5-01-02 Rain, rain, rain. We're well protected here at the Fernando anchorage, but boy does it rain hard. We've collected rainwater in every possible container we have on the boat and have washed all our laundry and the sky is still dumping on us. At least SIMMER is no longer salt encrusted from our offshore trip. Good weather for lazing about and reading. In between the rain showers, it's hot and humid - definitely in the tropics again. The island is very pretty, if a bit wet and muddy at times. We are having some difficulty communicating, since we don't speak Portuguese and the locals don't speak English. Some speak a bit of Spanish, so Colleen has had a little success. We've haven't been too energetic here, must be the humidity. Walked to the village several times and bought a few things - bread, fruit and veggies. Also walked to the fort and snorkeled on a freighter wreck in the harbor.
5-05-02 Happy 18th Anniversary to us. Can't believe we've been married that long, we look TOO young to be married 18 years. Spent the day relaxing (what else?) and walking along the rocky, sandy coast line. Celebrating with some South African wine and a special dinner tonight.
5-10-02 Offshore: Position Lat 00°52'S/Lon 38°32'W, should cross the Equator sometime tomorrow. Left Fernando 3 days ago, heading to Tobago in the Caribbean - 1,900 nm passage. So far variable winds and persistent rain squalls. We have a radio net set up with other boats on the same passage and we talk each evening. We're spread out over 500 miles or so and all of us experiencing about the same conditions. A few ahead of us have stronger winds and stronger currents, so we have that to look forward to. The seas are a bit lumpy, making the motion slightly uncomfortable, but we're making good progress. We've also been talking to Pat's Dad twice a week on our HAM radio. Nice to be in voice contact again.
5-11-02 Crossed the Equator for the 4th and final time in our voyage. We're back in the Northern Hemisphere and feel like we are truly homeward bound. Crossed the Equator at longitude 40°40'W.
5-21-02 Arrived Tobago, southern Caribbean! Hallelujah! Position: Lat 11°20'N/Lon 60°33'W. Tobago is just north of Trinidad, off the Venezuelan coast. Our passage (14 days from Fernando) was nasty. Not at all what we hoped would be an easy tradewind sail. We had 20-30+ knots of wind, rain squalls, and huge seas for the last 10 days. Our only sanity came in the form of small patches of blue sky during the day, a few stars at night, and commiserating with others on the same passage. Without those, we would have gone crazy listening to the wind howling in the rigging and the waves crashing on the deck. It was so rough, we couldn't sit in the cockpit. We spent most of our time "on-watch" down below checking the radar and regularly going out into the cockpit to scan the horizon, assess conditions and navigation. Wouldn't want to do that trip again. So glad the boat is STILL and we're anchored. Cold champagne and lots of sleep tonight!!!! More to follow in the next week or so.
5-25-02 A little more info about Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago, a twin-island nation, locally known as T&T, are the southern most islands in the Caribbean. Trinidad is just 6 miles off the coast of Venezuela and Tobago is 20 miles north of Trinidad. T&T is an independent republic within the British Commonwealth, with a population of 1.3 million. Only 50,000 live on the much smaller, quieter island of Tobago. Although originally populated by Amerindians, the majority of the population today is of African and East Indian descent. Trinidad was sighted by Columbus in 1498 and named it for the Holy Trinity. Tobago was also sighted by Columbus and claimed by Spain, but they did not attempt to colonize it like neighboring Trinidad. During the 17th century, Tobago changed hands several times between competing colonizers. Finally following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British established a colony on Tobago. The French gained control a couple times in the following decade but by 1800's, Tobago was firmly under British control. In 1962, T&T gained independence. We'll stay here in the "little sister" island of Tobago for 1-2 months. Then Trinidad, Grenada and Venezuela (not necessarily in that order) until November, avoiding Atlantic Hurricane season.
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