Close

If Maracas Bay is the poster child for Trinidad’s beaches with its imported sand, “Bake and Shark” stalls and decent bathroom facilities, then Las Cuevas Bay must be her ugly sister. One has to drive about 10-15 minutes further down the North Coast road. It is easy driving with no forks in the road till the beach. This is another one of those beaches in Trinidad that doesn’t get the publicity of Maracas (in fact, no beach in Trinidad gets the publicity of Maracas) but is just as good or even better in terms of water quality.

On the eastern end, on a low cliff above the beach, there are beach facilities consisting of a snack bar, showers, toilets, changing rooms and car parking. The eastern end of the bay is more sheltered and lifeguards patrol this section with posted flag warnings. The beach facility itself, has better bathroom and changing facilities than Maracas but there is only one main food stall, so the variety here is lacking, but most Trinis will pack a cooler or basket with food and head out for the “beach lime”.

“Las Cuevas” is derived from the Spanish word for caves and there are many caves on this beach. This bay is more sheltered than Maracas and is therefore calmer – there are lifeguards on the beach from 10am – 6pm, but of course this is Trinidad – so who knows if and when they will actually get there.

The water is clear and provides excellent swimming with waves reaching to 0.82m / 3ft . Also there are many fishermen who “park” their boats on the eastern side of the bay and there is usually fresh fish on sale at the eastern end of the beach.

On the western end of the beach, there is much less development and a lot more vegatation, so inherently there would be more of a security concern going down towards the western end.

Getting there:
From Port of Spain – head on the Lady Young Road, then through St Ann’s and up Saddle Road. It should be about a 20 min drive until Saddle Road meets the North Coast Road then it is straight driving past Maracas and Tyrico Bays to Las Cuevas.

After following Trinidad for the 2010 World Cup campaign and seeing us fall to last place in the hexagonal final round was just depressing. The seeds for our demise were sown right after the qualification for the 2006 World Cup. There was such euphoria after we qualified. I can remember almost crying when we beat Bahrain, the hope that I had after drawing with Sweden, the honor in our play against England and then finally the defeat to Paraguay.

I remember reading the newspaper updates on the Jack Warner scandal and how he didn’t want to pay the players, even though they had done such service for the country and after he had made a GAZILLION dollars with “his” ticket and hotel scam. I knew then and there, Trinidad qualifying for the World Cup was a once in my lifetime event. Trinidadian football is like Trinidadian politics, they both have potential for great things, but the greed and selfishness of the people involved, will never allow it transcend the small mindedness of those involved.

I saw an ad on TV for the World Cup in June, and I sighed. Trinidad could have qualified for South Africa … we really could have. Maybe we’ll qualify for Rio in 2014, since we have a talented team that should mature by that time. For now, I will just have to look at videos and pictures in my archives and wonder what could have been.

That match against England was so close, I can still remember the “Trinis” singing “London Bridge is falling down” and the utter silence of the English crowd.

Our glorious draw with Sweden. Who says that there is no honor in a tie? When a rank underdog team, plays a world powerhouse in football, blessed with quality strikers and manages to come away with a draw, there is much honor in that. The Swedes were so gracious in their “defeat”, since everyone concerned considered a defeat for a powerful Swedish side. They were so confident that their team would run rampant over the little island side.

In the end, there was only euphoria from one team and utter shock and awe from the other

Then after the draw with Sweden, there was the impromptu parade and fete in the middle of Dortmund. Where else can you find that, except for the World Cup??

Ah how I will miss Germany 2006 and what could have been for South Africa 2010 … maybe Trinidad will make 2014!

One of my favorite drives in Trinidad is along the East Coast heading to Manzanilla Beach. I find that the beaches on the East Coast, while not having the “bluest” water and the finest sands, it does have this brilliant ‘wild’ feel to them; the trees are twisted and contorted into different shapes, coconuts are scattered all along the molasses brown sand, deserted beach houses are in various states of maintenance and the rough waters crash along the flat, sandy receding shoreline.  Manzanilla is a lover’s paradise; fairly secluded, parking for your car for a ’siesta’  is as far away as the nearest coconut tree and salt air makes for a powerful combination.

The beaches found throughout Trinidad and Tobago are usually fairly quiet, but I find something a little different at Manzanilla Beach, since it’s not particularly developed and it’s definitely not one of those typical people watching beaches littered around the world. I find it a great escape from the typical island beach – there is a certain luxury in quiet seclusion.

