Miss Daisie

With the wind in my hair

Before Leaving Chaguaramas

Michael the travel lift operator at Power Boats hauls a lot of boats so we know we are in good hands. Ray and Genna of Nighthawk look on from the sidelines.

The end of the 2009 Caribbean hurricane season is almost upon us. Bristol Rose "splashed" today, Monday, 2nd November. She's back in her old slip on Dock C at Power Boats. Our neighbors at the dock are Golden Fleece, Spirited Lady and Kardia. Next on the list of to do's comes bending sails and her shakedown cruise, all in preparation for returning to the cruising life.

In Trini, not only do they permit traveling in the boat while in the slings, they encourage it.

BR was hauled out by Power Boat's travel lift team headed by Michael just a week ago. She sat snugly on the jack stands while barnacles were scraped away, new black bottom paint was applied by Andy and Lester, through hulls were serviced, sea cocks greased, sides polished, zincs replaced, new anchor chain installed, gold scrolls and the Shannon named on starboard and port sides were re-painted, decks washed down, Orande of Fortress completed a new cupboard where the microwave used to sit, TV was relocated to a bulkhead and a new shelf went into the cupboard in it's place, new family size cockpit table was fitted by Sterling of Fortress, sails came off for checking and prep for new cradle-style sail covers by Soca Sails, Robert continued to manage operations and chase up new equipment, Trish cleaned, provisioned and organized and Daisie supervised. All that in just one week!

It has been 13 months since Bristol Rose was hauled, Cheasapeake bottom paint is no match for Grenada or Trini barnacles



Here's the view from the travel lift, looking over BR's port side to Crews Inn.

And looking to starboard is a good view of commercial boats and sail boats in Chaguaramas Bay. There are a few islands around the bay. I think this one is Gaspar Grande.

While Trish was in the States during October, Fred worked on BR's brightwork. It's quite a big job and we're happy to say we're very pleased with the results. Robert even enjoyed some friendly sporting rivalry with Fred during the Trinidad versus Australia cricket matches.

Companionway cover.

One of the four dorade boxes.

Before leaving Chaguaramas, there's more work to be done. When we started our list of "to dos", we were a little daunted by the 60+ items on the list. Many were safety items we needed to purchase to comply with the World ARC safety standards. Others were typical annual maintenance "gotta dos" like haul and apply new bottom paint. Our top "wanna do" was to have a new cockpit table built; one that would seat 8 people. After all, one of the things that attracted us to Shannons was the large cockpit, great for entertaining.

New cockpit table with Purple Heart and Trinidad Juniper compass rose. Our cockpit table can be lowered to seat height, turning the cockpit into one large bed.

Scraping barnacles. Haul out time is a chance to inspect every inch of Bristol Rose. She's in good shape. Just a few more little things to be completed and we'll be on our way north.

Miss Daisie

Miss Daisie - "what am I doing here?"

All Hallows Eve - Chaguaramas Trinidad 2009

As the sun set over Chaguaramas Bay, ghostly figures emerged from behind the shadows. Instead of jack-o-lanterns, the figures weaved their way through a sea of jack stands holding stranded, sleeping giants.

Daisie jumped to attention when cries of "Trick or Treat!" rang out. Who are these strange creatures surrounding Bristol Rose? Thank goodness we were able to placate them with candy. Off they went, leaving the giants alone again, land sick and waiting.

Miss Daisie

Make-up! Will someone please wipe the sand off my nose? She's pointing that camera at me again. The wet sand feels great on my tummy.

It's Sunday morning; time to share a picture of Miss Daisie's cruising life. It was a hot day in the Bahamas when I took this picture. Daisie dug a hole right at the water's edge in the only shady spot she could find. Perfect!

Mss Daisie

Miss Daisie reporting for duty

Update, Montserrat is Still Growing!

The people living and working on the island of Montserrat must be very determined folk. Of the almost 12,000 inhabitants on the island before the first of the devastating volcanic eruptions beginning 1995, less than 5,000 remain today. When a choice is presented, it is a special kind of person who chooses to stay and work to rebuild both home and community alongside an unpredictible volcano.

"By August 1997, the steam had given way to massive eruptions of magma, and Plymouth became buried by pyroclastic flows of red-hot ash, gas and rock, turning it into a modern-day Pompeii." The Independent, 16 July, 2005

The inhabitants live with ash clouds on and off these days, and boats sailing in the area are warned to stay away from restricted areas when the activity warnings are high, if they want to avoid tiny holes in their sails (or maybe worse?).

This month there are reports of renewed volcanic activity in the Soufriere Hills, thought to be the result of the collapse of the old lava dome. There are new pyroclastic flows and rain has caused more mud flows. The sight of the ash clouds rising to 20,000 ft and blowing towards inhabited areas must be startling.

In late May 2009, we sailed from the anchorage at Little Bay at the northwestern tip of the island, around the top and down the eastern side, past the destroyed Bramble Airport and on to Guadeloupe. For a look back, click on the June 2009 archive. On our visit we enjoyed a tour with Wendy and Jim, Merengue, led by Joe Phillip, our very informative tour guide. From the Observatory outlook, Joe showed us his old home in the now restricted area. For the sake of Joe and his fellow countrymen, let's hope the activity calms down soon.

When I was looking at news from Montserrat this morning I found a site by Dickinson College in PA, Geology of Disasters, Spring 2005. This site has some of the best images of Montserrat both before and after 1995. The view from Plymouth "into the mouth of the volcano" is especially chilling. During the course of their research, this group of students from Dickinson were able to get into restricted areas that we could not see in 2009.

For reports from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory click here MVO.

A Trinidad Moment

"Forever Young" was looking forward to getting back in the water after 5 weeks on the hard. On the morning after her scheduled splash, I noticed she was still on her hard stands.  I asked what happened.

A new chainplate was on order from the USA and it had not arrived. A deck mount chainplate is typically used to attach a shroud, forestay or backstay.  Customs regulations in Trinidad state that "Yachts in Transit" can import repair parts duty free. On investigation they found the Customs Office had returned the part because "China Plates" are not repair parts for yachts.