Rugged Coast

As soon as you depart the channel the size and isolation of the terrain on the north side of the island is obvious and very beautiful. The following are just some of the photos we took to give you an idea of the size of the country which is huge, rugged, and undisturbed. The area reminded us of Fiordland although a little warmer. We did not find many other cruising boats as most just head north from Chaguaramas straight up to Grenada.

La Vache Bay

We stopped in La Vache Bay for the night, this was a huge bay with only two other fishing boats there and only a few rock fishermen.

Maracas Bay and Beach

Maracas Bay is one of the most famous beaches in Trinidad and is situated on a spit at the end of a river gulley below some spectacular hills. From the distance, there appears to be little housing but it is all nestled in the bush and only obvious closer in. There is a huge circular bay with the main beach to the southeast of the entrance and then several smaller beaches abound the edges of the bay with the main fisherman village to the South western end. It we had had more time we could have stayed and had a look around – maybe next time.

Also seen along the coast are all the coastal monitoring stations. North Coast Radio covers the area up to Grenada which includes the gas and oil rigs in the area.

Birds

There were many places along the coast where we watched the Pelicans and Frigate Birds – sometimes in competition with each other. Below are a few passing shots

Sailing across to Tobago meant motoring up the North Coast until we could get a good wind angle across Galleon Passage to Tobago. A distance of only 30 miles but we needed to avoid a large reef Drew Bank and Wasp Shoal at the Tobago end which were notorious for shipwrecks in the past. The charts showed depths of 6 meters with notes that considerably less water had been reported including breaking shoals – avoid the area! This area is littered with old sailing shipwrecks and legend has it many of them Spanish Galleons laden with treasure returning to Europe.

We had a great sail across with 15-20 knots of breeze on a tight reach, our first real sail for some months, it was good to blow out some cobwebs. We passed just north of the reefs and yes did see breaking water, a trap for the unwary as they are right on the rumb line from Trinidad to Tobago.

Next Blog: Tobago

Store Bay

Store Bay was a reasonable anchorage. No dingy dock and you had to pull the boat up the beach. The airport was very close and very busy, much more so than expected.

From Store Bay you need to take a taxi to Scarborough to clear in, even though it is the same country. bureaucracy rules. The cab dropped us at the main immigration office not the one we needed in the port, so we walked down through the town to the port. A cruise ship was in so people were everywhere. A very uninspiring town and we saw many cruise ship people wondering what they were doing there.

Asking our way to immigration we were shown down an alleyway past the toilet block of the port terminal building and up some stairs – follow the yellow foot prints. We were wondering where we were going. When we got to Immigration the first thing they wanted to know was when we wanted to leave and then informed us that we could not go to any other bays without informing them. Next, they told us the island was divided in half. Hence, if we were going up to the northern end, we also had to check out of Scarborough and check into Charlotteville without stopping as it was a different area under completely different authorities. Then we asked how we could visit the beaches and bays on the way without stopping. He agreed that we could but was very vague on the issue. We said we wanted to check out now as we did not want to cab back into town again the next day just to check out. This was getting ridiculous so we just said we would leave the next day to enable us to get the forms to take to Charlottesville.

Next he told us we did not need to visit customs as it was the same country -Trinidad and Tobago. We had a wander around the town and then tried to get a taxi back to Store Bay. The price was 10TT each on the way to Scarborough but the taxis on the rank wanted 40TT each to go back because the cruise ship was in. We walked up to the main road and got a car for 10TT each

We spent the next day in Store Bay relaxing and snorkelling. We made the decision to leave the next for Buccoos. The forecast was for an increasing northerly swell due to a weather system to the north. Buccoos Bay was behind the reef so we decided it was worth a go.

Buccoos Bay

Arrival and Unexpected Visitors

We wandered slowly and carefully through the narrow shallow channel in the reef and anchored off the port. We were just sorting out some bits and pieces inside when we noticed we had a visitor sitting right in front of the window. The Pelican stayed for an hour totally unperturbed by our movement around the chart bench or dining table.

