Merry Christmas from Bella Luna in Bequia
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Category Archives: Sail Blog 2018
BACK IN THE WATER
After 7 month on the hard at Peakes Yachting Bella was launched on time.
Before launch Bella got new batteries (Budget Marine) and a new Mastervolt Combi (Electropics). Gittens worked on the cylinderhead to the generator.
Dwayne who had looked after Bella when on the hard was a tremendous help pointing me in the right direction when I needed help. Made my life so much easier. If you ever plan to keep your boat in Trinidad it is well spent money to have Dwayne looking after your boat. Every two weeks he aired Bella and sent updates with 20+ pictures.
As soon Vickie arrived we sailed to Grenada as we had our friend Billy arriving from London. The crossing is only 75 Nm, but have a bad reputation due to uncombortable sea. It was a bit rolley but nothing worse than sailing in The North Sea. We started our crossing at 6 AM and dropped anchor in Prickly Bay Grenada just before sunset.
TRINIDAD
Our sail from Union Island in the Grenadines to Trinidad was a overnight sail with fair winds and current in our favor and kind seas. Bella Luna was a race horse so we had to reduce sail twice to slow her down as we did not want to arrive Trinidad in the dark.
As we approached, we had a gorgeous sunrise with brilliant colors and greetings from some playful dolphins. 
Going through a narrow cut between the islands it was lush but warm and humid even at 0630. Trinidad, in our opinion, certainly has a different feel to it than the Caribbean islands to the north.
After a long walk to Customs and Immigration, their “dress code” of long pants and a shirt with sleeves, in addition to this very hot/humid climate, we experienced a new level of perspiration!
The ATM that is within a short walk from the boat yard was robbed, they actually tried to steal the whole machine. So this meant a taxi adventure to a Mall for the next closest machine. Auhhhh…… being in a air-conditioned place for a few hours was such a relief.
After a week of getting up at 0600 to start work on the boat before the sun got to hot, Bella is now ready to be lifted out of the water where she will stay.
Dock at Peake Yachting
The last hurricane on Trinidad was 1932 and we have all our toes and fingers crossed that this season will continue with the normal weather pattern and another season of avoiding the Caribbean hurricanes.
More than keeping our fingers crossed we had to order additional straps and a metal cradle to meet the requirments from the insurance company.
Drilling for additional straps
Bella in her cradle + 4 straps either side.
We also hired Dwayne Schuffler to look after Bella in our absence. Dwayne has been very good keeping us informed how Bella is doing.
Dwayne will look after Bella while on the hard