No Problem Tobago
After 16 days on the Atlantic, we catch our first glimpse of the island of Tobago behind thick rain clouds at around 9.30 in the morning. The cool tropical rain shrouds the deep green landscape in a haze and there is an earthy smell of forest. The senses react sensitively to the first impressions of land, it is a welcome change from the sea air and the eternal blue and grey for the eyes of the last two weeks. A welcoming committee, consisting of a small school of dolphins, appears approx. 2 nautical miles before the entrance to Pirates Bay and accompanies us to the mooring buoy. Apart from the pouring rain, the arrival after the Atlantic crossing couldn't be much more cheesy. After finally mooring at the buoy, we treat ourselves to a champagne shower and our first beer in 16 days. We have arrived and it feels really, really good.
Our home for the next 9 days is Pirate's Bay and the small town of Charlotteville. Alongside the capital Scarborough, which is on the other side of the island, Charlotteville is the second largest ‘town’ on Tobago. The word ‘town’ is quite a big one, as it is more of a village built on a few hills in the middle of the rainforest. But that didn't come as a great surprise to us, as the entire island has just 60,000 inhabitants and, together with the much larger island of Trinidad, forms the state of Trinidad & Tobago. It looks really idyllic at first glance from our boat!
After a well-earned snack on board, we contact the immigration authorities via WhatsApp. We were particularly prepared for clearing in Tobago as we had read everywhere that it was extremely complicated, tedious and involved filling out many pages of documents. None of this turned out to be true - we quickly received a very friendly reply and were ordered to the Customs Office for 2 o'clock in the afternoon. So we get the dinghy ready and head ashore. The first steps over solid ground are very wobbly and we are still mentally shaking from the boat movements. Of course, we hadn't looked at exactly where we needed to go beforehand, so we set off on our own. It doesn't take long before we are approached by a local who wants to know where we are going. As we were so used to it in Mindelo, we don't react at first and carry on walking, after all we don't want to be sold anything. The same man asks us again where we want to go and we tell him that we want to go to the Customs Office. He then explains the way and wishes us a nice day - that's it, he doesn't want to sell us anything, he doesn't want to accompany us there for money, he just wants to help us. It was an incredibly nice first impression of the people, which became more and more solid over the course of our stay. Clearing in at customs is no problem, not least because the customs officer is extremely friendly and courteous. While clearing in, she shows us a few recommendations for excursions on the map and we chat with her for a while. As the immigration officer is not here today, we are called in again for the next day - we quickly realise that everything works smoothly here as long as you don't have any stress. In the end, we pay a few TTD (Trinidad-Tobago dollars) to enter the country, which we have previously withdrawn from the only ATM in town. On the way back towards the sea, we pass an idyllic football pitch with chickens and crabs running around. The surrounding houses all look very simple, but we look enviously at the gardens where ripe mangoes and all kinds of other tropical fruit hang from the trees. This also gives us the incentive to find something to eat. After 16 days of self-catering, we are looking forward to eating out. We find a small restaurant in the first row by the beach. We have fried chicken with chips and (very importantly - Peter and Stefan are now addicted) Caribbean hot sauce. We have to/are allowed to buy the matching drink ourselves in the nearby supermarket (it's called a supermarket but it's more of a mini-market). The food and especially the Carib beer tasted excellent and after a quick shop, we headed back to the boat. We have gathered plenty of impressions for the first day and we round off the day on the boat.
The next morning we meet Georg, Monika and Niko from the Yalka at the immigration office. They entered the bay just a few minutes after us and we had already chatted to them on the radio the day before we arrived. As we still have plenty of fish left over from our last catch (which is slowly being eaten), we invite the three of them round for dinner without further ado. We collect our passport stamps and go for a relaxed breakfast. There are doubles and pies - the closest thing to langos with chickpea sauce. Good and cheap, so just right for a quick breakfast. Otherwise, Vaquita is due for a thorough clean today. In addition to the usual level of dirt that occurs when three people live surrounded by salt water for 16 days on a boat with approx. 15 m² of living space, the underwater hull also needs some love. Barnacles have built up on the stern and need to be removed with a scraper. We combine this with our first snorkelling trip. Just behind our boat is a rock surrounded by a small coral reef. We see an incredible number of different colourful tropical fish. We were not used to such a variety from our previous sailing trips (mainly in the Mediterranean). In combination with the colourful corals and the warm water, it is simply wonderful. Even though the short trip is very nice, work is the main focus today. Once the worst of the mess has been cleared up, we head ashore again to do some last-minute shopping for dinner - we find a fresh pineapple that we want to serve with the fish today. To our delight, a small boutique has also opened where we can buy SIM cards. We quickly make friends with the owner Dana. After a long chat and a wine tasting (it's more like liqueur), we promise to visit her the next day at a Christmas market at the other end of the island. We don't quite know how to get there yet, but to be on the safe side we buy a bus ticket at the supermarket. Then it's back to the boat and we start cooking. Today we're having wahoo fillets with lime rice and Caribbean pineapple sauce. Our guests from the Yalka and we really enjoyed it - a win-win situation, they didn't have to cook anything and we were able to utilise our very large fish in a sensible way. As a thank you, Monika gives us some freshly baked bread from the bread maker - there's room for everything on a 15-metre-long boat. We have to get up early the next morning - after all, the bus leaves at 7am, or maybe 8am, or maybe 9am - nobody could tell us exactly.
