MAROONED IN TRINIDAD

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

LEAVING TRINIDAD BEHIND

When we arrived back in Trinidad we went to customs and immigration to check back in, more paperwork.  The local Ray Marine dealer had some ideas for what was wrong with the autopilot and in no time it had new brushes, cleaned the armature and replaced the oil seal.  Looks good as new. 



RAISING THE MAIN SAIL

Back to the boat expecting everything to be up and running.  NOT!  It is an electrical issue so Rod took out his DVOM and checked the course computer.  Sure enough it is not sending power to the hydraulic pump, causing the malfunction.  Rod soon has it apart and we are back at the Ray Marine dealer.  After a bench test it appears to be a bad transistor.  Does not sound too bad, except we are in Trinidad.  We left him to call everyone he knew to find one.  As it turns out it may have to be shipped in from the US, we may be here for a while.

There is a silver lining to this CLOUD.  First we are still aboard It's Perfect, safe and secure.  Rod took his SSB radio to the same place for testing, it has not worked since bringing it aboard.  Amazing things happen at the most unexpected times.  The radio has an internal battery that we did not know to check.  Replace battery and it is good as new!  While waiting for auto pilot parts, it is like Christmas for Rod.  He is installing his antenna, checking which frequencies are working and printing out Marine SSB and Ham radio band plans.  He then tuned it up and on a maritime net spoke to Paul in Titusville, Florida. Our signal was good and as it turned out Paul once worked at the Cape Canaveral Marina where we docked on our way north.  This will make our travel safer, weather faxes will be available while we are underway and we will have many more communication options.

DOLPHINS OFF THE BOW

All of this said Bequia will have to wait.  As soon as the auto pilot is up and working we will wait on a weather window before leaving Trinidad once again.  It is never boring here in water world. 

These pictures were taken on our early morning departure from Trinidad on Tuesday.  Very large dolphins played off the bow as we left the cut into the Caribbean Sea.  We were fortunate to have been close when the auto pilot quit or we would have had to hand steer the entire long passage.