Touring with LaBete - Scarlet Ibis - Caroni Swamp The Scarlet Ibis is Trinidad's most famous bird. As it is the national bird it is officially protected. We had the good fortune to visit Trinidad's Caroni swamp which is home to 12,000 of the stunningly spectacular ibis. The adult bird is bright scarlet with black wing tips and a long curved bill - 23" long. The immature bird is mainly grey in colour. The ibis roost and nest in mangroves. They feed over mudflats in shallow swamp lagoons, probing the mud for small crabs, but also taking shrimps and small fish. It is a very gregarious species, feeding, flying, nesting and roosting in large flocks. Every evening during the last hour of daylight the flocks converge upon the roost-site in the Caroni swamp creating a magnificent spectacle as they do so. The nest sites are carefully guarded by the authorities. The sociable birds congregate at night on small mangrove islands that can only be approached by boat. While touring through the maze of channels in the Caroni swamp mangroves we also saw four-eyes fish, night herons, mangrove crabs, mangrove boas, common black hawk, snowy egret and blue heron. The gorgeous scarlet ibis birds are luminous in the late afternoon sun. As they come in to roost the lowest level of mangrove island fills with stark white snowy egret, little blue herons occupy the mid-level, then the ibises arrive in small groups from their feeding grounds, gliding gracefully to roost atop the mangrove until hundreds of them stand out like brilliant flowers against a green background. A truly magnificent sight!

Touring with LaBete - Asa Wright Nature Centre - Flowers Asa Wright is a 200 acre nature preserve in gorgeous mountain scenery at an elevation of 1200 feet. The century-old coffee and cocoa plantation house at Asa Wright is very atmospheric and the verandah view is stunning. The estate offers miles of trails lined with flowers of tropical splendor.

Touring with LaBete - Asa Wright Nature Centre We arose at 4 a.m. to reach the Asa Wright Nature Centre in time to see the bird feeding trays initially filled in the morning. Along with a multitude of brightly coloured birds an excellent sighting was made of 2 toucans as they sat on a bare branch atop the forest canopy.

Touring with LaBete - Point-a-Pierre Wildfowl trust - Trinidad While sight-seeing with Manon and Gervais (LaBete) we stopped just north of San Fernando to visit the Point-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust which is located within the Petrotrin oil refinery grounds. The Wildfowl trust encompasses 60 acres, including 2 lakes which are used as reservoirs for the refineries fire and cooling systems. Started in l966 it houses a captive breeding program with birds such as anhinges (snake birds), scarlet ibis and peacocks. The lakes attract countless birds including the (tree sitting) black-bellied whistling ducks, common gallinule, wattled jacana, cocoi heron as well as many song birds such as the yellow oriole we luckily sighted. Could the many caimans in the lakes be the reason the black-bellied whistling ducks spend their time sitting in the trees? We were surprised to see a large patch of lotus blossoms growing in the lake - not native to Trinidad but certainly a beautiful sight.

Touring with LaBete - Fishermen - Grand Riviere The overnight torrential rainfall coupled with a very wet preceding week had the river at Grand Riviere absolutely surging into the sea. In the morning we watched as locals gathered to assist a fishing boat launch out through the surf. With only oars to propel themselves it took several men and a keen sense of timing to get the boat past the surf line. Later in the day as we were leaving we saw the abundant excellent catch the fishermen had made.

Touring with LaBete - the hotel We were delighted by our unique accommodations at the Mt. Plaisir Hotel in Grand Riviere on Trinidad's north coast. It was a new experience for us to sleep under a mosquito net but definitely a necessity as our room was in the open air surrounded by rainforest. There was a torrential rainfall through the night which coupled with the pounding surf outside our door made for a very loud night. We had a very interesting and unique night that we won't soon forget.

Touring with LaBete - Mt. Plaisir Hotel - Grand Riviere We over-nighted in the Mt. Plaisir Hotel which is located directly on the beach at Grand Riviere. Regretfully we were off season to see the endangered giant leatherback turtles laying their eggs here as it is the 2nd largest nesting area in the world. The surroundings of lush rainforest and ocean beach were breath-taking. To reach Grand Riviere we edged our way along the north coast road which narrows and eventually ends not too far past our destination. The north coast mountain range drops down to the sea here and the beauty of the rainforest is overwhelming.

Touring with LaBete - Brigand Hill Lighthouse - Trinidad On Trinidad's N/E corner lies the Brigand Hill working lighthouse, truly a unique structure with an interesting insignia (Victoria Reginal Diamond Jubilee l897). The location offers a gorgeous view of Trinidad's beautiful, raw north and east coasts as well as Tobago off in the distance to the north.

Touring with LaBete - East coast beaches - Trinidad Since Sea Star was secured to the mooring balls (at TTSA) that would hold her while we travel home for Christmas, we took the opportunity to rent a car and tour around the island along with our friends Manon & Gervais (LaBete - Montreal). We headed off first towards the east coast beaches to investigate their natural beauty. Our friend Debbie (Tsunami - Toronto) would have delighted in the profusion of "lucky" hamburger beans. Edged in palms the white sand and surf were not only naturally gorgeous but also important leatherback turtle nesting sites. Many Hindu prayer flags were on the beaches. The next day we drove down the east coast which encompasses the magnificent windswept Manzanilla beach and coconut estates. At the southern end we saw where the Nariva river empties into the sea. We were awed by the beauty of the east coast beaches but refrained from swimming as the entire area is subject to powerful currents.

Hanging Out with the Howlers (Scotland Bay, Trinidad) After 11 weeks on anchor off TTSA we were more than ready to head back to the peace and tranquility of Scotland Bay. We spent the next seven weeks happily enjoying flora, fauna, fish and friends. Many a good time was had swapping tales of adventure with fellow cruisers. One boat that particularly stands out is new friends we met out of New Zealand. They have been cruising for 30 years during which time they circumnavigated 3 times. They are avid shell collectors and we spent an evening with them admiring their collection. According to them the best place on earth to find shells is Madagascar. To say we were impressed would be an understatement. One item of note regarding this couple - they have never had a refrigerator on their boat - amazing people. Others whose company we enjoyed were our very good friends, Robin & Sandra (Ngoma, Zimbabwe); Margaret & Brian (Gypsy Days - Australia) who are 15 years into their circumnavigation (only 10,000 miles to go!); Manon & Gervais (La Bete - Monteal, Canada) we enjoyed their company sight-seeing; and Jan & Max (Mambo - England) who were on route to Nova Scotia. The bay supplied us with clear, dark, night skies, highlighted in November by the planets Venus and Jupiter and the constellations Scorpio and Aries. The bay was busy at night as swarms of bats swooped over the bio-luminesent water. During the days we enjoyed the vast bounty of nature: white-winged swallows, kiskadee, parrots, oropendola, red howler monkeys, sea turtles, sea rays, sharks, osprey, angelfish, dolphins, pilot whales, pelicans, vultures, many different coloured butterflies and even a pufferfish. We are saddened as we float in Scotland Bay's calm waters these last few days before we part with our cruising friends, to make our way home for Christmas. Currently, we don't intend to return to Trinidad next rainy season but we already know we'll miss the bay's safe haven and bounty of nature, especially the howler monkeys.