Not long after I went for a swim to check the anchor and could hear someone yelling. The next minute, I see two Chinese gentlemen swimming towards us. They had come off the beach and then got a bit tired and cramped and asked if they could rest onboard. We gave them some water and had a small discussion using Google Translate as they spoke no English.

It turns out they were from Wuhan and were working on some runway maintenance at the airport. Wuhan is a long way from the sea (look it up). I think they had no idea after swimming several hundred metres off the beach what sort of trouble they would have been in if we hadn’t rescued them. Swimming and floating downwind we were the last boat before the reef! We then offered to take them back to the shore in the dinghy for which they were very grateful. They were desperate to get photos and when we dropped them off they had to get some more. All their friends were on the beach waiting for them.

Buccoo Town

Buccos is a lovely little town. The main feature is a goat racing stadium !! They have the main event once a year and a lot of money has been spent on the facilities. We remain uncertain of the political influence of the goat racing fraternity that managed to build a stadium that may only be used once a year.

The favourite activity on a Sunday is Sunday School. This is not your typical “Sunday School”. This is a big party every Sunday with food stalls and music all through the town, Dancing and partying. People come from all over Tobago to party on Sundays here and it goes until 2am or 3am in the morning.

The rest of the town is about fishing boats and a lovely beach.

That night we ate in the local Italian restaurant La Tartaruga and it was superb. The best food we had had for some time. It had an amazing wine list (well beyond our pocket) and the owners were lovely and explained every dish. Interestingly they were selling a book about a female airline pilot. She is a resident and eats there often. https://latartarugatobago.com/

The next morning the wind had risen and the sea was forecast to increase by another meter so we moved on. Staying any longer with a narrow shallow channel to exit seemed a little risky.

Plymouth

We left Buccoo Bay early when the wind was low and wandered out of the channel through the reef and along the coast to another town called Plymouth. We anchored there close to the wharf and behind the headland and island which all seemed to be sheltered. The surf breaking on the beach meant we wouldn’t be going ashore.

We were amazed at the number of birds in the small bay. A couple of swallows came and kept us company through most of the morning. There was also a lovely beach and some fortifications to explore but with the surf, it was too hard to get onto the shore.

Unfortunately, as the tide went out and the wind got up so too did the swell. By lunchtime, we decided it was time to move on and find a more sheltered spot. Usually, all these places on the west coast are OK as the prevailing wind is an easterly. However, the swell was well to the north because of a storm that had come down from USA to the northern Caribbean and made all the more shallow bays untenable.

We checked out several other bays on the way north but in the end, decided that it was going to be straight to Charlotteville which hopefully would offer some shelter although we were not sure.

Charlotteville

We arrived late in the day to discover a large deep sheltered harbour with mooring buoys and 10 or so other yachts. Anchoring in 20 metres of water just in front of the town the swell passed gently underneath us to break on the shore and across the road nearly into some of the houses. Going ashore was not an option but we swam and relaxed in a very pleasant bay.

First thing in the morning Customs sent a boat out to us asking why we had not checked in – so off I went with the documents. It was too rough to tie the dingy to the dock so Hew delivered me to the dock. It was just as well because it took about two hours. The customs lady was waiting on the wharf and berated me for not checking in but after finally accepting we had come from Tobago (the same island) she became Natasha, my best friend.

An hour later we finally made her office after stopping for a Double ( a local delicacy) then she also needed a pie to go with it. A friend then arrived looking for some watermelon, but there was none in the shop, so we walked to her house where she had some for him, and then finally on to her office via someone else from the Tourism office to do the paperwork. Then there were forms to fill in (more carbon paper) while my new friend rang various people around the department complaining that we were misinformed about visiting Customs in Scarborough.

From there it was off down the hall to Immigration (for those who have seen the movie Local Hero) to find the same guy we saw in Scarborough working in a different department this week. A relatively straightforward process as I handed over the forms he had given me the previous week in Scarborough which seemed to be in order given he had signed them!

