More on turtles, a visit to Scarborough (WI) and a wet day in Castara

[Samuel]
Yesterday we went to Arnos bay and did a bit more snorkling. I saw a very colorful fish that looked like a Moray eel, and Cath saw a cuttlefish, as well as other colourfull fish and coral. There was a turtle in the bay, but neither of us saw it. However we could see it coming up for air, and an American (US) couple we were talking to on the beach did see it up close. We suspect it is the same one we saw last week as it is a similar size.
We think that the one we saw last week is a hawks bill turtle. This species eats sponges, and there are some large yellow formations in the coral which we believe are sponges (though not like the ones that you have in the bath).

Today we took the bus to Scarborough, which is the relatively tiny capital of Tobago, with 18,000 inhabitants. We had an excellent lunch of local fare such as flying fish Callaloo and fried plantains after seeing round the fort constructed (and fought over) by British, Dutch, French (and possibly Spanish) colonial powers. There is also a small museum in the fort showing some Amerind remains, as there was a significant Amerind population here when the Spanish arrived, but they have been either assimilated into the introduced population or wiped out by 'colonial' activity , such as plantation development or by disease.

The museum also had some information on the slave plantations and the so called 'slave revolts' that occurred during the late 17C and early 18C here.

We had a quick look at the Botanical gardens and the shops and markets before returning on the bus (after a 15 minute wait for it to arrive - it runs every hour but seems to take more than half an hour to go from Scarborough to Plymouth and then more than half an hour to return).

[Cathy] The next day we went to Castara, a fishing village further up the west coast which is a popular tourist destination, despite its isolation from all main roads and shops. It has no big hotel like the area to the south of the island around the airport at Crown Point, but lots of guesthouses. We had planned to go on there from Arnos Vale to stay for several days, but couldn't bear to leave our Eco Farm with all its woods, birds and oranges in the end. In fact most of the day we were in Castara it rained heavily and steadily. This shouldn't happen at this time of year as it's the start of the dry season, but it is clearly running late this year (last year there was a serious drought at this time). We've had two days when a good half the day of more has been torrential rain.

Luckily there were two glorious sunny hours and we went straight into the sea (in turns - one is needed to guard the binoculars!) to snorkel. There was a beautiful coral garden with delicate plant-like corals, much prettier than the damaged stone corals that predominated at Bucco, which had so disappointed me, and the fish were lovely as well. It was just off the small beach, to the left of the big fishing beach which dominates the pretty bay. We had to round the rocks and disappear from the sight of the watcher on the beach, but the helpul staff at the bar just behind us said they would send out rescue parties if we didn't return! We got to know them quite well by the end of the day, as we had to seek shelter, plus drinks and lunch, from them fairly often for the rest of our time there! I saw my first brown booby (don't laugh, you lot from Hanover drop-in!!) fishing in the bay. It's a bit gannet like in its behaviour - most of the Tobago boobies are to be found on the North- East point, which we hope to visit at the end of our trip.

When we got back from the outing Samuel's camera, left behind in the taxi on the way to the airport, was delivered ( many thanks to Emily and James who found it and sent it on), so we walked straight into Plymouth to buy our ferry tickets for the next morning. Tinidad, here we come!