Located in the midst of Chaguaramas National Park is Chaguaramas Bay, home to numerous marinas, boat yards, a large, busy fishing fleet and huge commercial operations (freighters, oil rigs etc).
Our investigation of 8 of the marinas showed the vast array of services available:
Travel lifts for haul-out can handle from 15 - 200 tons. The marinas are equipped for super yachts, mono and multi-hulls. They offer safe, secure storage (storage space is available for 1,000 boats on the hard). There is easy access to marine parts, skilled labour and services as well as all forms of communication and provisioning.
Most yachts use Chaguaramas as their base for yacht services. The area offers many chandleries, sail makers, rigging and technical yacht services (everything from carpentry to refrigeration). Every service imaginable is available, even a tour operator. Since cruisers, who are transient by nature, find themselves positioned in Trinidad for a few months time waiting out the hurricane season, the opportunity is over-whelming to undertake some of these every present projects. If all goes well we hope to leave Trinidad with some new canvas work, sail repairs, a new VHF radio and an item or two from our wish list.
We are dividing our time, during this rainy season in Trinidad, between the mooring field in the busy, working harbour in Chaguaramas Bay and the quiet tranquility of the anchorage in Scotland Bay.