For years friends have sung the praises of keeping their boats in Trinidad for the summer season. Trinidad is the most accessible spot to the Eastern Caribbean that is outside of the hurricane belt at 10 degrees north of the Equator. And, nowadays that’s an even bigger deal with the coming hurricane season looking like it will be one of the busiest on record. While Grenada is also popular, technically, and even though it’s only about 80 miles farther north, many insurance companied do not recognize it as a safe place for the summer season and won’t cover boats there without all sorts of restrictions.

My late friend and fellow SDSA board member, Rick Palm, once told me that most cruisers do the north-south run from the US for a limited number of years, perhaps three, and then decide to keep the boat south, skip the Caribbean altogether or head elsewhere. With Pandora, I have been making the run south in the fall and back north in the spring for over a decade and I have to say that I am tired of it. While moving Pandora to Trinidad cost time, the north-south run adds something like three months aboard each year just moving around. That’s a huge commitment of time and doesn’t even address the wear and tear on boat and me for more than 3,000 miles of arduous ocean sailing.

So now, with all that and the need to have important work done on Pandora makes the decision to keep her here in Trinidad this summer an easy one.

As of yesterday morning Pandora was on a mooring in Chaguaramus, Trinidad, after an overnight sail from Bequia, one of the islands of St Vincent. As is often the case, I underestimated Pandora’s speed and we realized, shortly after departing Bequia for the 150 mile run, that we would make landfall well before dawn. The authorities in Trinidad do not like boats entering the country in the dark. And to come into a port where I had no personal experience was not a good idea. I filed a float plan prior to departure and to deviate from that wasn’t a good idea so we had to do something to slow down. I put two reefs in the mainsail and rolled up the jib most of the way. It didn’t slow us down much but finally, with the wind dying as we approached Trinidad, we only had to loaf around for about two hours waiting for daylight.

Before we headed out to Trinidad, Steve and I had a number of meals ashore in Bequia. It is a very pretty place with clear water and plenty of dining options. This view of the sunset the night before our departure was memorable.

The run was a total of 150 miles and we headed down the windward side of all the islands which made for more consistent wind, avoiding the “shadow” that you get when heading down in the lee of these mountainous islands.

As we hovered offshore waiting for sunrise, we were treated to a particularly memorable sunrise, making it worth waiting for to see the new day dawn.

The “cut” from the ocean, less than 2/10 of a mile wide, looked pretty daunting on the chart and to try it for the first time at night seemed like a bad idea.

However, in “the light of day”. Not so bad and it was over 100′ deep.

We had heard that the Trinidad Coast Guard was pretty touchy about arrivals and that our friends had been boarded a few days earlier in that same cut. However, nothing happened.

The cut, with it’s near vertical sides, looked like something out of Jurassic Park or Avitar, with trees clinging to sheer cliffs.

In the cut some homes that reminded me of our time in Cuba.

And a few that defied understanding. A home? Resort?

And one that looked like it would fit right into a high end Brooklyn neighborhood.

And, of course, the Trinidad Coast Guard. These cutters don’t look like they mess around.

Lots of evidence that the local economy is driven by petro-dollars.

Heavy hardware everywhere catering to oil and gas. This rig looks like it came from the set of “There will be blood”.

How about these piles of anchor chain? Each link is surely hundreds, more likely thousands, of pounds. I guess that they are used to anchor the oil rigs offshore as it is way to deep to have them sit on the ocean floor.

The harbor water is not clean, with a light light sheen of oil on it and the air has a faint smell of petrochemicals. I was told that in past years the pollution was much worse. However, I don’t want to paint a bad picture of all this as the people are incredibly friendly and eager to help and the landscape is quite dramatic. I am told that we can take an excursion to the rainforest and see an amazing array of wildlife. Perhaps I can fit something in like that before I depart.

