Trinidad

We have been in Trinidad a couple of weeks now. After the rigging was finished we have been taking things easy not working too hard. Went to a potluck on shore one night. June 10 we had the boat hauled and and are now on the hard in a yard called Power Boats. We are going to do another coat of green paint on the topsides to spruce it up a bit as it looks like we sailed half way around the world with it. Will fix up the bottom a bit and then anti foul when we get back from our trip home. Otherwise we do not have much to do on the boat.


We did a inland tour yesterday to see some of the Island. Trinidad has a population of about 1.4 million people and is roughly 45 by 30 miles square, so the traffic gets very heavy at times. Our inland trip took us first up into the hills on the NE corner of island to see the tropical rain forest which was beautiful. Vines and bamboo and all sorts of strange trees abounded. Lots of interesting birds around as well. We had lunch up in the forest in a very large and old house and after eating we could watch many multi colored humming birds from the balcony. Before lunch we were taken for a hour walk through the forest to get a closer look at the forest and birds. The leaf cutter ants fascinated me. I liked watching them carrying a large piece of a leaf that they cut out and lugged over the ground to their sand pile.

After lunch we drove back to the west coast's mangrove swamps and were taken on a small boat ride through the swamps. We would occasionally have to duck to avoid a low hanging branch. Near dark we watched the Scarlet Ibis come to roost which is Trinidad's national bird. For over half hour they kept coming by the dozens to all roost in the same area for the night. They are a bright red almost seeming to glow when looked at through the binoculars. We met an interesting couple from New Zealand who were on the tour with us and own a lovely catamaran called "Our Rose" and went for dinner with them after the tour. There was just five of us on the tour making it more pleasant.

Around the end of June we will be flying home for a couple of months and then returning to continue our voyage and transiting the Panama canal.