Wednesday 20 Jan 2016
Tobago - London - Bristol
We started boarding the aircraft shortly before six and the at that stage it was still being refuelled. There were probably only about 60 passengers on this flight. The flight from Tobago to St Lucia only took 40 minutes and we quickly taxied in to the terminal. We had to stay on the aircraft whilst it was re-catered and a new crew joined the flight. After that, the new passengers were boarded which about filled the aircraft.
We sat around for quite a whilst before the Captain informed us that there were a few minor technical problems and that we would be leaving shortly. Although it would be a late departure, we would still arrive ahead of time in London. We eventually got airborne at around 2100 local. I quickly out my watch forward to reflect UK time.
Once airborne, dinner was served and everyone settled down. Initially, I just couldn't get comfortable, but after a quick walk to the toilets and back I read for 15 minutes and fell asleep. Lynn only managed to cat-nap, but the next thing I knew was the cabin lights on full and the cabin crew serving breakfast right next to me!
We made landfall in UK at Lands End and from my window seat, with skies clear, I had a wonderful view of the south coast from about Dawlish all the way to along to Brighton. Chesil Bank and Portland Bill were easily spotted whilst Lulworth Cove, Kimmeridge, Chapmans Pool and Swanage passespd below us, I could even see Shell Bay and Sandbanks. We must have flown across the bay at
Bournemouth as the next thing I saw was the Needles on the Isle of Wight. As you can probably tell,
I like watching the scenery from above!
Back at Gatwick, the temperature on landing was apparently -6C. A bit of a shock after leaving Tobago at 27C! Immigration, as usual, was a bit slow, but at least the automatic passport readers were working. By the time we got to the baggage carousel, our bags were just arriving and we were quickly through customs. I'd phoned the 'meet-and-greet' company while we were collecting our bags and by the time we exited the South Terminal, our car was just being driven up! Great service, highly recommended and only a few pounds more expensive than the long-term car parking charge.
We headed up the M23 to the M25 and left that for the M3. Due me not taking the tight turn off for Bracknell, we went a little further south than I intended! Back on the route suggested by our sat nav we drove via Bracknell to the M4. By now coffee was on my agenda, so we made a brief stop at the services at Reading before arriving at Bristol around 1230.
Overall, we've enjoyed our holiday in the southern Caribbean but probably wouldn't go back to Tobago. Not because there was anything wrong with the island, but because there are too many other places to go!
The end of another holiday blog!
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
Time to move on
Tuesday 19 Jan 2016
Tobago - Castara to London Gatwick
Today, we have to return to UK. We've enjoyed our time here, but are ready to return. We aren't looking forward to the cold weather though. Here, the temperature hasn't changed much day or night around 25-28C.
We had a slow start as we have arranged to leave the apartment after lunch. We did quite a lot of packing first thing and then headed for Little Bay for the last time. The water was even calmer today and the visibility underwater improved,must not fantastic. We both had a swim and after drying off, headed up the steep hill one last time.
Lunch consisted of all the food we had left in the fridge in the form of salad. We still left some milk and a couple of bottles of beer!
At 1430, we ferried the bags back down the footpath, swept the apartment out and said farewell to our hosts. The main road back diwn to Scarborough seemed especially busy, but we made it without incident. After refuelling the car, we drove to the car rental office, where after a cursory external check, they drove us back to the airport terminal. Fingers crossed, the minor scrape on the underside of the bumper went unnoticed amongst the other scratches and scrapes.
Check in couldn't have been simpler and we quickly made it to security. Apart from a minor issue of water bottles in someone's rucksack, all went smoothly. The departure lounge here is tiny and eventually the bar opened, so we had a last Stag beer each. We also had to get rid of some TT dollars in duty free.
Our flight is due to leave at 1815, but the cabin staff have only just got on the aircraft now at 1735. Will we leave on time, who knows! We will fly to St Lucia to collect more passengers before heading back to Gatwick where we are due to land at 0845 tomorrow morning.
Tobago - Castara to London Gatwick
Today, we have to return to UK. We've enjoyed our time here, but are ready to return. We aren't looking forward to the cold weather though. Here, the temperature hasn't changed much day or night around 25-28C.
