Eastern Tobago

Tuesday 12 Jan 2016

Tobago - Castara

(Due to technical problems I couldn't write this on Tuesday)

We were awake again quite early, we could hear the waves crashing on the beach and knew we wouldn't get to swim again on this side of the island. As a result we decided to explore the eastern end of Tobago.

We drove from here, past Englishmans Bay, pausing long enough to look at the waves sweeping up the sand and on to Parlatuvier. From here, for us, it was all new territory. From Parlatuvier, the road climbs up over another headland and into the community of Bloody Bay. Here the road splits, one road follows the northern coast whilst the other climbs over the central spine of mountains. We took the mountain road.

The road quickly gains altitude and we briefly stopped not far up the hill and got the binoculars out. There were a few birds flitting around but the best was a Rufous-tailed Jacamar. It is very brightly coloured and is like a bee-eater, if you've ever seen one! From here we carried on up to the summit where there is a visitors centre serving the Wildlife Refuge. It is the worlds oldest sanctuary set up in the 18th century. When we arrived, the visitors centre was deserted except for one member of staff, very peaceful it was too. Then small tour parties started to arrive. A party of Italians drove us nuts! They were very noisy and clearly most of them had no interest in being there. We did see a couple of Lapwings though.

We continues down the southern side of the mountains through thick rain forest. We caught odd
glimpses of birds, mainly Kingbirds and Spectacled Thrushes. We stopped a couple of times, but there a few places to pull off the road.

Eventually, we arrived at the road junction in Roxborough where joined the main road running along the southern side of Tobago. The sea was noticably calmer on this side of the island. From here the road climbed over a headland and then back down to Delaford, a small fishing community. As we left The village, we briefly looked at the beach at Kings Bay. It was beautiful, with changing facilities and lifeguards on duty. The only thing missing were people on the beach, it was deserted!

After another large headland we came over the brow of a hill and looked down into Spayside, a huge bay with several large islands in it. The hill is really steep all the way down to the coast here. As it was lunchtime, we stopped for lunch at Jemma's. This beachside restaurant is built around a huge tree and has clearly developed from a small building into a number of deck built around the tree. It was already fairly busy, but we got a table overlooking the bay. It also looked down on a tough bench
where a man was preparing a fresh tuna for the kitchen. The local dogs were happy as they got the scraps!

Our fish and fries was just the right size and fish couldn't have been fresher. They don't serve alcohol, but the fruit juice was very refreshing.  After lunch, we drove to the Blue Waters Hotel to check out the dive centre. The hotel is built in an old plantation estate and to get to it you drive through the old stone buildings and past a huge waterwheel. Having fixed up some diving for Thursday we continued our exploration.

The next village beyond Speyside is Charlotteville. This the most easterly village on Tobago. It is certainly a busy place with lots of small shops, a small hospital and a thriving fishing community. We didn't stop long but started heading west down the northern coast.

The road, which had never been in very good condition, got worse, narrower, big pot holes and some
subsidence too. Just outside Charlotteville, we drove through Cambletown before climbing up into the forest again. Hermitage was the next small village before we dropped down into Parlatuvier again. As we were almost back home we stopped at Paradise Point at the oddly named Glasgow Bar. The view from the roof bar down into the bay and looking down the coast is fabulous, the breeze was cooling and the beer ice-cold. From here, it didn't take long to return to Castara where we retired to our balcony again to watch the sunset.