Two days later I had a leisurely walk around town with Hew looking at the local buildings which are tidy and well looked after. Those that were abandoned were quickly claimed by the rainforest.,

Anchored next to us was a nice young English couple who had just arrived across the Atlantic in an old traditional boat. After cups of tea and a chat we filled their water containers from our watermaker as getting water locally was a little fraught with the swell still running.

Inland Tour of Tobago

Due to the large swell we had missed cruising many of the bays on the way north so in discussions with my best friend Natasha, I had asked about an island tour and she had suggested the watermelon man (Keywell) could organise a tour guide. This young local guy assured me it was no problem and he would collect us off the wharf at 8.30 am tomorrow for a full day out for T$700.

The young English couple dropped us on the dock as it was still too rough to leave a dinghy while the waves were breaking over the dingy dock. We were good to go. Our tour guide, Keywell, in his usual pink shorts, was having his morning swim but when he saw us he sprinted off up the road to return a while later with a car and a driver (Anne Marie) with him more formally attired.

We had an entertaining day being driven around the island by these two young people, Keywell had no idea about anything and Anne-Marie turned out to be a student nurse and Keywell’s mother was her Godmother. She had been recruited at the last minute as Keywell had no car and needed help! Proper local enterprise.

Luckily we had done some research and had a list of places we wanted to visit and we rather made things up in between. We visited the Atlantic coast at Speyside and then roamed down the island via the Argyll waterfall, it had 14 levels and we managed to climb up about 6 of them, a garden full of hummingbirds which would land on your hand, lunch in a local restaurant, a visit to Fort King George in Scarborough and finally to Flagstaff Hill lookout above Chartlotteville for the sunset where we found Natasha, my new best friend, and her future husband.

Interestingly both Keywell and Anne Marie had never been to most of these places so when needed we paid their entry fees.

Speyside

Betsey’s Hope

Argyle Waterfall

Tobago Hummingbirds

We have the name of a place that had the hummingbirds but as we passed the park at the top of the hill, Keywell asked a ranger where it was and instead, he directed us to his house – for a fee of course – which he had set up for visitors. Then he had to go back and leave us to do his real job at the Park. The hummingbirds eat out of the feeders and the little pots if you put them on your hand – they wouldn’t go near Hew but then we found that his pot had no sugar water in it! The birds are cleverer than you think. they can see in the UV spectrum and apparently, the sugar water/nectar has a specific colour.

Parlatuvier Beach

We considered Parlatuvier Beach on the way up the coast. We could see there was space on the northern edge but we thought there would not be enough swing room for us and it was odd that all the fishing boats were on the south side even though the swell was from the north. Of course, there is always a reason. When we looked down on this beautiful beach from above the way it was formed caused all the swell to run down the northern side and not the southern side!! Also, the area free near the beach on the south side would have been too shallow. We were glad we had given it a miss.

Fort King George, Scarborough

Fort Cranby and Grounded Ships

While we were on the island there were 2 shipwrecks, one of which made international news. An unidentified ship/barge had washed up off Scarborough and was spilling oil everywhere. No one seemed to know where it had come from, what is was carrying, who owned it as it spilled oil from split tanks all over the coastline including a marine reserve. We were unable to get anywhere near it but there was a huge clean up going on as well as an investigation as who it belonged to..

Meanwhile just up the coast this barge had escaped its tow and ended up on the beach luckily it only seemed to be full of sand. It appeared they had a plan to unload it and float it off but it was a public holiday when we saw it so nothing was happening. Obviously not a great emergency as the tug was merely keeping the bowline tight.

Along the way we discovered that a newly qualified nurse could earn $TT 10,000 pa (NZD 2,500) but a job at the end of your training was not guaranteed. Keywell didn’t really have a job but was fixing up his boat because he could then get some casual work with ERIC, a local environmental organization. Anne-Marie was concerned that Keywell had passed himself as a professional guide, which he wasn’t but we already knew that. Keywell didn’t want a proper job as he could earn enough daily from tourists to only need to work one or two days a fortnight. Shall we say his aspirations were not high?

