We are greeted by drummers just outside of the temple	Statues adorn the alter area		The assembled group of cruisers	Jesse welcomes the guests
Drummers begin the entertainment	A female worshiper ignores the crowd and says her prayers in front of each statue and picture	This man sat quietly against the wall the whole evening	The lovely dancer performed many numbers (in multiple costumes)
		Notice the way her feet are decorated		Audience joined in ...
... for the last dance	Dinner on a banana leaf	Guests enjoying dinner	Alter in one of the many Hindu temples	Setting out the "deya" candles
Deya candle	Display in a front yard	Colorful corner on a street	Smoke is from fireworks	This display was on a back street
Lovely back street	Indian princess	Interesting color combination	The "main" street	Another temple on a back street

Haul Out

We had diverted from Venezuela to Trinidad, instead of going straight to Grenada, because we knew that we needed a haul out in order to repaint the anti-fouling on Tusen Takk II's bottom.   Actually, since we had purchased our paint in Grenada, if repainting were the only task, we could have had that done in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela; friends did so and spoke highly of the boatyard they used there.   But we had a second reason, and that was to take care of some blisters that I had noticed while cleaning the bottom while the boat was still in the water.  There were a number of small blisters near the water line.   Best to get those taken care of, before a small problem turned into a large one.   Given the persistent problems we heard in Venezuela concerning supplies, and given our lack of facility with the Spanish language, we elected to have the work done in Trinidad.

As it turned out, the blisters were not deeply embedded in the fiberglass.   Rather, they were just under the surface of the gel coat.   We were surprised and disappointed to develop the problem in such a relatively young vessel, but attribute the occurrence to the fact that the boat was so low in the water.   That put portions of the boot stripe under the water line, and that may well have been the source of the moisture.

So we commissioned Peake Yacht Services to grind out the blisters (and gel coat), to waterproof with epoxy, to repair the area of grinding, and to raise the boot stripe.   Before the haul out, I had hoped that we could just grind out the individual blisters.   But in the end, it seemed far more pro-active to remove all of the gel coat along the water line, including under the former boot stripe, and to seal the entire area with epoxy.

Specifically, here is what we had done:

Treat an area in a band between 8'' and 12" wide at the water line by grinding down the surface to just below the gel coat.   The band straddled the former boundary of the anti-fouling and the bottom of the boot stripe.   Seal the band with two layers of West system epoxy.   Fair the band with a compound consisting of epoxy and micro-bubbles.   Apply several coats of epoxy priming sealer.   Apply Awlgrip primer to the area of the new boot stripe.   Apply  many coats of dark blue Awlgrip to create a new boot stripe.    Sand the old anti-fouling paint.   Apply two coats of anti-fouling paint.  Apply a third coat to the area near the water line.

And so we now have a raised water line, a new Awlgrip boot stripe, and a firm resolution to stop bringing ever more weight aboard.

There were a few blisters on the boot stripe ...	... but most were just below it --already partially ground away here ...	... and being ground away here	Rigging tarp to "try" to minimize sanding/grinding dust to neighboring boats	Applying epoxy sealer before fairing the ground area
Applying the fairing epoxy after grinding and sealing with epoxy	Epoxy fairing layer -- before smoothing	Resident expert at ...	... sighting straight lines for boot stripes	Priming the new boot stripe
Primed boot stripe	New boot stripe	Sanding the anti-fouling is a foul business	"Bus-up shot" with new friends Rik and Annette at the Roti Shack	On the way back to the water
Rik and Annette wave goodbye as we launch	Roti Shack owner making the mix that is added to the roti dough			Lunch at the Roti Shack to plan our Rio Macareo trip
Iguanas live right next to the Roti Shack