Tyrell Bay in Carriacou, Grenadines

July 21st, the longest day of the year which means the days will be getting shorter now. Amazing to think of where most of you are the sun does not set until after 8 here it sets at 6.30 so our days in the tropics are a bit shorter than yours.

One tropical wave after another has passed us and every day we had to do the rain shuffle, one of us running down below closing the hatches while the other ran around in the cockpit closing up the cockpit and moving everything out of way to stay dry. Actually just before one of those shuffles we noticed a trail of ants and with reading glasses on we followed the trail. Fortunately there were only about 20 ants and we found where the rest was hiding or rather living, hopefully no more ants. So if you ever wonder what we do out here, now you know we follow ant trails and do the rain shuffle. In the mean time we had left Prickly Bay and sailed back to the Lagoon. Not even there for one minute we both jumped ship, Sid went to get Diesel and I for provisions.

1 ½ hours later we were on our way out the Lagoon and planned on anchoring the very next bay north of St. George's but as we saw a huge ship holding natural gas we decided that this anchorage was not such a good idea, don't like to sit next to a time bomb. 3 miles past the gas bomb we found the most incredible little bay. We were sure that it would be full as there is only enough room for 2 boats 3 max, but nobody was there. We looked at each other wondering what could be wrong with this anchorage. Three days later we figured out the possibilities:

1. There is NO Wifi here so no cruisers will stay not being able to use Skype.
2. Too remote from shopping, restaurants, boat stores and buddy boats.
3. It's a bit rolly.
4.
Neither one of these points mattered to us not even the rolly part as our flopper stoppers again came in handy.

What a most delightful anchorage, a rounded bay surrounded with rocky shore line in the middle it opens to a steep to beach with a few palm trees and lots of lush trees. Above the rocky shore are steep hills lush overgrown with all kind of different trees. Behind the beach the scene was just incredibly beautiful, lush rolling hills with beautiful colored homes and yet behind them tall rain forest mountains. It looked so very tropical especially with coco palms scattered between the lush foliage. The sunsets were incredible on one side the sun lighting up the beach, rolling hills and mountains with the last rays and to the opposite the sun slowly disappearing on the horizon. While sitting on deck watching the night take over the gentle breeze engulfed Paradise with the scent of wild blooming Jasmine. Life can't get any better than this. The water was pretty clear as well and the snorkeling was pretty OK. We loved this little Paradise we found to ourselves. We did do the rain shuffle a lot here and we figured out that the mountain makes its own clouds but it never really rained hard and if just for a few minutes. The clouds just seem to fizzle out as they came closer to the water.

After three beautiful days and lots of reading we pulled anchor and headed north towards the Grenadines an island group just 14 miles north of the north end of Grenada. We were about 6 miles from the end of the island when the wind picked up and now blew over 20 knots and of course right on the nose, stopping us with every second wave crashing into our bow we decided it was not time yet to head north and turned around and set anchor again in our little Paradise Dragon Bay.

The following day early before the wind got out of bed we snuck out of the bay and headed north for another try. Just as we arrived at the end of the island the wind started to blow at about 10 to 15 knots, not bad, just what we needed. Between Grenada and Carriacou one of the Grenadine Islands there are a few islands with no anchoring possibilities and 2 miles west from them is an underwater volcano "Kick em Jenny", still active and you HAVE to pass this one with at least 2 miles on either side. We headed towards the island with the no anchorages when the current changed. Now this is another thing to watch out for, when the tide heads east there is a current up to 1 knot but if the current is going westbound it can be as much as 2.5 knots and sure enough we did get the 2.5 knots which would have brought us right over Kick em Jenny. We changed course of course and went around the volcano to the west. From here on the ride got wilder and wilder as the current was running into the wind making it Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Luckily it was only 14 miles to go and about 9 miles out of Carriacou the lee effect of the island took over and smoothed out the water. I'm sure Tika was tickled pink over that, poor kitty. We did the 31 miles in 6 1/2 hours and set anchor in the midst of at least 100 boats in Tyrell Bay in Carriacou. It took us a while to find a spot to drop the anchor as there was a very few big enough wholes between all the boats. We anchored right next to a fender which told us that someone was using this spot. The water was crystal clear with the color of light to dark blue or turquoise depending on the depth, beautiful but a bit crowded. On our way here we noticed an oily substance on the cabin sole next to the engine box, which turned out to be anti-freeze from the engine and the tack meter went out a couple of times, so Sid has some work ahead of him. Just after we had anchored the halyard of the main came loose and the wind blew it dangerously close to Maxine our wind generator. With the boat hook and a couple of tries Sid outsmarted the wind and halyard and fixed the problem, what a guy.