If your household income is below $TT 10,000 then education is free (this is about the average). The government employs about 45% of the population and unemployment runs about 20% so government jobs are well sought after. Many choose to work like Keywell and enterprise, which we found everywhere in Grenada, is largely missing as central government funds pretty much everything off the back of oil revenues.

Flagstaff Hill

Our final stop on the tour was Flagstaff Hill for a view of the sunset high above Charlotteville. While admiring the view we came across Barb’s new best friend the Customs lady and as we were informed, her future husband. Its a very small island.

Checkout

The following day, after another 2-hour endeavour with carbon paper and 6 sets of forms with largely the same information on each, we were good to go. I was glad to escape the bureaucracy and only to have to deal with the simple French system in Martinique 200 miles away.

Next blog: Relaxing in Martinique

Characharare Island

Getting away from the Chaguaramas inlet and out to the nearby islands was great. There are very few boats out at Characharare Island. Occasionally there is a tourist boat on the weekends but generally, there are only a couple of yachts. Peaceful day and night. Unfortunately, when you do go ashore at some of the favourite stops there is rubbish everywhere so the locals do not seem to treat the area with the respect it should have.

This blog is a photo essay of the beauty and peacefulness of the island which is good for the soul after the hustle, bustle, and noise of Chaguaramas.

The beaches in the area are all pebbles but the colours are beautiful, and the landscape around the bay has many areas of folded ground creating fascinating patterns.

Ruins

Characharare Island was established as a leper colony and then when the colony was shut down all the buildings were deserted. The buildings were once built very well. Now they are just shells, some of which are used by day trippers and rubbish is left everywhere. The ruins are still fascinating to explore and see how much construction was there at one time. There were several large buildings as part of a nunnery for the nurses and there were also two large houses for the doctors on the island, each in its own little bay. Here is some of the history if you are interested https://www.caribbeanmemoryproject.com/placememory-chacachacare.html

Birds

We enjoyed the many varieties of birds on the island and if we had stayed longer there we would have taken many more photos. At least we had a couple of days watching with fascination many different species. There is a website to help identify the local birds https://ttfnc.org/.

Sunset

On the final night on the island, we walked over to the other side of the island which faces to the west and Venezuela. The beach was sheltered and there was no one there. There were little birds chasing insects on the beach and the pelicans flying over the water. As the sun set there was a rig being towed out to sea. A beautiful and peaceful spot.

Friends

We met Mark & Marie this year and it is great to have friends to cruise with as they went to Characharare Is, Chaguaramas, and later Tobago and Martinique.

We needed to go back to Chaguaramas to check out before we headed to Tobago. they have very complicated procedures here and even though it is the same country you need to check out with customs and immigration – more paperwork. As we sailed up the channel it was back to civilisation. There are not only yachts here but all sorts of oil rig support ships, day and night they are visible.

One of the most enterprising of the cruisers has built a staircase to his yacht, put rocks around the water edge for a beach and advertised it on AirBnB as “A unit on the waterfront”. We wondered how many visitors he was getting.

We completed the required paperwork and then sailed down the channel past the naval yards and out to sea.

Next Blog:

Preliminary Kings and Queens Competition

The Carnival in Trinidad takes place over two to three weeks with the final days being a holiday for the weekend and Monday and Tuesday. anyone can take part in the festival. You can pick your favourite band and then get dressed up and go along with all the parties and support them at the competitions. Every band has a King and Queen, the band group itself, and then hundreds to thousands of supporters dressed in their colours and costumes.

The only event we managed to get to was the Kings and Queens Preliminary competition. This was great fun to watch the Kings or Queens in the huge costumes parade across the stage. Some of these costumes are up to 20 feet across and 40 feet high. They are made of many materials, bamboo, wire, cloth, plastic, tinsel, glitter, lights, etc. The larger costumes are allowed to be based on small tripods with three little wheels to help carry the costume across the stage. There were also those on very high stilts. They all had to walk across the stage, turn around, do a dance in front of the judges, and then walk off. Here are a few pictures

Here are a couple of YouTube videos of the finals Kings https://youtu.be/Q_qcHBdyRQ4?si=iXTz_KRu8VqVgVxd Queens https://youtu.be/o3eLYCFE8hQ and the wind effects https://youtu.be/EjCUNVE-dU0?si=F2BEfMfVf6r3qAvr.

