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Monday October 7.2002 / 9:00 am E.S.T. Well it's election day here in Trinidad. Hoping to break a deadlock between the two main political parties and formulate a government that actually take the country forward.:: Monday September 30.2002 / 9:00 am E.S.T. Well, another weekend gone by. Once again Sunday was spent "Down the Islands." A few of you have asked what that means, don't I live on an island? Yes I do. "Down the islands" refers to a region in the NW sector of Trinidad. Check the Trinidad map on this site. On the NW arm is an area called Chaguaramus. If you look, you see several small islands off the mainland. These islands are Gasperie, Monas, Jueves and Chakachakari(sp?). Gasperie and Monas have a number of weekend/vacation homes. And the entire area is a popular place to take boats where there are a number of bays and beaches found within the vicinity. Porpoises (dolphin to you and me) and sea turtles are a regular sight. This area and the act of going/getting there is known as "going down the islands." The weather was fantastic yesterday. Although off in the distance was a rain cloud and at one point we saw a water spout. Basically a tornado over water. We watched as it grew in the distance and it was amazing to watch the streams of water climb up the sides. We all jumped in the boat to race up and get a better look, but by the time everyone mixed a drink for the road, too much time was lost. Yes folks, "everyone" means "everyone else." I am still on water. Last week a couple of us saw a whale, well a whale tail. Problem is that everyone thinks we are telling a tale. Granted the other two who saw it, where drinking heavily, but I was dead sober. Everyone else on the boat was pretty much drinking facing the wrong way. I was talking to this one guy about the area and we happened to be looking straight ahead of the boat and we saw something big come up out of the water ahead of us, pointed in the same direction. Then it dove and the tail emerged up, frigging massive! Then went down, it came up almost immediately and dived again and that was it. The guy I was chatting to and the guy steering the boat saw it. But no one believes us saying there are no whales here. There used to be and I can tell you there is. The tail was about 20feet wide, too large to be a porpoise or other aquatic mammal surfacing. I've discovered that for the most part there are two types of foreigners here in Trinidad. "Expats" associated with the oil and gas industry and "yachtees". Most of the Expats are engineers. They generally work hard and play hard, partying quite hardily on their days off. There are the management foreigners, that are here with families and are generally much more quiet. Both these types are more or less passing through. The ones that are single tend to try and stay longer. Their are also a lot of peripheral services in this industry from off-shore divers to cement and piping companies. For whatever reason, a larger percentage of foreigners in this category, seem to stay much longer. Still party, but also tend to meet a local and settle down. The other type of foreigner is the Yachtee. Trinidad is know amongst yachtees as a safe haven during hurricane season since it is out of the hurricane belt. We are simply too far south. Anyhow, many a yacht has sailed down here, never to have left and enjoy the sweet life. The routine is to stay a while, enjoy the life, play carnival then somewhere along the way, meet a Trini woman, get married and have a family and very seldom in that order. Yachtees don't make the best employees and most work for themselves. Often within the sailing industry, sail making/repairs, woodwork, charters, etc. A few start small businesses based on whatever their skills were in their previous life before they sold everything to live life on board a yacht. Anyhow, it's interesting to meet foreigners that are down here under different circumstances such as myself. Most often I am asked which oil company I am with? Anyhow, I ended up by a friend of a friends over the weekend and it was at a tattoo parlor owned by a French man, whose name I shall not even attempt to spell. It was nice to see some one else not sailing or in oil and enjoying this "sweet" life in the southern Caribbean. That's it for now, peace out brothers and sisters. - M:: Thursday September 26.2002 / 11:00 am E.S.T. Although I should have been finishing projects, I had to take a little break yesterday and create an area to deposit short thoughts. "Decline in kidnappings due to truce, says Jamaat leader" - a safer paradise? Monday September 23.2002 / 10:20 am E.S.T. Hi everyone. Well I know I've been remiss in updating this site, just a few days shy of a month in fact. I've been swamped with work and time allocated to updating this site I've used to update Brad's Memorial site. Last weekend I found myslef in Tobago, check out these
lovely photos: The other reason I've been out of touch this last month, for those of you who don't know, is I had to give up drinking, permanently. It was no secret I used to "git mah drink on!" a wee too regularly and with some serious quantities. While I always felt like a champion, and impressed myself with how much I could consume and still maintain, my body was not as thrilled with the scenario. After some tests the doc informed me I have early signs of liver damage and that I've become hypoglycemic, early stages still though, which is good. I've opted to avoid the crash course I was on to Diabetes and Cirrhosis in favor of a cleaner, healthier lifestyle. I went out this weekend for the first time in the last few weeks and have to say, I had a great time sober. Spent nothing and felt like a champion in the morning. Since alcohol is rather fattening, as a bonus I'm dropping a couple of pounds as well. ::
:: June 20, 2003 |
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© Copyright 2002, Jumbie.org |
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Saturday was a bit wet. Trinidad and Tobago is too far south to receive
hurricanes, making it an ideal safe haven for many yachts. We still
get a number of tropical storms and many of the larger weather systems
originate in the southern Caribbean. 
Fortunately the weather cleared the next day 
a lttle wild life, though this one is tame and anyone can pet it. didn't
get the name. 
this was our entertainment while waiting for our boat. these guys were
having quite a time tryin to pull the boat out of the water with this
tiny jeep... 
this is a bay called "No Man's Land" just around the corner from Pigeon
Point in Tobago. truly feels like paradise, hell it is paradise. =)