Vancouver to Trinidad...Life on the hardstand at Coral Cove marina, Chaguaramas (June to September 2014)

After 10 months in Australia and New Zealand working and visiting family we returned to Trinidad via Vancouver where our son Ryan and partner Raquel live

Horseshoe Bay, Vancouver

Cathy and Eric 

Ryan operating the Water taxi

We arrived back at Chaguaramas in Trinidad to find the landscape dry dusty and barren after extensive bush fires across the road from where our boat was stored.

Consequently our “Erica” was covered with black soot and mouldy inside after being closed up for so long. After a few days of frantic cleaning the extraction of a dead bird from the cockpit and the  installation of a new air conditioner we felt a lot better about it all.

We’re surrounded by fellow cruisers from all around the world working on their boats and waiting out the hurricaine season and some preparing to leave their boats and fly out to see family and friends.

It is fun meeting like minded boaties and sharing stories of the places we have ventured and adventures had

The smoke was from a burning fishing boat which we went to photograph

There’s a great atmosphere and camaraderie in the boatyard. BBQs and musical events are popular beside the pool on the waterfront

 A radio net operates daily with information on upcoming events, weather and general marine info.

Eric has been sanding and masking the hull in preparation for painting. The weather will be our biggest challenge.

Cathy has been sewing new covers for outside equipment and inside décor

We’ll be out of the water for several weeks doing maintenance and improvements.

 During this time we plan to do some land travel before going back in the water and beginning our Carribean adventures.

To make this blog entry a bit more interesting I decided to interview some of the yacht owners around us and ask some questions which may be of interest to our readers

Luc and Debbie aboard “Plucky Lady” a name Debbie chose have been afloat since 2001. Debbie is originally from Guiana but has made her home abroad with Luc from Belgium. There favourite place so far in their travels is up the Essequibo river off the Baganaru island resort in British Guiana. When asked what equipment on board they couldn’t do without they said their windsteering.

Tom and Janis are from Arizona,USA and have been cruising since 1986 aboard “Tomboy”  Tom since a boy had dreamed of sailing around the world and both wife Janis and his daughter he says are “Tomboys”. Their  favourite place due to the people and associations was Roderick Bay, Ngelasula in the Solomon islands. They would not be without their windvane and GPS.

Christian and Anne who are French have been cruising aboard “Tidom”for the last 18mths. Their yacht was named by the children of a previous owner who loved the Jungle book stories . Their favourite place so far is Madeira. They decided that they could not do without their autohelm

Dave from Australia left in 2013 aboard his yacht “Eliana”, named after his 2 girls, Ellie and Annabelle. Dave is a solo sailor and says his most valued items aboard he would find difficult doing without is his AIS transponder, auto steering and chart plotter. Dave’s favourite place so far is St Helena.

Jean Louis, a frenchman, originally from Madagascar lives aboard his yacht “Sagarmatha” named by the previous owners after a mountain peak on Mt Everest,  started cruising in 1982 from Tahiti which is his favourite place. He has lived in many places around the world where his job has taken him but always returns to “Sagarmatha”

Out of Africa is owned by John and Joanne from Sth Africa. They have been aboard for 4 yrs and say their favourite place so far has been St Helena. Their most valued item aboard is their IPad which has multi uses with GPS and navigation programme

Mike from the USA has been cruising for 10yrs aboard "This side up" and has her for sale. He plans to retire from the sea to a property in Oklahoma.  He wouldn't be without his autohelm and his favourite place was Bali

We had a spell of good weather and got the hull painted.