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 On our last visit to the Caribbean, we stopped in
Chaguaramas Bay, Trinidad, in the West Indies. We decided, after a
period of struggling with a dodgy outboard motor on the dinghy, that we would
'splash out' and take a berth at one of the many
marinas around the bay. Having weighed up the pros and cons (we were
attracted by lower prices and repelled by hype) we decided on one of the
smallest of the establishments, Humming Bird Marina, which was described
as a 'family' marina and, in common with only one other marina, had no
boatyard attached to it. (To see full-size map, click on miniature
version)
What it did have, apart from the shower block, a canvas
workshop and a shed available to guests at a very reasonable rate for
do-it-yourself projects, was a rather delightful semi-enclosed bar, shaped
like the stern of a ship and, appropriately, called 'Voyagers'. Just
outside, to our delight, a tiny humming bird visited a shrub, wings
beating at incredible speed before our very eyes. This, we thought, must
be the reason for the marina being thus named.
The bar top is a large horseshoe-shaped affair, covered with photographs,
press cuttings and other memorabilia relating to all the most famous
maritime voyagers from Marco Polo to Joshua Slocum to Harold La Borde.
Harold La Borde? We had never heard of him. Leaning towards the gentleman behind the bar,
we enquired
as to who Mr La Borde might be. "Me!" came the reply.
Harold La Borde was born in Trinidad, West Indies, in 1933, of parents with
a rich mixture of blood in their veins - French, Negro, Spanish and Caribe.
He was educated at a local Roman Catholic school and began his sailing
career by building dinghies, in which he taught himself the rudiments of
seamanship, and reading any book about deep sea sailing that he could lay his hands
on. Harold La Borde was determined to get a suitable boat, even if he had to build it himself, and
to push off into the Atlantic
wastes.
In his first book, 'An Ocean to Ourselves', La Borde tells how he built a 26' ketch
'Humming Bird'. Together with his new bride, Kwailan, and a friend, Buck Wong Chong,
Harold crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 'Hummingbird' to England from Trinidad.
The La Bordes, always working as a team, took jobs at an Outward
Bound school in Nigeria in 1961, after the voyage, but the call of the sea was too strong for the young
couple and they returned to Trinidad in 1963, when they started to build the 40' ketch
'Humming Bird II'. Their first-born son, Pierre, arrived while work was in
progress.
 The boat was completed in three years and, after chartering her out to Americans for
a further three years in order to raise sufficient funds, the family set out on
the 2nd of February 1969 on the, now historic, voyage that took them around the
world. Harold and Kwailan were both awarded their nations highest award,
the Trinity Cross for their seafaring adventure. Their second son, Andre,
was born in Auckland, New Zealand, during the voyage.
The La Bordes first circumnavigation is described in Harold's book
'All Oceans Blue', published in 1977. With a little persuasion, we managed
to get Harold to dig out copies of this and his other two books and sell
them to us. In our opinion, 'All Oceans Blue' is worthy of a reprint. The
photograph on the right, 'Humming Bird II anchored in the beautiful Pao
Pao Bay, Moorea, Society Islands' is typical of the splendid illustrations
to be found throughout this 225-page volume. A second
circumnavigation was later undertaken, aboard 'Humming Bird III', but that's another
story...
We have fond memories of Humming Bird Marina and can
recommend a stay there to anyone wanting to stop in a 'local'-style marina whilst cruising the
Caribbean. If you are very persuasive, you may even be able to get the La
Bordes to show the excellent documentary film of the sights they
encountered whilst sailing around the world.
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