Anse Bateau - Little Tobago Island

We inched our way through vast areas of coral reef to tuck in to Tobago's east coast anchorage of Anse Bateau where we joined others on a glass bottom boat tour to the bird sanctuary of Little Tobago.
We identified many different brightly coloured land birds as well as sea birds such as red-billed tropic birds and frigats.
Our tour included snorkelling in the areas rich coral reef which is home to many turtles.
Dive boats were leaving regularly, loaded with divers off to explore the 15 dive sites in the area.
We were the only visiting boat in the bay and were welcomed to enjoy the facilities offered at the Blue Waters Inn.
A short hike over the headland brought us to the town of Speyside, home of Jemma's restaurant which is built "tree house" style in an almond tree over-looking the beach - truly a tasty spot.
Barry went by bus from Speyside to Scarborough and arranged our clearance out of customs and immigration.
On November 5th we set sail for Grenada. With the wind, wave and swell all on our aft quarter we vanged our main sail and had a rather wobbly, but safe and uneventful passage.
Anchor to anchor - Anse Bateau, Tobago to Prickly Bay, Grenada - 85 miles - 20 hours

Tropical Colour

Tobago is an island of gorgeous palm-lined beaches, vast turquoise reefs and lush tropical rainforest.
It is impossible to go to shore without easily sighting vividly coloured birds.
Tobago's waters are rich with sea life. Snorkelling in the clear, warm water revealed fish of absolutely every colour and shape imaginable.
Added to all the bright and vibrant colours are the unusual profusion of rainbows.
Yes, Tobago is resplendent in tropical colour.

Anchorages - Tobago

We enjoyed 5 different anchorages during our 10 day stay in Tobago.
Our counter-clockwise direction of travel around the island found us making slow progress as we worked against the up to 4 knot current and north-easterly swell.
We discovered that Tobago has its own unique fishing style of trolling with bamboo poles off each side of their perogues. Anchorage area was limited as seine net fishing was taking place in virtually every bay.
We unsuccessfully attempted to purchase fish and sadly found it was always "already all sold". Happily we could still enjoy the locals favourite dish "rotis" which are a combination of curry, potatoes, vegetables, fish/chicken/lambi/goat, in a flour tortilla type wrap - very delicious but watch the (hot) pepper.
As we made our way from anchorage to anchorage we had numerous dolphin sightings. As well as the bottlenose type that we usually see we also have sighted many that are white spotted with longer pointed snouts.

Sunday School Lime

Just down the road from our Store Bay anchorage is the oldest liming spot on the island, Buccoo, where every Sunday night is party time.
We caught a cab there with our friends and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner, prepared and served by local women, followed by an evening of entertainment by a steel pan band.
This weekly gathering is advertised as "Sunday School" and we could clearly see why locals came from all over the island to take part.

Rainforest Hike - Tobago

Tobago's 14,000 acre virgin evergreen rainforest has been protected by law since l776 which makes it the oldest in the Western Hemisphere.
While hiking the muddy trail in our rented wellingtons we spotted many extraordinarly colourful birds. I was thrilled to get a photo of a blue headed mot mot.
We saw a termits nest on a tree, vast amounts of huge bamboo and 2 waterfalls during our 3 hour hike.
As well, we saw a snake in the rafters of an outdoor shelter and heard about the boa constrictors that live in the area.

The Skink Incident

As David Rooks drove us to our forest hike location he told us an incredible story of his last hurricane experience.
While the hurricane roared across Tobago he slept snugly in his secure home which sits on a hill over-looking the sea. At midnight he was abruptly awakened and found himself flying through the air. Unable to grasp the tree branches flying by he did manage to get hold of a wire and pulled himself back to safety.
The wire turned out to be the hydro line to his home; fortunately the power was out. He took refuge with his neighbour and in the morning he could see what had happened. At midnight a tree had smashed through his roof, landed on his bed and catapulted him out through the roof's hole and off the cliff. The abrupt awakening, darkness and hurricane force winds and rain made for a totally shocking experience.
While David was enlightening us with his tale I happened to glance down and saw that I had a 4-5" skink (lizard like creature) on my chest looking back at me. I screamed (more than once, I fear); David who was much more composed than I pulled the vehicle over to the shoulder, reached over and in an instant grabbed the skink and tossed it out the window, all the while telling me that I had to get used to this sort of thing as I'm now in the tropics, and that was that.

