Boatwork progressing

Finally we’re having some sun, the rain has stopped and the poui trees lost all their yellow blooms already but the hills have turned into lush green forests. There are so many species of birds here, still no mosquitoes that really surprises with all the rain we had and Sid heard howler monkeys screaming in the morning. It’s been sunny for the last three weeks and the first tropical wave was underway but dissolved just before it reached Trinidad.

Boat work is slowing going on, we’ve been going over to Fortress daily to see the progress of them gluing the teak and holly together and watched them make the cockpit table, which came out just beautiful.

We splurged on that piece as we had a compass rose added made out of purple heart and cedar, just beautiful. They finally started installing the floor; the salon section is all epoxied in and weighted down with batteries. Sid was told that he can varnish it as soon as tomorrow. The galley counter top still hasn’t come in and neither did the freezer we ordered some 4 weeks ago that should have been here within 9 days. Sid had taken the cockpit box apart already and we couldn’t even move the boat if we had to as the box needs to be rebuilt, so he was not happy when he heard that it was not shipped yet. They lost track of it then said it was never shipped as it has to come from another warehouse bla, bla, bla and finally yesterday we were told that it is underway and should be here by Friday, we believe it when we see it.

Sid had contacted Northstar regarding our defective GPS and Jim the mechanic told us that he had to replace a chip as our GPS is rather from the dinosaur ages and couldn’t keep up with the new technology and cost was 89 bucks plus shipping and handling and it would be on the way in two days. After a few days not having received the confirmation note, I emailed them, but nothing. Sid finally called them to find out what the haps was. He was told that Jim who was fixing it was not in the office for over a week, but Ramon the friendly guy on the phone told Sid he would take care of it. The following day he called again telling Sid the GPS was underway and the cost was 456 bucks, didn’t question the price but wondered what happened with the price difference. So I tracked the GPS daily until it reached Puerto Rico and got stuck, weird. Then an email came stating that they sent the wrong GPS out that ours had been sent to our mailing address in Florida, great and the GPS underway to us was another customers GPS. Naturally we checked out bank history and found out that they had charged us for the real repair of 89 plus shipping and also for the other client’s repair of over 500 dollars. Still to this day they have not reimbursed the money and it cost us an extra 175 bucks to have the GPS sent along with our mail from Florida. In our mail we also found a survey from Northstar how satisfied we are with their service, I don’t think they want to know.

If it rains it pours, the hotel closed and drained the pool for retiling for an entire 7 weeks. Most of the marina guests including and especially us are here because of the pool and are very upset as they didn’t tell us that this was going to happen until just two days before the remodeling. This marina is very expensive and in order to get a lower rate you have to sign up for a minimum of two months. Management was approached about it and asked if they will give us a discount now that we cannot use the pool since we are stuck for the lower rent time, if we leave now we have to back pay, so do they care? NOT! What a bummer as this is the main reason we are here as well, so that we have a place to go during renovation.

In the mean time I caught a nasty cold a week later Sid did as well, nothing worse than having a cold in a tropical place.

We also did another fun hash, this time to Las Cuevas a pristine beach on the northern shore of Trinidad. It was the most scenic drive to get there as it wound on curvy roads through mountainous lush overgrown terrain. We arrived just on time for the hash to start. The trail took us along the several mile long tropical beach and then headed into the jungle. From what I had observed on the walk, there was nothing but steep hills along side the beach and after following the trail into the jungle I thought why go punish yourself running through the jungle while there is the most beautiful beach to explore and I returned, leaving the suffering to the hashers. Good thing when Sid arrived at the beer line he told me it was a very tough run and that I did the right thing, it would have been too tough for my ankle. He was exhausted and sore for days to come.

I on the other hand enjoyed walking along the beach and found numerous turtle tracks and where they lay the eggs and even found some empty eggs that have been washed back ashore. I tell you these are some big turtles as they leave a trail the width of about 4 truck tires.

Unfortunately I was told that the locals dig the eggs out and also kill the turtles on this beach, it is not protected as the other beaches are. A few days later we heard that the day we were there they had the biggest drug bust on that beach, didn’t even notice. On our way back we stopped at the most famous place for Bake and Shark, wow was it good.

We also went to see a steel band competition; now that was just amazing. There were two competitions, the first groups were max 30 people in the band and mostly kids from as little as 6 years old. The rhythm was catching and the tunes just wonderful. The second group was more of professional groups with no less than 40 players. Now these bands rocked, especially the last one we were able to see before Jessie James drove us all back. This group had a little squirt of a kid dressed up in Michael Jackson cloths and dancing just like him, he was awesome.

Even though we have too many boat projects going we are enjoying life. Every Tuesday Jessie James arranges a bus to Movie Towne, which gets us there at 4.30 enough time to watch a movie then have dinner or have dinner and then watch a movie. Thursday nights are potluck nights which we now start at 5 with cocktail and appetizers and BBQ starts at 6. After all are done with dinner we play trivia and who ever guessed a question has to drink a shot of whatever the quiz guy prepared or can designate a person to drinking it. Poor Loral had to drink 4 shots as her husband knew all the answers.

You probably wondered who this Jessie James guy is, he is the famous Trini for the cruisers, he helps them get around. He organizes bus trips to shopping malls, turtle watching tours, sightseeing, taxi services and anything else we need, there is something to do every day. Jessy is a really nice guy and loved by all the cruisers.

We’ve been doing some more liming with Shawn and Debbie and poor Debbie always misses her next day work, wonder why?!!!

Thelma and Gordon on Lady Alice finally arrived from Puerto La Cruz, just on time to bring us some decaf coffee as we just finished our last this morning. Yes there is no decaf coffee here other than instant, yuck. We’re looking forward to meeting them and maybe get some Mississippi Marble games in.

We are anxiously waiting to finish the boat work as we are marina tired and ready to move on into a relaxed anchorage and chill before heading back to Venezuela. But I guess we will have to wait another three weeks for that. In the mean time we’ll keep having fun and explore the island a bit more. Oh and more liming!!!