For some visitors the level of activity at a beach and its amenities are particularly important attributes. For others, it is the seclusion and the chance to waste away the day on the sand that is the most important thing. For me, listening to the winds blow through the coconut trees on either side of the road is enough.

When walking along the beach, the Ortoire river flows out into the sea and sometimes you can see the Mudskippers, they’re kinda strange and prehistoric looking fish. When marooned on the beach by the retreating wavelets, they waddle back towards the sea and the promise of deeper water.  I also love beachcombing for shells and sand dollars on the beach – such simple, pleasant experiences that aren’t manufactured by some resort owner.

Where to go, where to stay and what to do: 

Manzanilla is 17 miles long, and bordered by coconut and mangrove trees, and quite a drive from POS- about 1 1/2 – 2 hours depending on traffic and road conditions – I would even wager that the traffic coming out of POS might even make the drive longer. This beach is located on the northern part of Trinidad and Tobago and is 2.5 km from turtle nesting area – Manzanilla Point. Manzanilla Beach is beside the Sangre Grande, but I don’t recommend staying in “Sangre”, since there really aren’t any decent hotels there. Local tours consist of Turtle watching(April-July). The leatherback turtles return to their birthplace to lay their eggs. Visit the home of the Manatee in the Nariva Swamp. Take boat trips up the river and go bottom fishing with the local fisherman miles out in the ocean. Go on hikes deep into the forest where if you’re lucky you can see the white monkeys, anacondas in the wild and much more species native only native to Trinidad. A trip to Brigham Hills lighthouse point where you can see the 16 miles of Manzanilla beach with a view just like that on Ipanema beach in Rio, except without Sugarloaf.

Map powered by MapPress Close Close

When traveling, high paid marketing experts create Caribbean images of white sand beaches, crystal clear blue water, fancy drinks with umbrellas in them … this is all packaged nicely into a hotel experience and “ta-da!!” … tourist beach experience.

Macqueripe Bay is one of NOT one those experiences, but yet it has always remained a favorite of mine and many “Trinis” over the years for its simplicity, great swimming and wonderful drive through the forest to get there. It really is one of the hidden gems in Trinidad: everyone seems to know about, but not enough people actually head out there.

Heading here from Port of Spain is really easy … head out to Chaguaramas, once in you’re in Chaguaramas, head to Pier 1 and there is a large intersection with signage to head to east to Macqueripe Bay… easy!

[googleMap name="Macqueripe Beach, Trinidad" description="Macqueripe Beach, Trinidad" width="300" height="300" directions_to="false"]10.73333,-61.61667[/googleMap]

Things to watch out for:

• Traffic : Traffic in Trinidad is terrible. If you are in Port of Spain in rush hour in the morning, prepare to add another hour to your journey. It is always best to leave really early or leave late. It’s unfortunate, but this is what happens in a country where is there is almost one car per person now, not enough roads and infrastructure and a road network design that was fit for a typical Caribbean island and nothing more.

• Lack of a GPS : There are no GPS related applications right now that will map Trinidad for you (well that which I know of). You will actually have to rely on road signage and maybe actually asking a person directions. The good thing is that once you’re out of Port of Spain, getting to Chaguaramas is easy and signage is pretty clear.
• Terrible drivers : It’s unfortunate but when you have a country, where people can buy their driver’s license with litle road experience or drivers with zero defensive driving experience, then you have a recipe for tons of road accidents.  Thankfully, the Tucker Valley link road that takes you to Macqueripe never has any traffic, although because the road never has traffic, people hit the accelerator on this road – hence cars will zoom past at high speeds past you.

One of the best things about Macqueripe Bay is that you can hike the Tucker Valley trail to the beach. The forest trail was once upon a time the training grounds of the American Armed Forces during World War II, but now is a world famous hiking trail. Be warned that it is a steady uphill climb for about an hour or so, so your fitness should be decent – I did this hike once about 12 years ago. After the climb, it is pretty flat terrain and then a downhill jog.

It is a very picturesque drive with tons of coconut tree and foliage to each side.

Then you get to the beach facility and prices are clearly marked and there is parking by the stairway that leads to the beach.

Once you park and secure the car … the security won’t help you Head down the stairs

In the last year, people stumbled on my blog from search engines using the following terms. It amazes me the terms that I get in the log files. I guess the post I made earlier this year on how to use the circumvesuviano was a popular one as it was 192 searches on google led to my travelogue.

However, “Punta cana brothels”, “male bridesmaid” and “lalalalalalala” leading to my travelogue…. ??

Since moving servers and locations…. for the last 20 days, the search terms haven’t changed, although “Choripan” seems to be quite popular… go figure….