David Rooks - Tour Guide Extrordinaire

While anchored in Store Bay, we made plans with friends Wendy & Giorgio (Argonauta)and Debbie & Michael (Free Spirit) to go together on a hike in Tobago's rainforest with guide, David Rooks.
Mr Rooks is highly recommended in the guide book and upon meeting him we fully understood why.
Following is a list of some of his many credentials:
- lifelong naturalist, student of natural history
- former President of the Trinidad & Tobago Field Naturalist Club - founded the conservation sub-committee in l975
- one of the official hosts of H.R.H. Prince Phillip (l985)
- accredited photographer for the visit of Pope John Paul
- dined with her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on board the Royal Yacht Britannia
- former chairman of Tobago Chamber of Commerce, Environmental Committee
- named in credits on 3 major films (David Attenborough)
- featured in an article in National Georgraphic "Adventure" magazine and its cable program
- lectured in many universities
On route along Tobago's eastern shoreline David brought to life some of the island's history for us including how it was a war zone from l941-l943 with battles being fought at sea, and enemy ships and subs sunk right within view of shore, while bombers flew overhead.
We passed gorgeous Hope Bay where such famous movies as "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Heaven Can Wait" were filmed.

Tobago - Terrific
Statistics

- 116 square miles
- mountainous island surrounded by turquoise water, beautiful beaches and bountiful reefs
- population 47,000
- long used as a holiday spot by Trinidadians
- all goods imported through Trinidad (no farming anymore on Tobago)
- 210 species of nesting birds - many brightly coloured (usually fewer than 80 on other small islands
Our anchorage in Store Bay allowed us easy dinghy access to the protected marine park of Buccoo reef which the late oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau, ranked as the 3rd most spectacular reef in the world.

Tobago - Dream Passage

For cruisers, Tobago is a little out of the mainstream and a less popular destination than the islands to the north because it is too far to sail in a day and too often a struggle against wind and current. However, because of this it is one of the last unspoiled Caribbean islands.
With apprehension we charted our course into the easterly trade winds and against the 1-4 knot (Atlantic) current.
At 1600 hours on October 25, 2007 we felt luck was with us as 3 dolphins escorted us out of Chaguaramas and through the Boca to begin our eastward journey along Trinidad's north coast, then offshore to Tobago; ending our 3 month stay in Trinidad.
Shortly after the sun set a "delicious" night-lee breeze out of the south, helped us make easy work of the journey. When we turned north for Tobago, under the full moon, a perfect 10-15 knot east wind allowed us to skim along the smooth sea. As we approached the island the lights of Tobago sparkled like a precious gem in the night.
Since our passage had gone so well we found ourselves arriving before daylight, therefore we decided to sail the 9 miles up the east coast to check in at customs in Scarborough rather than take a bus across the island from our anchorage destination of Store Bay.
As we sailed this course a rainbow arched from the sea behind us over to the island which made the whole passage seem even more surreal.
As is the case in all dreams, they must come to an end and ours did as we were confused by the repetition of south cardinal buoys marking the reef in the entrance to Scarborough harbour and had to put out to open water twice as 2 squalls brought us back to a wet reality.
After we checked in to Customs we set sail south again to anchor in Store Bay - carefully - as the anchorage area is upwind of the submerged electric cable. Barry joked that if we should drag anchor at least there was something to eventually catch us - let's hope we don't!
Anchor to anchor - Chaguaramas, Trinidad to Store Bay, Tobago - 23 hours - 83 miles (includes stop to check in to customs in Scarborough)