We had a slow start as we have arranged to leave the apartment after lunch. We did quite a lot of packing first thing and then headed for Little Bay for the last time. The water was even calmer today and the visibility underwater improved,must not fantastic. We both had a swim and after drying off, headed up the steep hill one last time.
Lunch consisted of all the food we had left in the fridge in the form of salad. We still left some milk and a couple of bottles of beer!
At 1430, we ferried the bags back down the footpath, swept the apartment out and said farewell to our hosts. The main road back diwn to Scarborough seemed especially busy, but we made it without incident. After refuelling the car, we drove to the car rental office, where after a cursory external check, they drove us back to the airport terminal. Fingers crossed, the minor scrape on the underside of the bumper went unnoticed amongst the other scratches and scrapes.
Check in couldn't have been simpler and we quickly made it to security. Apart from a minor issue of water bottles in someone's rucksack, all went smoothly. The departure lounge here is tiny and eventually the bar opened, so we had a last Stag beer each. We also had to get rid of some TT dollars in duty free.
Our flight is due to leave at 1815, but the cabin staff have only just got on the aircraft now at 1735. Will we leave on time, who knows! We will fly to St Lucia to collect more passengers before heading back to Gatwick where we are due to land at 0845 tomorrow morning.
Birds, Beach and Rum
Monday 18 Jan 2016
Tobago - Castara
Our last full day in Tobago started slowly, after all, we are on holiday! Having sorted ourselves out, we got in the car and stopped briefly at the gift shop in the hope they might have some stamps. They didn't, but we found out the nearest Post Office was at Mason Hall in the middle of the island, so we set off there.
We found the Post Office but there was nowhere to park ages the road was narrow. As tried to reverse to turn one of the rear wheels dropped into a pothole and I rolled back into a concrete barrier. After a bit of effort, I was able to pull forward to a horrible scraping noise. On examination, the rear bumper has a small scrape mark on it. Tomorrow, I shall be finding a muddy puddle or two to drive through!
We did get some stamps though!
After this escapade, we headed on down to Arnos Grove to visit the Arnos Vale Adventure Park and Farm. This proved to be a house on a hill surrounded by garden. The owners feed the birds here and although we didn't see any birds we hadn't already seen, it was cool and we were again surrounded by hummingbirds.
From here, we headed back to Castara as we fancied a swim. The sea, though still a little bumpy, was far calmer today. We both got in the water for a swim, but snorkelling was still not really possible. It is at least a good way to cool down. Lynn managed to climb up the stairs to take the short cut back to the apartment.
At around six, we headed back to Castara Retreats for dinner, cocktails first of course. I can report that passion fruit Mojito was really good. Once again the food was good, Lynn had the kofka as a starter whikst I had gazpacho. For mains, Lynn had grilled Mahe Mahe whilst I had fish cakes. A great location with good food. I finished the evening with a coffee and a fine rum, Angostura 1823. It was very smooth and finished off the meal really well.
The only bad thing was the Internet was not working, so I'm sitting in the departure lounge at the airport writing this!
Tobago - Castara
Our last full day in Tobago started slowly, after all, we are on holiday! Having sorted ourselves out, we got in the car and stopped briefly at the gift shop in the hope they might have some stamps. They didn't, but we found out the nearest Post Office was at Mason Hall in the middle of the island, so we set off there.
We found the Post Office but there was nowhere to park ages the road was narrow. As tried to reverse to turn one of the rear wheels dropped into a pothole and I rolled back into a concrete barrier. After a bit of effort, I was able to pull forward to a horrible scraping noise. On examination, the rear bumper has a small scrape mark on it. Tomorrow, I shall be finding a muddy puddle or two to drive through!
We did get some stamps though!
After this escapade, we headed on down to Arnos Grove to visit the Arnos Vale Adventure Park and Farm. This proved to be a house on a hill surrounded by garden. The owners feed the birds here and although we didn't see any birds we hadn't already seen, it was cool and we were again surrounded by hummingbirds.
From here, we headed back to Castara as we fancied a swim. The sea, though still a little bumpy, was far calmer today. We both got in the water for a swim, but snorkelling was still not really possible. It is at least a good way to cool down. Lynn managed to climb up the stairs to take the short cut back to the apartment.
