Monday, November 6, 1995 - Trinidad

Paddled ashore and went to Peake's chandlery to get a Trinidad courtesy flag. I hadn't bought one in Florida, because at that time we weren't planning on going to Trinidad. The chandlery was out of the flags but said they'd have some tomorrow. We walked over to Powerboats, but they didn't one either. In fact, they didn't even have a chandlery, which surprised us. We went to the office and got their rate sheet. Also inquired about dock space, as we'd like to work on the boat in the water for a few weeks before hauling out. To our amazement, they only charge 22 cents a foot (U.S.) to tie to the dock, and that includes electricity! We can certainly afford that. They expect to have an opening tomorrow. While we were there, I bought two $20 TT telephone cards. We returned to Peake's and got their rate sheet. Their haulout prices are slightly higher, but their dock rates are actually lower -- only 18 cents a foot! Their facilities are much nicer, and they have an opening right now, but before making a decision, we wanted to take a look at the yacht club. It was noon by then, so we took a maxi to the pizza place where we ate yesterday. Had the same lunch, except this time we had cherry delight shakes, which were even more delicious than the previous ones. After eating, we went around the corner to the ATM. I had no problem, but it kept spitting Roy's card back out at him. Maybe his magnetic stripe is worn out. I had that problem once in California. If that's the problem, he's going to have fun getting a new card. We were somewhat disappointed by the Hi Lo Supermarket. Since this island is so verdant, we expected an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, but the produce at Hi Lo wasn't much of an improvement over that in Venezuela. They had nice looking fresh chicken, however, so we bought a package of thighs that actually looked like thighs. In Venezuela, the things they called thighs included the drumstick and what appeared to be about a fourth of the rest of the bird. Huge. We also bought eggs, cookies, dates, candy, and a can of my favorite juice, Dole Pineapple Orange. First time I've ever seen it in a can. They didn't have any decent bread in the supermarket, so we walked a block down the street to Linda's Bakery. They were out of whole wheat bread, but they had a delicious-looking fruit loaf, so we bought one. We noticed a lot of sailboats in the water in back of the bakery, so we walked over there. To our surprise, this was the Trinidad Tobago Yacht Club! We had thought we had passed it on the bus, but apparently that had been the Trinidad Yachting Association, so it's very lucky we had walked to the bakery. We went to the TTYC office and got their rate sheet. They charge $260 U.S. a month or $15 a day. They might have an opening tomorrow. We walked out and looked at the docks. There were slips instead of end ties, which would be a lot more convenient, but their restrooms and showers were disappointing. Also, we didn't want to get locked in to a month, since we might only want to stay at a dock for two or three weeks, or we might want to stay five or six weeks. There was a marine-supply store a couple of blocks away, so I walked over there to see if they had courtesy flags, but they were closed for the afternoon. Up until then, we had taken only maxis, but a big bus came along, so we got on it. However, the driver couldn't take cash, only tickets, so we got off. Then one of the passengers called to us that she would sell us two tickets, so we got on again. That was certainly nice of her. The tickets are only $2 TT each, no matter how far you ride, so one of these days, we'll buy some tickets and ride all over the island. Got off at the Yachting Association. We were disappointed to learn that they don't have docks. You can anchor out or moor and pay them a fee to use their facilities, but we wanted to tie to a dock, so we didn't even bother to inquire about their rates. We were both very thirsty, so we were happy to see a jug of cold water. Didn't see any cups, but Roy had his water bottle with him, so we drank from that. Then a man came along and pulled a cup from a box right in front of our noses. The water was delicious and just the right temperature. We drank bottle after bottle, while we chatted with the man. He had been there several months, so he gave us some valuable information. We had a long wait for a maxi back to Peake's. We were going to go ahead and take the opening they had, but by the time we got there, it was quarter past four. The office closed at four. Oh well, there's tomorrow. Read a letter in the local paper that confirmed our suspicion that the residents of Trinidad speak a language other than English. The writer described it as "a callaloo of languages, rich, beautiful and, more importantly, our own." Presumably, it's similar to Papiamento, in that it's a mixture of the African languages the slaves brought with them, the Spanish and English of their former masters, and the language of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island. No wonder we couldn't understand what they were saying. The educated people speak English as well, but sometimes with a heavy accent.