This article first appeared in Caribbean Compass (http://www.caribbeancompass.com/ ); with my fee, I adopted a leatherback turtle through SOS Tobago (http://www.greenantilles.com/2011/03/16/sos-save-our-sea-turtles-tobago/ ). The article will also be published in the OCC Newsletter.

Scarborough

We arrived in Tobago on 26 March 2012 after crossing the Atlantic from Gambia, (West Africa) in our Gitana 43 sloop. With the four of us (Mum, Dad, myself aged 14 and my brother Bryn, aged 12) cooped up board for the 26 days of the crossing, Tobago was a welcoming green landfall set in sparkling waters. We checked in at Scarborough and spent the next couple of weeks exploring the town while waiting for delivery of a part for our engine. While Scarborough wasn’t quite the Caribbean anchorage that we had in mind, we found it safe and convenient with its own vibrant and noisy charm, and everyone was really friendly. Mum was able to restock the boat stores from the produce market and a variety of small supermarkets, and we found a number of internet cafes to catch up on e-mail. We all enjoyed trying the local food – the doubles, the rotis, the crab and dumplings, and the different types of fried chicken. Mum and Dad sampled the Carib and the rum, while my brother and I liked the fruit punches and the real Italian ice cream.

At anchor in Scarborough.

Desperate to get wet in Caribbean water, we went in search of a swim and found Bacolet Bay – 20 minutes’ walk from Scarborough. This small, palm-fringed beach with soft, silvery sand was like something out of a travel brochure -- and it even had decent waves for belly boarding! It was here that we drank our first green coconut milk from the coconut, which I have been wanting to do for ages. We checked out the batik and handicrafts at ‘The Cotton House’ on the way, and Mum bought sarongs and t-shirts to send back as presents for people.

Bacolet Bay.

We walked up the hill to explore Fort King George and to see the dramatic view across the bay – we picked a really hot and sunny day and were hoping for a quick rainstorm to cool off, but had to make do with a Coke at a bar on the way back down to the boat!

The view from the Fort King George.

Exploring a little further afield, we caught a bus to Store Bay one day and to the Crab and Goat races at Buccoo another. You have to buy your bus tickets in advance – either from the bus station or from a variety of shops. The goat racing was hilarious, and the crab racing was fun but was over very quickly – crabs can certainly move when they want to get away from photographers!

Goat number 5 leaps to victory in one of the Buccoo goat races.

Store Bay: a ‘real’ Caribbean anchorage

When our engine part arrived, we moved on to anchor in the turquoise waters of Store Bay. The holding here is very good, but you have to be careful not to anchor near the electric cable that comes in from Trinidad, or in a way that can damage the reef. There is a dingy channel to the beach, but it isn’t marked so we have to slalom our way around the rocks. At the end of the beach is Bago’s Bar and next to it is SBMS (Store Bay Marine Services), run by John and Katy who provide engineering services, laundry, water and wi-fi. It is a short walk to the main road where there are take-away food places, an ice cream parlour, clothes and gift shops, minimarkets and fruit stalls. It is a short maxi-taxi ride to Penny Savers supermarket and Stumpy’s the iron mongers, with lots of other little shops on the way.

Looking back from Pigeon Point towards Store Bay.

Diving in paradise

Before we arrived we had read that the diving in Tobago is some of the best in the Caribbean, and there are a number of dive schools to choose from. My Dad, my brother and I went diving with the R & Sea Diving to see for ourselves. We’ve done a drift dive, a naturalist dive, a night dive and navigation dive and have qualified as Advanced Open Water Divers while we have been here. As we are full-time liveaboards and are homeschooled, this counted as boat school – cool! We haven’t been disappointed with the diving and have seen loads of different fish and coral we quite often see French angelfish, bluehead wrasse, porcupine fish and lobsters. Mum doesn’t dive, but she does snorkel and we have seen some amazing fish and coral that way too. There are even a couple of turtles swimming around the anchorage.

Hawksbill turtle.

Moray eel.

Store Bay is a short walk from Pigeon Point Heritage Park, where you can go wind surfing, kite surfing and swimming on Buccoo reef, and picnic under the coconut palms. It was windy the day we went and we collected green coconuts that had blown down. I think coconuts are my favourite fruit – especially when you can pick them up yourself! We’re looking forward to exploring some of the other anchorages – and dives – around Tobago.

The author sampling her first green coconut.