TRINIDAD
Back in 1498, the
ambitious Columbus came again with his fleet to the New World, this time from
the southwest after being becalmed for more than a week in the sweltering
doldrums. When finally the southeast trades filled the sails, the fleet saw
three small peaks.
The Admiral named the
land for the Holy Trinity.
The hills he saw,
reportedly from 40 miles out, are still called the Trinity Hills.
Thereafter, Trinidad
remained rather removed from the action in the rest of the Caribbean, except
for a flurry of activity when a city of gold known as El Dorado was rumored to
exist far up the nearby Orinoco River, a rumor that led Sir Walter Raleigh to
mount an expedition there.
While Raleigh never
found a trace of gold, his imagination went wild some would say: he wrote
luridly of a country "that hath yet her maidenhead; the graves have not been
opened for gold, the miners not broken with sledges nor their images pulled
down out of their temples"-in fact a place that was "the mother load of all
rich metals." (Read his diary: The vast Highlands of Guyana)
Unlike Columbus and
Walter, most yachtsmen approach Trinidad from the north, often on a close
reach from Grenada and usually with some bewilderment as they discover how far
the west-going current has set them off course.
From Venezuela you would
approach from the west with Bahia San Francisco as the last anchorage on the
peninsula of Paria usually motoring by night when the wind dies.
In fact a landfall
during the last hours of darkness makes sense, in order to take advantage of
the powerful Chacachare Light and less wind. Plan, by all means, to come
through the Bocas in daylight!
The usual choice among
the Dragon's Mouths is the Boca de Monas, where the current, if you hit it at
the wrong time, may be running as much as 5 knots. In this case you will find
les s current in Boca de Huevos. The current sets north except for about two
hours at each change, when, in effect, it is only neutralized. The current
almost never sets south.
Sea conditions are
generally rough as a result of the confluence of winds and currents coming out
of the Gulf of Paria and around the north coast of Trinidad.
No Caribbean island is
as racially diverse as Trinidad.
Most prevalent are the
blacks and East Indians, about equal in numbers; then, to add to the mixture,
are Chinese, Portuguese, Syrians, Jews, and various Latin Americans. These are
the people who stage each year the carnival of all carnivals and who initiated
the sly and beguiling calypso, which, in turn, led to the invention of the
steel drum. Far from being simply an upside down, sawed-off oil drum, it is in
fact a precision instrument, its top (bottom) hammered to a certain stage of
concavity, with the musical notes hammered into oval shapes around the
perimeter and tempered by means of glowing charco al to just the right pitch.
The rainy season comes
in June, July, and August; the driest months are March and April. A big plus
is that Trinidad lies south of the hurricane paths; in fact on only two or
three occasions in the island's recorded history has there been storm damage
to crops.
Port of Spain
The only port for
entering and clearing, is now a yacht haven for yachties needing repairs and
overhauls on there boats.
In the Bay you will find
hundreds of boats from all over the world a fantastic sight
Across Wrightson Road
from the quarantine station is the Mariners' Club, a clean, well-run
establishment supported by a church auxiliary in England for the benefit of
all seamen, and it may still include yachtsmen, including free showers, free
movies several times a week, a bar serving beer and soft drinks, a clean
swimming pool (for a nominal fee), and a small restaurant producing good,
home-cooked meals at very reasonable prices + the special atmosphere created
here.
Port-of-Spain to
Dragon's Mouths
As we have said, this
northern pincer of the island is where the yachts are, but the water is
uninviting for swimming and the coast is exposed. We are now progressing west
from Port-of-Spain, after getting police permission to move.
Trinidad
Yacht Club
,
Which lies in 61°34.2'W,
took a merciless chop every afternoon until a breakwater of sunken wrecks was
built and a marina constructed in its lee.
Repairs can be made
there. Make arrangements with the club manager. Water, fuel, and ice are
available.