I was struck by these boats and there are a lot of them moving around. It seems that they are fishing boats from Venezuela and that they come over to Trinidad to sell their wares. The reminded me of some of the government fishing boats that we saw in Cuba, but much nicer.

I guess that there is a fairly large middle class here if the number of small private fishing boats is any indication. And, there are a good number of quite nice late model cars in the lot.

This sort of rack storage is common in the US but not in most areas of the Caribbean.

I had no idea what our arrival was going to be like except that I had been told that clearing in was a lengthily process with lots of carbon paper. The experience did not disappoint, taking about two hours.

One of the required forms required six copies and as I interlayered carbon paper with the pre-printed forms, I felt like I was making a “clearance sandwich”. And, in spite of bearing down on my pen like a preschooler learning to print, the three lowest copies were mere smudges of blue.

The process was not particularly unpleasant and in each case, Immigration and Customs, the many forms were dutifully check and rechecked by officers that carefully recorded information on their computers. I have no idea what they were doing for all that time but it seemed very serious. As each sheet of paper was declared “done” an official stamp was applied with a loud, surely satisfying and very official “thump”. In Customs alone, our passports were checked three times, by two different people. Perhaps all that was to ensure that each carbon copy sheet was legible. Many surely were not but none were rejected. I guess the official count, the right number of pieces of paper, was the key.

In addition to all the forms, I had to testify that there was no disease aboard Pandora, or stowaways or dead bodies. Other than that, same old…

Oddly, after all that, more than two hours of shuffling papers, no fees of any sort.

Oh yeah, I was told that the process was much smoother because of the copies that were made for me in the Marina office and as a result of advance work by a guy, Jesse James, who acts as an informal liaison between cruisers and the government. More about the nuts and bolts of working with marinas and Jesse in future posts.

All and all, our arrival in Trinidad has been very interesting and I will surely write more about it in the coming days.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Having no idea what to expect when I arrived, I had pushed out my haul date for several days, assuming that getting Pandora ready would take time. However, once I got here and saw how hot it was out in the harbor, which is sheltered from the prevailing winds by high hills, I decided that I wanted to be hauled AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Amazingly, the office fit me in at the end of the day and now Pandora is on the hard.

And, the air-conditioner is installed and pumping cold air down below. So much for “island time” so far. I arrived in the morning, checked in, arranged to have Pandora hauled with AC was installed before the end of the day. Setting aside the clearance process, this place is pretty efficient.

The AC unit is quite creatively designed with a unique, clearly custom made, fiberglass plenum that fits over an open hatch.

After that a widow AC unit is slid into place and a LOT of duct tape is applied to make it weatherproof. It doesn’t look particularly pretty but is very functional. Down below, a remote control gets things going. And go it does…

Today I will begin my meetings with some of the vendors who will be working on Pandora in the coming months. Some of the big jobs have already been quoted so I am hopeful that I won’t have any surprises. As far as getting the work done, let’s hope that their view of “island time” is like the boat yard and not like the clearing in process as I plan to move Pandora back to Antigua in early November to greet the Salty Dawg Caribbean Rally fleet when they arrive.

Today Steve and I will begin the process of getting Pandora cleaned up and then pull down the sails so they can be cleaned and stored. The dink motor will also go out for service. For now, I decided to keep it in the water for a few more days so I can explore the harbor a bit. That will be fun as I am here for another week before flying home.

Now that I am here I realize that I could have booked an earlier flight but until now I had no idea that I was going to be able to get things done so fast. Sadly, to change the flight now would be quite expensive so I will make the best of it. At least I have Starlink to talk to Brenda any time I want. Not quite the same as being there but surely better than email.

So, here I am, in Trinidad, after more than a decade thinking, “perhaps I should leave Pandora in Trinidad.” Now she is here…

We will see how it goes. So far, I’m optimistic.

