Beez Neez now Chy Whella

Coasting

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Tue 2 Nov 2010 23:43

Coasting - Our Sanctuary For A Whole Week

We took an Econocar full of goodies on the fast ferry arriving on Tobago at midday, we filled the afternoon with a visit to the lake just inside the gates of the Plantation to see if the Anhinga were still happy there - they were. We met the MOTHs (Mistress and Master of the House - aka The Walkers) off their 17:30 flight. Twenty minutes early, well done BA. (The airport is bottom left of the map and Coasting is marked in pink). Frederick - the caretaker, met us at the airport to lead us up the north coast road and see us settled in. By the time we arrived it was dark, so a small tot, supper and bed, to be up bright and early the next morning to explore our Caribbean hideaway.

Looking through the gates, Coasting appeared to be a bungalow, from below in the garden a three bed roomed house

The view from the lower patio peeping through the trees over Bloody Bay. View from the other side of the bay, Coasting is the higher building

Coasting is situated right on the shores of the blue Caribbean Sea, just north of the tranquil fishing village of Parlatuvier. It is an hour's drive from Crown Point International Airport, the entire route along pretty good, paved roads, currently littered with mud slides caused by hurricane Tomas. A short drive past the delightful village of Charlotteville along the road past L'Anse Fourmi, Coasting is tucked behind gates which open onto the infrequently used Northside Road.

Early the next morning, a quick check on the view and a garden visitor - the crested oropendula

After breakfast it was a short walk down to the beach, for a swim

Views looking left, Alasdair a small dot paddling in the surf on the crowded beach. Looking right.

A legend has grown that Tobago was the scene of a remarkable sea battle which took place in 1666, when the British admiral Sir John Harman encountered the combined fleets of France and Holland which had met off a bay then called Anse Erasme or Rash House Bay, now known as Bloody Bay on the north-west or leeward side of the island. It is said that the British defeated them with such great slaughter that the sea ran red in the golden sunset, the cannon booming into the night. Today, giant immortelle trees bloom a brilliant scarlet on the mountains above Bloody Bay. The bloody battle might have been one that took place in Barbados, but the story has been so told and embellished into Tobago history that it is now ‘remembered’ as having taken place in Bloody Bay and been absorbed into the recall of other battles fought there. Even though that was centuries ago, it is still easy to see why so many wars were waged by the Europeans for the possession of this prized gem in the Caribbean. This beach for all its natural beauty is set a little way from the main village, unlike most other beaches. As such, it is nearly always deserted except for the fishermen who wait to cast their nets when the fishes are “beating”, sitting quietly in the shade "mendin de nets"

On our return a short cut through the owners' garden (the lower property in the picture above) we saw a cannon. Later a Surgeon Komodo - an intellectual man at peace.