At around six, we headed back to Castara Retreats for dinner, cocktails first of course. I can report that passion fruit Mojito was really good. Once again the food was good, Lynn had the kofka as a starter whikst I had gazpacho. For mains, Lynn had grilled Mahe Mahe whilst I had fish cakes. A great location with good food. I finished the evening with a coffee and a fine rum, Angostura 1823. It was very smooth and finished off the meal really well.
The only bad thing was the Internet was not working, so I'm sitting in the departure lounge at the airport writing this!
Sunday, 17 January 2016
Breakfast, cash-flow and Scarborough - Twice!
Sunday 17 Jan 2016
Tobago - Castara
Well, I got up this morning, made a cup of tea, and sat on the balcony eating a banana and anticipating a slow start to Sunday when I was reminded that I'd apparently agreed to go out for breakfast! Cue quick shower and get dressed and hurriedly collect what we'd need for the day! Swimming trunks and towel. Check. Beach shoes. Check. Camera. Check, Suntan cream and insect repellent. Check. Cash, not much!
Down at Chellans, we found a table on their small, open-air dining area and sat down. The smells coming from the kitchen were mouth-watering. A cup of coffee arrived pretty quickly and a fruit juice for Lynn and not long afterwards, our order was taken. The menu was simple, coconut bake or toast with two side orders including scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese. We both chose scrambled eggs and bacon.
By the time our breakfast arrived, two musicians had turned up with acoustic guitars and we're playing in the background, amazingly not reggae! Our two slices of toast came with a pile of bacon, American style, scrambled eggs, tomato, cucumber and a slice of watermelon. Butter and pineapple marmalade arrived too. How good was that? Very, is the simple answer and the bill $100 TT for the two of us, just over £10.
As alluded to earlier, we'd emptied our purses, pockets and piggy bank and realised we could use some more cash. Very few local businesses accept credit/debit cards. With that in mind and having already found the ATM in the village wouldn't give us anything, we headed for Scarborough, about 25km away on the southern, windward coast. As the speed limit is 50kph and the roads are narrow, windy and hilly it is about 30-40 minutes away.
Once at the one bank we know takes our card I was rather surprised to find it wouldn't give us cash either. Whilst pondering this dilemma in the car park, Lynn suddenly realised it was because we hadn't actually moved money onto our travel card - duh!
Ho-hum, back in the car and drive to Castara so we could get to a computer and load the card. It's an interesting drive at least! Fortunately, the Internet was working and we did our online banking and had a drink of water, then it was back to Scarborough for the second time in a day. We can say we know the road quite well now. The owners of our apartment told us the bank that own the ATM in the village has stopped accepting foreign cards.
After returning to Castara, we had a lazy hour before we headed down to Little Bay for a swim. The sea is slowly calming down and after I bravely flung myself into the ocean to check the wave action and entry and exit points free of stones washed up by the storm, Lynn finally made it for a swim. I say swim, but was more like a bounce around in the waves. It was rather refreshing.
We've spoken to our new neighbour's today. They are both Polish but live in Austin, Texas! Luckily, they aren't freaked out by bats as we have flocks of them on the feeder as usual.
Tobago - Castara
Well, I got up this morning, made a cup of tea, and sat on the balcony eating a banana and anticipating a slow start to Sunday when I was reminded that I'd apparently agreed to go out for breakfast! Cue quick shower and get dressed and hurriedly collect what we'd need for the day! Swimming trunks and towel. Check. Beach shoes. Check. Camera. Check, Suntan cream and insect repellent. Check. Cash, not much!
Down at Chellans, we found a table on their small, open-air dining area and sat down. The smells coming from the kitchen were mouth-watering. A cup of coffee arrived pretty quickly and a fruit juice for Lynn and not long afterwards, our order was taken. The menu was simple, coconut bake or toast with two side orders including scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese. We both chose scrambled eggs and bacon.
By the time our breakfast arrived, two musicians had turned up with acoustic guitars and we're playing in the background, amazingly not reggae! Our two slices of toast came with a pile of bacon, American style, scrambled eggs, tomato, cucumber and a slice of watermelon. Butter and pineapple marmalade arrived too. How good was that? Very, is the simple answer and the bill $100 TT for the two of us, just over £10.