First of all, forgive me for having such a gap in my posting as it’s been crazy busy since I returned home on April 1st to get the house open for the summer and to visit family. What a whirlwind. A short two weeks later, on Tax Day to be specific, I returned to Antigua and remarkable week of sailing on some amazing beautiful yachts for the Classic Yacht Regatta.

As luck would have it, I was able to get aboard Eros with two other Salty Dawg members, my crew Steve and friend Mark, for the full series, four days sailing on this amazing schooner. I wrote about her in my last post so I won’t repeat it here.

The series, with more boats than any year since 2017 saw more than 60 boats competing. Their size ranged from lengths in the teens up to those well over 100′, with Eros one of the largest.

This short regatta summary video gives a feel for the range of boats in the regatta. It was a wonderful experience to be aboard such a magnificent yacht.

Eros has huge sails and fortunately, we had light wind for the first two days so we were able to learn more about sailing her when the loads were less. The most challenging part of sailing Eros is setting the “fish”, or what the fisherman sail is referred to, a large sail that is hoisted between the two masts. It is quite a handful and to get it hoisted smartly, takes 6-10 crew all working together. To watch Colin, the skipper, call out orders along with waving arms, reminded me of a conductor in an orchestra. I had sailed with him two years ago aboard Columbia when he was #2 on that boat.

What a beautiful yacht. This photo, taken a few years ago by Beverly Factor, a professional photographer, is, I am told, owner Cameron’s favorite shot and the graphics on crew shirts are based on this photo.

She is a remarkable boat with a caring owner. Cameron, told me that he has a partner in the boat and that it actively chartered. I was struck by how warmly he welcomed those who had volunteered to race her. Colin, the skipper interviewed most if not all to be sure that they would perform well and be fun to have on board.

Colin greeted the crew each day to be sure that everyone knew what was expected and the importance of staying safe. It was clearly a caring family environment. This photo of the briefing doesn’t show how many were on board, upwards of 30+ each day. Busy boat but the loads were tremendous and timing for adjusting lines had to be done in a carefully orchestrated way to keep from breaking stuff, including body parts. And, speaking of “body damage” on that first day I didn’t manage a line quite properly and it slipped through my fingers, taking some skin along with it. It could have been a lot worse and I never made that same mistake again. Of course, as always, my “guardian angel” kept watch over me. All better now…

The crew…

Some of the younger crew for Eros came from Alvei, an old steel ship. Their only way to get aboard was to walk up one of the dock lines. Looks precarious, and it was, with at least one member ending up in the water. They were amazingly hard working and great to have aboard.

The “boss” of Eros, Cameron, on the left, took turns with Colin for time at the helm but most of the time Colin was more than occupied keeping the crew in line. Photo by Anna Boulton.

When it came time to back into the dock, it was always Colin at the helm and to watch him call out commands to the crew and “boat wranglers”, dinks that volunteered to push the bow as needed to line things up, was a sight to behold. And, if Colin was freaking out inside, it never showed.

With the exception of a small permanent crew, all of us were new to the boat and it was a big boat with huge loads. A lot could have gone wrong in a moment so careful oversight was vital. By the fourth day we pretty well knew our jobs or at least tried hard to do things right.

There were a number of photographers aboard for the trip and at least one chartered a chopper to take aerial photos.

This young lady was a lot of fun. Her socks “for (fox) sake” brought a smile to us all. She was relentlessly cheerful and a lot of fun to have on board. My jib partner and marine artist, Anna Boulton took this great photo.

The youngest crew during a quiet moment. Her dad is a regular on the big boat racing circuit.

Cameron is clearly passionate about Eros and the community of sailors that she fosters. At the end of the series he called out a number of crew for their dedication and hard work in a way that made it clear that he really cares about the boat and the experiences that it offers those who sail on her.

Read about Cameron’s family history and what lead to his choosing Eros nearly a decade ago. Eros has a busy charter season coming up summer in New England. Check out her site for some great background.

After the last day or racing, there was an awards ceremony in Nelson’s Dockyard, a spectacular venue. Big crowds.