We were very sad not to see some more of the carnival especially the music as it is a highlight of the year there https://visittrinidad.tt/things-to-do/carnival, but we decided that we needed to move on as there was some rough weather coming so if we wanted to go to Tobago we should get going. So the next day we checked out and got some more diesel and off we went.

I thought we should get in early to the check out but there had been a crash on the motorway so I needed to wait for the person with the key to turn up. While I was doing so I watched the flowers around the marina – and there right next to the boats was a bush with hummingbirds in it. Watching them was a way to fill in the time.

Next Blog: is Cruising around Trinidad

West Palm Hotel

Funnily enough, this hotel had not changed. There were just more people staying there and hence and slower breakfast service, and worse internet. The staff have no idea how to run a hotel or provide customer service. In typical Trinny fashion there is lots of paperwork but no action. There had not been much rain so the pool level was down and no attempt was made to refil it. Since the hotel was just over the fence from the yard we coiuyld easily watch the yacht and workers. Starting at 8 am usually meant they started at about 10 and finished at about 4 pm.

Peakes Yard

Luckily he did not hit his head but had grazed both shoulders, hip, and elbow. The road got washed down, clothes went in the bin, and Hew got scrubbed off at the hotel and the bike went to the bike mender!! USD 300 to paint the road. Needless to say, after that he needed the weekend off – totally.

The work was going fairly well but Hew was exhausted and feeling ill for several days. Then on Friday he had to go and get more antifouling paint as therewas notenough to finish the job. He was cycling back and thought he had slowed enough for the speed bump in the yard – but not so. Over he went, put the brakes on a bit late, bounced, the handle of the paint tin came off, he jammed on the brakes and they locked, the paint tin hit the road and went everywhere and Hew went over the handlebars and landed in the paint.

While Hew was working in the yard I had made a couple of trips to the supermarkets to stock up the yacht. New Zealanders think NZ is expensive but the price of food here is very high e.g. TTs(Trinidad Dollars) -Apricots NZD3.10 each, 12 Cherries NZD1.06 each. Needless to say we didn’t buy any of these!

Bamboo Cathedral, A Satellite station and A Beach

The next Monday I went with another cruising couple on the Bamboo Cathedral Walk which is a very popular local track for exercise and is only about 15 minutes from the boatyard. The bamboo is huge and follows the track most of the way up to the top of the track. The track was a road so is paved all the way but it does need some serious maintenance both the 3m pothole below and near the top where it is being eaten out by water damage.

At the top is an old US satellite station suitable for a Bond movie that has fallen into disrepair along with the administration building that was below it. The graffiti – or local art – is always interesting in these old ruins but I enjoyed these.

When walking back down the track you can go back to the same entrance or down a side track to Macqueripe Beach. This beach has a retaining wall right around it which is sad but a good place to leave your gear while swimming.

Yerettê House – Humming Birds

On Monday Veronic, Marck, and I set off to go and see some hummingbirds at Yerettê Hosue. https://www.yerettett.com/ We learned a lot not only about the hummingbirds but also about the owner’s philosophy on life. He has worked all around the world and then settled back in Trinidad.

There are 14 species of hummingbirds seen there, of the 17 in Trinidad. They have numerous feeders around the house and also many nectar-producing plants. It is fascinating to watch these tiny birds hover while they feed, and also how territorial they are. I could have spent all day just watching them. The history of the birds, what they mean to the Amerindians, their exploitation by different generations, of invaders, and their whole biology would require many more pages. Here are a few short notes.

