Beach, birds, bats and snorkling on the coral reefs

We arrived in Tobago on Thursday, and spent the first two days quite close to the airport where there are mangrove swamps that are good for birds. The hotel was in a residential area behind which are swamps, so we found that we could see quite a variety of birds just walking the streets nearby in this quiet area.The sea is nearby so the first evening we had supper in a a bar and watched the sunset over the sea and the brown pelicans fishing, diving into the sea at an angle, surfacing and lifting their beaks as they swallowed their catch.

The next day we went to Store Bay, a beach near the airport and swam, and sorted out a mobile phone that would work near the airport, as my phone decided it didn't like making calls, though texts were fortunately fine.

The following day we moved on to a place called Buccoo, which is on a bay with a reef extending across the mouth. The first day we walked up one side along the sand and then headed inland through more mangrove swamps to a coral sand beach, Golden Grove, and had another swim - this time I tried snorkelling but I did have a slight altercation with a glass bottomed boat that came past whose captain did not seem to think I should have been there at all (but I think he was not looking - and got a shock when he saw me splashing). I was keeping a good lookout myslf as this is one of the hazards of snorkling, and I was able to get out of this way, but we kept closer to the beach after that! In the water, there was not much to see - a few small fish. Later on when we had walked back to the beach by the village, Cathy tried snorkelling and got some help from a Canadian couple we had previously met, as she was nervous about this.Poor Samuel got badly bitten by sandflies lying on the sand while she swam. Cathy was more fortunate, thoough at the time she was cross that she couldn't rest - two boisterous beach dogs prevented her sitting down at all!

The next day we went for an excursion in a glass bottomed boat to see the reef. The view of the reef through the glass bottom was not very spectacular, however we were taken to a place to swim with snorkels and this was a different story - the reef seen like this is most spectacular and there are many varieties of fish and coral, though I did not find the coral as spectacular as some places I have been to. Cathy did very well to snorkel with very little preparation, and agreed it was well worth it.

We also swam at a clear water area nearby where you could find shellfish and small fish in the sand. On the way back we (apparently) passed a turtle, but it was only visible as a dark shape in the water.

Later on, we went for a walk to a bird sanctuary but this took a bit too long, and although we saw a few varieties of birds, we were too tired to really apprciate it.

In the evening, there was a event called "Sunday school" where there is a steel band, food stalls, drinking and dancing. The event went on till quite late and we had to retire well before the end, but it was great fun, though I did not sleep quite as well as normal as the festivities were dimly audible for some time.

The next day, Monday, we moved on to an eco villa on a bird sanctuary (Adventure Eco Farm and nature reserve) just beyond Plymouth on the Carribean coast. It is from here that I am making the firt proper entry on the blog.
There is an amazing variety of humming birds here as well as other birds, such as the Blue-crowned Motmot, which is a bird with a blue head and a raquet tail (when mature), and many other species.
The hummingbirds are attracted by feeders. At dusk the hummingbirds vanished and were replaced by bats clustering around the feeders. I have never seen so many bats close up - and there are several varieties, though so far we've not investigated the species and their habits.

It has been a rather busy start to our trip, so we expect to stay here for a few days and relax, though we have booked a rain forest tour for Wednesday with a guide. The Eco Farm site is covered with tall trees, under which fruit trees such as oranges and mangoes grow in a wild sort of garden or rather wilderness with frogs lurking in the long grass. It is called "Adventure Eco Villas" and is also described as a organic farm, though it does not seem to be farmed in the normal sense as fruit is left to lie on the ground, but some must be picked up as we have just been given a bowl of friut salad grown here (for our desert) and marmalade is made and sold. We were asked to create a new template for the marmalade labels,a way of thanking the owner for free access to the internet.The fruit is eaten by birds and other animals as Cathy saw parrots taking grapefruit in their beaks and then walking down the tree to eat them on the ground.