Tobago 2006 – Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool – Day 3

As the third and final day started up, we had decided that at the Hilton (the previous night, where we paid about 700.00$ TT for a pretty crappy dinner, considering the price, although it must be said that we decided to hit the Hilton very very late on Sunday night.), we would rise very early in the morning and start our day from about 7.30am.To even my surprise, Tara and I woke up pretty early and went straight to the beach. The plan for today was that we would get to the beach early, have breakfast, buy tickets for the Buccoo Reef tour and head to Pigeon Point again. So we went straight from the guest house to Store Bay and hit the water early. Of course, the usual scene, jump in the car, hit the beach. Nothing to different there!At about 9am or so (since one tends to lose track of time in the islands, although Tara was quite curious about my ability to tell time by the sun, or how bright it looked. I was usually within 15 mins of the actual time, just by sight of the sun), we headed for breakfast. At Store Bay, there are quite a couple of breakfast sheds, and the usual beach breakfast consists of “Fried Bake and Something”.

Fried Bake for anyone, who hasnt had this heart clogging start to a morning, is basically flour fried in oil,there is no simpler definition of this. It is meant to be eaten like bread. Hence the “Something” is usually SaltFish (Buljol) /Smoked Herring/Tomatoes Choka or some “Choka” derivative (Meaning tons of chopped onions, garlic, cilantro, salt are tossed in).

Buljol derived from the French words “Brule” which means burnt and refers to the pepper in this recipe (since the dish is served at room temperature or cold), and “geule” which is the slang for mouth.

So my breakfast was Bake and Buljol, while Tara had Bake and Smoked Herring, of course with some fresh OJ. I had to douse my Bake with tons of Pepper sauce though, since this was food made for Tourists (!)

After Breakfast, we headed back to the beach for another dip and really to wait for the Glass Bottomed Boat and the Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool tour. So once we got on the boat, the water is really very, very clear

I cant really describe the tour and what was said, since our tour guide wasnt really much a tour guide, besides a couple corny jokes, and some basic facts about the types of coral that there were in the reef. It is startling to know though that from the last couple times, I have been to the reef, it looks like the reef is really dying, but that is just to my eye!

This is one time, where blogging or anything else, cannot begin to capture how clear the water was. It was clearer than a pool,IMHO. Just a great day to see the water.

Teh tour itself took about 2 hours in total, and of course by the time we came off the boat, it was close to 1.30pm. So we didnt have time to really hit Pigeon Point again, which was kinda sad in a way. So instead, we did the next best thing.

We left the beach, and headed for lunch. Of course, it was the usual Baked Chicken and Pork for me, with rice, salad and a Peardrax. Tara had something similar. Then it was back to the guest house. Shower and then headed back to the Car Rental agency.

Upon dropping the car off, (which BTW was now 2 hours late and dirty with Sand – but of course, there was no charge), the agency guy offered to drive us to the airport. This would be a normal request, except when the airport is literally 300 metres away from the agency, it seemed quite dumb to take up his request.

So we walked to the airport, checked in, at the one gate and then headed back to Trinidad – which takes 15 mins via plane.