As alluded to earlier, we'd emptied our purses, pockets and piggy bank and realised we could use some more cash. Very few local businesses accept credit/debit cards. With that in mind and having already found the ATM in the village wouldn't give us anything, we headed for Scarborough, about 25km away on the southern, windward coast. As the speed limit is 50kph and the roads are narrow, windy and hilly it is about 30-40 minutes away.
Once at the one bank we know takes our card I was rather surprised to find it wouldn't give us cash either. Whilst pondering this dilemma in the car park, Lynn suddenly realised it was because we hadn't actually moved money onto our travel card - duh!
Ho-hum, back in the car and drive to Castara so we could get to a computer and load the card. It's an interesting drive at least! Fortunately, the Internet was working and we did our online banking and had a drink of water, then it was back to Scarborough for the second time in a day. We can say we know the road quite well now. The owners of our apartment told us the bank that own the ATM in the village has stopped accepting foreign cards.
After returning to Castara, we had a lazy hour before we headed down to Little Bay for a swim. The sea is slowly calming down and after I bravely flung myself into the ocean to check the wave action and entry and exit points free of stones washed up by the storm, Lynn finally made it for a swim. I say swim, but was more like a bounce around in the waves. It was rather refreshing.
We've spoken to our new neighbour's today. They are both Polish but live in Austin, Texas! Luckily, they aren't freaked out by bats as we have flocks of them on the feeder as usual.
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Diving diving and Hummingbirds
Saturday 16 Nan 2016
Tobago - Castara
I didn't say in the blog yesterday, but the owners of the apartments arrived from UK late yesterday evening. Today, the two Danish girls leave and new guest will arrive sometime after midnight! It's all change here.
We didn't rush up, but we're on the road by 0930. We drove the now familiar route over the mountain to Roxborough and Speyside directly to the Blue Waters Inn. Lynn settled down in the lounge whilst I headed for the dive centre.
Today there were 4 divers including me. Niko, the Finn, Ian, a Brit and an American I never did learn the name of! The boat took us out to the western end of Little Tobago Island. We jumped into about 4 metres of water and onto a rocky bottom before heading down the slope to 18 metres. There was lots of coral and tropical fish and the visibility was good. It was a drift dive, it started of gently, but rapidly picked up pace, there was no need to fin. We saw several large eels, both Conger and Moray, rare, for Tobago, Sand Eels, nudibranchs and a large Lionfish. Like the other day a large turtle appeared at the end of the dive. For me, it was another 55 minutes of astonishing pleasure. Thanks Lynn for the Christmas present.
Once back at the dive centre with all the kit washed, I joined Lynn for lunch in the hotel. I had calamari! After we'd had lunch we managed to find the Hummingbird Gallery. Nothing to do with art, it is a lady who feeds hummingbirds. If I say there were hundreds of hummingbirds in her garden it would be no exaggeration. Not only that, they were often less than a metre away. There are six species of hummingbird present in Tobago, five out of the six were to be seen here. We spent some time taking photos and talking to the owner who is very knowledgable about the birds.
After that, it was the low-level route back to Castara. We attempted a swim, but the swell is still significant. We managed to get in enough to cool down. Back at the apartment we had a longer chat with one if the owners before settling down to relax ip here whilst listening to fairly loud music floating up, no that's too tame a description, pumping up from the village! We filled the bat feeders earlier, do we are inundated with bats fluttering around the balcony.
Tobago - Castara
I didn't say in the blog yesterday, but the owners of the apartments arrived from UK late yesterday evening. Today, the two Danish girls leave and new guest will arrive sometime after midnight! It's all change here.
We didn't rush up, but we're on the road by 0930. We drove the now familiar route over the mountain to Roxborough and Speyside directly to the Blue Waters Inn. Lynn settled down in the lounge whilst I headed for the dive centre.
Today there were 4 divers including me. Niko, the Finn, Ian, a Brit and an American I never did learn the name of! The boat took us out to the western end of Little Tobago Island. We jumped into about 4 metres of water and onto a rocky bottom before heading down the slope to 18 metres. There was lots of coral and tropical fish and the visibility was good. It was a drift dive, it started of gently, but rapidly picked up pace, there was no need to fin. We saw several large eels, both Conger and Moray, rare, for Tobago, Sand Eels, nudibranchs and a large Lionfish. Like the other day a large turtle appeared at the end of the dive. For me, it was another 55 minutes of astonishing pleasure. Thanks Lynn for the Christmas present.
