TTSA Pot Luck BBQ

Each Monday night we do a Pot-Luck Barbeque at the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA). Lately, we have been combining the meal with home-grown entertainment from within the cruising community.
Evelyn of S/V Sierra Echo supervises the grille.














The best stuff goes first, so don,t be late at the serving table. William the boat kid from S/V Alouette digs in.




















The bar staff at TTSA takes good care of the international yachties, and they do a good business on Monday nights when we have one of our BBQ's.














The boat kids make toasted marshmallows to sell to the cruisers for desert: Emily S/V Avallon, William & Katie from S/V Alouette. Ten TT cents buys a delicious toasted marshmallow with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and a cherry on top. YUM YUM - and they are GOOD for you!














Once dinner is done, the tables are cleared, and it is SHOW TIME!














Tony of S/V Tarnimara plays the keyboard as Smitty of S/V Sarah Noble (aka "The Mighty Yachtie") strums his quatro and sings. Tony is the core of the entertainment as he accompanies the various acts. Tony also plays the bass fiddle - and he has one onboard his boat!















Candice runs the Cajobe Restaurant at TTSA, and even though Monday is her only day off, she still came in and sang for us. What great Trini hospitality! She has classical music training, lots of personality, and all the old-guys love her!



















Josie from S/V Cover Shot was a professional jazz singer in a former life. She and Tony really sound great together.














Suzanne & Smitty of S/V Sarah Noble never miss a chance to dance.



















Serge of S/V Sierra Echo enjoys one of the boat kids' marshmallow specials. He never had a marshmallow before - apparently they are not sold in France. cruising life exposes us to all kinds of new experiences - including marshmallows!















Even the curmugions seem to be having a good time; r to l Ian S/v Marsha Claire, Hunter S/V Arctic Tern, Don & Heather of S/V Asseance.

TTSA

The Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA) has become our base in Trinidad for the past 3 years. TTSA is located on Carenage Bay east of boatyard row.
















The open air Spinnaker Bar is a great place to relax and take in Trinidad's sailing scene.















The TTSA dinghy dock is used primarily by the international cruisers, as the members come and go to their boats on the mooring by club launch. The main docks are available to visiting internationals to bring their boats for daytime use during the week.













The Cajobe Restarant serves good food at reasonable prices, and is operated by "Kajobe Candy" and her parents.

There is an adjacent boatyard owned by TTSA, with a small Travel-Lift. 40 foot is about the largest size vessel that can be safely accommodated.

















It is an absolute joy to watch the young Trini sailors learning to sail in the associated Sailing Association's well organized training program. This program is producing some really crackerjack young sailors who presence will be felt on the international sailing scene.















The affiliated Sailing Association has excellent facilities with a wide range of sailboats available for training and for hire.
















Several Caribbean sailing regattas are staged out of TTSA, and race day festivities really liven up the club on weekends.















We enjoy meeting and being around Trini families, and their is no place better to "lime" with the locals (just hang out) than around TTSA's pool.














Ed "The Pan Man" is an American artist & sculptor who sailed here, and fell in love with Trinidad's foremost art form, the Pan. He has performed with some of Tridad's very best pan bands. As you can see Ed pays a lot more attention to his music that his boat maintenance...

















Regarding boat maintenance, the work shed on the back lot of the TTSA grounds is available to visiting Yachties for their projects. It is really great to have a place to get those dirty / dusty jobs off the boat, and have a secure area to spread out. We did some extensive work on our hard dinghy in this shed.
















Hart's Cut, immediately south TTSA's mooring field is perhaps the best anchorage in the Chaguaramus area. The beautiful Pui Trees that surround Harts Cut and TTSA bloom twice a year to mark the seasons; first in January to mark the beginning of the dry season, and the second blooming in May indicates that the wet season is starting. Does anybody else see Big Bird here?






















S/V Jean Marie lies quietly with her head to the northeast Trades. Things can get a little boisterous when the wind pipes up, so bring good anchors and plenty of chain!

Duquesne Seine Fishing

The fishermen deploy their nets; all the work is done by muscle.

The village of Duquesne is located on a picturesque cove on the northwest corner of Grenada.














Most of the residents of Duquesne turn out to help pull the nets to the beach.

Many of the houses in Duesquene are built on the cliff overlooking the cove.

Tom went down to the beach and helped these fellows pull their net in.

































The exciting part was when the net came ashore on the beach full of tuna.


























While we were watching the seine net operations, this fellow came down the road selling his bananas.

Belmont Cocoa Estates

Belmont estates is an old cocoa plantation in northeastern Grenada. Today they buy cocoa beans from the farmers, process the beans, and then sell them to the cocoa exporters. Henry the plantation foreman took us on a tour of the processing facility where the fermenting, drying, polishing, and bagging of the beans takes place. Henry has been at Belmont Estate for over 40 years, and he really knows his cocoa! The remainder of the grounds are kept up for the enjoyment of the tourists that visit the estate.

Antione River Rum Distillery

The Antoine River is located on Grenada's northeast coast. There has been a rum distillery on this river using the power of the running water to crush the sugar cane for over 200 years, and make their signature 150 proof River Rum.

The river is diverted to the waterwheel by a system of channels and gates down the hillside.















The huge waterwheel was made from cast iron segments in England.





















The waterwheel drives the cane crusher.









The juice flows to the boiling room by way of this gravity trough.



















Crushed cane waste is dried and stored, and then used for fuel to heat the boiling pots.



















Once the juice has been extracted from the cane it is directed to the boiling room where it is boiled in large pots.

After the cane juice is boiled and reduced, it is sent to the fermenting room to be fermented in large concrete tanks. It certainly isn't very appetising looking yet!

Once the cane juice is fermented, it is directed through a system of gravity fed pipes to the still where it is distilled in a triple effect process.

Patty was our guide, and she was quite proud of the final product. The chalk board is used to keep track of the various batches of rum being processed.
River Rum is at least 150 proof (that would be 75 percent alcohol). Here, some of the cruising ladies sample to final product. Their expressions are testimony to the power of this stuff!

If you get to the Spice Island of Grenada, come visit the Antione River Rum Distillery - it's an interesting part of Caribbean history.