Caribbean: Day trip to Tobago, 2006

On my trip to Trinidad to observe Carifesta, I managed to squeeze in a day trip to its sister island Tobago. There are many attractions to this island, which caters more to the tourist than Trinidad, which is more industrial and has more safety issues than Tobago. With only one day I decided to hit the two main attractions, Buccoo Reef and the Nylon Pool, both of which are part of the boat tours that depart from Store Bay (left), which is walking distance from the airport and is on the southern part of the island. From the time you get out of the airport, there will certainly be someone to approach you to ask if you're interested in taking the tour. Looking back, I probably should have waited until I got to the bay to buy the ticket, but it worked out fine.

The boats pull out from Store Bay and with their glass bottoms enable you to see the fish and some of the coral underneath. Later you'll be given a snorkel in a very shallow area to see what lies underneath. It's a shame that I didn't have an underwater camera, because I saw one of the most beautiful sights ever: a rainbow parrotfish which definitely lived up to its name.

The next attraction on the boat tour is the Nylon Pool, a shallow pool of white water out by the reefs. It supposedly got its name from a member of the British royal family who was vacationing there. It is remarkable how far one is from the shore, swimming in that shallow water. The picture to the left was taken on the way back which shows how far from the shore we were.

I had just enough time after getting back to Store Bay and walking to the airport area to hop on a taxi to Scarborough, where there were closing ceremonies for Tobago's part of Carifesta. There is a nice little area near the harbor where the festivities took place to attract the local crowd and some visitors like myself. I stayed as long as I could and then took a taxi to get back to my flight to Trinidad. The timing was perfect.

Visit my webpage on the Caribbean at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/caribbean.html