Once back at the dive centre with all the kit washed, I joined Lynn for lunch in the hotel. I had calamari! After we'd had lunch we managed to find the Hummingbird Gallery. Nothing to do with art, it is a lady who feeds hummingbirds. If I say there were hundreds of hummingbirds in her garden it would be no exaggeration. Not only that, they were often less than a metre away. There are six species of hummingbird present in Tobago, five out of the six were to be seen here. We spent some time taking photos and talking to the owner who is very knowledgable about the birds.
After that, it was the low-level route back to Castara. We attempted a swim, but the swell is still significant. We managed to get in enough to cool down. Back at the apartment we had a longer chat with one if the owners before settling down to relax ip here whilst listening to fairly loud music floating up, no that's too tame a description, pumping up from the village! We filled the bat feeders earlier, do we are inundated with bats fluttering around the balcony.
Exploring the western most reaches
Friday 15 Jan 2016
Tobago - Castara
We woke up to sunny skies and a feeling that the sea had calmed down somewhat. We had breakfast and headed out to explore fairly early.
Just for a change, we headed west along the northern coast initially back to Moriah. From here, we headed towards Arnos Vale where we'd heard there was a bird sanctuary. We drove around some very small roads getting nowhere, quite literally sometimes when we found roads fizzling out into unsurfaced tracks. We stopped and asked people who said to just follow the road to Plymouth!
After a while, we checked again and found that it was actually beyond Plymouth, almost back in Buccoo. Finally, we found it and drove up the rough track to a small car park where we found a family of Americans taking family photos. They seemed to have rather a lot of children. We were quite pleased when they left as they were rather noisy!
The sanctuary is an abandoned estate bequeathed by its ex owner to be a refuge for wildlife. Apart from a 'visit or centre' where the birds are fed daily at 0800 and 1600, everything has largely been left for nature to take over. We wandered along a couple of semi-overgrown trails. We were the only people there. We saw several birds, but we were a bit late in the day.
We decided to have a look at the western most part if the island and followed the road back through Buccoo and Canaan to the airport. We turned off near the airport for Crown point and Pigeon point. The first is full of big hotels and commerce and the second was blocked by another development. I'm glad we aren't staying here.
Our remaining missions were to get a snack lunch, buy some fruit and go to the supermarket. The first of these led us from fast to fine dining. We stopped to fill the car up ( 35p per litre) and rather sadly noticed a drive through Wendy's. I'm ashamed to say we did the unthinkable and ended up with a take out meal sitting on the low cliff overlooking Buccoo Bay. I suppose it can be excused as we knew we were going to eat in more style later.
We visited the same fruit and veg stall that we'd been to previously and stocked and the to the supermarket before heading back to Castara where we relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon.
At six, we drove to the far side of Castara and climbed up the steep drive to Castara Retreats, a rather nice set of apartments with a restaurant. We were just in time to see the sun setting over the sea. The restaurant is built high on the side of the bay the view superb. It called for cocktails! A lime refresher for Lynn and a caipirinha for me. We'd booked a table overlooking the bay and chose starters and mains from the menu, for me, kofka to start and jerk chicken whilst Lynn had an antipasto salad to start and jerk fish. The kitchen adjoins the dining area and we were asked by the chef how spicy we wanted our dinner. Wow, it was really good, without doubt the best food we'd eaten on island. They had a small, mainly Italian, wine list, but we had a beer each. We also succumbed to the desert menu, chocolate torte for Lynn and home-made chocolate ice cream for me. We turned down the fine rum to finish it off. Highly recommended, a little prices, but well worth it. We recommended it to ourselves and booked to go back on Monday!
Tobago - Castara
We woke up to sunny skies and a feeling that the sea had calmed down somewhat. We had breakfast and headed out to explore fairly early.
Just for a change, we headed west along the northern coast initially back to Moriah. From here, we headed towards Arnos Vale where we'd heard there was a bird sanctuary. We drove around some very small roads getting nowhere, quite literally sometimes when we found roads fizzling out into unsurfaced tracks. We stopped and asked people who said to just follow the road to Plymouth!
