Sunday, November 5, 1995 - Trinidad

Woke up after fifteen hours' sleep feeling almost normal again. We're in a lovely location. The water is clear and calm, and there are green hills all around us, covered with real trees. There isn't a cactus to be seen. The jungle is so dense, it would be impossible to make your way through it without a lot of chopping with a machete. So far, the Trinidad experience has been quite different from what we expected. The temperature is pleasant, we haven't been bothered by mosquitoes, and the people speak a strange language that doesn't resemble the English we know and love. They understand English, however, and the radio and television speak English, newspapers are printed in English, and signs are in English, so we feel half at home. Even though it was Sunday, we decided to try to go to Immigration. We paddled ashore and tied up in front of Peake's boatyard where other dinghies were tied. It was a nice place, with green grass and an attractive building. We chatted with an Englishman, who was scrubbing the bottom of his dinghy. He told us where Immigration was and said they were always open, but they'd probably charge us overtime. We didn't care about that; we just wanted to get cleared in. We walked through the boatyard, which is the largest and nicest we've ever seen. They have an enormous Travelift. Went out to the road and walked past Powerboats boatyard, which is also very large. We noticed a bus stop across the street and saw quite a few buses going by, mostly vans. After about three-quarters of a mile, we came to the building that housed Immigration and Customs. The Customs official was there but not Immigration. Another couple had been waiting over an hour for the Immigration official. We explained to the Customs official about our clearing Customs in Port of Spain. He was very nice. He phoned the Immigration guy again and found out he'd be in at twelve. It was 11:20 then. The other couple left, and we went outside and walked around. Saw a new marina that's in the process of construction. Saw a very long, expensive sailboat that was tied to the dock. Also saw the big Greek freighter that had come in earlier this morning and tied to the dock. Returned to the office about quarter to twelve. The Immigration official soon arrived, and since the other couple hadn't returned, we got to clear in first. He was very pleasant. The charge was only a hundred Trinidadian dollars. He told us we could go to Tobago and return if we wanted to without clearing out and in, but if we wanted to go to Tobago and from there to another country without returning to Trinidad, we'd have to clear out here first. (Trinidad and Tobago are two separate islands but one nation. The money is referred to as TT.) As soon as we were cleared in, we headed for the bus stop. We wanted to go to a supermarket that we had heard about. A van bus soon came along (they're called maxis here) and we got in. The fare was $3 TT each. The big buses charge $2 TT, so there isn't much difference. It's a weird feeling to be riding in the left lane with traffic coming towards you in the right lane. It's scary at first, especially going around curves. The steering wheel is on the right side, so you see cars going by with no one in the "driver's seat". Spooky. The maxi let us off at West Mall, where there's a supermarket. Unfortunately, the mall was closed. This is another island where the stores close at noon on Sunday if they open at all. We were hungry and couldn't find a place to eat that was open, so we rode a maxi back to a pizza-hamburger place we had passed that looked nice. It was open. It was clean and attractive and had the best pizza we'd ever eaten. They also had shakes and all kinds of ice cream dishes. Roy had a fish sandwich, two slices of pizza, and a vanilla shake. I had two slices of pizza and a chocolate shake. Really delicious. After we ate, we walked around outside. Saw that there was a supermarket right there. It had closed at one o'clock. If we'd gone there in the first place instead of going to West Mall, it would have been open. Figures. There was also an ATM that accepted both Plus and Cirrus, but Roy didn't have his card with him, and I had plenty of money left from yesterday. I wanted to phone Kathy at two o'clock, which would have been ten a.m. in California, now that the U.S. is back on standard time, but even though I followed the instructions in the phone book, all I got was a message "Barred call". (The public phones here require prepaid cards instead of coins, but I didn't have a prepaid card.) I tried every combination I could think of with the same results. Then I tried to dial the operator, but only got a stupid message saying, "Please hang up and dial again. If you need assistance, dial the operator." Great. That's what I was trying to do. Why didn't they say how to dial the operator? After numerous attempts at various phones, I finally gave up. We returned to Powerboats and relaxed in their waterfront, open-air restaurant for a while. Roy drank a Sprite, and I drank water. The sky looked like rain, but it didn't materialize. We walked around the boatyard and talked with some people who were working on their boats. Found out Powerboats charged $4 U.S. a foot to haul out and 40 cents a foot for laydays. The electricity is 60 cycle but sometimes low voltage. Powerboats does not have compressed air, but Peake's does. Peake's is a little more expensive but nicer. Both places allow live-aboards and do-it-yourselfers, and both have showers, restrooms, laundromats, and grocery stores. There's also a smaller boatyard called IMS. We'll check them all out tomorrow. Returned to our Royaks and paddled across to an island called Gaspar Grande. It is also covered with dense jungle, but there are a few houses on it near the waterfront. We didn't stay long, as it was getting late. Roy paddled back to the drydock, where there were some freighters, and I paddled to a tiny island that looked interesting. Then we returned to Jofian while it was still daylight.