2024-10-27 Back in the water - out to Chacachacare Island

We are back in the water – woo-hoo.

Hauled out on August 9th, spent 5 days working on the boat, then flew to Boise for 48 days, then back to the boat for 23 days.

What we accomplished:

• Sanded off old bottom paint, marked and raised the waterline.
• Buffed and waxed and polished the hull and deck.
• Replaced engine impellers
• Checked and replaced bolts on bow anchor roller
• Painted sail drives and props
• Fixed anchor swivel (Wasi ball)
• New bottom paint
• New striping at waterline and rub rail
• Took off sails and reinstalled, doing minor sail repair to jib and mainsail cover
• Removed and replaced 16 above water thru hulls
• Changed oil, filter, and gear oil for outboard
• New membrane in water maker
• Switched props intentionally after last haul out mistake, so switched them back and had to switch controls to match.
• Had new shelf bracket made
• Touch up paint on boom
• New seal on starboard engine rear crankcase
• Changed oil on both engines and sail drives
• Cleaned, cleaned and cleaned – boatyards are dirty.

Seems like a pathetic list, and we did have some off time having lunch with friends, bussing to the store and such. Most of the work was done by Dean, sanding, buffing, waxing and polishing.

Our time off was mostly spent with new and old friends.  We had a nice lunch out with our friends Peter and Iris on IP.  They were going to launch same day as us, but are delayed a week now.  We took a trip to the mall to get a phone sim card so we can have data after we leave the boatyard.  We have Starlink, but they have changed the rules, and technically only allow you out of home country for 2 months a year, so we don’t know what may happen when we turn it back on.  We want to be north of Grenada when we do, as Grenada is not an authorized area for Starlink.  So we went to the mall to the Digicel store to get a sim card.  Mall already decorated for Christmas.

Christmas decorations up in the mall

Palm trees and Christmas lights - not in Idaho anymore

Had a nice lunch out at the mall, got some groceries and took a honker back - the fellow who gave us a ride had a car that looked much nicer on the outside than inside - but oh well, we made it back just fine.


Most boatyards are dirty to some degree, but since the northern part of Trinidad also is commercial, with petroleum being a major industry we get a lot of dust and somewhat black dust at that. Hard to keep the hulls and deck clean when almost every day you get a fine coating of black dust. The yard is cheap, super friendly, and lots of resources, so you take the good with the bad.  But cleaning and polishing was done right before launching.

Black dirt embedded in window screens

Cleans up nice though

Kris doing the Strataglass cleaning and polishing on the dodger

Scrubbing the deck

Final polish of the hull

We spent a wonderful afternoon with Bruce and Sandra on Namid, at the pool, and then a delicious dinner on the boat.

Bruce and Sandra at the pool

Thursday morning, they lifted us onto the trailer, so we can paint the bottom of the keels.

Getting the trailer in position.

Our friends Peter and Iris from IP, watching the launch and seeing us off

Launching went smoothly, only one small hiccup, Kris forgot to tighten one of the hoses in the raw water system, so had a leak there, but it was quickly resolved, and we were on our way to Chacachacare Island.  The water here is much cleaner than in Chaguaramas bay.  We started up the water maker and put out shades, as no more air-conditioning, so we are sweaty and hot.

Charm looking good, back in the water again

Chacachacare used to be a leper colony, so some abandoned buildings to explore and a lighthouse to walk to.  History of Chacachacare here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacachacare

Saturday we took a long sweaty hike up to the lighthouse.  754' above sea level.  

Paved road from the dock to the lighthouse.  Fairly steep grade in places

Nice view, and near the top must have been close to 50 corbeaux, or black vultures.  They sound like jets when they glide overhead.

We disturbed the black vultures (Cobeaux)

Venezuela is the island in the background

Lighthouse at the top, Kris is in the doorway

Heading down was sooo much easier than the walk-up

Quite a bit of trash on the beach where we landed the dink

One of the abandoned leper colony buildings.  Will do more exploration later

Today is more exploration of some buildings, and trying to stay shaded and cool.  Not sure when we will head north, sometime this week depending on weather.