CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH A MACHINE GUN

JANUARY 18, 2014

SUNSET OVER THE MOORING FIELD

It is Saturday at 7PM here in Chaguaramas.  The dark has settled in and so has the quiet.  The weekends here in the bay are quite busy.  The local fishing boats, charter boats, pleasure craft and jet skies keep the noise level high and the water choppy during the day.  On Monday everything will go back to normal, mostly quiet on the waterfront.

On Thursday we made a short trip to the regular grocery on a city bus/van.  The cost to ride into The Port of Spain is $5TT or about 83 cents.  On the bus there was one other cruiser and then locals filled the bus.  We were riding along with the windows open to the breeze when we were stopped abruptly at a roadblock by armed local police and a machine gun toting guard.  We have seen guards with machine guns before here in Trinidad.  The captain approached the driver and asked a question we did not understand.  He did not like the answer, started yelling at the driver and made him pull the bus off the road.  We were then taken off the bus while he continued his loud conversation with the driver.  Now some people would be unnerved by these events.  Rod and I have had dealings with island police before, we waited to see what would happen next.  After a few minuets the altercation stopped and we were allowed back on the bus.  If you have a bad heart or panic easily, do not ride the local bus. 

A NEW LOOK FOR DINGHY CHAPS

As it turned out, the driver did not have his drivers license displayed in the proper location.  Obviously it was a huge deal to the authorities, the day before a bus had crashed and killed 5 people.  I guess they were just shaking up the local drivers to get their attention.  We certainly were paying attention.  We were soon back on the road to the store.  Now because I did not want to antagonize any one holding a machine gun, I did not take pictures of this encounter.  Sorry no pictures of the gun.
 

AT DARK ALL IS QUIET ON THE WATER AROUND
IT'S PERFECT

Everything here in Trinidad is more reasonably priced than anywhere we have found in the islands.  We need to refuel before leaving for Tobago. We have made arrangements with Tardieu the owner of the mooring ball to help us with diesel.  If we go to the gas dock here in the bay our diesel  will cost close to $7 a gallon.  If you are on a foreign flagged boat they charge an International Tax on fuel.  The locals pay less than $2 a gallon.  We will send our  8 diesel cans with Tardieu to fill and save around $160 US.  Gasoline is sold to us more reasonably at $1.56 a gallon. 

There is always something new happening in Water World.