Don and Lee - Our Travels: 9/1/12

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Grenada toTrinidad

Oh my goodness what a week - we decided to leave Grenada on Friday to arrive in Trinidad on Saturday but two very good friends on the boats Spirit and Jabiru arrived in Grenada from Trinidad on Thursday and a large group were meeting in town at a jazz concert Friday night. Knowing it may be the last time we see Bobby, Peter and Gayle we decided to stay another night in Grenada and party - so glad we did !!

Our anchor chain was heavily encrusted with barnacles and seaweed having been down for almost 3 months - it was now over 3 inches in diameter and definitely did not resemble a chain but more a piece of sunken pipe from the 1800's. I began to clean the chain with a wire brush and thin chisel going in and out and around each link - our chain lives in a locker at the front of the boat which is accessed via a louvre door in the forward cabin – ie. if seaweed and barnacles are still attached to the chain when it is taken on board it stinks !!! I managed to clean less than 10 metres each session which was over 2 hrs - a horrible job!!

I was apprehensive about taking White Rose through the dog leg channel to exit the reefs that made our anchorage so calm and safe - the boat Troubadour had gone up on the reef two days earlier. Somehow they missed a buoy and ended up severely damaging their rudder. The first few hours were horrible - we managed the great speed of 2.7 knots in lumpy seas - the seas were only 3ft but side on so the boat had a figure 8 motion - not good !!! After that we had great sailing - 5 - 6 knots and had to slow down to arrive in Chaguaramas Bay at dawn - similar to the first few hours, the last few hours was against current and the wind died so slow motoring into port. Chaguaramas is an industrial port and very dirty - floating debris everywhere - as Bobby says Trinidad is lovely if you just keep looking up !! We attended Customs and Immigration at 7am then found a mooring ball and went to sleep - a friendly neighbour knocked on the side of the boat waking me up - he was warning us that whilst their boat was on the same mooring ball the bright yellow catamaran next door had scrapped down the side of their boat - without wind, the current moves boats in different directions instead of all together - the mooring balls in the bay are very close together and we saw several boats fending each other off. Just as the cruiser was leaving sure enough the cat came very close - I started the motor, Don let the mooring line go and we moved away just as the cat crossed our stern. Our second mooring ball had a lot of space around it until a boat took the ball behind us and sure enough there came a time we had to fend them off - they were good enough to let their ball go and find another. I wonder how many boats hit each other at night !!!

Our general plan was to check out the 3 prospective boat yards where White Rose 1 would be hauled, have her bottom pressure washed, scraped and blisters drilled out ready for new bottom paint when we return. We hoped to have her hauled on Monday in preparation for leaving Tuesday......Monday was a public holiday which threw our plans into disarray ..... Tuesday morning we were up bright and early - we were waiting at the office of Peakes Boatyard before they opened and were fortunate enough to get a haul-out time of 9am - back to the boat to lift the dinghy and prepare to enter their dock. Whilst White Rose was being hauled Don sat in the office and tried to book my flight to Sweden - all his credit cards were being refused (we had moved from Grenada to Trinidad and had not informed the bank so they put a stop on all transactions) even paypal had been cancelled - with only a few hours to go I had given up on leaving with him - I would follow in a week or so. Don performed some type of miracle and got the airfare booked, the office printed out our e tickets whilst we completed the many documents required by customs to leave the boat in the country while owners are absent - Dave was ready and waiting to help us and he took us by his fast dinghy to immigration and then customs to have the documents copied and stamped then back to find our boat in the yard. Finding White Rose took some doing - we eventually found her tucked into the side of a building in between two much larger boats - with only 1.5hrs to go before the taxi to the airport we had a lot of cleaning and packing do to - the yard had forgotten to leave a ladder to access the boat - that took over 20 mins to find and erect. The fridge contents got thrown into a bag and the fridge had the quickest wipe out known - the heads and sinks were fresh water flushed (thank goodness it had been raining so the puddles on the ground were not so noticeable) and my bag thrown together. Don prepared the deck and dinghy and we locked the boat up with 20mins to go. We rushed down to the office, handed in our key and borrowed a shower key - the showers do not have any curtains therefore when it is on, it wets all your clothes and in my case my backpack also. Not having a towel I dried myself on my sweat drenched t-shirt and put on travel clothes - we got in the taxi looking like two drowned rats deserting a sinking ship. The sun was bright and the temperature cruel - very hot and humid - Don and I were getting sunburnt and sweat dripped constantly. When inside the boat I had to continually mop the drips from the floor as it became slippery - yuk !!!

