Adventures in Tobago

On Monday we headed to Tobago! We flew there, and it’s only a 20 minute flight. The plane is so small! It’s the smallest plane I’ve ever been on, with maybe 15 rows of seats, and 4 seats per row (2 on each side of the plane). But it was really exciting, because you get to walk out to the plane and walk up the stairs onto the plane, which I had never gotten to do before. The airport in Tobago is right on the ocean, which I hadn’t realized before the flight. The wheels for landing came down while we were still over the ocean, and we got so close to the water before we were over land and landed. After landing in Tobago we had a 1 ½ hour drive to Charlotteville, the town we stayed in on the complete other side of the island. Although Tobago is only about 20 miles long, the roads are winding and there are lots of steep hills, which is why the drive is so long.

Charlotteville is beautiful. It sits right on the edge of Man O’ War Bay and is built into steep green hills, and the water is the prettiest blue you can imagine. We stayed in cabins literally on the beach, so I fell asleep every night to the sound of waves and a sea breeze. We got to Charlotteville Monday afternoon, where we had some free time to go swimming before our first J-term class. The water was so nice! It was warm enough so it always felt good to be in, but never so warm that it felt hot. Most of the beach was sand, with some rocky places, which was a nice change from Washington beaches. Candice had a snorkel from the lodge that we got to use, and there was a small reef that had lots of fish to look at. All week we had three hours of class in the morning (Caribbean Short Fiction), and then had the rest of the day to be at the beach before meeting for a group dinner. There was a stall about 5 minutes away from our cottages that sold the most amazing homemade ice cream. I bought some a couple of times, and it was delicious coconut and peanut ice cream! Why doesn’t the U.S. have peanut ice cream?

On Wednesday our whole group went to Pirates Bay, which is a bay a half hour walk away from Charlotteville. The trail to Pirates Bay goes up a big hill, and on the back side there are steep stairs down to the beach. Something interesting about Tobago are the animals that are everywhere. Goats are tethered all over the place, there are cows by the side of the road occasionally, friendly stray cats and dogs, and about a million chickens and roosters that just wander town and the hillsides. According to Nina, at least we know there are no basilisks in Tobago! J So on the way to Pirates Bay there was a group of goats walking through the middle of the road that we had to walk around. It’s just kind of amusing to see random animals running around everywhere. Anyways, at the top of the hill to Pirates Bay there is the most amazing view. All of Man O’ War Bay and Charlotteville and the surrounding hills is just laid out in front of you, which is just beautiful. Going to Pirates Bay it was sunny and bright, but on the way back it had just rained so if was kind of misty and I saw sunbeams shining through the clouds onto the bay. Pirates Bay is famous for its clear water and all the fish you can see snorkeling. However, due to heavy waves a few days before the sand had not yet settled, so the water was not very clear for the most part. But over by the rocks at the edge of the bay the water was really clear and there were so many fish! There were some schools with thousands of little fish only a couple of inches long, and some sea urchins in the rocks and bigger fish swimming around near the ground.

On Thursday we took a boat out to St. Giles Island, which is a bird sanctuary that is about a 45 minute boat ride away. There’s a rock formation called London Bridge, which is a huge rock with an arch with water underneath it, kind of like a bridge (funny, I wonder where it got its name…J). There were so many birds flying around above us! The island was interesting too, because it is so dry that cacti grow instead of the lush tropical vegetation I had gotten used to. Then we got to go swimming right off shore, in the bluest water I have ever seen. It was also really clear, so you could easily see all the way to the bottom. However, the water felt about 10 times saltier than Man O’ War Bay, so when I got out I had a residue of salt everywhere. But it was really fun to just be swimming in the Caribbean, while birds are swirling about overhead and our prof was swimming twenty feet away. Crazy, once in a lifetime experience!