After a while, we checked again and found that it was actually beyond Plymouth, almost back in Buccoo. Finally, we found it and drove up the rough track to a small car park where we found a family of Americans taking family photos. They seemed to have rather a lot of children. We were quite pleased when they left as they were rather noisy!
The sanctuary is an abandoned estate bequeathed by its ex owner to be a refuge for wildlife. Apart from a 'visit or centre' where the birds are fed daily at 0800 and 1600, everything has largely been left for nature to take over. We wandered along a couple of semi-overgrown trails. We were the only people there. We saw several birds, but we were a bit late in the day.
We decided to have a look at the western most part if the island and followed the road back through Buccoo and Canaan to the airport. We turned off near the airport for Crown point and Pigeon point. The first is full of big hotels and commerce and the second was blocked by another development. I'm glad we aren't staying here.
Our remaining missions were to get a snack lunch, buy some fruit and go to the supermarket. The first of these led us from fast to fine dining. We stopped to fill the car up ( 35p per litre) and rather sadly noticed a drive through Wendy's. I'm ashamed to say we did the unthinkable and ended up with a take out meal sitting on the low cliff overlooking Buccoo Bay. I suppose it can be excused as we knew we were going to eat in more style later.
We visited the same fruit and veg stall that we'd been to previously and stocked and the to the supermarket before heading back to Castara where we relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon.
At six, we drove to the far side of Castara and climbed up the steep drive to Castara Retreats, a rather nice set of apartments with a restaurant. We were just in time to see the sun setting over the sea. The restaurant is built high on the side of the bay the view superb. It called for cocktails! A lime refresher for Lynn and a caipirinha for me. We'd booked a table overlooking the bay and chose starters and mains from the menu, for me, kofka to start and jerk chicken whilst Lynn had an antipasto salad to start and jerk fish. The kitchen adjoins the dining area and we were asked by the chef how spicy we wanted our dinner. Wow, it was really good, without doubt the best food we'd eaten on island. They had a small, mainly Italian, wine list, but we had a beer each. We also succumbed to the desert menu, chocolate torte for Lynn and home-made chocolate ice cream for me. We turned down the fine rum to finish it off. Highly recommended, a little prices, but well worth it. We recommended it to ourselves and booked to go back on Monday!
Thursday, 14 January 2016
Diving
Thursday 14 Jan 2016
Tobago - Castara
Up early in the hope the Internet might let me update the blog! I opened the door and found it was grey and drizzly. No matter, it is still 25C, so I make a cup of tea and set to work. Get on Internet, write blog, save blog, no chance, publish blog, no chance! Oh well at least the view is good!
I can hear the waves still crashing on the beach, there will be no swimming or snorkelling on this side of the island today.
After breakfast we head back on the now familiar road over the mountains to Roxborough. Turning east we continue on to Speyside and the Blue Waters Inn. After getting through security, we headed down the very rutted drive and park in the hotel car park. We wandered in to the hotel and found a place in the lounge for Lynn to sit and get a drink and then I headed for the dive centre.
I'd already filled in most of the paperwork but had a couple of questions. Those resolved we came to the thorny issue that the last time I'd dived was in the Seychelles 6 years ago! Where did those years go? I suppose we've been to places that I either couldn't dive (Galapagos) or didn't want to or couldn't dive (Alaska, USA road trip). The dive master told me I needed a skills check before we went diving. I happily agreed, and went for a dive in the hotel swimming pool. I had to demonstrate DV and mask clearing and simulate out of air, buddy breathing and a controlled lift. I guess it is like riding a bike, I managed it tombs satisfaction.
Off we went in the dive boat to find a relatively sheltered dive site. The water was certainly rougher today. Under some cliffs and close to waves breaking onto rocks, we jumped off the stern of the boat and dropped into 20+ metres of water. The visibility wasn't fantastic, but was in excess of 15 metres. The dive was a drift dive along the coastal wall. The fish life was everything you wish of tropical diving and I saw too many species to mention. The coral was good too, the fan and gorgon were particularly spectacular. Of note was a huge Moray Eel, many huge lobsters, baby squid and right on cue at the end of the dive a larger turtle.
