Chaguaramas, Trinidad

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 478
  • Start date Start date

Will you return to Chagauramas?

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 44.4%

  • No

    Votes: 8 44.4%

  • Never been there and won't go.

    Votes: 2 11.1%
  • Total voters
    18
stingo said:
It's not getting any better:
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Yachties_robbed-105651488.html

If you've ever been there, would you go back?

I won't be.
Click to expand...

Well, I voted yes - I like to keep my options open :rolleyes:

I was there '94 - '95 inc one hurricane season anchored up - mainly in Scotland Bay.

When we arrived in Tobago the locals said don't go to Trinidad you'll be murdered.

But I had to go there for hospital treatment & hauled out at Power Boats. Even then there was boat crime & things got nicked & some backpacker got murdered. But I loved it (& so did my wife) so I will reserve further judgement until nearer the time.

Chaguaramus was a crowded anchorage way back then but looks absolutely sardine like nowadays - a drop in popularity won't be a bad thing.
 
Ubergeekian said:
"The latest theft occurred on October 18 at the Crews Inn dinghy dock opposite the Customs office, where a dinghy and its outboard, valued at $48,000, was stolen." If there are $48,000 dinghies around for the taking I may have to change my profession. How much are bolt croppers and wee black masks these days?
Click to expand...

Thats Trinidad Dollars ..... its a local paper ..... about US$ 7,500.

With people leaving their dinghies unlocked and especially in the water at night is inviting crime. Easy pickings for those that need their next fix.
 
They are not known as Tricky Trini's for nothing.

When I was last there the repairers' were charging close to US prices for a sub-standard job. The workers got very little of the money ..... and hence didn't bother too much. Many of the 'repairs' were hidden by a pretty paint job ..... but badly carried out and poorly supervised. Many repairs were late and beyond the quote ..... and the poor owner was forced to pay up otherwise their boat wouldn't be launched.

I've seen the workers thin the poorly stirred antifouling with acetone, circular sanders used to score the topsides, and propshafts replaced without the couplings being correctly fastened.

If an owner tries to manage the quality of the work themselves, the workers often find another boat to work on.

There are always exceptions. The Ship's Carpenter at Powerboats has a good reputation.

As with all boat work ..... ask for recommendations and remember that most yachties will only find out how good the job is months after the boat is launched.

However, if you do your own work you can get the materials at reasonable prices, and the facilities are pretty good at most yards.

Would I go back? Probably not. Granada is far more appealing and much more friendly ..... and then there are the Venezuelan yards that have a pretty good security record.
 
I clicked yes but probably only if i was passing. Last time could have kissed the ground after limping up from Suriname with no engine, anchor windlass and bugg*red batteries, it was like santa's grotto after south america. Local workers seem to get a bad rep but the stuff I had done was fine, very professional, not too dear and a friendly bunch. Good for biminis, I had a diesel injector rebuilt very cheaply amongst other stuff. Though there must be some dodgy work going on, the gringos are just as likely as the locals to be doing this.
Scotland bay, fantastic, spent one weekend there onboard Stingo when my boat was laid up, perfect antidote for boatwork :) Next time think I'd definitely go up the rivers in Venezuela, assuming the engine was working :)
 
Rumour has it they are going to build a brand new marina in Tobago in the next couple of years ........ Would that be safer / easier to police? I think it would. Trinidad has always been the rougher, more crime effected of the islands IMHO
 
I was out there for a month or so in 1997.

Chaguaramus wasn't to bad then but still, things did go missing and the muggings were quite common. What I really didn't like was being held to ransom by Peakes, who seemed to have control over everything at the time.

Would I go back, I don't know I'm planning to cross and cruise down to Brazil & S.America next year, so we may just call in and have a look. We'll just have to make sure our on-board and personal security is 100% when we get there. Should be about up to scratch by then in any case after Rio!!!
 
I voted no as it sounds as though it is a similar place as to when we were there in 1996.

Around the time we were there an aging yottie lady was raped and murdered. It is the only place where I was warned by the locals to stay out of certain areas because of real concerns for my safety. Trinidad felt more 'edgy' than any other island in Caribbean and Bahamas

Add to that a gouging by locals at the tar pits when we were initimidated into giving our 'guide' 5 times as much as we agreed and won't be going back which is a shame as the place is visually attractive and well placed to be a hub for cruising in the S Caribbean.
 