One of my favorite days was Friday, when a group of us went down to Store Bay to take a glass bottom boat out to Buccoo Reef. Getting into that boat was slightly ridiculous, as there is no pier or dock or anything. The boat gets brought close to shore and held as steady as possible, so you just have to rush for the ladder between the waves, trying not to get your stuff or clothes soaking wet. The boat went by Pigeon Point, which is one of the nicest beaches in Tobago. It has the cliché white sand, tall palm trees, turquoise water, grass thatched huts, and lots of windsurfers. The glass bottom boat had a lower level where you could look at the fish and coral we went over, and an upper level where you could sit and look out over the water (it was also a lot drier!). When we got to the reef the boat stopped so we could look at the reef life, and then we go to go snorkeling! It was my first time ever really snorkeling (other than using the mask at Pirates Bay and Man O’ War Bay), and there were so many cool fish. The current was strong, so it was harder than expected to stay in one place, but it was a lot of fun. My favorite fish were the long skinny fish with the long nose, they look kind of like long sticks floating in the water, and the big purple and blue fish. I also liked the little yellow and white fish with big fake eyes near their back fins. The coral was also pretty, but I liked the fish a lot more.

After the reef we took the boat to the Nylon Pool, which is a huge sandbar-like area in the Caribbean. Ocean currents carry dead coral pieces to this one spot and dump them so the coral breaks down into coral sand, and the water is about three feet deep way out from land. There were three different glass bottom boats at the Nylon Pool when we were there, and one of them had a big sound system so there was a little dance party on top of that boat. Some of the girls went up there, but I can’t dance, so I stayed in the water with Sam and Max (who weren’t invited up) and watched. After getting back to Store Bay all of us were really hungry, so we got food. I tried Bake and Shark, which is so good! Bake and Shark is a local food (which I think was featured on the Food Network at some point – it’s famous!) with really good light bread, fried shark, cucumbers, tomatoes, and ketchup. I tried it to be adventurous and to be able to say I had eaten shark, but it was actually really good. So everyone should try it if they ever get the chance! It doesn’t taste fishy at all.

On Saturday our group went to some wetlands and the rainforest. I thought it was funny how there were so many cows tethered in the wetlands, apparently locals depend on the land to help sustain them. We saw some birds, and learned all about different plants and trees, including what medicinal properties they have. We saw mangrove swamps which, according to our guide, are the kidneys of our ecosystem. They cut down on storm power (remember how after Hurricane Katrina people were talking about how it was so destructive because the bayou was diminishing? If only there were mangrove swamps in Louisiana!) and filter salt water to remove the salt and other bad things. Down by the water (the wetlands were just across the beach from the ocean on the Atlantic side of Tobago) there were so many plastic bottles and litter everywhere. Environment Tobago has work days every so often, and at their first one they picked up over 600 pounds of trash. I have only seen one recycling bin since I’ve been in Trinidad and Tobago, which is kind of sad when you think about how much bottled water, juice, and pop is consumed here every day. Also, from the beach by the wetlands you can see where Swiss Family Robinson was filmed. Such a good movie! Coming to Tobago made me realize I haven’t seen that movie in about 10 years, and I need to watch it.

The rainforest in Tobago is the oldest protected rainforest in the world, created with the very first environmental law passed in 1776. The rainforest was so lush and green and beautiful, and a lot cooler than the wetlands! Bamboo taller than trees, bird calls, waterfalls, and so much green. Unfortunately, we were at the rainforest at the wrong time of day to see much wildlife, so I only saw a couple of hummingbirds. But they were pretty! The hummingbird is the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago, and we also saw the national flower, but I can’t remember what it was called. It was red and kind of spiky, but it looked cool, and is also the symbol for the PNM. We hiked through the rainforest to a couple of waterfalls. It was really muddy, but we rented boots so it wasn’t too bad.

After the rainforest we went back to Charlotteville, for one last swim at the beach, because on Sunday we left for Trinidad. The return to Trinidad was kind of hectic, as we got to the airport to find out our travel agent had somehow booked half of our group for a flight that day (January 17), and the other half for a flight on July 17. The rest of the group ended up getting on the flight after our original one, but for a little while it looked like they might have had to take the ferry back to Trinidad or a flight the next day. But we all got back to the lodge safely that night!