Hummingbird Facts

Hummingbirds flutter their wings at a remarkable 50-80 times per second! They do not flap their wings, they rotate them in a figure 8, which enables them to hover and fly backward and upside down. The heart rate of a hummingbird can reach up to 1,200 beats per minute during flight, and it can drop significantly during periods of rest to conserve energy. They have extremely high metabolism rates and need to consume large amounts of food, mainly nectar, to fuel their energy-intensive lifestyle. Some species feed on insects and spiders for additional protein, especially during the breeding season. They can enter a state of torpor during the night or when food is scarce, reducing their metabolic rate to conserve energy. This allows them to survive periods without food. Hummingbirds display iridescent colors on their plumage, which are the result of microscopic platelets in the feathers that refract light. These vibrant colors can change depending on the angle of the light. Hummingbirds are among the smallest birds, with many species measuring 3 to 5 inches (7.5 to 13 cm) in length.

I took dozens of pictures, but I needed a larger lens, a tripod, and much more time. They are so fast. In the pictures below you can see several of the different kinds that were in the garden and photos of how they can hover in one place horizontally or vertically. they can also fly upside down.

For those who are interested I have also made a video of the visit which incorporates video and photo footage https://youtu.be/aFhK-hxYMgs

While all this was happening progress on the boat is going well and we are on schedule to be back in the water 10 days after getting back. More on our adventures in the next blog: https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2024/02/party-time-at-trinidad-carnival/

After much thought, we booked a series of flights that would get us back to Trinidad and Eleuthera in good time. We have become a little wary of air travel this year with flight delays, cancellations, and lost and damaged luggage so we booked with care.

AKL-IAH-MCO

Check-in at Auckland was a breeze and apart from some re-allocation of weight between bags (boat parts are heavy!), we were quickly ready to depart. We settled into our seats and had a great trip up looking forward to a return to the warmth.

Fourteen hours later in Houston, the customs queue was tiny compared to our last trip through so things are looking up and we had a 2-hour connection to Orlando. After claiming our bags we went to check in for the next leg. We were directed to the United transfer desk and a queue at least 4 or 5 groups long including one guy with 3 trolleys laden with 15 or 16 large cardboard boxes! With one person on the counter, the line was going nowhere. Some discrete enquiries revealed another transfer desk in the adjacent terminal so with directions we went down escalators, up and down in lifts, along corridors, and found the desk. Another bag weight re-allocation (boat parts are still heavy) our 25kg bag became 50lbs and we snuck in with 148lbs of luggage in 3 bags. We turned around to find most of the other people in the previous queue had followed us but not the man with the boxes.

Missed Opportunity

The plane to Orlando loaded on time but then there was a big delay with some technical issue. Finally, for some reason, they needed to offload 12 people from a full flight and were offering money, a ticket to the same destination the next day, and a hotel. At first, we thought they said $500 but it was actually $2500 each as one girl went up to check. We were too slow in the stampede but there were some very happy young backpackers who had a huge bonus. We have no idea why the people needed to come off as it was a B737 and only a 2 1/2-hour flight.

We made Orlando and the hotel late that night, very glad to see a bed. Dinner consisted of a prepacked ham sandwich of indeterminate age and an expiry date some distance in the future. Not sure of the food value but it filled a gap.

Orlando and Hurricane Idalia

We knew there was a hurricane forming in the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and Mexico and heading for Florida. By morning it was a fully fledged storm with a name and likely to be at least a grade 3 hurricane. The local television channels were beside themselves with excitement with endless predictions of tracks, landfalls, and severity with many on-site broadcasts from locations along the West coast of Florida. These even banished Trump and his legal woes from the news.

The only question for us was would the storm affect us in Orlando as we were due to fly out for Trinidad the next day. On balance it seemed unlikely so we decided to continue with our travel plans and visit the Searey factory in Tavares about 50 miles away.

Searey – Progressive Aerodyne

After grabbing a rental from down the road (a $ 17-a-day car became $55 after tolls, taxes, and fees?), it was off to Tavares and the Searey factory. Our drive there was a complete contrast to a recent trip from Chicago to Oshkosh in Wisconsin. Florida appears to be one big subdivision with rows of housing all down the Florida Turnpike and no sign of any enterprise to support it. Variety consisted of multi-unit developments in the less desirable areas and expensive-looking gated communities in others. In contrast, the motorway in Wisconsin was lined with factories, warehouses, and businesses. Interestingly Florida’s population is around 21 million and Wisconsin’s only 6 million with both states having similar land areas.

