Peaty waters in Scotland Bay, Trinidad

Sy-tucanon
Philip Fearnhead
Mon 21 Jan 2013 02:17

Sunday 20th January 2013 10:42.13N 61:39.75W

 

Weekends are still generally days of rest in Trinidad. This  can be frustrating to those of us trying to get work done, but if you can’t beat them, join them!  So we motored round to Scotland Bay on Saturday, an inlet off the Boca del Monos channel which is popular with the locals.  It is a deep inlet off the main channel with densely wooded hills all around.  Several groups of local people were setting up temporary camps on the shore for barbeques and beach parties, complete with loud music.  A strange contrast to the tranquil nature of the bay and surrounding countryside, but it seemed like a reasonable thing for people to be enjoying the nature on their doorstep.  Taking a boat round to the bay for the weekend seemed as natural as taking a car to the coast in England.

 

Around the Bay pelicans glided effortlessly over the water surface and high above them the vultures (Corbeau) soared looking for any carrion in need of cleaning.  In the water, as dusk fell, small shoals of fish would suddenly erupt as they were frightened by, presumably, larger fish.

 

The music and campfires continued until late in the Saturday night.  Yet later, after most people were asleep, a Panga (local open boat)carrying local fishermen could be seen cruising the shallows seeking out prey with a powerful searchlight.  When a suitable target was spotted, a throwing net was deployed and the boat stopped for a few minutes while the catch was assimilated, before continuing the hunt.

 

Sitting on Tucanon’s flybridge in the morning, everything seemed peaceful.  The drama of the preceding night was gone; turtles appeared briefly on the glassy surface just long enough to catch their breath; the pelicans and Corbeau were going about their business of leaving their roosts and setting out in search of food. A few parrots flew noisily across the forest canopy. Cannonball jellyfish darted silently through the water in all directions.  These brownish orange creatures were only about 10cm across, but were very solid and round (hence their name) with short tentacles which appeared not to sting. They were unusually adept at propelling themselves through the water.

 

The water in the Bay was peaty brown, like a Scottish loch.  This is attributed to the waters of the Orinoco River making its way up from the nearby South American coast and colouring the sea.  In the water, visibility in the well illuminated shallows was 2-3 metres horizontally. But diving down was entering a Stygian gloom, with little light penetrating to 3 metres and visibility becoming an abstract concept.  Nonetheless, there were plenty of small fish swimming in the water whose colour reflected the tanins of the tropical forests, not the toxic effluents of industry.

 

Few people were swimming, but one man was swimming with strong measured strokes around the bay, a distance of a couple of miles.  The previous evening he had had to chase after his errant boat, but this morning he had left it secure while he swam away.

 

We returned to Chagaramas to watch the sunset from the security of a mooring, ready for an early start on getting the water maker repaired (the power cable had worked loose and burnt out its connection) and the engines which need attention to rectify a known design fault in the saildrive seals, and replacement of some worn parts.

 

By Monday night the water maker was again functioning normally and new water filters would ensure that it had a new lease of life.  Engineers had inspected the engines and ordered new parts ready to be fitted after the boat goes ashore on Thursday. There are still a number of small jobs to be organised, but none critical to the operation of the boat.  Tomorrow morning will be devoted to taking a bus to a shopping mall to start re-stocking our depleted supplies.