... er ... I voted Yes cos my boat is currently on the hard at Peakes and I need to go back to get it. That'll be next week - yippee, it's warmer than UK.
 
I voted NO.

When we were last there we had left our cat on the hard at Peakes and were stunned to find the thieving so and so's had used the key that the office insist we leave with them ' in case of an emergency' to help themselves to $5,000 US, of our belongings and boat electrics.

When we told the office about this they said there had been a few break ins and they knew who had done the dirty deed, if we would fill in a police report we might get some of our stuff returned.
I travelled to the police station with another just returned yotty who had also been broken into at Peakes while he was away.
We were given a list of returned items to see if any matched our inventory list left with Peakes, the other yotty was happy to see his flat screen tv on the list, I however saw none of our missing items. We were told to fill out a police report each and return in a day or two, this we both agreed to do and left.
When we returned two days later the recovered list had been updated and the flat screen tv was no longer on there and the police officer told us not to worry as we both were rich and could afford to replace our stolen items.
When asked how he could make such a statement and be so nonchalant about crime he said that there had been 6 murders the day before and they were too busy to deal with this minor issue.
Peakes also refused to deal in any way with our robbery as they said it was in the hands of the police to deal with the former employees of theirs who had been caught with stolen boat items.
YSATT were informed by me about the incident and the new incidents coming to light as more owners were returning daily to find their boats violated that were being announced on the cruisers net on an almost daily basis, their response was to ask me not to spread the bad word as it would be bad for business, well it's 5 years later and I still am very angry about the whole fiasco and how we were treated, and would never recommend Trinidad as a place to leave your boat unattended or to have unsupervised work carried out.

Some of the businesses in Trinidad offer out standing service such as Jessy James taxi's but the bad far out weight the good as far as I'm concerned.

If you have to leave your boat in the southeastern Caribbean then Grenada is an all round better option in my opinion.

Mark
S/V Manatee
 
Chaguaramas

We've just noticed this Poll. Of course we'll come back to Trinidad. We love this island, it's scenery, it's people and the food. We've been coming here for the past eight years and have had few problems. Bad stuff happens. Trinidad has major problems with the druggies and it's stretching their resources. However, that's not an excuse, it's just a reason. Trinidad is suffering from the recession just as much as everywhere else. Don't condemn the island just from what you've heard, as those instances are frequently bad experiences which have also been highlighted in all the newspapers. Few people advertise the good stuff. For more information on the good stuff visit "http://trinidadcruisingguide.com" and download the free cruising guide. There's all sorts information here - just waiting for the cruising sailors and it's written partly by 2 ex-pat Americans. Also, there's a new forum on Yahoo which you can join - "Trinidad for Cruising Sailors". The locals are all working hard to keep us returning each year, so let's try to help them keep their jobs!
 
The close proximity of the yachts and the poor fishing harbour in Chaguramas causes problems. Plus Americans in particular seemed to us often very naive about the obvious risk of theft, particularly of dinghies and outboards left in the water overnight. The concentration of poorly guarded, unattended yachts left ashore in the compounds over hurricane season is also an obvious temptation. We learned of several break-ins through the security fence. There was even one armed attack on a boat in the anchorage during our stay, though that at least is rare.

With a huge wave of drug-related violent crimes in Port of Spain (very rarely affecting tourists), the police have no time for minor theft.

So many dinghies and outboards were lost while we were there that a "Community Watch" system was set up among boaters to patrol the anchorage at nights. This led to a dramatic improvement, but there was a knock-on effect. We noticed that more of the fishing boats were getting stuck ashore, their crews mooching around all day. At one point even the water-taxi stopped, due to "a shortage of engine spares"!

Sometimes the dinghies, minus outboards, are found washed up somewhere. I was told - no idea if it is true - that the outboards are in turn stolen from the fishermen by Venezualan pirates, who hang about offshore. Some show up again later in the second-hand market. It looked like our Community Watch was disrupting an entire economic cycle.

Although we ourselves had no problems I would give Chaguramas, and Trinidad, a miss if revisiting this part of the world again (despite the excellence of Jesse James' taxi/tour service, unparalleled in the Caribbean). Tobago is lovely, but the pressure to spoil it with mass tourism is immense. Grenada feels much friendlier and safer.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

J
Volvo Penta MD5a
Replies
2
Views
176
JohnBeck
J
M
Genoa size?
2 3
Replies
43
Views
1K
Refueler
Refueler

Share this page

Top