Fortaleza (Brazil) to Scarborough (Tobago)
Emmanuelle | Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 8:28AM We arrived in Tobago 4 days ago.
We spent Christmas in Brazil It was our 1st Xmas on board. It was simple, but we were happy to be there all together, to share a great meal and an excellent bottle of French wine.
Mamouss flew back to France the 26th, with lots of sea thoughts. We took our time to get ready and to enjoy some more the swimming at the pool attached to the marina. Being two adults is another story for the night watches and we had to feel ready for all these short nights.
We left Fortaleza the 29th.
The sea was bumpy ... and stayed like that all the way. The winds were fair and regular, between 15 and 20 knots, going to 25 from time to time. Merlin was running fast to its destination. We thought it would take us 2 weeks to arrive ...it took us 9 days.
We had a very simple New year with the immensity of the sea for friend through the night. The doldrums (area without winds) didn’t happen. We were hoping to find them for a day or two, just enough time for us to relax.
We tried to slow down the last two days as it is better to arrive when it is daylight. Also in Trinidade & Tobago, you pay extra fees when you arrive outside normal office hours. We had 3 reefs and a tiny genoa...but we were still doing 7 knots.
We had a fright the afternoon before arriving when a fishing boat was steering right towards us, without it seemed noticing us. We changed our course in time to avoid a collision. We decided to spend our last night doing very serious watches. We stayed awaked the two of us, checking the horizon every 10 minutes.
We anchored Merlin in the small harbour of Scarborough, Tobago.
Nothing too special about this harbour, except lots and lots of music from the lower town. There is a ferry crossing every day from Trinidad and Tobago (and return). Every second day there is a cruising ship dropping mainly American tourists. On the other side, there are few fishing boats. We are in between.
We spent our 1st day dealing with immigration and customs. It was more than boring but we have to do it every time we arrive in a new country. It is also a nice way of seeing how the country is working. It was really slow and unfriendly with immigration and easy with customs. It was also a first approach with the locals. They are friendly and smiley. There is lots and lots of music in the streets, mixed with the buzz of a dense traffic, some chicken running on the pavements, and 33 deg .. .it was a wake up call from our calm sea life!
We spent our 2nd day exploring. We took a local bus to go to Pigeon Point, on the Caribbean sea side. We went to a beach with coconut trees, clear blue waters (with at temp of 28 deg): great way to spend our anniversary! We walked quite a lot that day and were stiff the next day!
We started school again the 3rd day, after a break of 2 ½ weeks. Felix was dreaming even more than usual but managed to finish his lessons. Victor seemed motivated and worked really well. Greg went to town to try to find a way of buying some diesel (nearly 10 times cheaper here than Cape Town ...if you have the local price). Also because we are anchored in a small harbour we prefer taking water from the shore. Greg went few times to fill up our jerry cans with water. So we had enough to clean the boat and do few laundries. We are waiting for a strong tropical rain to clean Merlin’s deck.
Yesterday was more stressful as Greg went a shore again to arrange a cell number.
Internet access is not easy and we don’t plug our sat phone. So if you want to contact us (sms or skype) here is our new number: +18 – 683 67 34 71
As Emmanuelle was doing some schooling, we noticed that we were getting closer and closer to our neighbors ...till we heard a bang announcing we were by then really too close. Their bow sprit touched Merlin’s port side. So quickly Emmanuelle started the motors trying to escape another collision. By herself she couldn’t lift the 2 anchors and pilot the boat. After 1/2h, she called for help and the skipper of another cat came to help with the anchors as Emmanuelle was driving the boat to a new place to anchor.
Greg arrived 2 hours latter, not even too surprised to see that Merlin wasn’t at the same spot any more.
So we started our Caribbean life. We are taking our time and enjoying each day.
The kids are kayaking around the boat, but most of all they are enjoying their diving, taking very seriously Greg’s advice. They are learning to clear their mask, do duck dives, and always dive with a buddy!
The kids can manage “crisis situations” calmly which is reassuring.
We haven’t met another boat with kids on board and they are missing their friends but we should do so at one stage! We are thinking of doing a big shopping tomorrow and then go to Kings Bay, a little bay more North, which is surrounded by rain forest and white beaches.
All the best to you all. Happy new year again.