Arriving in Tavares, a small town on a lake we went in search of Progressive Aerodyne to try and find out what was going on.

The factory is located right on a small lake complete with a launching ramp for the planes and an old slot for a boat lift. An ideal place to run the operation.

The current owners are Chinese investors who have stopped funding the enterprise which is effectively shut down. As the largest amphibian manufacturer in the USA, they have laid off all but a couple of staff even though they have back orders for several aeroplanes and over 1200 existing aircraft to support with parts and knowledge.

The CEO was the only person there but we were not sure if we were going to find anyone as he had not replied to emails or phone calls. He was a very nice guy but unfortunately not a manager or a salesman – he is an engineer. We went down to the parts department where they have orders for parts from all over but are struggling to fill them with many things out of stock and no money to purchase them. We found an order from another NZ Searey owner which is nearly finished but when we tried to add things to the order discovered the parts we wanted were not there. In the end, we left with some undercarriage legs (similar to boat parts) and left some other things on backorder.

Hopefully, the existing owners or some new investors will start operations again.

Bar on the Lake – Lake Harris Hideaway

Five minutes drive from the Searey factory on another lake was a likely-looking bar/restaurant called the Lake Harris Hideaway complete with a dock for boats and seaplanes. A perfect location for lunch but the menu was fried everything mostly with cheese. A few locals were propping up the bar, suspiciously viewing us as strangers. We decided that lunch might be better elsewhere.

Although the food menu was awful the site on the lake and the trees were spectacular and everyone but us had a pickup truck.

Google found us The Twisted Biscuit Diner down the road so we headed there for some local cuisine. Biscuits in the south are scones to us but we had not seen them fried before or filled with mac and cheese. This was a much busier more popular hangout and we soon had lunch after establishing our credentials that we were not from around here.

Weather

While we were tripping around, cyclone Idalia was getting closer to Florida. It was expected to impact the coast further north so we thought it would have little effect on our travel plans.

By the time we got back to our hotel, it was raining. Not much wind and the rain was not really heavy. State-wide warnings were out for high winds and heavy rain. The local TV stations were by now showing live shots of west coast weather with reporters on the beach making all sorts of predictions. Local authorities in many low-lying areas were evacuating residents as the likely landfall was now in the top corner of Florida near the Georgia border. The forecasting by the NOAA Hurricane centre is very informative and provides email updates which we subscribe to for the season. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

When the cyclone did make landfall there was a lot of flooding but not nearly as much wind damage as expected.

Orlando – Miami- Port of Spain

The next part of the journey was to Trinidad on American Airlines and we had an early flight out of Orlando in order to arrive in Trinidad mid-afternoon that day. Idalia had largely passed to the North by the morning and we were up early (still on NZ time I think) for a 5.30 a.m. shuttle to the airport.

Due to depart at 0740, the flight was on time and we were there early as was everyone trying to get out of Orlando before the weather got any worse. Boarding started slightly late but as we were getting on the Captain was getting off the flight deck – this did not look good. This was the beginning of a long delay….

Problem 1. The windscreen wipers were not working and it was pouring with rain so they needed to be fixed. Due to the length of delay on the gate, we needed more fuel and we waited for the refueling.

Problem 2. After some time the wipers were fixed and refueled we were ready to push back and the airbridge failed. We then had to wait for engineers to move the airbridge out of the way.

Problem 3. Got the airbridge out of the way and taxied out to the runway. The next minute we are taxiing back again. The cabin crew reported one of the back toilets was overflowing. Found out later that it wasn’t sewerage but water coming from somewhere and the floor was wet.

Problem 4. The plane returned to the same gate which was still broken but by this time it was too late and we had to wait for a tug to move the plane to another gate with a functioning airbridge. Finally got on the gate and they let the engineers on board to fix the problem.

By now it was about 1130 and we had been on board for nearly 4 hours for a 1 hour flight so an offer was made to allow those who wanted to leave the aircraft until it was fixed. This was amended to everyone leaving with all their carry-on luggage as it was not obvious the plane could be repaired and some people were searching for alternative flights.

