Take a Trip to Tobago
Seaside almond trees line the beachfront at Tobago’s Mount Irvine Bay. The waters are placid here, unlike Store Bay to the west where the swell can kick up from June to November. Ashore, Surfer’s Bar & Restaurant serves up fresh local fish, cold beer and live entertainment on the weekends. Fishermen sell their catch at stalls along the road, where cabs, easily distinguished from private cars by the “H” for “hire” on their license plates, pass frequently. It’s just a 10-minute drive to Crown Point where you’ll find grocery stores, a gas station, laundromat, Internet café and more. We didn’t discover this perfect anchorage on our own. No, it was thanks to a little local knowledge from Scott Clarke, who keeps his own day sail catamarans, Island Girl and Natural Mystic, here. Idyllic anchorages and friendly folks are two reasons why it’s well worth your while to beat 22 miles to windward from Trinidad and visit Tobago.
The Awaraks and Caribs first inhabited this 26-mile-long by 7-mile-wide island. Columbus sighted it in 1498 before King James I of England claimed Tobago for his own in 1608. The first capital of the island was at Plymouth, located on the northwest shore. You can tour the remnants of Fort St. James and from this point look back and see what an ideal harbor exists. The British, and host of European nationalities that caused Tobago’s flag to change some 31 times in the course of two centuries, used this harbor as a main port for exportation of sugar and cocoa. Numerous plantations dotted the island during the 1700s and 1800s.
Today, government officials and private businessmen alike are eyeing Plymouth’s harbor, as well as oceanfront land near the Tobago Hilton and land near the Bon Accord Lagoon adjacent to Store Bay, for marina development. But so far, as Kamau Akili, Tobago’s vice president of environment says, no certificate of environmental clearance has yet been filed for any marina development.
The best anchorages for overnighting run along Tobago’s north shore and border the Caribbean Sea. Starting from the west, Store Bay is fairly placid from December to May. Angostura’s Sail Week is based out of this bay in May, and the Trinidad & Tobago Powerboat Association’s Carib Great Race in July ends here after making its start in Trinidad. Pigeon Point, about a mile to the east, is a picturesque anchorage with facilities such as a dock, toilets, showers and restaurant.
Up the coast, Plymouth, Castara Bay and Parlatuvier are quaint anchorages. The beauty of Tobago is that you’ll find all the creature comforts you need – grocery stores for canned goods, open air fruit and vegetable stands, gas stations, internet access, variety stores, handicraft kiosks and more, but you won’t find gaudy souvenir stores and vendors insistently hawking such items. You shop where the locals shop for all the everyday items of life.
Charlotteville, like the main port in Tobago’s capitol of Scarborough, houses a Customs and Immigration office. There are no fees for clearing in when entering or leaving Tobago if you’re staying for three months or less and check in during normal working hours: Monday through Friday from 8 am to 12 noon and 1 pm to 4 pm. However, there are overtime fees and there is a navigation fee of US$8 per month charged while you’re in Tobago waters. The Boater’s Directory, available from Boater’s Enterprise (www.boatersenterprise.com) provides information on clearance procedures as well as pet quarantine facts, maps, charts, radio communications, tide tables and more for both Trinidad and Tobago.
Charlotteville is the home base for the Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament (TIGFT), a Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship Qualifying Event, which takes place in March.
“ Tobago’s offshore season runs from October to June. During this time, anglers can catch Tuna, Wahoo, Dolphin, Sailfish, Swordfish, White Marlin and Blue Marlin. The Trinidad and Tobago record Blue Marlin catch is 649 pounds caught back in 2001,” says Gerald “Frothy” de Silva, president of the TIGFT, who runs three sports fishing charter boats, a 31-foot Bertram, 41-foot Custom Sports fisherman and 18-foot pirogue, all called Hard Play.
Tobago’s far eastern town of Speyside, with the bird sanctuary island of Little Tobago dotting its harbor, and the southern Atlantic coast shores, are beautiful, but far too rough for anchoring.
No trip to Tobago is complete without landlubbing it a bit. Guides, such as famed naturalist David Rooks and Tobago’s own Darlington Chance, took us on really informative hikes within the Tobago Forest Reserve. Dating to 1776, this is the oldest protected rainforest in the Western Hemisphere. Another ‘can’t miss’ attraction is the Argyle Waterfall. Even old salt seafarers will love navigating through the forest for a good splash in these awesome 175-foot-tall falls.
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