Tobago, and leaving the Caribbean for South America

After two weeks of being surrounded by dead fish and diesel spills in Chaguaramas anchorage (Trinidad), it was a delight to be heading back out of the bay and on to Tobago - it's a 75 mile trip to Store Bay, so we set out in the late afternoon to be sure of arriving in daylight.  There was very little wind, and although we had to motor along the coast of Trinidad into a strong current it was still one of the nicer night passages we've done with a full moon and lots of dolphins keeping us company on the way.

Arriving in Tobago at sunrise.

The peaceful scene was short lived ... We arrived in Store Bay the weekend of The Great Race, a powerboat Race from Port of Spain (Trinidad) to Store Bay - we took 16 hours, they took about 1 1/2 hours.

The people in these islands know how to party, and when they party, they do it loud!  The music was almost deafening, and every beach bar and boat seems to be in competition with each other to be the loudest.

Those who haven't got a power boat make up for it with Jet Skis - these go unbelievably fast - Health and Safety has not been born on these islands.

For the irslanders who do not take to the water, the landlubbers did not want to be outdone ...  It was an opportunity to 'Pimp your Ride', Tobago style

This car has been fitted with 101 DVD screens complete with complex joystick arrangement for tilting speakers and transparent seats, presumably to ensure the drivers' view of the screens is not obscured!

This truck is literally filled with speakers.  The noise coming from it was so loud I'm surprised it didn't make our ears bleed!

Calm was restored in the bay after the weekend and we had the opportunity to use the kayak again

A very Caribbean scene - sun, sand and sea.

And a pelican

Most of the dive sites on Tobago are on the North East of the island, and we're on the South but we decided to check one out.  Well worth it, as we saw a Batfish - the strangest looking fish.

We had planned to do another dive, but we realised that our rudder hydraulics were still leaking so there was no option but to head back to Chaguaramas to have the boat lifted again.  Despite the islands being the same nation, visitors have to clear customs and immigration to move between them, and that meant a half hour trip to the town of Scarborough to complete the necessary paperwork.  The office is allegedly open till 4pm on weekdays - most things run late here, but not the end of the working day!  3.45 pm and not a soul in sight.  We had to go back the next day, which meant it was a rush to get back to Chaguaramas for our hoist time.  We arrived at 0700, checked in and by 1000 we were in the hoist, Ian exchanged the hydraulic ram for the spare we had finally managed to get hold of and we were back in the water by 1300.

After a good night's sleep, we set off overnight again for Tobago - this time in the company of Russ and Anne on Enterprise and Simon and Jenny from Fenicia who will also be doing the Nereids Rally to French Guyana with us.

Back in Tobago we went through the check in routine then headed 15 miles along the coast to Englishman's bay, reputed to be one of the most beautiful bays in the Caribbean and highly recommended by Steve and Lynne of Aztec Dream who'd been there while we were sorting our rudder out.  

It certainly did not disappoint!  The one other yacht in the bay is Merlin, with Damien and Lucille who are also doing the rally.

We spent two nights is the bay, and enjoyed some of best snorkelling we have found so far - there were literally millions of fish!

The shoals of fish were so dense you felt your way would be barred by them, but they just swarm round you and reform into swirling ribbons and balls of silver and continue on their way.

Apart from the silver fish, we saw many of the other Caribbean reef fish, including a Southern Stingray

Southern Stingray - beautiful to watch it gliding along underwater.

Much as we'd have liked to stay longer in Englishman's bay we needed to head back to Store Bay in order to meet the other Rally participants, do some provisioning and of course clear out of Customs and Immigration before heading down to South America with Nereids Rally.  On our return we certainly plan to see some more of Tobago as we have not done it justice on this trip.

So - our plan ... Guyana and the Essquibo river, then on to French Guyana and the Moroni River.  Apart from the Guadiana river in Portugal we have spent our time on the sea so this will be a whole new adventure for us.

One final view of Store Bay.

A waterspout - not seen one of these before, and certainly hope not to get a closer look at one!

We expect to leave Tobago in the next day or so, depending on the weather, and as its into the wind and prevailing current it could take at least 5 days to reach Guyana.