Pitufa.at

We arrived last weekend in this popular anchorage in the southwestern corner of Tobago. Even though the pilot calls it “protected and calm” we’ve been rolling and pitching just like in the other spots. According to the locals the weather is extraordinarily rough and rainy for this time of the year.
We like Tobago, but it doesn’t seem to like us…
Yesterday we made a trip around the island in a rental car (first time on our trip, usually we rely on buses or other public transport) and discovered that the interior of Tobago is just as beautiful as the coast. There are few tourists around, even on the most beautiful beaches only a handful of people enjoy the golden sand and clear water. There’s small guesthouses everywhere, a few beach bars, but no mass tourism.

We spent another few days in Charlotteville, but it was pouring down most of the time and on a boat constant rain is really tedious. You cannot open any hatches, the battery is drained when the solar panels don’t work, etc. When it finally cleared up we sailed a few miles further to Englishman’s Bay. This bay looks like on a postcard: a golden beach, black rocks, jungle all around–just gorgeous. We were the only boat there As we’d heard that there had been incidents with nightly robberies we locked ourselves up and put up trip wires with beercan alarms. Of course nothing happened

Tobago has a turbulent history, colonial powers changed constantly and it was a hiding place for pirates and buccaneers. We’re anchored in Pirate’s Bay at the moment and the neighbouring bay is called Bloody Bay… Nowadays it’s peaceful here, only a few tourists are around in the sleepy little town of Charlotteville, the people are friendly and the pace of life is very relaxed. The water in the bay shimmers in all shades of green and the bay is surrounded by densely wooded hills–a really pretty place.

The island of Tobago appears out of the haze 25 miles ahead of us. The passage from Suriname took us three and a half days with daily runs of 136, 132, and 145 nautical miles. The Guyana current helped with a steady knot all the way up. The first two days were pleasant with flat seas and light winds, but strong enough to push Pitufa ahead. Last night and today’s morning were somewhat rough and squally. Caribbean, here we are!

With Wayne Vaney back on duty, passage-making is finally delightful again. With the wind vane steering, the human crew is free to read, eat, and nap.

Sunny skies and light winds, Pitufa is leisurly gliding towards the Caribbean.

We’ve had rainy weather for a week now, not as you’d expect during a tropical rainy season (torrential rain followed by sunshine), but a constant drizzle interrupted by downpours and some occasional sunny spells. The constant rain and humidity around 99 % are quite annoying, because we accumulate wet clothes that never have the chance to really dry out. Furthermore mould becomes a problem in cupboards and even on outer surfaces of our wooden furniture.

Despite the rain we anchored in Paramaribo last week, which is quite a hassle, because yachts are only allowed in a small section between the maritime authority and the presidential palace, where it gets rather crowded. On the one hand one is supposed to put out lots of chain because of the strong tides, on the other hand the yachts start drifting towards each other when the tide turns. Tidal currents of up to 4 knots make dinghy rides an additional adventure. Nevertheless we managed to do the laundry in a nearby hotel (first time since November…), bought some spare parts and provisioning and then set out to explore some rivers.

First we sailed a few miles up the Commewijne River, which is a confluent of the Suriname River and looks quite similar: a broad stream with murky water the colour of milk coffee. Then we turned off into the Cottica, which is still rather wide, but the water is already darker. There we spent the first night in a narrow river branch, next to the “last village” in the rainforest. We anchored right in the middle of the branch, let out only 20 m of chain (the depth was 10 m), as we had been told that the current wasn’t strong that far upriver. At 6 o’clock a splintering noise awoke us: the current had swept Pitufa into the dense branches reaching over the river. We freed her, ripping off some leaves and branches, but without any damage to the boat and set out for another creek further upstream: the Perica River, a black water creek. Navigation isn’t difficult here, as the Perica River is 10 – 18 m deep and between 20 and 50 m wide, but it’s important to look up when sailing, beca use some branches of the huge trees reach out far over the river. The scenery looks like on discovery channel: mangroves on the shores, a stunning diversity of trees and bushes with lianas dangling from the branches, huge butterflies and colourful birds fluttering everywhere. We anchored 3 miles up the river (this time with a stern line to a half-submerged tree to prevent another involuntary contact with the shore) and even though we’re just a few miles away from civilisation it’s a real jungle experience here. 100 m downstream lives a family of otters, happily splashing around, colibris are humming in the bush next to us and 5 minutes after I had a swim in the river this afternoon, a giant anteater decided to do the same–just 10 m away from the boat… We paddled our dinghy up the small Solitude Creek nearby to complete the jungle experience. The only downside are the swarms of mosquitos that bear down on us at dusk, but fortunately we can seal off Pitufa hermetically with mosquito nets.