So tomorrow we're at the bus stop at 7 a.m. on the dot, together with a few other brave souls. None of them know when the bus is coming either. It rains briefly and the locals say that it is very unlikely that the bus will arrive today. The bus driver apparently doesn't like rain and the only logical consequence is that the bus simply doesn't run on rainy days. The clocks clearly tick very differently here than in Europe. But we don't give up hope and this should pay off. The bus actually arrives shortly before half past eight. The journey takes us along narrow roads through the rainforest along the east coast of the island. This gives us a good overview of the island and gives us our first impression of the rainforest flora. At home, we only know some of the huge plants as houseplants - a completely different world, even compared to the rather dry islands of the Canaries and Cape Verde, which we have visited before. Once we arrive in Scarborough, we get our bearings, have a coffee and take a taxi to a nearby town where the market is held. For a paltry TTD 10 (€1.50) per person, we are taken to the venue, a café called ‘All the shore things’. There we are warmly welcomed by Dana and introduced to all the people at the market. We immediately earn the respect of the locals - they were very impressed that we had travelled here by bus. The people are extremely friendly and after a few conversations we are even invited to private parties. The market itself sells all kinds of art and bric-a-brac, including some really nice things that we take home as souvenirs. The café not only offers good food with a sea view (something we haven't had for a long time) but also a chocolatier's room where a very nice older couple show us how chocolate and pralines are made - bean to bar. Apart from the chocolate, the people/owners were once again the highlight. We chat to them for over an hour and have a great time. We are even given cocoa fruit as a gift. Unlike bitter African cocoa, Trinidad cocoa beans can also be eaten raw. You suck the pulp from the beans, which tastes a little like mango. Shortly before the market closes, we get some good news. Dana has organised a return journey for us, so we save ourselves the unreliable bus.
We meet Desiree, who after 5 minutes of getting to know us kindly gives us a lift for 1.5 hours to the other side of the island. She doesn't want to accept any petrol money as a thank you, so we give her a bottle of Spanish red wine. On the way home, she also tells us about a Christmas party that we attend later that evening. We are the only tourists there but the people are happy that we are taking part in village life. We are mentioned by all the speakers and musicians of the evening and even get a free food box for the next day after dinner. A really nice but also exhausting day and we are soon glad to fall into bed - after a nightcap, of course. The next day is finally a bit more chilled out and is organised as a ‘SPA day’ in the spirit of our Atlantic crossing. We go snorkelling and lounge around the ship. In the evening, part 2 of the Christmas party takes place, to which we were invited the day before. During the dinghy trip ashore, we meet Marga from the Gitana. She decides to come with us without further ado. We enjoy the food and music at the party before it ends at around 20:00. Now would be the right time to have a short evening and sleep in, but we've never done that before, so why start? Marga invites us on board the Gitana. Of course, we don't turn down such an invitation, especially when we are enticed with a 3 litre carton of Portuguese red wine in addition to a nice chat. We have a lovely evening with Marga and listen to her stories. The vet, who works for animal welfare with her expertise, tells us about her travels so far and her plan to circumnavigate the world by boat (she also has a travel blog: Capitana de la Gitana). By three o'clock in the morning, the wine and our energy have run out. The crew of the Vaquita has once again successfully defended its reputation of ‘not wanting to go home’.
