Trinidad is a typical caribbean island with a clear american influence. Typical caribbean because of the temperature, the vegetation, the looks of the people and the fact that they are equipped with sailing yachts. The american influence is clearly noticeable by the enormous service orientation (something we didn't know at all from our previous caribbean experiences), the products in the supermarket and the amount of cars driving around. Trinidad lives from oil. Everywhere around the island you can see oil rigs. Diesel is extremely cheap (only 15 eurocents per litre) and that is probably the reason why there are so many cars on the island.

We are moored in the marina of Crews Inn, in Chaguaramas Bay. It's all about repairing yachts here. There are wharfs everywhere and boats are being repaired on the shore. Trinidad lies south of the hurricane area and is therefore outside the danger zone. Therefore it is an excellent place to 'hibernate' during the hurricane season and work on your boat. For the Barbarossa it is an excellent place to be repaired. The last few days have been about getting quotes and getting approval from the insurance company. Meanwhile all that has been arranged and she is now hanging in tires in a crane and this morning they actually started with the repair of the keel.

We too have decided to do some work on our boat. We ordered a better alternator that will be installed next week to charge the batteries faster and more efficiently. The past few months we have experienced that the current alternator of 60 amp is actually too light for this boat. It cannot keep up with our energy consumption and therefore we have to switch on the engine quite often to charge the batteries. We got a good offer and decided to go for it. We also ordered side flaps for our bimini so we can have shade in the cockpit when we are at anchor. This means that we will be here until next Thursday (Jan 21).

Oh, it's fine here. A nice cheap marina, good internet connection, swimming pool next door. Good restaurants and a supermarket and enough to see on the island. The Jonathan is opposite us and the Barbarossa is in an apartment nearby. That is very cosy. The Tangaroa and the Pjotter have also arrived here. Actually it's not bad to be in one place for a while before we start sailing through the Caribbean at high speed.

The last couple of days were all about cleaning up the boat, shopping, doing the laundry (you can use three washing machines and dryers at the same time here), surfing the internet and catching up on school. In between we regularly enjoyed cooling down in the swimming pool. Especially the children can enjoy themselves for hours here. In the evening we seek each other's company with the Barbarossa and Jonathan. Every evening we have dinner together with the three boats (on the Jonathan, because that has the most space) and then we divide the making of the food. Very nice and cosy.

Every morning a newspaper is brought, every Thursday evening there is a potluck (everyone brings their own food and it is prepared and eaten together on the BBQ) and every two weeks on Tuesday there is a free cocktail party. How American! The participants of these events are mainly retired americans. We just hobble along and join in once in a while. For the rest we mainly go with the dutch boats.

Last night we all went to Port of Spain, the capital of the island. In a minibus with a guide. We don't see any other tourists the whole evening. First we drive past a place where you can buy all kinds of food. Very funny. Then the guide shows us a place where carnival costumes are shown and sold. Trinidad is known as an island where they celebrate carnival in a way that you can compare it to Brazil. Weeks in advance, the island is already under the spell of all the preparations. The costumes consist of richly decorated bikinis with beautiful colors and beads and beautiful hats with feathers and beads. Finally, we make a stop at a place where a steel band is practising for carnival. Dozens of men and women stand in rows with their own steel-pan and they play the same melody at the same time. Beautiful to see.

So the next week we'll still be in Trinidad. We'll make some more trips on land and we'll enjoy the peace and quiet here in the harbour.