Trinidad?

[chuckr]

we spent last hurricane season in trini --
1st i would not anchor as there is a lot of junk still on the bottom and you could hook it - one of friends did and almost had to have a diver come out and go down 30' to get it off but fortunately there was a wind shift and it came off --
also on the anchorage if a trop storm gets close the waves get huge - i saw some boats last year going up and down so much that i could see their prop - very uncomfortable
2nd crews inn is a bit expensive but not that much and has a pool and great helpful people and a weekly cruisers barbie and you can walk to the grocery where everyone else has to take a dink -crews inn is worth it
3rd - port of spain in fact almost anywhere beyond crews inn at night is not good and i would not recommend going out alone -
4th jessie james runs a bunch of tours and some at night with a group and he and his drivers makes sure everyone is safe - jessie is a good guy and someone you can trust
5th the water is fairly dirty and your bottom will grow stuff - if you are going to paint then who cares but paint just before you are ready to leave - else there are a couple of guys who will come by and clean your bottom periodically
6th get out as soon after hurricane season as you can - the christmas winds kick in and it gets tough to find good wx windows to head to grenada -
7th be careful - if you need medical it is generally good and reasonable - we had to see both an ortho and dermatologist - and denist --all good
8th if you are going to haul and paint i would not do it in trini - peakes makes you do your own work or they do it with their labor at high prices and you can not bring in outside workers to help you - coral cove lets you bring in outside help but i am not sure how good the workers are but if i was going to do work it would be coral cove
we hauled at carricou and had a great experience and very inexpensive - we have a 40' boat and that is about the max there

so good luck but if we had to do it again we would go back to crews inn - free wifi by the way

chuck patty and svsoulmates
in horta azores

[CarinaPDX]

+1 re: Crews Inn. An affordable luxury.

[s/v Jedi]

There are no waves in Scotland Bay and no debris on the seabed. This must be about the open water in front of Chaguaramas. Also, at Monos Island there are no waves but there is a steel hurricane cable on the bottom there, put in by the US Navy during WW2.

When you have a slow (rowing) dinghy than you can still anchor in the good anchorages and just come to Chaguaramas with the big boat for grocery shopping etc. The typical RIBs with 15hp are there within 10 minutes. Take handheld VHF or even PLB with you in case your outboard dies and nobody sees you.

[MarkJ]

Did a delivery there 2 years ago and went past Scotland Bay and it looks very nice. Thats where I would be.

But Chaguaramas is the most awful, horrible, polluted, bum boat strewn junk pile I have seen since leaving Asia. To be on the pick there during a hurricane would be suicide.

Crews Inn is nice compared to the rest of the dump. But the facilities are over priced because there's no competition.

You would be stuck in a veritable boat yard except for some shot-gun riding trips to Fort De Port De Spain... where they have not long come out of a (I kid you not) a 9pm Curfew for everyone because on ONE weekend there were 13 different (unassociated) murders!

And someone wants to sail there? Stay for the Hurricane season? Put their boat up on the humid hard and leave it unprotected by a thousand machine guns?

You've gotta be kidding!

Grenada is 100 miles closer and its... well its the opposite of above. Still not cheap, but damn cheaper than Trinidad.

[CarinaPDX]

The anchorage to the west of the peninsula is as MarkJ says - so don't go there. I have stayed at the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (The Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association) on the east side of the peninsula, once for the entire winter. It is a very nice anchorage with decent holding once well set (thick soft mud bottom). It is a convenient location, inexpensive for the club privileges (including security for the dinghies) and also a good deal for being on moorings - with water taxi service. The hospitality is great, and it is next to a boatyard. For a few days during the winter the wind may come from south of east and push some waves into the anchorage - not a problem for well-anchored boats but it does weed out those who haven't mastered the art. There used to be a nightclub on the west side of the bay, which can make the weekends noisy approaching Carnival. So go join them and have a ball...

Greg

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Grenada is 100 miles closer and its... well its the opposite of above. Still not cheap, but damn cheaper than Trinidad.

Indeed, we preferred Grenada too. Then it got utterly destroyed by a hurricane and looters waged war and the next year it got hit by a hurricane again and that kind of changed feelings for the place...