Thank goodness the taxi was air-conditioned - I was so glad to just sit - that was until we saw the traffic jam - it took us 1.5hrs to go a few miles and the airport was 30 miles away. We made it in time, totally exhausted and hungry we fell into plane seats and just wanted to go to sleep although knowing dinner was going to be served kept us awake. The plane flew via St Lucia where they had a freight problem so we sat for 1.5hrs on the tarmac and eventually got going again and fed - airplane food never tasted so good.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Sweden - Norway

Sweden / Norway

Nya Varvet, Gothenburg, Sweden

We arrived in London after an 8 hr flight without sleep, caught a bus from Gatwick airport to Heathrow airport and then had a wait of several hours before the airline would take our suitcases off our hands and allow us to roam free. I think that is the hardest part - stuck with heavy suitcases and hard airport seats (when you can find one).

The flight to Gothenburg, Sweden was a short quick hop and beautiful scenery - we arrived about 8pm and had a 30 km trip to our hotel. Don had researched our hotel on the internet - it was beautiful, by the water with a small marina next door. (The area where the hotel and office for Don's work used to be a Naval Base and had beautiful grounds.) Notice I said "was" well the hotel also has student type accommodation a reasonable walk from the hotel proper - so off we walked with our bags in tow. Our room was upstairs, so Don took the first bag up and came back with a sad face - the room was a single tiny room with a bed sized for an Ethiopian and just enough room to move around it. Now when in your early 20's a single bed for 2 may seem attractive but not in your 50's !!! Don went back to reception and obtained another room with 2 single beds - definitely student accommodation :-)

The temperature here is perfect - about 20C. The air is clean and fresh and the area is very quiet. I was told a lot of people here would speak English but I have not found anyone except the receptionist at the hotel - she will be seeing a lot of me when I get lonely.

I have been for a few bush walks and braved a trip into the city - the train was easy and I didn't get lost - well not really lost, I just ended up in a different place than I had intended !!!

I was chased into the ladies toilets by a man - it wasn't my fault - or at least not all my fault !!! I found the bathrooms in the train station and being a thoughtful person I held the door for a lady with a suitcase - she went through then stood in front of a mirror instead of continuing through the next door where the toilet booths were - that should have given me a hint but another lady was coming out of the second door and held it open for me - the next thing I know a male is yelling and walking through the toilet area - I ignored him and prepared to enter a booth - he prevented me, yelled at me in Swedish and eventually I followed him to see what the problem was - well when the lady stood in front of the mirror she covered up the tiny opening which is where you deposit your 10 krona - the fee for using the bathroom !!!

During my next trip into town I walked until I was lost then decided it was time to head back - eventually I found the tram line but couldn't decide which platform I needed to be on to go south - after missing 2 trains (one either way) I made up my mind to simply get on the next train and see where it took me. While waiting an intoxicated man decided to sit next to me and chat. When I could get a word in I explained that I could not understand Swedish, I don't think it really mattered as he was in a world of his own. He sung 4 love songs to me in English, loudly, with intense feeling and a lot of pawing then thank goodness his train came - he hung out the train entrance holding onto the boarding handle with one leg strung out into the air and yelled how much he loved me - just like in the movies :-( I definitely need an escort on these forays.

My goodness this country is beautiful - mountainous, cool/cold - we had snow whilst driving on an elevated road yesterday but the down side is it is very expensive. The Big Mac Index is an index that compares the costs of McDonald’s hamburgers all over the world as a way of comparing one countries economy to another - a Big Mac costs the most in Venezuela, then Norway, Sweden and followed by Brazil.

Don’s job was supposedly for 6 weeks but finished after 2 when the normal workers returned from holidays. We decided to visit Norway whilst we were so close.

We left Gothenburg in Sweden and drove to Oslo, the capital of Norway. Our guest house accommodation was close to the city and we trained in that night to have a look at the historic buildings The next day we drove to a town close to Trondheim, this is the closest we will get to the Arctic Circle. I expected Trondheim to be a tiny outback town with a few huts, seals and the northern lights but it was the third biggest city in Norway - how disappointing when I thought we were driving into the back of beyond. Hey they have trolls here - this is their birthplace !!!

Accommodation here is not easy to find mainly because it is very expensive and a lot of the places are closed for the season - summer is almost finished and school resumes in the next few days. After searching for 2.5hrs for a hotel or hostel we finally banged on the door of a big Hotel which looked closed - no one answered so we skyped the number on the door - a very cold elderly lady came rushing up the hill to greet us, I felt terribly guilty as we had been sitting in our warm vehicle while she trudged up the hill in boots, a heavy woollen brown coat, scarf, hat and still looked frozen. She greeted us like long lost friends. We were the only guests in a huge hotel - very spooky - we went for a walk around praying not to see any ghosts. The sitting room was large with a piano, organ, many different seating arrangements as you expect in a gentleman’s bridge club - very beautiful but spooky – I warned Don “if that piano plays a tune at midnight I am out of here” too many horror movies!!! Dinner was unusual – too cold to venture out in the hope of finding an open restaurant, we ate baby carrots, cheese, rye biscuits and icy cold spaghetti & meatballs :-).