The Captain kept us largely up-to-date but he became more incredulous as events unfolded, perhaps the plane was jinxed. Barb chatted to him while we de-planed to get the real low down on the issues.

At this stage, we were told we all had to check in again so queues formed at the service desks to reissue boarding passes. Chatting to fellow passengers we discovered several of them had moved to this flight from a later flight so they could arrive earlier! These people included the Prime Minister of Antigua with his family and entourage, luckily people still retained their sense of humour.

An hour and a half later we reboarded with a different seat number and were ready to go. The captain announced our imminent departure and we waited to push back.

Problem 5. As a consequence of Idalia and other issues Miami airport was now full and there was no room for us to land at this time so we had to wait on the gate in Orlando until the backlog cleared. Luckily we had plenty of gas on board because we had refueled earlier. Finally, at around 1.30 pm we were cleared to depart for our 1 hour flight to Miami and a round of applause from the passengers as we finally became airborne.

Arriving in Miami 6 hours late meant another round of queues at the service desks to re-ticket for another flight. American Airlines had decided that our delay was caused by weather making it beyond their control and hence they did not have to pay compensation for those who had to reschedule. This caused some outrage at the service desk with the manager starting to get very stressed as people were demanding better. The airline staff had an official line that “the FAA had called our delay as weather-related not the airline” (a Tui moment Yeah Right) The only good news was for the Prime Minister of Antigua who was informed that the plane we came in on was continuing to Antigua so they did not need to go searching for another flight.

By this time our original flight had already landed in Trinidad so we were transferred to the late flight arriving around 10.30 pm and the pleasant service desk person had given us exit row seats with additional leg room. We had tried to avoid late flights into Port of Spain as we were unsure of nighttime conditions on the ground. (NZ Foreign Affairs has a travel advisory out for Trinidad including the area around the airport especially at night time).

Arriving in Port of Spain, Trinidad

Finally, arriving in Trinidad with our luggage intact and undamaged we were surprised to see the queue for local passport control was longer than for visitors, a first in our travels. We then had over an hour in customs while they charged us for another visa waiver then examined our boat parts and documents and wrote out several more pieces of paper in triplicate suitably stamped for us to take with us. We think Trinidad is one of the last remaining users of carbon paper and forms.

Getting into the arrivals hall our pre-booked taxi driver was nowhere to be seen but luckily Mr Douglas with a fine Toyota Royale taxi of indeterminate age (both car and driver) stepped in and drove us to our hotel in Chaguaramas. Interestingly the taxi fares in both USD and Trinidad Dollars are listed by destination on a big wall chart in the airport so there is no confusion or bargaining.

Of course, the night staff at the fine West Palm Hotel did not know that we were arriving despite having phoned earlier from Miami to confirm our new arrival time. Finally, we made it to bed after 1 a.m. and nearly 20 hours since leaving our hotel in Orlando.

Next Day – First Complete day in Trinidad

Our timing as always was impeccable – the day after we landed was Independence Day and another holiday. 61 years since getting independence from Britain is a big deal here and elsewhere in the Caribbean! Interestingly we don’t have an official date in NZ, it could have been 1835,1840,1853,1919,1926,1947 or 1986 according to some brief online research so take your pick.

The first morning here was beautiful at 0500 clear skies, a mellow 28C, thunderstorms in the distance and the pool looked very inviting.

By lunchtime, it was 34C and pouring with rain. The rain keeps the swimming pool cool!

After a check on the yacht, and then a lazy day we decided we would go out for dinner. Our preferred option was shut so we walked around to the restaurant at Crews Inn about a 1km away on the other side of the harbour. https://www.crewsinn.com/

Our hostess was very funny as we were discussing the holiday and saying how many public holidays they had in Trinidad she said “More holidays than payslips!!”. They have a great sense of humour in Trinidad even if everything is not going well all the time – we were definitely back.

We hope this does not put you off travelling to see us – you just need plenty of time:).