Cruising Tobago

Created by webmaster. Last modified on 2002-08-19 00:50:49
Contributors: Anna & Clyff Huggett, s/y Koncerto
Countries: Trinidad & Tobago

We just loved the peace and quiet of this small island.

We sailed to Store Bay by hugging the northern coast of Trinidad as far as we could then tacked for Tobago. It is not an easy sail by any means. The wind is on the nose and the current can be many knots against you. However it was definitely worth it. Store Bay is ideal for getting to Scarborough to check in. Buses leave on the half-hour and return from Scarborough on the hour. Tickets must be purchased in advance as no money is accepted on the busses. 2TT each way. 1USD = 6+TT. Small stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables are on the roads in Crown Point (Store Bay). There are also a couple of small supermarkets. Store Bay is where the boats competing in the Angostura Yachting World Regatta anchor. We left before the bay filled with the competitors, as we did not want any possibility of a scratch on our "new" boat. We worked our way east along the western coast.

Plymouth was next up the western coast; it has a lovely long beach. It is on a bus route to Scarborough, has 2 mini supermarkets and a restaurant up the hill. On the beach is the Turtle Bay Hotel that also has a restaurant.

Castara was a rolly anchorage. It has several small supermarkets, a fruit and vegetable store that has a fridge and freezer just inside the door with packaged meats.

Englishman's Bay was rolly too but gorgeous. It has a "restaurant" with a very limited range of food and a stall selling handcrafted calabash on a lovely beach. We walked to Castara for food and the phone box, a reasonable hike with two hills. We found nice walks but the one that took the cake was the walk through the rain forest to Parlatuvieu Bay. It might only be the next bay but the walk went around the surrounding hillsides and took us longer than we thought. We gratefully accepted a ride back in an air-conditioned car driven by Jeff of Nautkol here for R&R with Dawn. What a lucky break to come out on the road just as they were driving by! We were so happy here we spent over 3 weeks in the bay.

Charlotteville has small supermarkets, two fruit and vegetable stalls (We liked the one on the water-front best.), restaurants, bars, liquor shops, a fish market, fish processing "shop" that packages fish for supermarkets and export. Try their delicious smoked fish. They will smoke fish for you for a few TT if you are lucky enough to catch any. It also has a post office, police station and library. We joined the library, 10TT for 3 months, as well as borrowing books I could use the Internet for websites, but emails were frowned upon! We recommend Sharon and Pheb's for a delicious dinner. Six cruisers had dinners, desserts and 11 drinks between us better and cheaper than a dinner for two in Bequia. We were encouraged to pick mangos and so we did. YUM!!

We plan to return to Tobago!