Lyn's Log, 29th October 2006
Tobago again

Store Bay, Tobago.
N11º09', W60º50'
10,810 miles.

As we finally left Chaguramas on 17th October, we cleared out with Customs and Immigration and made our way towards the island of Chacachacare in the northwest, not far from Venezuela. On the way, the engine overheated and we sailed back to the anchorage. Fortunately it was nothing more serious than having lost the fresh water from a pipe loosely connected to the heat exchanger. Tightened up and refilled with water we continued. The island of Chacachacare used to be a leper colony until around 35 years ago with a village and road, and two large wards for patients. It was difficult to spot the buildings amongst the trees and undergrowth. Only one or two roofs can be seen from the water. Not much of the road can be seen now and sometimes even a track is difficult to find. The wooden floors of many of the houses were rotten and dangerous but nevertheless it was interesting exploring the village. Apart from one or two of the larger houses on the shoreline with squatters, the village was completely abandoned in 1984 when the remaining patients were taken to a hospital on the mainland. The anchorage was a lovely peaceful place for a swim or two.

The next morning we motored along the entire north coast to Grand Riviere bay to anchor for the night and another swim. In the morning we motored again into the wind and adverse currents to Scarborough, Tobago, to check into the island. Immigration found that we had not checked into Trinidad after returning from England. Not only should we have seen Immigration and Customs at the airport when we returned , but should also have checked in with them again at the port in Chaguramas as the airport immigration stamp only gave us two days to rejoin our yacht. But Immigration did not tell us this, so we had only visited Customs at the port because we had the imported goods and had been told to go there. After quite a wait, it was decided that we had to pay a fine of seven pounds each and we were stamped into Tobago for three months. We sorted a few things in the small town of Scarborough and then sailed round to the anchorage in Store Bay just as the sun set.

Our first night was not a good one. Just as I went to bed, I could hear a peculiar noise. First I found an empty water container banging on the side of the boat and found it attached to a cord going under the boat and had to cut it to lose the container. The peculiar noise continued and this time I took the torch up on deck and found a seine net, with its row of small red floats, stretching out from somewhere near the shore, right across our anchor chain, down one side of the yacht, and out to the anchor chain of the yacht behind us and beyond. Since anchoring we had turned around the anchor, but do not believe the fishing net was there when we arrived. It was not there when we were up in the morning either. The net must have drifted towards us and at first was caught somewhere under the stern of the yacht. We pulled up our anchor but the windlass refused to work and we had to find the handle to turn it by hand, freeing the net from the chain as it came up. Finding the bottom edge of the net and taking it along the side of the boat we somehow freed the net from under the boat so now we were just lying along side it. Andrew's watchstrap decided to break and drop overboard doing this. To get away from the net, Andrew got another anchor out of our lazarette with a piece of chain and a long rope he rowed it away from the net and we pulled the yacht towards the anchor and free. Pulling up this anchor though, we had got someone else's anchor chain around the flukes and it was hard work getting it up and freed. After re-anchoring with our main anchor and clearing everything up, it was early hours of the morning and three hours since I began to go to bed.

Saturday evening we met Ruth and her son Simon at the airport and took them the short walk to the apartment they had rented. We had an excellent meal in the Iguana restaurant nearby and then left them to a good night's sleep. The next morning we picked them up from the beach and we motored up the island to Parlatuvier beach where we cooled off in the sea and then made the short walk to the waterfall we had found previously. There was more water than before and a little brown, but we had a lot of fun there. Back in the village the rain fell down for quite a while. We soon made it to a bar for a drink while we waited for it to stop and then made our way back to the yacht when it rained hard again. It did not seem worth trying to get ashore again for a meal so we made a meal from tins. We then put on a video but Ruth and Simon just fell asleep. The next morning we motored round the headland and into Englishman's Bay. Here we snorkeled around the rocks at the side of the bay seeing some wonderful hard and soft corals and several types of fish, and then swam and rowed to the tree-lined sandy beach, which had quite a nasty shore break. Sarongs and local jewelry were bought and a sand crab encouraged out of his hole. The poor crab scuttled down to the sea's edge where he kept being dragged down the beach by the pull of the waves. Every so often we would see his two eyes stick up and he would scuttle a little further up the sand, obviously waiting for Andrew to leave his hole so that he could return. We had a tasty Roti here for lunch and then sailed back to Store Bay through a fair amount of light rain. It was not cold and we did not get very wet. That night we ate a good meal in a seafood restaurant and, leaving Ruth and Simon to return to their apartment, Andrew and I attempted to get our dinghy back to the yacht. The side of the beach we were on had a big wave break every third or fourth wave and at night it was very difficult to judge the waves. We got the dinghy full of water and both of us thoroughly soaked before we succeeded in getting back to the yacht. Trying to retrieve the dinghy back on board, the boat hook got tangled and the end came off and a small hole was made in the side of the dinghy.

The next day we went on a jungle hike and waterfall trip. It was an excellent hike even though it was unbelievable muddy. There were welly boots for hire and a few sticks we could use. The guide pointed out several birds, a snake, fish, a squirrel and spiders. The waterfall was a little disappointing as we had expected one with a pool. This was vaguely silver and gold against the rocks and it went under a wooden platform at the end or our track with no pool. We returned to Store Bay early afternoon and so took a walk up to Pigeon Point along the sandy beach under the palm trees.

Wednesday we went back up to Pigeon Point's beautiful park and beach where we organized some water sports and a trip on the glass bottomed boat over the Buccoo Reef. The boat trip gave us a good view of the coral gardens and then allowed us to snorkel over the coral for a while and see some of the fish better. Then we were taken to the 'Nylon Pool' which is a very shallow sandy area some way from the land where one is supposed to loose 5 - 10 years in the water. Next I was to go on a parasail, but various things went wrong, and although I got into the air, the guy in charge was not happy with the way the parachute set and brought me down, refusing to take any money. I shall try again on Saturday. Then three of us went for a spin on some jetskis and the day was nearly over. We found another good restaurant that night and this time we returned dry in our dinghy from the other, more sheltered beach.

For Ruth and Simon's last day we hired a car and went to the Rainbow falls. We found a lady in an old plantation house making drinks for a group of friends also wishing to see the falls. After they left, the lady took a small fee and gave out bamboo sticks for Ruth and me, and Simon borrowed some wellies. We set off on our own following the track which got extremely muddy again, but crossed the river several times. This waterfall was the highest we had seen in Tobago and had a lovely pool to swim in and get right under the falling water. We had a great time and cleaned off all the mud in the last river crossing just before returning to the house, where we enjoyed glasses of freshly juiced, freshly picked, oranges. A last local lunch back at the beach and it was time for Ruth and Simon to take their final showers and pack and we saw them off at the airport again. It was then that it seemed like they had only just arrived, but at others as if it had been much longer, considering how much we had done together.

Just the two of us again and it was back to the mundane, getting diesel, food and the washing done, and also visit the dentist again. We shall soon be off to the Grenadines.