Report by Meret
More pictures here!
On the 24th Salina and I arrived in Tobago. We were welcomed on a beautifully decorated Pachamama. Sabine, Noé and Andri had made wonderful stars and Christmas trees and put up lots of fairy lights. We celebrated Christmas the next evening as it was already late and we were exhausted.
Sabine and Dario had already started with some repairs to get the boat ready for the Pacific. To make sure we got to Trinidad in time for the haul out we left Pirates Bay- Tobago on the 27th and made our way to Scotland Bay- Trinidad. The passage went fine and we arrived early the next morning. I didn’t get sea sick which is a relief as it means I can take on further passages.
In Scotland Bay we were surprised to see rubbish lying around everywhere after Pirates Bay had been so clean. Therefore on the 29th we organised a clean-up with some people from the other SY staying there. To make it a little more exciting for the kids we decided to make it a competition: adults (the bulldozers) vs. kids + teenagers (the poisonous spiders). The team that filled the most rubbish bags in 25 min would win a prize. So the race began everyone collecting as much plastic waste as possible- from nappies to fishing lines. In the end the score was 33 to 21 for the poisonous spiders. The kids/teenagers had managed to collect more than one bag a minute! So they all got homemade Christmas biscuits. We had planned a second contest to make art out of some of the rubbish but due to rain it was postponed. Hopefully the authorities will come and pick up all the rubbish bags and dispose of them properly.
At the moment we are just outside Peake Yacht Services installing things and getting the boat ready for haul out tomorrow. Hopefully all will go well and we will be able to leave as soon as possible.
And of course a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!
Last note: Thanks to Juerg Zahnd and Max from SY VOLO we can now wash our dishes with warm water. Also thanks to Annemarie we have a new stove and can finally bake our Christmas cookies. So the Pachamama kitchen has been upgraded to a 5 star kitchen.