After
three weeks of living on the hard in our boat propped up on stands
high up off the ground we had completed our preparations and were
ready to relaunch and go back into the water to start our first full
season of sailing in the Caribbean .
Our
plan was to head around the corner and spend a couple of days in
Scotland Bay so that we could rig our sails with the boat lying head
to wind on anchor and do our final checks before clearing Trinidad
and sailing North .
After
the hustle and bustle of living in Peakes Boatyard , the peace and
quiet of Scotland Bay was just the tonic we needed and we slept like
babies with just the typical tropical forest night sounds in the
distance . In fact we slept so soundly that we did not even hear a
visitor who must have either flown or swum out to the boat and calmly
came down below to eat a banana in the galley leaving a blob of it on
the passage floor in front of our cabin door .
As
avid twitchers we enjoyed watching the abundant bird life including a
large flock of brown pelicans diving on shoals of fish in the small
bay and something that was really interesting is that these pelicans
roost in trees on the waters edge . With their paddles for feet it is
amazing that they are able to perch without falling off the branches
. We even had a turtle surface right near the boat and the odd chase
of a large fish chasing something smaller after dark causing the
phosphorous to light up was a regular occurrence in the two days that
we lay on anchor .
Another
sound that we had not heard since leaving Brazil was the raucous
bellowing of the Howler Monkeys high up in the mountains surrounding
the bay resonating from the cliffs across the water . I often wonder
what the early explorers must have thought when they first heard
their intimidating calling ringing out of the jungle . There must
have been many reluctant crew members not too keen to be sent into
the depths of the forest to find out what was creating the din only
to find that the King Kong roar was in fact a relatively small long
limbed monkey .
Two
days later Windward was rigged and ready to sail for Grenada so we
headed back to Chaguaramas to clear out of Trinidad . Once the
formalities were taken care of we could buy Duty Free booze and do a
last minute shop before slipping our lines from the Customs Dock .
With
the economic collapse of Venezuela and since the attacks by pirates
on two yachts last December including a few cruising boats being
harassed by odd vessels on route to and from Grenada the modus
operandi regarding a passage plan has changed . Quoting the author of
our cruising guide he suggests that with the pirates operating in
high powered piroques they have speed in their favour but they are
generally poor seamen and are afraid of the sea . They don't like
rough conditions particularly offshore and using mainly eyeball
navigation they don't like being at sea in the dark of night . So
with Venezuela to the West his advice is favour the East and favour
the night without using running lights and maintaining radio silence
.
Our
plan was to motorsail along Trinidad's North Coast as close inshore
as possible to avoid the main current but heading in an easterly
direction meaning that the wind would be on the nose and depending on
the size of the swell this could be pretty arduous . We would
continue for about 15nm due east improving our wind angle to Grenada
tremendously and then we would turn north and sail for my waypoint
that l had laid 4nm east of Poinsettia gas rig with the wind
hopefully slightly forward of the beam .
Unfortunately
Murphy had a different plan and while we were motoring through Monos
Bocas heading for the open sea l noticed that our brand new fancy
clutch with no power to it was driving our watermaker pump that had
no water running through it therefore causing it to overheat and cook
. The high ambient air temperature within the engine compartment had
caused the air-gap to close effectively engaging the clutch . In an
attempt to try and prevent any further damage taking place within the
pump our only option was to cut the engine and set sail for Grenada
immediately .
By
now it was getting dark so up went the main and we unfurled our new
Genoa . With full sail up we sheeted in hard and set a course for my
gas rig waypoint . Our boat is not called Windward for nothing and
with 18kn gusting 20 , sailing as close-hauled as possible we powered
our way north managing to hold a course for our all important
waypoint .
It
was hard sailing with the boat well heeled but we were making great
progress and maintaining good boatspeed and what made the First Mate
happy was that in these difficult conditions it was highly unlikely
that any pirate would want to be at sea in a piroque .
Occasionally
when the rain squalls came through we would head up a little and dump
a bit of mainsail but all in all it was an invigorating sail . Once
we had reached our gas rig waypoint we were able to bear off to
Grenada and now with the wind square to our beam our boat took off ,
surfing all the way to our approach waypoint off Prickly Bay at times
clocking over 10kns of speed over ground . The net result is that we
arrived earlier than planned and had to lie hove-to waiting for first
light to enter the bay . Our set rule is that we never enter a new
anchorage in the dark .
As
our first sail of the season l found it exhilarating and fell in love
with the boat all over again . Although my little wife is never
overly impressed when her house leans over too much she knew that no
pirate would have attempted to board a yacht surfing along at those
speeds in those conditions .
Once
there was sufficient light to see clearly we slowly motored into the
bay and dropped the hook . After a hot cup of coffee we both fell
into bed and slipped into a coma , job done .