It was fun to be up on the stage with the crew. Thanks to Tony, fellow crew member, for taking this shot.

The prize to Eros, second in her class, was a “keg” of rum. Colin was quick to share it with the crew. Me too… As you can imagine, it got a bit rowdy but in a good way. Rum tends to do that to people. My apologies as I don’t know who took this photo. Perhaps it was the rum…

It was an amazing few days and perhaps down the road I’ll be able to crew again. You never know. She is home-based in Newport this summer. Hmm…

Before I break, this shot of Bolero. What a gem. I did sail on her for a very memorable practice day before the Classics began but that’s a post for another day.

So, here I sit in Bequia, near St Vincent, for a few days before doing an overnight to Trinidad with Steve. We expect to arrive there on May 1st and then I will be crazy busy getting Pandora ready to haul for the summer. Lots of work needed before I head north to Antigua in early November. I have to say that after more than a decade of north and south each season, it will be nice to avoid the 3,000 mile round trip run.

After an overnight run from Guadeloupe, we arrived here yesterday. We had some really good fish tacos before a much needed good night sleep. The view of the sunset from dinner. What a spot.

It has indeed been a remarkable few weeks. Next stop, Trinidad.

Today we are getting Pandora ready for leaving her in Trinidad, taking all of Brenda’s stuff home and most of her clothing. Thinking about what we should leave or take is a bit daunting as we won’t be back aboard, once I leave her in Trinidad until next winter, probably not till mid January.

We fly out in a few days, April 1st, back home from Antigua. In some ways the season has been a flash in the pan and yet there were times, with all those rolling anchorages, that it seemed like a long time.

While rolly anchorages are not uncommon in the Caribbean, this season seemed to be particularly active with winds from weird directions. For the last few days the wind has, once again, been out of the west, the opposite of the normal easterly trades. Very weird, for sure.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a “rare” west wind but here we are again, with the same thing happening again. While the winds have been variable for the last few days, they have come from a generally westerly direction, making the harbor a bit choppy and slowly filling with Sargasso weed that ultimately ends up on the beaches and slowly rots.

The “Classics” as the event is known here, brings together a remarkable number of beautiful yachts of all ages but the ones that really stand out are the vintage wooden ones, some of the most beautiful yachts ever built.

One in particular is Bolero, an iconic yacht that is one of the most successful ocean racers ever. She was designed by Sparkman and Stephens for the Brown family and launched in 1949, winning the Bermuda race multiple times and setting a course record that stood for nearly two decades.

As is the case for so many classic yachts, she eventually fell into disrepair, but ultimately rescued by owners with the means to bring her back to life. Today she is actively raced and will be participating in the Classic regatta here in Antigua.

I mention this as I have been invited to sail on her for a “practice” day before the Regatta begins. I am more than thrilled.

She is impressive.

In 2019 I was invited to be a “support boat” on the New York Yacht Club cruise and had an opportunity to meet her owner, Ed Kane. He agreed to let me aboard for a look but before I was able to go over, they had to leave.

The week was pretty amazing including an event at Harbor Court, now the Newport clubhouse for the NYYC and once home of the Brown family, who commissioned Bolero. I wrote a post about this amazing experience.

However, all was not lost as I later saw Bolero in her slip at the Newport Shipyard and the skipper was generous enough to let me tour her and take photos.

She has beautiful lines.

On deck, amazing attention to detail.

Stainless gleaming like new and it should with a full time captain and underwent a no-expense-spared restoration in Maine some years back.

Down below she looks the part of a proper yacht.

As you can imagine, I am pretty excited about being aboard her for a day of sailing. I might even be lucky enough to get an “official” shirt. Of course, the crew has to look the part, if only for a day.

Bolero is truly a one-of-a-kind yacht under the care of a thoughtful owner. See this article in Yachting Magazine from shortly after her refit.

