I arrived back in Trinidad on the 1st of September, after nearly 4 months away. Ian had come back earlier mid august so he could do some maintenance and repair on the boat without me interfering with the proceedings. My homecoming was somewhat marred by the fact that both my luggage were lost for 5 days by Canada airlines, without any idea where they were stuck. Of course all this angst was put into a different light when 2 days after my arrival I met Claude who had lost far more than some clothes and stuff. Claude had been sailing for over 25 years with her husband, Michel were both French. They had a huge wooden boat over 50 foot and they were on the hard at Peake’s for about 3 days when Michel complained of not feeling well. Within 24 hours he was gone, massive heart attack. We did not hear the commotion of ambulance and police in the boatyard as we were tucked away in the furthest corner of the yard, by the sea, so it was only when the next morning a call was made on the cruiser’s net for assistance with translating and assisting Claude with all the officialdom. So 24h after the event that changed her life for ever I was introduced to Claude, Daniel and Mely, old friends of the couple. Loved Mely, from Gran Canaria, hardly speaking any French, she kept everyone’s spirits up, with a constant chatter of Spanish, she was so kind and sensitive. we spend quite a lot of time together in the following 10 days. We had to see the doctor to register the death, visit the funeral home and talk about the various options open regarding the remains, visit the French embassy, the police… all this more than once in the intervening days. It was heartbreaking to see Claude trying to make decisions and suddenly being overwhelmed by the enormity of the event. Their 4 kids, back in France were in constant contact but only 2 of them could make the trip to Trinidad for the cremation. Hard stuff for all involved. After the cremation, the boat had to be taken care off too. It could not be left on the hard, being wood, so we had to find a safe place in the water, a tour of all the boatyards and marinas in the vicinity made us realised that whislt not perfect, the buoyed mooring off of Peake’s were the cheapest option. The boys work very hard and within 2 days the antifoul was done and most of the stuff had been sorted. We helped putting the boat back in the water, Ian behind the wheel, as Claude could not face it. The staff and management at Peake’s were outstanding, nothing was too much trouble and they provided all the assistance needed at this difficult time. You would have thought that Claude and her boys had gone through enough but the weather conspired against them, storms were predicted for the day of their departure now and they had to sort out new flights to get back to France.
In the meantime, my bags had turned up without any explanation or apologies from the airline. Still I was pleased to be reunited with my smalls and all the goodies I had collected during my trip home.
We needed some light entertainment after all this so we we went to Maracas beach for a stroll.