Trinidad
For our first sail in nearly two months, things started pretty well. Thanks to our clean hull (cheers to Ian and Steph for doing this), and apparent wind of just over 60 degrees we flew. Our speed over ground (SOG) hit mid 8 knots with no effort at all, despite being full of fuel and water.
We travelled in the company of Nautilus and Enterprise for safety, as some pirate attacks have taken place between Grenada and Trinidad. The recommendation was to pass 3 to 4 miles East of the Poinsettia gas platform. With our start destination already favourable it looked possible. Unfortunately one of our little flotilla, Enterprise, had started from St.Georges in Grenada and was struggling to sail so close to the wind, passing between the Poinsettia and Hibiscus platforms at night. After that we started to converge slowly.
About 0630, with still 10 nm to destination, we got a call over the VHF from Enterprise to say they had been approached by a pirogue.
Below is a report as it appears in the Caribbean Safety and Security Net. In this report we are BB1 (Buddy Boat 1).
DATE: 2016-08-02
Country Name: Trinidad/Tobago
Location Detail: Grenada-Trinidad passage
EVENT: Attempted piracy
Stolen Items: None
SECURED: N/A
DETAILS: Three yachts left Grenada in the afternoon, bound for Trinidad. A float plan was filed with TTCG/NPR and Jesse James. The reporting captain attempted to call North Post Radio and Trinidad Coastguard on two separate occasions on VHF 16 during the voyage but did not get a response to either call. The first call was to NPR at approximately 1600, from a position about 5 miles south of the Grenada coast. The second call was to TTCG between midnight and 0100, about 3 miles directly east of the Hibiscus platform. The captain is confident his radio was working properly, he made contact with the other yachts (VHF 71) and also with the marina on arrival (VHF 16 and 72). During the passage he was able to listen to North Post Radio and heard them monitoring and conversing with other vessels. After passing 3 miles east of the platform the yacht continued due south. The next morning (August 2) at approx. 0630, his yacht was motor sailing at about 3 knots and located 10 nm northeast of Boca Monos. The 2 other yachts, Buddy Boat 1 (BB1) and Buddy Boat 2 (BB2), were about 1 nm further east (BB1) and 2 nm further south (BB2). The yacht was approached by a white pirogue with 3 men onboard. The men in the pirogue spoke English and there were no fishing nets or any fishing gear in the pirogue. The yacht captain went to his starboard rail with his handheld VHF and in full view of the pirogue called the nearest buddy boat (BB1) to tell them what was happening. He describes the situation: • The general attitude of the two men who spoke was aggressive and angry. With much shouting and waving of arms in the general direction of Trinidad – it seemed to me that they were telling me to slow down and not go any further ….the noise level was high since this was happening as they approached with their engine and our engine noise making communication indistinct and hard to make out initially. There was no doubt in my mind that this was not a friendly encounter. • The pirogue pulled up alongside on our starboard side, and tried to get as close to my boat as was feasible. Two men were standing and one tried to hold on to the hull of my boat but the sea state was too rough and they pulled away about 1 meter. • One of the men shouted across to us in an aggressive manner - asking what “sea area are we in?” – I replied that we were off the coast of Trinidad • He then shouted across, pointing ahead…“what is that Island..?” – I replied Trinidad • The second man then shouted across “what is that …” while gesticulating at the passage ahead …I took it to mean that they were trying to point out the Boca – I replied Boca Monos • I updated BB1 on the situation, using my handheld VHF. This seemed to increase the agitation of the men in the pirogue. • BB1 immediately turned directly towards us. • Our VHF communication would have been audible to the men in the pirogue. They were obviously annoyed that I was speaking to someone. They were not asking directions, the conversation was heated; aggressive; menacing. There was absolutely no doubt that the “directions” were a ruse, we were being sized up. • The men had a conversation amongst themselves and pulled away at high speed. They went eastwards in the general direction of BB1. • They did not make any further approach to any of our vessels. • We updated BB1 and BB2 and all 3 vessels continued towards Boca Monos. • We did not attempt further calls to the coast guard at that time. All three yachts arrived safely in Chaguaramas later that morning. The captain contacted Jesse James, who arranged and attended a meeting the next day with the TTCG Fleet Commander, where an official report was made. Based on details described by the reporting captain, TTCG indicated that the pirogue was likely from Trinidad. Follow up with Jesse James indicates that TTCG/NPR has assured him that they will continue to patrol the area and try to improve their communications.