Since we left the Lagoon I had no way of doing email as for some reason we can not send email out via our ham radio so first thing after settling in I opened the computer and tried to catch up with our Blog when Sid yelled down below: "You have no idea who just pulled up the fender next to us, it's a BAR!!!" No way! Sure enough as I popped my head out the hatch I see this modified powerboat next to us and written on it was: Lady D Bar open 10 am till late plus phone number and what a better name than "Hallelujah" could they have named the boat! Around 4.30 pm we jumped in the water to cool off and noticed our neighbor pulling along side the bar in their dinghy getting on board and sitting down at the table. After asking if the bar was open we swam over there and joined them for a few drinks. Out of all the places to anchor we found the prime spot right next to the floating bar. I think tomorrow we'll just let the chain out and raft with them LOL. The drinks lasted until sunset then we swam back to the boat where I prepared a good dinner and before snoozing off Sid said: "I bet you it's gonna rain tonight?!" "Nope" was my reply, "I bet you it's not if I loose I cook breakfast, if you loose you will!" Deal. After enjoying my special Sunday coffee Sid prepared I was served a most wonderful bacon, eggs and potato breakfast and to my surprise the bet involved the dishes too. I'm a lucky girl. I think I need to bet him more often LOL. After dishes Sid thinks he fixed the engine problems plus a few other things, let's hope so.

Mangoes in Paradise

The squalls still kept coming and it rained on and off until the next morning. Fairly early before the clouds started to build up again Sid drove me in the dinghy to the Carenage from where I walked along the narrow steep alley over to the center of St. George to the lovely market. I guess the best time to go to the market is on weekends as not all too many stands are open during the week and what each sold was pretty much the same, beautiful ripe tomatoes, onions, garlic, one kind of lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes, dasheen, bundles of scallions mixed with parsley, oregano and thyme, coconuts and yes mangoes, three different kinds. The little mangoes although almost the tastiest are too fibrous and are a nuisance between the teeth, the Julie's are every bodies favorite as they are rich in flavor but smooth in texture and double the size of the stringy mango. My favorite is I think they call it the Emperor Mango, this is double the size of the Julie a monster the size of a coconut and sooooo flavorful and soft, yum. I scored buying two for just a little over one dollar. It was nice to wander through the market again and smell all the wonderful West Indies spices the same wonderful smell I remembered from three years ago. Later in the afternoon relaxing in the boat we realized that the rain had left, no clouds or just a very view were hanging around and wind was practically non existent so we decided to pull anchor and move around to Prickly Bay. It's only about an hour drive and a fairly calm trip as we are in the lee of the island until coming around the point heading east to Prickly were a current runs. It wasn't too bad and in no time we were in our old spot and dropped the anchor. It's so much nicer to sit in this anchorage then in the Lagoon which is surrounded by a noisy road and mosquitoes rule from sunset to dawn. The night was fairly calm with an occasional squall dumping some rain on us. The next day early I dug my sewing machine out which I thought I wouldn't see for a while after the big projects in Trinidad, wroooong. Both zippers on the dodger window lost some teeth and so we were not able to close it all the way and with all the rain coming they needed to be replaced ASAP. It's a 10 minute job as Sid would say ending in a 4 hour frustration. Since the middle part is attached to the whole dodger it's a bit tough to get that part under the sewing machine in a small cockpit. After a lot of S*&^$# and F*^$#) we got it done just on time before a major downpour, although we did get one which only lasted a few minutes. I also added a flap on the bottom of our cockpit rain curtains and the heavy downpour gave us an instant chance to test it. Yeah our cockpit is now leak proof.
Sewing machine put away (for a long time now) we sat in the cockpit and relaxed. Actually we relaxed pretty much the whole entire time we stayed in Prickly Bay except Sid went to watch the Aussie/Kiwi Rugby game while I cleaned house (to do a good job I need him out of the house LOL) and we drove the dinghy around to all the other anchorages finding that we liked Prickly Bay the best.

Beautiful Grenada

What is it with us are we a magnet?!!!! No matter where we anchor we find some idiot anchoring right on top of us. This time we had two, one on starboard side the other on the bow. We could have exchange cheap yellow mustard. This one was a catamaran which moves quite a bit faster then us in any wind puff, at times he passed our bow with barley 10 feet to spare. We couldn't even pull anchor if we needed too as he sat right over it.
While Sid fixed the salt water pump I ventured ashore to get some money and check all the stores I knew to see if they were still there. In deed they were and in better shape then what I remembered. The store variety is so much better here than in Trinidad. Even the marine stores have lots more to offer Grenada is in every part much better and nicer than Trinidad except for the locals they are friendly in both places.
Later in the afternoon Diane picked me up and with the local Taxi we drove to Prickly Bay, she needed some boat parts and I went for company. It's fun but also scary driving the Maxi Taxis here the drivers speed around in these mini vans like they are on a race track and I tell you the roads here are also quite narrow with many, many turns. And of course the music is blaring so that you can't talk to your next seat neighbor. The music is definitely better in Trinidad. Diane and I looked at each other in horror when we listened to one of the songs, in the same tone the singer was saying over and over again "throw up - throw up - throw up..." through out the whole song. I think there were only about 20 other words in it. The song sounded as disgusting as the words were and they call this music here. Far gone are the good Grenada Calypso times at least Trinidad's calypso although also altered over the years is still fairy enjoyable to listen.
In the mean time we re-anchored, just around the corner from the St. George lagoon, which by the way is an extinct volcano crater. Paradise is in front of a beautiful beach with view over to the St. George Carenage a little bay with the most charming colorful houses built up the steep hills. The scenery is quite stunning and makes you tolerate the light roll in the anchorage.
Change of mind about the rolling, after half a day sitting cooped up in the cockpit while one squall after another blew over us we pulled anchor at first sight of blue sky and headed back into the lagoon where it was much calmer. After setting anchor Sid went over to Jabulani and helped Diane fix her stove.

Yeah, we're in Grenada

On July 11th we finally left Trinidad. We snuck out of the harbor at 5 PM and made it through the Boca before sunset. The current was still on its way out and pushed us with over 7 knots through the cut between the islands. Coming out into the Boca it was a confusion of currents and waves. Unfortunately it stayed confused and lumpy bumpy for many hours and neither one of us was hungry for dinner. I was tired so I took the first snooze but it staid lumpy enough to make it hard for me to sleep. Sid steered until midnight then it was my turn. By then the seas got a lot calmer and Sid got his beauty sleep until 4 am. As it was my turn again the seas churned up again but I managed to get some sleep. We had an average of 4 to 6 foot seas and winds anywhere from 10 to 22 knots. The 22 knots we received whenever a squall passed over us. Most squalls we were able to dodge. We also had up to 2.5 knots of current with us and at one point Sid had to slow the boat down as we jumped waves making it too uncomfortable. Amazing that one knot difference can make it moving more calmly through the water, I finally got some zzzzz's. The closer we got to Grenada the rougher the seas became and we were tossed from side to side as the swells hit us on the beam. In all it took us exactly 16 hours from when we left the slip to when we dropped the hook in Prickly bay and sailed a total of 82 miles.
It was almost unbelievable that we were sitting in an anchorage it almost felt like we just came out of prison. We caught up on some sleep then for the rest of the day we did absolutely nothing. We sure enjoyed the spectacular view of Prickly Bay, not much has changed since we were here last time except it looked even better then I remember it. The shoreline is covered with lush greenery almost looking like a botanical garden with the most beautiful homes placed in between. In the background you see the many lush mountain peaks. We were actually surprised that not too many boats are anchored here. We are so happy to be at anchor again and so is the cat, she napped next to me in the cockpit all morning long, that is very unusual, then she just talked up a storm letting us know how happy she was. Poor thing had a horrible time as she got seasick and couldn't make it to the bathroom and peed on the towel on the bed. Just good we had a plastic cover over the bed so no damage done.
Since the authorities are closed on weekends we sailed around the corner to St. George the following morning and anchored in the Lagoon. I wished Trinidad was as easy to check in or out as Grenada. Normally you can check in at Prickly Bay as well but due to the Swine Flue you have to do so in St. George. The Officer sent us first to a health inspector where we had to fill out a form stating that we don't have fever, cough, sneezing, diarrhea and other symptoms, then we got a clear health card and the officer checked us in. Imagine this right after getting checked in I got a free hair cut right there in the parking lot. No, hair cuts usually don't come with the checking in procedure. Diane's daughter on Jabulani's is here visiting and gave me the hair cut. Diane invited us for dinner tonight so we are busy already.

Back on my feet again

OK, OK, no more excuses not to catch up on the Blogg anymore as my cast is finally off and I’m good enough again to do computer duties. It was a little tough to sit in front of the computer with the cast on, after every 30 or so minutes of being on my feet or having the foot down I had to elevate it which by then showed blue sausages instead of toes. By the way I was lucky not to get a hasher nickname but some do call me Indiana Jane, yeah I wished I would have found a treasure instead of a cast!

So let me catch up:

After 2 ½ weeks of living with Shawn and Debbie and Sid driving every evening to see me, the boat was finally ready to splash. (Sid was so cute whenever he had to bring me some new cloths he made sure that all matched including underwear, I almost felt like a fashion model.) Easter week was approaching and with that Shawn and Debbie were getting ready to leave for the Grenadines, the trip we had planned to join them on, so it was time to move out of their home. Paradise was still in the yard and they were backed up with splashing boats and Paradise was delayed by two days. Wally and Brian came to the rescue again and insisted that we stay in one of their rooms at Crews Inn Hotel. It’s really a blessing to have met all these wonderful people. When Paradise finally pulled into the slip I could hardly wait to get home, especially to see my kitty Tika. You have no idea how wonderful it felt to be home, I think Sid got tired of me saying it over and over in the coming weeks and still now.

The Crews Inn management was awesome in accommodating us at the floating dock for 60 footers charging us only for 40 feet. I would have never been able to get on or off the boat on the fixed docks. First thing I did after crawling into the cockpit was set up my sewing machine to make a cover for the cast out of an old T-shirt to protect the boat and wood from getting banged up. The second day I finished the bean bags I started for Debbie, third day slip covers for the cockpit then I said enough, I’m ready to sew more when the cast comes off. It was easy getting on and off the boat, it was a bit trickier to go down below but using my left knee I managed pretty well. Inside the boat another story, I did need the help of one crutch to get around. It’s not the ideal place for a broken foot, but it sure felt great to be home. The good thing about the cast was it was waterproof and therefore I was relaxing in the pool twice a day, really the only place to relax that leg, the cast also never itched.

My noodeling buddies still noodled daily in the pool and at the potluck showered me with presents and a fun poem Christine on Quadril came up with (http://boatbummswaterareobics.blogspot.com/ at very end of so scroll down).

Unfortunately everybody was getting ready to leave their boats

on the hard and to go home for the summer. Within just a couple of weeks all the people we knew had left.

We still joined the Hashers every

second Saturday and I realized how much nicer it is to just sit there, enjoying the scenery while everybody handed me beers and made sure I was comfy, instead of running through the jungle like an idiot getting sweaty, wet, muddy and stinky LOL.

Every two weeks Sid had to drive me to the doctor where x-rays were taken and after 5 ½ weeks it was a bit disappointing to find out that he wanted the cast on for 2 extra weeks.

May 19^th, after 8 ½ weeks the cast finally came off and Sid had threatened to rent a weed whacker for the long hair on my leg. I was sure to find a skinny hairy albino monkey leg when the cast came off, instead I started to worry that I would be send me to Chacachacare the once used island for the leper colony as that’s just what my leg looked like. With a good soak in ice water the leper skin came off, thank goodness. In the evening we invited a few friends over for a “cast-off” lime, they all thought that we were casting off, guess we fooled them. It showed again how small Trinidad is, we invited three different parties and guess what, they all knew each other!

While I was at Shawn and Debbie’s, Paradise got another face lift, this time we exchanged the rub rail. Get this Fortress who did our teak floor last year wanted US$ 1640 to do the job, as I told Nevi that he was way overpriced,and that this is almost the price he charged for the teak floor, he lowered the price to 1240 (the 400 bucks was a frivolous charge only applied if the yard sends us to him and since we went to him directly shows how greedy this business is, obviously we were over charged last year as well. Then one cruiser suggested to hire Busy Bee, he came by to assess the work, called us the next day for a price of 1300 bucks, we declined. Three days later Busy Bee called us up asking for money. For what? He had bought the wood and we hadn’t even hired him! He was very upset when we told him that we were not going to pay him. Two hours later a carpenter from Fortress called telling us that we needed to pay Busy Bee or he will never get a contract at Power Boats again we explained that we did not hire him. We finally talked to Randolph on Same Crew (used to work for Fortress and left with half the Crew and started his own business, therefore the name Same Crew) he replaced the rail for 500 and got it done within the promised time and did a really nice job. Sid also had him make some steps/seats for the bow, looks great. Further lessons learned, you really have to be on your toes to hire people here. To which come to my mind Sid cleaned our AC and by accident punctured a tube. All that needed to be done was fix the hole and install a valve to refill the AC with Freon. The AC dealer close by said they could do it at a cost of US$ 250. The AC new was $79.99, Sid brought that to his attention but no he stuck to his price. I then went online and started to call AC repair places, one called me back within 20 minutes, two hours later he was here and fixed the AC in the back of his truck for TT 250 which is roughly 40 bucks. His fix still leaked a bit but came back the very next day and fixed it at no cost. Amazing, shows you again what a rip most off the Chaguaramas dealers are. Oh, I also called around for a new window unit AC, the smallest one I could find was 25,000 btu.

While my foot was prisoner to the cast Sid had lots of varnishing to do to the new rub rail plus the rest of the boat. He applied a total of 14 coats and due to the long drying time took him 4 weeks. Glad to finish it and thanks to the floating dock it was much easier on his back. You should see the incredible job he did Paradise sparkles again. The only thing left to varnish now is the cockpit. Of course he found all kinds of other odds and ends to work on in between varnish coats. The most annoying job was scrubbing the water line at least once a week. This is by far the filthiest marina/harbor we’ve ever been to. There is not one day without a huge oil or diesel spill, which conveniently gets caught in our slip which then with the help of wakes from the many fishing boats, sticks like glue to the side of the hull leaving a 10 inch black water line around the boat, yuck and very frustrating. Imagine the fishermen are complaining about cruisers making a mess in the water while all the stuff floating in it including the daily diesel spill are from them. You should see what Sid pulls out of the water on a daily basis. The score after a very high tide was him pulling out 2 jerry jugs, 2 wooden boat hatches, one oil drum, plastic bags, trash which all came from a boat the fishermen had let sunk. The big reward for him was he pulled out a sail bag with a perfect spinnaker in it. We could not find the owner.

