The last 3 days have flown by with an assortment of activities. After our somewhat slow start on Monday, Nov 2nd, we picked up our pace to make sure we got all the pre-launch jobs completed before Friday, Nov. 6th.
Tuesday (Nov. 3rd) was a very productive day. I started in the aft cabin. Lots of items were stored back there so things had to be moved before I could wash everywhere. This boat yard can be quite dusty so a good washing was in order for all surfaces and inside lockers. I’d finished washing and had the beds all made up by mid morning so I moved on to the main cabin. It was much hotter up there because the aft cabin had a fan running. Our sails are still in the main cabin blocking the fans in that space!!
While I was inside cleaning and organizing, Mark worked on outside jobs. He started with prepping the bottom for some minor bottom paint touch-up. He replaced the zincs and made a trip to the storage locker with items were don’t need during the sailing season. Mark did a bunch of other jobs but it’s all a blur right now!!
Ok Wednesday morning had a rough start! The fire alarm at the hotel went off at 5:30am! It was a bit of a shock and we jumped out of bed to see if it was a real emergency. Fortunately it was a false alarm but it continued for over 30 minutes. By the time it stopped, we were wide awake and decided to get up early. The rest of my morning was much better – I did our first grocery shopping trip in Trinidad. Peake’s has a free shuttle that takes cruisers to 3 groceries stores in Port of Spain, 3 or 4 times a week. 9 cruisers (including me) plus Errol (the driver) left at 8:30 am and headed to the first stop, Massy grocery store. This store had a good selection of food items and the prices weren’t bad (Canadian dollar is basically 5 to 1 Trinidad and Tobago dollar). Looking at the prices can be a little intimidating, especially when you see $50 tt for a container of orange juice 😳 – that’s $5 cad! One thing that was very expensive was wine!! Going to be a rough start of the sailing season!! 😁 Our second stop was a fancy meat and cheese store called Blooms – it was a bit expensive. The last stop was PriceSmart – a Costco type of store. It had lots to offer, including some less expensive wine (only $18.50 cad/bottle). I only bought groceries from the first store so I made mental notes about the other 2. By the end of that third stop, the back of the van was packed!!! It was so full that items were under seats, between seats and in some laps! We were back at the yard around 11:30am.
While I was shopping, Mark was completing more of our pre-launch jobs. He greased the through hulls, fixed our leaky kitchen sink, did some boat items shopping, spray painted the propeller, and worked on the bow thruster batteries. In the afternoon, we both cleaned the dinghy.
Our last full day before launch (Nov. 5th) was pretty low key. Mark got up at 6am and touched up the bottom paint in spots. It’s much cooler first thing in the morning. By 8 am it’s hot and humid!! I spent the morning cleaning and organizing the galley while Mark did lots of little last minutes jobs. We were all good to go by 3pm!!
We’ve had a lot of rain (this is the rainy season) and today it poured (thunder too) for about an hour which made it so hot inside the boat!! Each night we gather with our friends for happy hour at Patches and everyone has been commenting on the clothes changes throughout the day. You’ve got your morning shirt that’s soaked by lunch. Then you put on your afternoon shirt which lasts until you shower for happy hour and change into non-work clothes. The joys of tropical life!!
Friday morning (Nov. 6th) we are splashed at 9 am. If all goes well, we’ll head over to Chacachacare for the weekend. 🎉
