Night Run to Trinidad
Author: Shirlz
Saturday, 12 January 2013
I sailed away from Man of War Bay early in the morning with a twinge of regret to be leaving such a beautiful place. After a wobbly start with the wind swinging about from all directions down the steep hillsides of the bay, it was fast and exhilarating sailing along the north coast of the island. A strong current helping to speed things up. At one point I was surrounded by big playful dolphins, silvery flights of flying fish and a swirling and swooping group of hungry frigate birds. The sun was shining. It was a beautiful day. Not much of a test for the windward ability of my recently modified sail as the wind was behind me all the way. Everything was working as it should.
Store Bay waterfront
I stopped for the night at Store Bay to do a bit of socializing and shopping and set off on the 60nm crossing to Trinidad at 5pm planning to arrive at about 8 the next morning. There must have been some stormy weather further offshore as the sea was uncomfortably rough and lumpy without much wind. Just the merest sliver of a moon meant that most pf the night was blackly dark. A starry sky and brilliant phosphorescence in the water made it quite spectacular. Only one minor mishap when a big, irregular swell caused an unplanned gybe in the light wind and the sheet twisted and tangled around every possible obstruction. One of the sheetlets managed to get hooked up on a lazy jack cleat creating a very odd-shaped sail. I was forced to lower the sail and heave-to to sort out the shambles. Junk rig does have the occasional disadvantages. Still, nothing was broken and we were soon on our way again.
Fast inter-island ferry crosses my path in the early morning
There was quite a lot of big ship traffic and two fast ferries on the crossing between Port of Spain and Scarborough. Absolutely no chance of grabbing even 10 minutes of sleep. When the sun came up at about 6 I was struggling to stay awake. But soon enough we were at the narrow opening between craggy cliffs called Boca de Monos, one of the Dragons’ Mouths that has to be negotiated to reach Chaguaramas.
Approaching Boca de Monos
As luck would have it the tide was against us and any inclination to doze off disappeared as I was forced to fire up the engine to help us get through the rough water. We crept along at 1 knot with waves crashing against the cliffs on either side. The water is deep here – mostly over 40m – so it was just a case of staying in the middle and patiently plugging away. At last things calmed down a bit as we reached more open water and soon the entrance to Scotland Bay opened up to port. By now it was 10am and I decided to stop here for a while to get some sleep before facing the challenge of finding a place to anchor in Chaguaramas and reporting to the officials.
Peaceful Scotland Bay
I was last in Scotland Bay in 2004. Only 3 other boats were anchored there and it was even more beautiful than I remembered. I cracked a celebratory Carib and turned in to catch up on the sleep deficit.
January 26th, 2013 at 00:46
How’s the ship cat doing?
January 26th, 2013 at 10:33
We are hauled out now and Sinbad is enjoying the opportunity to socialize with the boatyard cats.