Not just the dirty water around here but a stray cat came aboard during several nights and marked our boat as his territory. It took us a little over 4 weeks to get the stench completely off and still now and then a whiff gets up our nose. As for that male cat we captured him and had him neutered right in front of us! There is a wonderful veterinarian here Dr. Wade he does house or boat calls and he came to our aid and fixed the cat right here and we were allowed to watch.

We met Dr. Wade during the summit as another stray cat although very friendly named Tom, Russel, Noodles, Mooch, Tiger or whatever it is and believe me he will come to you if you mention just any of those few names, he truly is a mooch though. He’s new name now is ‘Ohmygoshmyballsaregone”.

He was insured with a pretty good slice on his back and Major Cyndi who is an animal lover called for Dr. Wade to stitch him up, that got me introduced to her as she needed a litter box for the cat which I gave her, and later through here we met Dr. Wade. I brought up the fact that the cat was not fixed and so Dr. Wade fixed him after stitching him up in Cyndi’s hotel room. So our stray cat was number 2 and more to come as there are a few more stray cats that are ganging up on Noodlestomrussellmooch so we will trap them as well to get fixed. Sid set the trap a couple of nights without any success but one morning oh glory the trap had snapped shut. Sid was so excited but as he approached the cage he could not see a trapped cat. Upon closer inspection he found a monster toad inside the trap. Don’t think Dr. Wade will make a house call to fix him LOL. But watch out strays we’re going to getcha. In the mean time the little black cat lost his jewels as well and a few days later we caught a small female. We drove her to Dr. Wade’s clinic and I watched the whole procedure when he fixed her. We have one more to go!

Cyndi and I hit it off so I invited her for cocktails on Paradise, she smiled at me and asked if she could bring her boss. “But of course” so on Sunday night, the last day of the summit she brought her boss over, that’s when we found out she was a Major and introduced us to her boss Lieutenant General Norman Seip a 3 star General in charge of the Caribbean and here at the summit under direct orders from the President of the United States to take charge in case of an emergency.

Wow what an honor to have the two on board, especially with his busy schedule to find time for us. They had one hour to relax. After the hour was over he asked Cindy to inform the next appointment, an important dinner they had to attend that they were delayed by 30 minutes, he wanted to relax some more. We had a wonderful time and before he left he handed each one of us his personal military coin and thanked us for the wonderful time. He said this was the highlight of his Trinidad time as he was cooped up in the command room for 58 hours straight for the whole summit. It truly was an honor for us to have them both in and on Paradise.

One month later on my birthday Cyndi called to let us know that the General was coming back to Trinidad for a short visit and he would like to invite his new friends to join him for dinner, so the following Monday we had Norm, Cindy, Dr. Wade and Jesse on board for another cocktail and then the General treated us to a very delicious meal at the Lighthouse Restaurant of the hotel. We finished the night off with some aged rum in and on Paradise again. It was really a very nice evening. Norm is a rum connoisseur like us and brought us aged Brugal Rum from the Dominican Republic. He is going to retire in October and Cindy is going to Congress. She’s got an incredible carrier in front of her, go girl.

Weather has been wonderful in Trinidad at times a bit too hot, but at least no rain to interfere with Sid’s varnish. Since the accident we kept the rental car, it’s a heck of a lot easier to get around and of course we don’t miss our matinee afternoons at the movies. (A great excuse to get out of the heat into the freezing theater).

Twice a week I have to go to therapy and I’ve been pushing it to get better so after just two weeks I ditched one crutch and three days later the other as well. Just in case I have a cane that I carry around. When I ditched the crutches Sid even let me drive by myself. What a great feeling I feel like a whole person again and after therapy I hit three stores, yes I can go shopping again, Sid hide the wallet LOL.

Sid is still finding more things to fix or change and we have one more major project to do, sewing projects. You should see my sewing room, it really has the best view!!!

Then of course when ever we have a chance we get together with Shawn and Debbie for a lime.

We’re also planning to drive some around the island to catch up on things we missed last years like the Eastern shore of Trinidad, Pitch Lake, Caroni Swamp, Angostura Rum Distillery and of course we like to go turtle watching once more, that is truly an incredible experience.

Hopefully this time we also will see the hatchlings race to the water.

Hurricane season started June 1^st and sure enough that day the first tropical wave welcomed in the 2009 hurricane season. With another one having past already and new ones headed for us. We hope the weather will be on our side when we head up to the Grenadines in about one month or as soon as my foot is fully recovered. From there we’ll head back to Venezuela to catch up with all our friends and for a final good-by or what we say “see ya later” then finally west wards towards the canal. So once we’re underway again I will update the Blogg on a daily basis again or with every move to a new location.

