Tobago -- Latvia's Only Colony

On Saturday, April 5th our port of call is Scarborough, on the island of Tobago. Tobago is located 11 degrees north of the Equator. The country is called Trinidad and Tobago, which is a parliamentary democracy. The residents speak English, but they are not so easy to understand! Very heavy Creole accents, mixed with sort of a "rap" influctuation.

From the time the first Europeans arrived at Tobago in the early 1500s, the island changed hands 22 times. Believe it or not, early day Latvians, the Courlanders, settled there in the late 1600s! The island had been presented to the Duke of Courland (Kurzeme) as a birthday present. Not a bad gift, eh? I had heard that there is a monument on the island, commemorating the Courlanders, so of course, I had to see it. Our driver knew it was in the town of Plymouth, overlooking Great Courland Bay, but he didn't know exactly where it was. Fortunately, I spotted the sign, indicating a left hand turn. Sorry to report that it is a rather ghastly looking sculpture. I can't quite figure out what, if anything, it has to do with commemorating the Courland settlers! It's made of rough concrete, and most closely resembles a giant microscope, with additional appendages. It's at least 20 feet tall. