Trinidad Again

Many of you have been asking "What is a windlass?" A windlass is a device designed to give a mechanical advantage when retreiving the anchor and chain. Here is a picure of our Hercules ( I am referring to the windlass - not Jo). There are two speeds and is capable of lifting 1300 pounds in low speed. Hercules has been temporarily mounted and has proven itself to work wonders in Chaguaramas Bay. This bay is filled with tanks and jeeps that were dumped when the US left the Naval Base here. It seems like our anchor is always caught on something and we have to really pull on it to retrieve it.

A super fun day with cleaning up the beaches in Scotland bay.

Here are a couple of pictures of Nils from Budget Rigging inspecting our mast and rigging. I was honored that he found the bosun's chair that I made worthy enough for him to use. We decided to have the complete standing rigging replaced. This means all the wires that hold up the mast. After the job began we found galvonic corrision on one of the cross tubes, this would have failed soon for sure. Thank goodness we decided to have this work done!

My friend Tanya who works at our favorite Internet Cafe invited us to a Gospel concert. Tanya indicated to us that she did not have a solo in the performance, but to our surprise she was the lead singer with a backup choir of about 35. Words can not describe this woman's voice. We were in awe struck! We are very lucky indeed to have met Tanya and to get to hear her sing. I wish I could have recorded her, as her singing was so complex and interesting that I could have played it over and over and still heard something new each time. The right hand picture is Jumoke, Jayleen, me and Tayna.

There was a lot of uncertainty with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Joyce. Thank goodness she turned North and weakend before any damage was done in Trinidad. Many boats left Trinidad for Venezeula, because many piers and anchorages were unsafe for hurrican force winds. Ladybug was sitting in a very safe inlet off of the main bay because of the rigging work that was being done. We were lucky to already be in one of the safest locations on the island! We were tied up to a pier and several trees on shore with 8 seperate lines. We added lines to the boats in front of us and behind us to secure them from hitting us. Even a house boat came up the inlet to hide from the storm with us. I mostly listened to the radio for updates and helped when I could. Thanks to Jo, Dave, Mattie, and Jamie Ladybug was very secure by sundown on Saturday. The heavy rains started around 2AM on Sunday morning and continued all day, but not much for wind. This was a very stressful weekend, but we all remained calm and worked hard to get the boat ready, (full deisel tanks, full water tanks, took down bimini, tied sails down, etc). Below are the pictures of us preparing for Joyce.
Amidst all of the hurricane excitement, we have also had the unlucky chance of experiencing an oil spill. We heard that 1000 barrels were spilled just off the coast of Trinidad. Ladybug has a tar like substance a few inches above and below the water line of the hull, and all over the dinghy. We have all spent time scrubbing the dinghy and hull, and there is much more work to do. No one has accepted responsibilty for the spill, if they do we may receive some money as compensation for the damage. I feel very sorry for the pelicans and other birds that will die from this accident.