The track line you see above is how we spent the next 36 hours. The "jury rigged" main bearing on the propshaft has seized when one of the small screws I used in St Maarten came out of the cage, and dropped into the race, stopping the bearing, and engine instantly. With no wind and no engine, but strong currents, we waited for squalls to push us towards The Dragon's Mouth, the entrance to the gulf of Paria. We eventually managed to sail up to 2 miles from the Boca, and then accepted a tow, graciously offered by fellow cruisers on "ARGO" a beautiful trawler. Many thanks again to Clayton and Fiona, and of course to Dick of "REMEDY" for assisting with the lines. It is the second time we have used the towline on Gilana, but this time we were the towees.

We dropped anchor in Scotland Bay, and as always were awestruck by the hugeness of the jungle, and the sounds of the Howler Monkeys.

We walked around the yard at PEAKES where we had hauled out in 2000 last, just to see if there were any of the same boats. We saw many we remember from all over the world. Peakes has changed, there are far more boats, but far fewer people than before.

Looking out from Peakes dock, oil rigs light up the night sky, and there is SCULPIN, last seen in St Maarten, Hi Mike...

The travelift slip, Peakes is still in my humble opinion one of the most professionally run hauling operations in the world. We, however will be taking Gilana to a drier climate to paint her. We have fixed the bearing (another jury rig) until we haul out and replace the main and two thrust bearings, as well as the shaft packing cutless bearings etc. in Venezuela.

Another night shot of the yard. We have managed to get all the supplies we need for our upcoming jobs for Venezuela, in 5 days, except for the white topside paint, ay-yay-yay Ross.....

Boats packed like, a graveyard? hopefully not!

Chaguaramas is a busy commercial port. Oh how we miss the sound of sandblasting right through the night. I can see why its so popular. 16 dingies with outboards were stolen in the 6 weeks prior to our arrival and while we were there.

The day before we left, we went to Scotland Bay to dive and clean the prop. While there we took a walk in the jungle. Here Mike from SCULPIN and myself catch up to Laura. There are many dangerous things in the jungle.....

...like my wife for instance, with her vicious attack dog or.....

...this little fella! who was about 5 feet long, with a finely tapering tail. (Update November 2007, Its possible that this is a Horsewhip Snake (Oxybelis aeneus))

By far the most dangerous animal in the jungle, is Man, in this case Homo Trinidadus, a unique species indeed, here we find recent spoor right where the jungle meets the waters' edge in Scotland Bay. Bye Bye Trinidad.