So, another goal of mine will be to find a crew spot on one of the big classics for the Classic racing series. I have a number of feelers out including Nordwind. I had met the captain, Alex in Dominica when I invited him and his crew to join in on the fun at the Salty Dawg rendezvous. It turns out that he is also a member of the Tot club and when I saw him last night he seemed to think that he could likely take me. However, not sure about Steve, my crew, so we will have to wait and see. The captain told me that the Tot Club will be meeting aboard her during classics. I can’t wait.

Norwind was launched in Germany in 1939 as a naval training vessel and has had a long and colorful past. Read about her history in this brief piece.

So, will I sail on her for Classics? We’ll have to see.

Another boat that I may possibly sail on is Eros. I have no particular connection to this boat except that I know the person who interacts with the captains of all the boats that will participate in the regatta. She tells me that I have been recommended as a possible crew and it takes a lot of people to race her, upwards of 30 I am told.

This short video makes me want to get out my checkbook and charter her. Perhaps not, but there is a chance that I will be aboard when she is racing. We’ll see.

All and all, whatever yacht I find myself aboard, it’s going to be a wonderful experience. This video was commissioned for Eros during the 2017 Classics and gives a good feel for the scale of what this regatta is all about, one of the premier gatherings of remarkable classics anywhere.

Imagine the thrill of racing these majestic yachts. With some luck, perhaps I will be part of the action.

Tomorrow morning at daybreak we will slip Pandora’s lines and drop the mooring that we have been on for the last few days here in Les Saintes, to make the 75 mile run north past Guadeloupe and on to Antigua.

From Antigua I will fly home with Brenda to get the house open for the summer. Mid April, tax day actually, I will fly back to participate, I hope, in the Classic Yacht Regatta and then run Pandora south to Trinidad with a friend, the last cruise of 2024.

Les Saintes are a small group of islands located just south of the main island of Guadeloupe, one of our favorite places to visit. The view of shore is very charming, with red metal roofs on all the buildings, looking oh-so-French.

The view to the north of the “big island” of Guadeloupe, is impressive, especially when the light glows near sunset. Or wait, was it sunrise? Whatever, it’s always lovely.

These islands are accessible from the main island via ferry and there is a constant parade of boats coming and going all day and into the evening, disgorging hundreds of tourists, mostly French.

“Mainstreet” is very charming, complete with a number of patisseries, so there is always a good selection of baked products to choose from.

Our run from Martinique here a few days ago was uneventful, with very nice winds. I took this short video as we approached Dominica.

We stopped for the night in Portsmouth, Dominica but didn’t clear in, “yellow flagging” it, and leaving early the next morning. Sadly, as has been the case in many places this season, it was terribly rolly so we didn’t get a good night sleep. Brenda and I have had just about enough rolling for one season. There is something unnatural about being anchored and yet having enough boat movement to make it impossible to keep anything upright on the counter.

Fortunately, Les Saintes have proven to be mostly calm and enjoyable. We’ve eaten out a bit and tonight we will be meeting a number of fellow cruisers a bar overlooking the water for cocktails. It will be a nice mix including two couples that we already know and three that we don’t.

One of the couples are on a mooring near us, flying an Ocean Cruising Club burgee, another French couple that we anchored near in St Pierre and a third that we met today on the dock. The chance meeting on the dock was when they asked us where they could get rid of trash. We told them and then I invited them to join us. Random? Yes, but that’s a great way to meet folks.

Imagine seeing someone downtown where you live, perhaps at the post office, and inviting them for drinks? No, not a chance but in the world of cruising, not weird at all. Well, not for someone as shy and retiring as I am.

This evening should be fun with a nice mix including that couple the we “met”, sort of in St Pierre, and they don’t even speak English well at all. When I went to see them this morning and invited them to join us for “sun downers”, well, they had no idea what I was trying to say. We finally settled on “drinks” and they got that along with me putting up five fingers to designate the time.

