It had been five years and nearly 35,000 nautical miles of hard sailing—including three years in Antarctica and Chile—when we finally turned north for the Caribbean. We were ready for a change and the chance to swim in warm, crystal clear, blue waters again, and it was time to get Zephyros, our 47-foot Boréal, in for a tune-up at a proper yard.
Trinidad’s reputation for boat work made it an obvious choice, so we reserved a spot in the Peake Yacht Services yard for the 2022 hurricane season (July-November), fully expecting our visit to be mostly work and little play—which is also part of Trinidad’s reputation. But what we found was much more, and our experience there was only enhanced by the three weeks we spent meandering Trinidad’s largely unsung neighbor, Tobago, after our work at the yard was finished.
We left for Chaguaramas, Trinidad, from Mount Hartman Bay, one of Grenada’s popular southern bays, on August 31. We’d stopped in Grenada to get our paperwork in order and the permits for our cats to clear customs with us, which took an unexpected six weeks. The Peake yard worked with our changing and sliding arrival dates, remaining accommodating throughout the process.
Some people are nervous about this 95-nautical-mile passage because there have been pirate incidents along the route in the past. The Trinidad Coast Guard requests that boats file a float plan before transiting, and they monitor VHF 16 with a high-powered antenna and repeaters. We know of a couple of incidents when the Coast Guard has come as far as the offshore oil platforms—30 nautical miles off Trinidad’s northern coast—to tow and assist boaters having problems like malfunctioning engines or flooding. They understand that cruisers have concerns and are taking maritime safety
