Hey Mon - come join da party!

8 January 2012

Ahhh – the Islands – paradise in the Southern Caribbean! This morning we docked at 7am at Scarborough, the capital of Tobago. Tobago is the smaller of the two islands in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.  It is about 26 miles long and only 6 miles across but 55 000 or so people call it home – 33 000 of which live in Scarborough.  Tobago runs on agriculture (cocoa, coconut and sugarcane), oil and tourism. It has an unemployment rate of over 25% and the untold commentary if you ask your local guide carefully is that many of the people who make up that 25% earn a living dealing in illegal drugs. There were warnings all over the ship and our information sheets about not bringing drugs back on board even though they would be readily available and cheap to obtain.  Needless to say, we avoided any pharmaceutical touring. 

                                                               10 inch bug anyone?

The islands are in the West Indies and were encountered by Christopher Columbus on his 3^rd voyage to the New World (1498). So – Tobago started colonial life in Spanish hands but then changed hands more than TWENTY times between the British, French, Dutch and Courlanders with Britain being the final colonial overlords.  Trinidad on the other hand stayed Spanish until 1797 but ws largely settled by the French. The two islands came together as a crown colony under British rule in 1888. In 1962 a bloody war of independence was fought and in 1976 the islands became a Republic.

We started our day with a bang by doing some laundry. Even ocean-going layabouts need clean undies every so often. That chore complete we headed off the ship with a couple from England’s scenic Lake District who dine beside us in the evening (not the crazed lunatic Brits I have mentioned in other posts). We decided to hire a cab for a drive round the city and the island and had a lovely time at a quarter of the cost of a ship-sponsored tour and saw everything anyway.

Our driver was a lovely gent by the name of Myron who took us to shopping (we disappointed him there by showing no interest and buying nothing) and then took us to the sites such as Pigeon Point ( a beautiful spot that was once a gun battery to protect the island from invasion) and Fort King George (a well-preserved French built British Naval port from the 18^th century.  We also saw a curious grave marker (also 18^th century) known locally as “The Mysterious Grave” as the inscription is difficult to comprehend – part of it reads as follows: “She was a mother without knowing it and a wife without letting her husband know it except by her kind indulgences to him”. Apparently she was a slave who died in childbirth and not much else is known about her. You have to love quirky things like that.

                                                With Kath and Barrie Russell at Pigeon Point

                                                          View from Ft. King George

                                                                   Ft. King George

It was pouring rain when we arrived at the island and the sun came out as we left the ship and stayed out while we toured. We saw such diverse things as cocoa and breadfruit plants and the world-famous turtle beach where sea turtles climb out of the ocean to lay their eggs (again, made famous through various documentaries). The turtles are smart enough to do this by moonlight meaning they are not bothered by tourists and the tourists are not bothered with having to stop and take pictures of turtles.

At one point our guide stopped on a side street and said no trip to the island was complete without a taste of Caribe – the local lager. So, he hops out and trots off returning a few minutes later with beer for Dale and Barry and no beer for the ladies (apparently he thought it wasn’t proper or something). Kath was given a weird malt drink that she said tasted like drinking molasses and I was given a ginseng energy drink. We didn’t enquire – it just seemed easier that way!  Oh – did I mention that Myron bought himself a Caribe and proceeded to drink it while driving us around the rest of the island. We also did not question the wisdom or legality of this move and figured that as long as he kept it to one we were probably Ok.

After our tour we returned to the port where Dale made our largest purchase of the whole voyage and splurged on a $15 t-shirt. It’s pretty cool – bright orange Trinidad and Tobago. Once back on the ship we returned to our customary table on the back deck, had some lunch and watched the world go by. Mysteriously, as we left port at 5pm the cloud and rain returned. We thought it a very civilized nation that could manage the sunshine for the tourists in that fashion! 

                                               Colourful boats in harbour at Scarborough

We are now back at sea and headed toward St. Lucia. Tomorrow we go whale watching (one of my favourite sports). I have great hopes for this as apparently the most likely whale species to see there at this time of year are grey whales (second only to blues in size) and Sperm whales (one of the top 5 in size and very rare to sight). Wish us luck.

The internet gods remain angered with me for reasons known only to them and some computer geeks. I remain unable to upload pics at this time. I do promise to upload the missing pictures once we get home and I get it sorted out. At this point the internet access is too expensive to do much fiddling. So my apologies.

And yes Terri – we got your comments. Thanks much. No, we are not ignoring you just out of easy communication.

Until the next day dawns …