Trinidad

We arrived safely in Trinidad after a 16-hour overnight sail from Grenada. Leaving Grenada at 5:30 pm we were in the company of our friends on Cat Tales who immediately started catching fish! They reeled in a Spanish Mackerel and a Barracuda before we were even a mile away from the Grenada coast.

Another catamaran, Mirunga from England, linked up with us since they were also sailing to Trinidad so we now had a flotilla of 3 vessels heading the same direction.

There were quite a few ships that we saw during the crossing, as well as a huge gas platform that was lit up like a city. Adjacent to the gas platform was an offshore drilling rig that was also adjacent to our course. We have a system onboard Aspen that is called AIS. This electronic box tells us about any vessel or platform that is within about 48 miles of us. It also tells us how close the vessel will come to us, their speed, direction, destination, length, width, etc. The AIS is pretty amazing. The admiral insisted that this unit be installed and we are both very happy we have it. The other boats traveling with us benefit from the AIS unit because we can tell them how close a vessel will come to them too.

The winds were 15 knots with 4-6 foot seas at the beginning of the sail so we decided to slow down to avoid arriving at the Boca before first light. The Boca de Monos is the first of three entrances into the northwestern part of Trinidad. Of course about an hour after we tried to slow Aspen down the wind moderated and even became light before the night was over.

After 12 hours of sailing the sun began rising and immediately ahead of us in the mist Trinidad towered above the ocean. The lush green jungle appeared to be a mirage to our tired eyes but there was no mistake, we were about to make landfall on the island of the spices.

Clearing customs and immigration went smoothly and by 10 am we were safely tied to our slip at Crew's Inn Marina. Cat Tales followed about an hour later with Mirunga right after her.

We had a successful crossing to Trinidad!