Friday 25th November 2011
Tobago
We checked out of Trinidad and set sail for Tobago at 11h30. There was very little wind which we were heading straight into and a strong current so motoring was the order of the day.
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| Store Bay is just near the point marked Canaan |
We stuck close to the Northern shore of Trinidad heading east until we got close to the tip of the Island we turned North and headed straight for Tobago. I was on watch at the time doing the 21h00 to 24h00 shift. We always work our shifts so I get to sleep between 18h00 and 21h00 as Andre can’t. Not that he sleeps much in the first few days anyway when we are at sea. Eventually exhaustion takes over and he manages to sleep when not on watch. Luckily this trip was only going to be about 12 hours so it wouldn’t be a problem!
Turning to run across the channel between the islands put us in the shipping lane for traffic heading to Port of Spain and it increased accordingly. At one stage I had two cargo vessels heading towards me. A call to them on the radio and one changed course slightly to Port and the other to Starboard and I found myself aiming for the gap between them. Three nautical miles suddenly seems a very small space.
I handed over the helm to Andre at midnight. I had just fallen asleep when the emergency bell we use to call each other rang urgently. Andre’s “come up here quick this guy is going to run us over” had me in the cockpit in seconds.
Andre said he had called the vessel and had no response and it was heading directly for us. He was steering trying to get us out the way and I took over the radio.
My loud and clear announcement on the emergency channel (this is monitored by everyone including the authorities) that the “Warrior Spirit” was on a collision course with us and to state his intentions IMMEDIATELY”.
One of the benefits of having an AIS (Automatic Identification System for ships) installed is you can call the vessels by name.
To this, Warrior Spirit responded saying he was changing his course to Port. This is not standard practice. The Collision Avoidance rules say that in the event of two vessels being on a collision course they are both to make a positive and obvious heading change TO STARBOARD. However we accepted his move expecting him to make a BIG adjustment to Port.
Warrior Spirit made a minute change of course to Port which actually put him on a more direct course towards us. He was going to T-Bone us if he maintained his heading.
I once again summoned him on the radio stating clearly he was going to hit us if he did not IMMEDIATELY make a change of course to Starboard. Thankfully he did as commanded; then came back saying he had already changed course and we had to get out of the way! I informed him he was the bigger faster vessel and it was his responsibility to avoid collision. His retort was he had changed; to Port. When I pointed out he was in contravention of Collision regulations and was supposed to have made a positive and obvious move to Starboard. He stopped replying. Wonder why!?
So with adrenalin levels dropping it was back to bed for me until 03h00 and an uneventful journey into Tobago’s Store Bay.
We laid anchor at 06h00 and went to sleep.
Awakening at about 10h00 we found we were back in cruising heaven. Beautiful clean water and beaches. First order of the day was a swim! We had not been able to swim since Itaparica in Brazil and had serious withdrawal symptoms. The water was warm and we could see fish swimming around below us.
Trinidad and Tobago require that we sign in and out between the Island even though they are one country. We were supposed to have sailed to Scarborough to sign in but had been told by other cruisers that if we stopped in Store Bay and took a taxi over to Scarborough it was much easier and they usually didn’t ask to see the boat. Our luck was in and the very friendly Immigration Officer signed us in no problem. We have to go back to him when we leave this end of the island and head North where we have to sign in again at Charlotteville.
For those who are interested in AIS and ships at sea; I have just discovered this link and you would probably be able to see where we were when we are at sea if you followed it: http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/
We are booked to go Scuba diving tomorrow morning. More news later.
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| Rat Catcher Store Bay! |
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