inside the lockers . Bear in mind that our boat is standing high off the ground being supported by props so falling over would be a disaster particularly if one happens to be inside the boat at the time .

It turns out that it was an earthquake of 6,2 on the Richter Scale not to faraway with its epicentre between Trinidad and Tobago . Apparently people who were sitting in the boatyard's restaurant bolted outside away from the building and according to other cruisers , doors and windows rattled in their frames . Since then this undersea earthquake has been all the talk on the local radio stations and amongst the locals themselves . Two aftershocks followed later in the evening and the word is that after this event there will be an extended period of minor tremors for quite sometime . The sooner we get back into the water the better .

Never a dull moment in this cruising life .