After almost an hour at 18 metres, we came up and decompressed at 3 metres before clambering back on the boat and heading back to the hotel. I can say that I rediscovered my love of diving again today. Why ever did I stop? Look out wish list!
Back on shore, I joined Lynn for lunch in the hotel. We were amazed that the prices were almost the same as those outside the hotel. Service was good too. In fact things were so good, I booked to five again on Saturday.
Following this, we headed back to Castara. We had to go the coastal route as the route over the mountains is too high following the dive. Diving and then climbing to altitude are a recipe for decompression sickness aka 'the bends'. The coastal road still climbs, but nowhere near 650 metres of the mountain road.
Back in Castara, we relaxed and had another attempt to update the blog - failed. I popped out and booked to have dinner at Castara a Retreat an upmarket dining spot owned by Brits and featured in the Telegraph Travel pages, doancha know! Look it up on line, it looks really good!
We strolled back into the village and visited D'Almond again. It is a low key place but the food is good. Tonight we both had the coconut shrimps in garlic sauce with wedges! It was delicious and has the added effect that any self respecting Vampire will leave us in peace.
Footnote: Suddenly at 2140, the Internet suddenly burst into life andcenabked me to not only write this, but hopefully publish it too.
Tobago - Castara
Up early in the hope the Internet might let me update the blog! I opened the door and found it was grey and drizzly. No matter, it is still 25C, so I make a cup of tea and set to work. Get on Internet, write blog, save blog, no chance, publish blog, no chance! Oh well at least the view is good!
I can hear the waves still crashing on the beach, there will be no swimming or snorkelling on this side of the island today.
After breakfast we head back on the now familiar road over the mountains to Roxborough. Turning east we continue on to Speyside and the Blue Waters Inn. After getting through security, we headed down the very rutted drive and park in the hotel car park. We wandered in to the hotel and found a place in the lounge for Lynn to sit and get a drink and then I headed for the dive centre.
I'd already filled in most of the paperwork but had a couple of questions. Those resolved we came to the thorny issue that the last time I'd dived was in the Seychelles 6 years ago! Where did those years go? I suppose we've been to places that I either couldn't dive (Galapagos) or didn't want to or couldn't dive (Alaska, USA road trip). The dive master told me I needed a skills check before we went diving. I happily agreed, and went for a dive in the hotel swimming pool. I had to demonstrate DV and mask clearing and simulate out of air, buddy breathing and a controlled lift. I guess it is like riding a bike, I managed it tombs satisfaction.
Off we went in the dive boat to find a relatively sheltered dive site. The water was certainly rougher today. Under some cliffs and close to waves breaking onto rocks, we jumped off the stern of the boat and dropped into 20+ metres of water. The visibility wasn't fantastic, but was in excess of 15 metres. The dive was a drift dive along the coastal wall. The fish life was everything you wish of tropical diving and I saw too many species to mention. The coral was good too, the fan and gorgon were particularly spectacular. Of note was a huge Moray Eel, many huge lobsters, baby squid and right on cue at the end of the dive a larger turtle.
After almost an hour at 18 metres, we came up and decompressed at 3 metres before clambering back on the boat and heading back to the hotel. I can say that I rediscovered my love of diving again today. Why ever did I stop? Look out wish list!
Back on shore, I joined Lynn for lunch in the hotel. We were amazed that the prices were almost the same as those outside the hotel. Service was good too. In fact things were so good, I booked to five again on Saturday.
Following this, we headed back to Castara. We had to go the coastal route as the route over the mountains is too high following the dive. Diving and then climbing to altitude are a recipe for decompression sickness aka 'the bends'. The coastal road still climbs, but nowhere near 650 metres of the mountain road.
Back in Castara, we relaxed and had another attempt to update the blog - failed. I popped out and booked to have dinner at Castara a Retreat an upmarket dining spot owned by Brits and featured in the Telegraph Travel pages, doancha know! Look it up on line, it looks really good!
We strolled back into the village and visited D'Almond again. It is a low key place but the food is good. Tonight we both had the coconut shrimps in garlic sauce with wedges! It was delicious and has the added effect that any self respecting Vampire will leave us in peace.
Footnote: Suddenly at 2140, the Internet suddenly burst into life andcenabked me to not only write this, but hopefully publish it too.
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