Pigeon Pt and Argyle Waterfalls – Day 2

The next day we got up bright and early to head to down to Pigeon Point and to Store Bay. Store Bay in the morning is great and the water was crystal clear. Gary was coming in at about 11am, So Tara I figured that we would get an early start by taking in the water at Store Bay. One of the great things about this bay and why many parties are always staged there, is because it is small, has good facilities and the water is very calm. So by about 8:30am, we were in the water, getting completely crispy. As one will notice, my hair was Red for Carnival to match my costume, but by this time after all the seawater had been going through my hair, it was slowly bleaching my hair from bright red into a bright fuschia into pink. So of course as of today I still have the same type of hair, Tara’s hair for some reason remained a very lovely Red, but as we have found out now, she didn’t really swim as much as I did, hence the seawater didn’t have long extended periods of time to completely rape her hair.

There aren’t many pictures of Store Bay in the morning, simply because the brains weren’t actually on, until you get the cool crisp turquoise water on your skin and feel all refreshed … and maybe a bit chilly. So we left Store Bay around 10am and then drove to Pigeon Point

It is about a 5 minute drive from Store Bay to Pigeon Point and it is definitely one of the best kept and picturesque beaches around. That being said, this is a paid beach and it is 13TT per person for entry. Now this sounds kinda obscene and in many ways it is quite wrong to charge for the use of a beach. However, once you enter Pigeon Point and see people sweeping the walkways, and cleaning the beach of the little litter that it could have, you see where your money is going. The locals balk at this payment for beaches and in some ways, I can empathize with them.

If you had something in your country and the only reason you are paying for it, is because some wealthy developers (AKA Syrian Drug Kings of Trinidad – the Sabgas) can make money off it, then you would be a bit peeved. However, one must never forget that this is Trinidad and Tobago and there is the cultural aspect of this too. If Trinis were allowed to run anything for free, they would mess it up, just sayin’ (Any Trini worth their salt would know that this is true)

Cultural references aside, this beach is used in all the travel brochures and pictures for the simple reason that it is a fricking gorgeous. It is almost impossible to take a bad photo with this perfect island landscape, azure waters, rolling waves and the PIER! Take a look at the following photos and I am no professional, but a lot look like postcards.

One of the great things about bathing at Pigeon Point, is that if you are waiting on someone to fly in from Trinidad, you can just wait till the appropriate time, and you should see the plane pass by and touch down at Crown Point. Gary was coming from Trinidad at 11.20am, so Tara and I got out of the water at 11:20am, wrapped a towel around ourselves, drove to and arrived at the airport at 11:26am. Gary came outside the gate at 11:30am. I was still dripping wet from the sea of course, so we picked up Gary and attempted to go to Scarborough for lunch.

As a tourist destination, Scarborough looks like King’s Wharf in San Fernando to me and as appealing. It looks dirty and rundown like Port of Spain, well actually a lot less dirty than Port of Spain. I won’t talk much about Scarborough because I find it infinitely uninteresting and in the end there wasn’t anywhere I thought I wanted to for lunch, so we headed back to Store Bay area for lunch.

In the end, right outside of our guest house, there was a local roadside place for lunch and lunch was good! Good creole homecooking: I had Stewed Pork, Baked Chicken, Salad and rice. Tara and Gary had combinations of that except that Gary got a huge slab of Macaroni Pie. ( For any non-trinis, Macaroni pie is a baked version of Mac and Cheese with pepper and spices, I personally cannot eat it, due to my dairy allergy, but there are many who think a Creole lunch without Macaroni Pie is incomplete)

After our huge lunch, we decided that it was time to drive and explore, so of course we wanted to a waterfall that we had seen on our way back from Charlotteville the day before. Gary was lazing in the back being chauffeured by Tara and I was the navigator. So we drove up the coast until we got to Argyle Waterfalls.

This is the largest waterfall in Tobago according to the guides that were there and it is the only one where there is an organized tour and trail and qualified guide that will help you around. The drive from Crown Point to Argyle Waterfalls is about an hour but of course it is a scenic lovely drive.

Travel Tip: When you get to Argyle Waterfalls, if you are a local, carry your Trinidad ID with you, so that you will get the local rate which is $20 less than the foreigner rate.

Because Gary and I had Tara (White Girl) in the car, the guides wanted to charge us the foreigner rate. Of course, I had to get all ethnic on these people and let them know what was going on, and I wasn’t letting them charge no Trini the foreign rate.

Anyway at the beginning of the trail, there was the guide hut and from the hut to the falls is a very easy walk to the falls, there is a bit of hiking, but a small amount. Our tour guide was nice, kinda bored with the whole thing, but he was glad to have a loud mouth trini like me talking and creating some noise. He must have done that walk hundreds of times, since there is a tour every 30 mins in peak season and every other hour in the off season. Argyle Falls is a favorite of the Cruise lines, so they always tour the falls. Indeed there is good reason to see the falls, as it is a step waterfall with 3 steps as the pictures will show.

The falls are quite breathtaking in their beauty, the water is crystal clear as shown by the pictures of the fished swimming at the bottom of main pool.

The main pool is about 80 feet deep so once can dive from the top of the last step into the pool below. I didn’t attempt this, and Gary didn’t even want to hike to the top of the falls.

I will admit that in my horrible cardiovascular condition made worse by eating all the KFC, Trinidad could throw at me, it was a challenge, but it wasn’t difficult. One note though, if you plan to go hiking up a waterfall where it is wet, do not go hiking with rubber flipflops like me. It makes your climb infinitely more hazardous than it really should be. The one good thing was that my flip flops, did protect my feet when I was in the top step of the waterfall, while everyone got their bare feet bruised on the sharp rocks.

At the top of the falls, the climb was worth it, as the view was spectacular and Gary did indeed miss out at the top. Tara was an able companion and of course she climbed to the top with me, although she didn’t wanna hang off the main precipice, I wont fault her, everything around a waterfall is slippery.. DUH!

We spent a good hour at the Waterfalls, just enjoying the fresh air, and water. It is definitely something to go see while you are in Tobago.