Country Name: Trinidad/Tobago
Location Detail: Grenada-Trinidad passage
EVENT: Attempted piracy
Stolen Items: None
SECURED: N/A
DETAILS: Three yachts left Grenada in the afternoon, bound for Trinidad. A float plan was filed with TTCG/NPR and Jesse James. The reporting captain attempted to call North Post Radio and Trinidad Coastguard on two separate occasions on VHF 16 during the voyage but did not get a response to either call. The first call was to NPR at approximately 1600, from a position about 5 miles south of the Grenada coast. The second call was to TTCG between midnight and 0100, about 3 miles directly east of the Hibiscus platform. The captain is confident his radio was working properly, he made contact with the other yachts (VHF 71) and also with the marina on arrival (VHF 16 and 72). During the passage he was able to listen to North Post Radio and heard them monitoring and conversing with other vessels. After passing 3 miles east of the platform the yacht continued due south. The next morning (August 2) at approx. 0630, his yacht was motor sailing at about 3 knots and located 10 nm northeast of Boca Monos. The 2 other yachts, Buddy Boat 1 (BB1) and Buddy Boat 2 (BB2), were about 1 nm further east (BB1) and 2 nm further south (BB2). The yacht was approached by a white pirogue with 3 men onboard. The men in the pirogue spoke English and there were no fishing nets or any fishing gear in the pirogue. The yacht captain went to his starboard rail with his handheld VHF and in full view of the pirogue called the nearest buddy boat (BB1) to tell them what was happening. He describes the situation: • The general attitude of the two men who spoke was aggressive and angry. With much shouting and waving of arms in the general direction of Trinidad – it seemed to me that they were telling me to slow down and not go any further ….the noise level was high since this was happening as they approached with their engine and our engine noise making communication indistinct and hard to make out initially. There was no doubt in my mind that this was not a friendly encounter. • The pirogue pulled up alongside on our starboard side, and tried to get as close to my boat as was feasible. Two men were standing and one tried to hold on to the hull of my boat but the sea state was too rough and they pulled away about 1 meter. • One of the men shouted across to us in an aggressive manner - asking what “sea area are we in?” – I replied that we were off the coast of Trinidad • He then shouted across, pointing ahead…“what is that Island..?” – I replied Trinidad • The second man then shouted across “what is that …” while gesticulating at the passage ahead …I took it to mean that they were trying to point out the Boca – I replied Boca Monos • I updated BB1 on the situation, using my handheld VHF. This seemed to increase the agitation of the men in the pirogue. • BB1 immediately turned directly towards us. • Our VHF communication would have been audible to the men in the pirogue. They were obviously annoyed that I was speaking to someone. They were not asking directions, the conversation was heated; aggressive; menacing. There was absolutely no doubt that the “directions” were a ruse, we were being sized up. • The men had a conversation amongst themselves and pulled away at high speed. They went eastwards in the general direction of BB1. • They did not make any further approach to any of our vessels. • We updated BB1 and BB2 and all 3 vessels continued towards Boca Monos. • We did not attempt further calls to the coast guard at that time. All three yachts arrived safely in Chaguaramas later that morning. The captain contacted Jesse James, who arranged and attended a meeting the next day with the TTCG Fleet Commander, where an official report was made. Based on details described by the reporting captain, TTCG indicated that the pirogue was likely from Trinidad. Follow up with Jesse James indicates that TTCG/NPR has assured him that they will continue to patrol the area and try to improve their communications.
With no further contacts, we passed through a narrow strait into Chagaramas Bay. In the strait the water was very confused with the boat sometimes heading sideways, yet straight ahead course over ground (COG). It reminded us of our passage on Scarlet Lady when we did the Messina Straits.
We had been advised that the holding in the bay was not great so decided to take a mooring buoy. We managed to find a free one, but after two attempts we could not thread the line through the loop. Thankfully the caretaker of the moorings came along in her rib, and assisted from water level. Soon after we launched our rib and added an extra line in case the first one chaffed through.
The anchorage is a mixture of commercial and private vessels. Sadly the water quality is very poor, a sort of murky brown colour with all sorts of debris and in recent days a foul smelling oil slick. No chance of running the water maker, nor going for a cooling swim.
The oil slick has left a greasy slime near the waterline, which will take some effort to clean up.
We cleared in at Immigration and Customs, took down our yellow Q flag and raised the Trinidad courtesy flag on the starboard spreader, as is customary.
This area is famed for the local boatyards and quality of workmanship over a broad spectrum. Wandering around the hard standing we see many yachts we recognise.
So far we have not been out and about much. Just an organised shopping trip into a mall near Port of Spain, and Lynne took a bus to go and visit the botanical gardens.
We have a tour organised tomorrow, called a Taste of Trinidad. This is a gastronomic tour of the island to sample local cuisine.
More on the outcome of this in a future update.
For now, we are pottering. The rear heads needs servicing as it is starting to back up, and we did an audit of our food inventory on the brilliant app called Shipshape. If you are a liveaboard cruiser, this app is indispensable. We have given a location name to all of our storage areas, and then cross-referenced the contents. Basically it saves a lot of arguments when trying to find something, not to mention time.
We are struggling a little with the high humidity and lack of cooling breeze, especially at night. It would be possible to hire a portable air conditioning unit, but it would mean running the generator even longer than we are doing at the moment. As it is cloudy most days, we are getting very little contribution from the solar panels.
The briefing for the Nereids Rally is on the 14th August and fingers crossed, our replacement davit arm will arrive a day or two after that. Then we can head round to Tobago for a couple of weeks and do some exploring. The passage from Trinidad to Tobago will be against prevailing winds and current, so we are expecting to motor. Mind you fuel is cheap here with a litre of diesel costing the equivalent of just 24 pence! No wonder the bus journey only costs 75 pence to head into the city. Not only that but just ring the bell and the bus driver will drop you anywhere en route. Similarly as in Grenada, just hail one at the roadside, no need to walk to a bus stop.
Unlike Grenada so far, the music volume inside the buses has been at an acceptable level!
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