HOMELESS IN TRINIDAD

“Cruising plans ARE written in sand at low tide” our latest has just been wiped out by a tidal wave. At first I was going to say no to Sid as he brought up going on the next Hash since I was worried that he would hurt his shoulder again. But seeing the disappointment in his face I just couldn't say no. The last five weeks have been tough for him as he was not able to do anything on the boat due to his shoulder injury and being in a marina for him means working on the boat, well not this time. So we rented a car picked up Wally at Crews Inn and drove to Squeeze, headquarters of the Hashers where a bus was waiting for us all. The hash was in Toco a 3 hour drive so they rented a bus for the ones who didn't want to drive that distance like us. Toco lies on the north eastern shore of Trinidad, a very scenic area with rocky shorelines and some sandy beaches surrounded by lush steep hills where turtles return every year to lay their eggs. After all the hashers met and instructions were given we all ran or walked into the jungle and followed the trail. Sid was in the front with the runners.
As always the path through the thick forest was amazing, there is so much to see from the beautiful household plants and exotic flowers we pay loads of money for, here all growing wild. Each Hash I find some new plants I haven't seen yet including some strange bugs, this time I saw a walking stick about 6 inches long scurrying across the path, weird but incredible. The scavenger I am I again found something yummy. Along the trail were some cocoa trees. The yellow/orange pods are delicious so I snatched one. Each hash trail has short cuts for slow hasher like me. My hasher name really should be TP for Toilette Paper as in wiping up the rear as I’m always the last one. Thinking back now all I can say is that the team that came up with this trail did well as the short cuts got us way ahead of all the running hashers, this saved my bacon, as usually even with short cuts we are still behind them. The trail was not as tough as most are and didn't put a strain on my bad ankle. It had some up and down hills but not too tough. The path was narrow and started leading down a valley. The path got narrower; there was only room for one person behind another. On the left was a thick overgrown steep hill and on the right some thick bushes and behind them another lush overgrown steep hill. It was beautiful. We followed the path one by one. What we couldn't see was that the bushes on the right hid a deep gully underneath them until the young lady in front of me told me to watch out. Between the thick branches I saw a deep gapping hole. I stopped and looked at the path that was now only wide enough for one foot at a time for about 10 feet so I proceeded with care. I put my left foot forward first as it was on the safe side of the hill. The part I stepped on caved in, my food snapped and I started sliding down that deep gully. I immediately knew that I had broken my ankle and even though I was holding a water bottle in one hand and the cocoa pod in the other I somehow managed to grab onto a root sticking out below the path. Now a sharp pain shot through my ankle and my adrenaline started pumping even more so, when I saw the deep gap my feet were dangling over. I had no idea that so many thoughts can go through ones mind in split seconds, like the ankle was broken, the sun was going down soon, I needed to get out of this predicament before dark, the root was strong enough to hold my weight, there was a gapping hole underneath me, no wall for my good foot to push up on, how the heck am I’m getting back on the boat with a cast, I was fighting not to faint and at the same time telling the girls not to let me fall and somehow managed to get the water bottle and cocoa pod on the trail (the cocoa pod never made it home with me, bummer and I also lost my favorite “Church Mouse” visor). Here comes the part about the team having laid out a good track saving my bacon as the first runner started catching up with us. He first tried to pull me up on my left arm, I told him that I was too heavy for him to pull me up this way he somehow needs to get me under my armpits and pull, more leverage. He tried and started sliding downhill into the gully himself. He caught himself, by then a second guy showed up and somehow they managed to pull me up and somehow I managed not to faint until one of my butt cheeks sat on the treacherous path (there was only room for one) then all went black. I don’t know how long I had blacked out but after coming out of a pleasant dream forgetting all around me I realized I was not waking up in my bed but instead still sitting on one butt cheek on the small path looking down on the deep cap while the guys were still holding on to me. I woke up into a nightmare and the bitter reality set in that I was in trouble. The problem now was to get me off that trail and the funny part was, as the guys lifted me up all my bodily functions left me and out of my behind came loud noises like I had started a Jet assist to help them get me up in the air. Well, a little turbo boost always helps, don’t you think! Later when I told my friends Shawn and Debbie about it they gave me a book called “Guide to Farting” and we’re still trying to figure out what kind of fart it was.

THE COLDSWEAT FART:
Usually occurs when the situation truly does no warrant one. These farts can be very uncomfortable, and often result in humiliation. They occur at the absolute worst of times. For example, on hard wooden church pews, job interviews, meetings, jungle walks and the likes (did it say jungle walks?!). As the name suggests, the farter will suffer from severer cold sweats in their attempts to postpone the inevitable.

Could be a yes, but I think the cold sweat I had was definitely from my broken ankle.

THE OOOPS FART:
As the name suggests, these occur sort of by accident. Some circumstances that create the perfect moment of these to surface are: bending down for the newspaper, picking up someone's wallet, sneezing, coughing, changing a flat tire, during jungle walks (there is the jungle walk again, hmmm). Sometimes, the Ooooops Fart can also produce unwelcome merchandise.

OK I don’t think it’s this one I only brought a broken ankle home!