Due to bedtime, we have another SPA day the next day (right, who would have guessed). But we still have a mission today. Tomorrow is Christmas and we haven't got anything for Christmas dinner yet. As the choice at the supermarket doesn't allow us to cook something worthy, there's only one answer: we'll have to go hunting ourselves! The fish harpoon therefore makes its debut on Tobago. Peter and Stefan set off on the hunt with the Air-Buddy (a floating air compressor that allows two people to breathe underwater down to a depth of 6 metres). This may come as a surprise to some readers, but they were successful! The haul: five lionfish and a yellowtail snapper. By catching the lionfish, we were actually doing the local ecosystem a favour. They are not native to the Caribbean, are considered invasive and spearfishermen are required to remove them. Unfortunately, they are not quite so easy to process, as the fish's spines are poisonous and there is little to our specimens. But with enough time and the right amount of caution, even that is possible. Christmas dinner is almost guaranteed, but a couple more fish would be ideal. At 17:00 there is one more item on the programme - a barbecue on the beach at Pirates Bay. Our friends from the Yalka have organised this with Son Son, a local, and Marga from the Gitana is also there. We have king fish with saffron rice and breadfruit, accompanied by rum punch (a good substitute for the punch standels at home, which we are unfortunately skipping this year). Long after dinner, we enjoy the evening/night atmosphere on the beach. At some point, Stefan takes out his guitar and we sing a few songs together. To top it all off, one of the locals joins us and drums along on a crate of beer - that's as good as it gets and that's another item ticked off the bucket list. All in all, a very nice pre-Christmas evening.
24 December starts with Christmas heat, sunshine and an unusual item on the programme. First of all, ashore at 8 a.m. for an excursion to Little Tobago, a small island under nature protection that can only be visited with a guide and is said to be a bird paradise. After all, even David Attenborough spent some time there every year to study the birds on the island, we learn later from our guide. First of all, we take a minibus to Speyside on the windward side of Tobago. From there, it's a 20-minute speedboat journey to Little Tobago. The crossing is above all fast - with 2 150 hp engines we are travelling unusually quickly. We are greeted by tropical forests on the island and on the short ascent the guide shows us fan palms, tropical fruit trees such as passion fruit and mangoes and all kinds of animals such as a hummingbird and the construction of a trapdoor spider. Once at the top, there is a small wooden hut where David Attenborough had the privilege of having undisturbed time to observe nature. Overnight stays on the island are not permitted without explicit authorisation from the Ministry of the Environment. We continue our walk through the dense forest under palm trees and all kinds of other exotic plants to a clearing overlooking the other side of the island. There we spend some time watching frigate birds hunting gannets. We have christened them pterosaurs because of their appearance and they reach a remarkable wingspan of up to 2.4 metres. Frigate birds avoid water when hunting, which is why they prey on other birds or feed on flying fish. We also see a pretty motmot. We then head to two Christmas snorkellers on the reef, where we watch various colourful fish go about their business, before finally returning to Charlotteville. There we have lunch with Marga from the Gitana and Nikola from the neighbouring boat, accompanied by ice-cold Carib beer.
In the afternoon, it's time to add more fish to the evening meal, so Peter goes underwater again with the airbuddy and harpoon. His aiming accuracy or beginner's luck has deserted him, as he only manages to harpoon one lionfish today. At least it's relatively big, unlike the others from the previous day. Meanwhile, Ines and Stefan get the boat in shape for the Christmas dinner and finally Marga comes over to us on the dhingy. Together we cook ceviche from the lionfish as a starter and yellowtail snapper with ginger lime rice as the main course. Marga brings pudding for dessert. We dine festively late into the night and spend a nice, unusual Christmas Eve together.
The 25th is all about relaxation and we start the day with tinned Inzersdorfer, Ines has rice meat and Stefan and Peter treat themselves to a tinned goulash. We sleep in and finally manage to explore our own bay a little. We pack up and drive to the other side of the bay to a secluded beach. There we live a bit of the Robinson Crusoe life (Daniel Dafoe actually landed on Tobago), crack two coconuts with stones and walk along a small stream through the forest to a small, hidden waterfall. As the sun sets, we rush back to the boat and end the day with a cosy get-together.
We spontaneously get a car for the next day. Communication is sporadically difficult at first, but the next day in the morning we cross over together with Marga to pick up the car. Our speedster arrives an hour late. 40 EUR cash poorer and with a quick handover, we set off in the blue vehicle with a crack in the windscreen, 260000 km and an empty beer bottle on the back seat from the previous owner or perhaps the owner himself. As on many Caribbean islands, Tobago has left-hand traffic, but the roads are usually very narrow anyway and you drive by feel rather than by the rules. After Little Tobago and the excursion into the forest in our bay, we are curious to see if the trip by car is worth it. We walk along a 3-hour trail (Gilpin Trace), which is marked with pink pieces of cloth along the way. The dense rainforest is once again much greener and more intense than the two previous forests. We see hummingbirds and other colourful birds, waterfalls, busy leaf-cutter ants and lianas like something out of Tarzan. Towards the end of the trail we see two impressive boa constrictors along the way, surprised at how difficult it is to see them, we look extra carefully the rest of the way, although the snakes are not really dangerous.
