I’ve waited to write again until our plans became a little more solid and now they are. It is Saturday evening and we are anchored at Chacachacare with “Runal”. There may be a weather window opening up Monday – Wednesday and we are planning to clear out of Trinidad on Monday and then move around to Scotland Bay before heading north, past Grenada and up to either Union Island or Bequia in the Grenadines. Our primary goal at this point is to take the quickest route back to pretty water and good snorkeling which will be found in and around the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines. There are many small islands that make up this area and we only stopped at a few on the way down and that was way back in July (it seems like a century ago). We’ll hang out in that area for awhile before continuing up island. “Ma’alahi” wants to be back in the Virgin Islands around the first of May and “Runal” needs to be back in Trinidad by mid-June so we’ve got several weeks to add detail to our plans. One reoccurring thought that we’re having is to go as far north as Martinique, which isn’t very far north, load up on good, cheap French wine (again), sail straight to the VI, spend 3 or 4 months there and then sail straight down to Venezuela for the hurricane season. Oh well, I shouldn’t spend too much time talking about future plans because they are so subject to change … over and over again.

We’ve spent the past several weeks doing a lot of boat work. We’ve been repainting the cove stripe on those very few days when weather conditions allow. We got 2 coats of gray primer on and then started with the dark blue polyurethane paint. It is generally too windy or rainy or both so progress has been slow. As we sit here now, the port side of the boat is dark blue and the starboard side is primer gray. Actually the gray side doesn’t look so bad and we’re getting a lot of interesting looks and comments from people when the boats swing around. I like to tell them that we just couldn’t make up our minds which color to use or that I wanted blue and my wife wanted gray. At least it is progress. The new Icom SSB radio is installed and is incredibly superior to our old SGC. There is a net we check into most evenings and it is getting a little embarrassing because our signal is so strong and so many people want to talk to us (actually I still enjoy hearing them comment that “it sounds like you’re right next to us”). But the neatest part of this new radio is that it handles our email so much better. I can get connected virtually any time, night or day and have it all sent and received in 4 or 5 minutes. So, please feel free to write longer and more often!

You may remember about the fuel line problems we had back in Texas and Louisiana when we first took off. A very small air leak allowed air bubbles to reach the injectors every few hours and kill the engine. We solved the problem by installing an electric fuel pump and never had the problem again … until a couple of weeks ago that is. The electric pump quit pumping and we discovered that our air leak had not healed itself. I ordered and had FedEx’d a new pump from the U.S. and began trying in earnest to track down and repair that leak. I started by installing a new manual lift pump that I had on board. That didn’t solve it so now I’ve replaced all the fittings and fuel hose from the tanks to the lift pump. That didn’t solve it either but I’ve got the new electric pump installed and we’re back in business. I think I’ll buy a spare electric pump when we get back to VI.

When “Runal” returned to their boat from Sweden they discovered that they had real engine problems. They had to have their engine pulled and get new rings and bearings. One day, while that was going on, we bicycled over to a beach on the north coast and had a picnic. While biking along the road we saw a couple of monkeys swinging through the bamboo trees which was a treat since the monkeys here are often heard but seldom seen. On the way back we took a side trip to a trail that we heard about and had a beautiful hike up to a waterfall. Actually, it is only a trickle in the dry season. When “Runal” got back in the water we motored around to Scotland Bay with them for a shakedown. All seemed well until the next morning when they discovered a quart of oil in the bilge and their low oil pressure warning would not shut off. We towed them around to Chaguaramas and a few days later they were re-repaired and all is now well.

I mentioned to someone the other day how Trinidad is starting to seem like a third world Kemah. It’s been fun here but now all we’re doing is working on the boat and spending money; just like before we left home. We’re definitely ready to go cruising again!

SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2000

It is now Sunday morning and I’m finishing up this email before sending it on out. We had another dolphin encounter this morning, only this time before we jumped in the dinghy to go play with them I grabbed my snorkeling bag. Just like last time they came over to swim at the bow of the dinghy, only this time I was in the water, too, holding on and watching them watch me … a really incredible experience. After awhile I got out and let Claudia have a turn. Some people pay big bucks to get to do this. I guess we did, too, only indirectly. After an hour or so we got tired and dinghied back to our boat but the dolphins weren’t through playing yet. They followed us over there and started splashing around. It now feels like we’re cruising again!

Well, that’s all for now. We’ll write again when we get somewhere.

David and Claudia