THE EXPLOSIVE FART:
Farters usually have no idea that they are about to produce this until it just happens and they can sometimes be very traumatized by the mishap. Mismanagement and poor judgment of the expulsion velocity is often the cause. A despicable fart and needs no further explanation.

This could be the one as I’m pretty sure that I traumatized those poor guys.

With that comes to my mind that hashers sometimes get nicknames. My gosh I could just imagine what mine could be “Turbo TP”, “Turbo Queen”, “Jet Assist”, “Ooopsi Tush”, “Jet Bumsy”, I don’t even want to know! Anyway, the thought was there to help them getting me up, I did my best. First the two guys were my crutches as I had one arm around each neck and I hopped one agonizing hop after another away from the gully, loosing my grip on them, stopping and starting over again. It was impossible to hop down that uneven trail. So they grabbed each one leg and I hugged them around their necks and they cradled me sideways down the trail but every third step I lost grip as we all were sweaty. So they would put me down and start over. It was not easy for them to keep balance either. Now the path had a trail of giant ants, every time we stopped they would climb up our legs, attack and bite the shit out of us. I tell you the ants were about 1 centimeter in size, big enough to dip in chocolate and eat. We soon left them to their jungle, the guys were happy, so was I. It was tough to get me down there but eventually we came to the river bed where they sat me down and I dipped my broken foot into the cold water. This is where Sid caught up with us, not a happy sight for him either poor guy. From there it was a tall steep riverbed wall to climb to the road. By now more strong hashers arrived and two of them carried me up the steep river bed wall to the dirt road where we all waited for the car ride back to the beach. The car ride down was bumpier then heck and I was driven straight to the local clinic. After the Cuban doctor agreed that it was broken the nurse then immobilized my foot, gave me some pain killers and back we went to the Hashers. While I waited in the bus for the Hashers to finish the traditional ceremony the urge to disappear behind a bush came on, natures call. What is a girl to do with a broken foot and no way to walk behind a bush and do her business? One of the hasher girls came to my aid and found me a small rusty bucket she placed in front of me on the bus floor. Great I thought. Now the driver closed the bus door and turned the lights off and left me to my business. Have you ever tried to pee in a tiny rusty bucket on the bus floor in the dark with a broken ankle laughing your ass off, me neither but I managed somehow. It was too funny. Since the bus ride back was 3 hours and the bus had a couple bar hops planned a young couple offered to drive us back to get our rental car and hospital. Some other cars left with us and so we were in a caravan along the very narrow Toco road. Not far down the road the caravan slowed down and we were crawling at snail’s pace. Finding out that a giant crane, four huge trucks and a few police cars were in front of us, the crane then pulled down an electrical wire and all of them stood dumbstruck starring at the wire, not knowing what to do. So my ordeal wasn't over yet. A while later the traffic started moving again, but do you think the police would let the 10 cars in front of us and at least 30 behind us pass them, oh NO, they don’t do that here. So 20 minutes later the crane was stuck in a curve and they needed all the cars and four trucks to back up. Our driver’s wife took the opportunity to talk to the cop letting him know about our situation and eventually as the traffic was cleared they let us zip by. Over 6 hours after I had my accident we finally arrived at the hospital which now was almost midnight. Imagine now just 50 yards in front of the emergency room we got into another traffic jam. Finally an X-ray later, a temporary cast and the orders to see an Orthopedic on Monday we headed back to the boatyard with a short stop at the 24 hr pharmacy for some meds. Now that’s another story. The girl Sid handed the doctors Rx to through the take out window, starred at it for quite a while then didn’t move to get the stuff instead she said she couldn’t tell us the price and we couldn’t pay with credit card because the register was broken. “That’s fine”, Sid said, she still didn’t move, so he said we need the mediation and pay cash. So she finally lifted her little butt and moved away from the window. Quite a bit later she came back telling us it was 51 TT, Sid gave her a 100. “Oh do you have exact change?” After going through both of our wallets he came up with the exact change. So Sid asked her now if they had crutches for sale as I didn’t have any. They did have one pair left, but she could not give us the price, remember the register is down and how would they get them out that little window. We finally drove back to the boat and of course the problem now was, I could not climb up the ladder to get onto the boat. Crews Inn was full with a wedding party and all the yards were closed so nobody there to rent rooms so I spent the night in the back seat of our rental car. It’s not as bad as it sound. It was actually very comfortable as I could put my leg up on the backrest after Sid removed the head rest. I slept well and when I woke up and saw the anchor above the car and Sid stood there with a hot cup of coffee for me, I could only say:” I feel homeless” and we both laughed.
I mentioned Wally earlier he is one of the US Military guys who are here to survey the ocean floor for new charts. Nice guys, he came with us to the Hash and we promised the guys that the following day we would take them to Maracas Bay for some Bake and Shark. They didn’t think it was right for them to go, but I insisted that Sid take them, there was no reason for them not to go, so I spend the day in Wally’s room watching TV and getting used to my predicament while the guys had fun. Shawn and Debby (remember them they own Catbird the sister ship of Paradise) when they found out, invited us to stay at their place for the time being, so after Sid came back with the guys we drove back to the boat waiting for their phone call. While I sat in the car Sid went up the ladder, yep it was upstairs and not down below and cooked dinner we then enjoyed in the car. Shawn and Debby called a little after 9Pm that they were home now and so we drove to my recuperation home for the time being.
Ahhh life is good!