That’s me, shy and retiring Bob. We will see how that goes. I’m sure that it will be fine.

So, tomorrow, off to Antigua for the, sort of, final chapter as we pack up all our stuff, mostly Brenda’s and decide what we can live without until Pandora goes to Trinidad and sometime later in the year, back in the water to head north again.

Trinidad is a long way from home and with all the work that has to be done to get her ready for the “possible, likely, hopefully” run to the Azores next spring, plenty to think about.

For the moment, not a lot to think about at all except perhaps which bathing suit to wear for my afternoon swim.

We have spent quite a bit of time in Martinique this season. Some weeks ago we cleared into St Pierre at the northern end of the island, moved down to Ft de France and then onto to St Lucia for nearly two weeks. After that we moved back to Martinique and spent time in St Anne, a lovely little village with a huge anchorage.

The anchorage is very well protected, open to the west but in the lee of the island. A beautiful sunrise nearly every morning.

We enjoy one restaurant in particular, right on the water. Our view.

My view and dinner date, Brenda.

We were not alone but it was a very relaxed vibe. To sip a drink with your toes in the gently lapping water…

On the way back to Pandora it was a beautiful night. Thanks to my amazing Google Pixel phone, a pretty good shot of her at anchor with a rising moon with blue LED lights bathing her mainsail with a glow.

A few days ago we headed north to St Pierre again where we expected to spend a few days before clearing out and continuing our trip north to return to Antigua.

Along the way we passed an “island” if you can call it that. It is the cone of a long extinct volcano. Over the millions of years, the soft parts had washed away, leaving only the hard rock of the interior lava cone remaining. It is huge and quite intimidating to see the waves crashing up on it

It’s hard to get a feel for the scale of this rock. It’s enormous.

Big yes until you see the dive boats at the base. It’s massive.

I took a short video about this formation as we sailed past.

When we reached the northern part of the island, we picked up a mooring in St Pierre, long a very challenging place to anchor because the shoreline drops off quickly. In this case our mooring, newly installed, not far from shore, in 100′ of water.

The Saturday market was bustling.

Hard to believe that a single vendor could have such variety.

The first day in St Pierre was lovely with calm waters and a beautiful sunset. I do love sunsets and this one is perhaps in the top ten. I plan to submit it to the “Cloud Appreciation Society”. They post a cloud photo a day and I have had a few of them selected over the years. I wrote a post about this quirky group some time back and decided to join.

The run north to Dominica is fairly long and requires an early start so our plan was to head out on Sunday morning, today, but as we returned to Pandora in the afternoon of the second day on the mooring, it had become terribly rolly. While we were on shore for only a few hours, quite a surge had developed and dishes had crashed out of the cabinets onto the counters, due to the violent rolling. So we quickly decided to up anchor and head back to Ft de France, a retreat of about ten miles in the wrong direction.

A setback to be sure but being in St Pierre is always a lesson in “what might be” and to get more than a day or two of calm conditions is not common in our experience. Happily, it was calm when we arrived but a swell came up on the second night and it got nasty. It seems to be settling down again. For sure, it was calmer than in St Pierre.

So, here we are again in Fort de France for a few days. I say “few” as that speedo that I had “fixed” wasn’t fixed after all so I had to go back to La Marin to see what can be done about it. The repair guy now says that he can “fix it” and even agreed to bring it back to Fort de France tomorrow. The $50 “fix” didn’t last long and by the second day, I will reserve judgement

While we didn’t want to head north only to head back south again but sometimes life is unpredictable, “two steps forward, one step back”. At least it is, sort of, calm now although last night was more than a bit challenging, to be sure.

The good news is that we had brunch yesterday at a restaurant that we really overlooking the harbor and that didn’t roll a bit.

We will just have to make the best of it I guess and hope to head north again in a day or so. I will admit that I am looking forward to being back in CT soon. I know Brenda is…