Our trail ends right next to the hummingbird paradise, which the lady from customs recommended to us. There you can feed the small, lively birds with sugar water and see them up close. Hummingbirds are not at all shy and will even sit on your hand or even your head if you place the food there. Magical minutes pass while we observe the small, lively, pretty birds at close quarters. The owner's brother kindly leads us back to the start of the path where our car is parked for a small fee. The vehicle is adventurous, you can see right through to the floor at the back because the floor panel has rusted through and the passenger door is so warped that Stefan needs two attempts to close it. Now we know that we have obviously got a luxury vehicle after all, the only thing that worries us is the vehicle's thirst, somehow we have used up almost half a tank on a journey of just under 60 kilometres.
As we already know that we won't be able to get to the other bays by boat, we decide to visit them by car without further ado. Englishman's bay is our first stop. A beautiful bay with only one boat at anchor, a marvellous beach with palm trees and a small restaurant where we can have a bite to eat. We then head to Parlatuvier Bay, the neighbouring bay, where there is a small village and lots of fishing boats. The view from the top is marvellous, but we want to go to the waterfall behind the village. The way there is quite different again. We head backwards over grassy areas between the forest along a stream. It is already late, so more birds are already active. The path is a little reminiscent of the Shire in Lord of the Rings. The waterfall itself is quite nice but nothing spectacular. The road to the north-west takes us back to Charlotteville via two villages and a wild road with potholes.
The next day we have to prepare for our departure to Bequia. We spend half a day fixing and improving things on the boat, clearing out, chatting for half an hour with the lady from customs and then even make it to Lover's Bay in the southern part of our bay in the afternoon. The bay owes its name to the pink sand. There is a small beach that can only be reached by water. We go snorkelling directly in front of the reef and observe lots of colourful fish on the very shallow reef. The next day we take a few more drone shots, have a last meal and say goodbye to Dana.
It's not easy for us to leave, rarely have we made so many nice acquaintances in such a short time. But we have to leave to be in Bequia for New Year's Eve, where we want to meet up with our friends from the Namai aka Stahlsund. We leave Pirates Bay, Tobago - our first bay on this continent - as the sun sets for the last time. We cover the 120 nautical miles, a stone's throw for us in the meantime, for the most part overnight on a relaxed downwind course and arrive in Bequia the next afternoon.
Crossing from Tobago to Bequia:
Distance: 118 nm, thereof sailing: 111 nm
Motoring hours: 2 hours
Time: 23 hours 26 minutes
Average speed: 5,0 knots
Sailing conditions: relaxed close hauled to reaching course
Useful information for our sailing friends:
Clearing in and out in Pirates Bay Charlotteville currently works very well, the lady from customs is local in Charlotteville and organises the clearance process with Immigration (come from Scarborough) after consultation via Whatsapp. After consultation with her, she is still here until next year and the friendliness and competence of the officials is individual. The lady is currently very friendly and organised, but you shouldn't bring any stress with you. Especially when leaving, it is advisable to contact her in good time so that the customs officer has enough time to organise everything and you can leave on your desired departure date. The best way to contact her is via: +1 868 684 9950
Strolling around bays in Tobago is a little more complicated than usual. You have to obtain a bay permit for the respective region from Customs. There are two regions: Charlotteville, which issues bay permits for the east of the island up to Castara, and Scarborough for the west of the island. However, you have to clear out in Charlotteville and clear in in Scarborough.
The buses are cheap but run sporadically. We hired the car from someone in Charlotteville for 300 TTD, whereas the normal price would have been 400 TTD. The hire company can be contacted via Whatsapp on +1 868 465 0406
The trip to Little Tobago was organised through the diving centre in Speyside (Tobago Dive Experience) and cost USD 70 per person, there were 6 of us. The price/performance ratio was reasonable and we probably wouldn't do it again for the same price.
The Hummingbird Paradise can be combined very well with the Gilpin Trace. The Gilpin Trace (Gilpin Trace | Tobago) is muddy, otherwise ‘signposted’ - follow the pink ribbons (not the orange ones) and you will come out near Hummingbird Paradise. It took us around 3 hours walking at a normal pace. For a small fee, the owner's brother led us back to our car.