Chaguaramas was where I had decided to haul the boat out and lay her up for the hurricane season. It is a busy commercial shipping area but ashore there are several boatyards with very good layup and work facilities, everything from sailmakers to steel fabricators and several chandleries. A couple of days were spent on a mooring buoy in the bay, a bit rock and roll at times because of all the wake from passing boats but then it was lift out time. First I wanted to fill with diesel, a full tank limits condensation forming in the tank leading to water in the fuel. 7.30 Monday morning though there were two fishing boats alongside the fuel jetty and they didn’t look like they be moving soon. There was room inshore but space was tight, I thought I could get in OK but could I get out again? Hell lets try! I manoeuvred in OK , got tied up and filled with diesel. Getting out was even tighter than it had looked at first, well it had to be done, crunch time you might say only I managed to avoid the crunch and turn around unscathed with inches to spare. Next stop the lift out dock where the yard hands were ready to take my lines and soon Sea Bear was hoisted from the water and on stands in the yard. It felt very strange to be on the boat and it was not moving.
The next few days were spent laying up – hosing the boat down to wash all the salt off, stripping off sails and rigging and washing them, general cleaning, polishing the stainless work. I did take a day off to take the bus to Port of Spain for a look around, visited the botanical gardens etc but that was the limit of exploring Trinidad before catching a plane back to UK. There should be plenty of time to explore later when I return to the boat later in the year. Meanwhile I am back in the UK for a few months, to enjoy the English summer? and catch up with family and friends.

Ashore in the hoist

Fruit stall, Port of Spain