Monday I called the doctor’s office for an appointment but doc was not in until Friday, no way, can’t wait that long. So Debbie hooked me up with her doctor and on Tuesday we sat in his office worried about if surgery was needed. He told us right out that I probably needed surgery with pins and plates but that he will take an X-ray first. When the X-ray came a huge relieve the bone (Tibia) went back to the original position and I don’t need surgery. The foot although was still too swollen for a better cast so I’m stuck with this one for one week taking drugs for the swelling and pain and just laying on my lazy back doing nothing.
I feel very lucky that I don’t need any surgery as when it happened the bone stuck out quite a bit, but then when they removed the splint at the hospital the hump was gone. Sid thinks between me moving or trying to move the foot and the bobbing around in the car and the pressure from the splint must have helped to get it back in place. Whatever it was I’m very lucky and grateful. After all I have my other foot that gives me problems due to an injury 23 years ago. We are broken down in Trinidad for at least 12 weeks. This is my story and I’m sticking to it or is it I’m stuck to it.

I know, I know, this is not the Academy Awards but my deepest thanks go to (sorry I don’t know all your names) the team laying out the trail with the good shortcuts, to the strong guys who pulled me out of that predicament and brought me safe to the road, to the limo driver for taking me to the clinic, to Salma calling for help, to Daphnie who was by my side from the minute it happened and made sure all was going the right way, to the wonderful couple driving us to the hospital, to the young lady for finding me a pee bucket, to the bus driver making sure I had my privacy, to all the Hashers for their concern, compassion and well wishes, to Wally and friends for letting me stay in his hotel room and making sure that Sid got this ordeal out of his mind for a day, to Linda for giving her crutches to Jesse James two years ago for future cruisers in need, to Jesse who had the crutches delivered to me. My deepest thank you goes to our dearest friends Shawn and Debbie who took me into their home making sure I’m as comfortable as possible. And last but not least to my hubby Sid suffering with me, working hard all day long on the boat without my help, trying to get the boat back into the water as soon as possible, then driving to see me every evening making sure I’m OK. I know this is a very stressful time for him.

THANK YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH.

Back in the yard

Where does time just go? It's been a fast few weeks since we moved into the marina. Sid had a chance to recuperate his shoulder, although still more time is needed to heal completely. Poor guy was going out of his mind not being able to do anything on the boat without getting yelled at by me and our neighbors. Marina life for him means working on the boat, well not this time. I guess it must have been even more so frustrating to him to watch me sew away.

The Crews Inn Marina, although very expensive, sure know how to spoil us. Every morning at 6 the daily news paper is thrown into the cockpit, so after Sid made our coffees, he relaxes in the cockpit reading, while I sit on the computer doing my job as communications officer, answering emails. At 8.30 in the morning its noodeling time in the pool. I give noodeling aerobics every morning which has a lot of people hooked. We have about 12 to 14 people and when I asked them if they want to take a day off on Sunday it's a big NO WAY. It's been a lot of fun and I even managed to get 6 guys into the pool.

The hour before sunset everybody meets at the pool for a sundowner and a lot of chit chatter. Tuesday nights we still go for the Movie Matinees and dinner at Movie Towne, which Jessie organizes a bus for us. And Thursday nights we have the weekly potluck which is always a huge turnout with around 30 people and the most incredible food.

Trinidad is well known for fabrics and the ladies get together and go fabric shopping. I found the nicest bathing suit materials again and there are several local ladies that will copy your favorite bathing suite or use their own patterns for a fraction of what it would cost to buy a new bathing suit. Some of the local ladies make dresses and again will copy any favorite dress. Best yet they all come to the Marina once a week to meet us.

I also found some beautiful imitation leather, tan colored texaline and sunbrella and sewed up a storm in the cockpit. I made a sunshade cover for our neighbors bow; she in return bought me a very nice material to make slip covers with for our cockpit cushions (still need to sew those). Sid and I rented a car for one day to buy foam which Sid then glued on top of our old cockpit cushions to make them a bit more comfortable and I sewed new covers for them. We have an all new cockpit again. I also replace all the pockets I made two years ago. What a difference.









Sid is definitely feeling better and decided that it was time to haul out once more. So Paradise lost her sea legs for a couple of weeks, while we are at Peaks Yard doing some varnish and Randolph from Same Crew is replacing the rub rails. Of course we'll find some other things to work on. Peaks Boat Yard compared to Power Boats is like the Hilton Hotel to a Motel, we would haul out at Peaks again.

As I said it's been a busy month and sometimes I wonder how we ever fit work into our busy schedule!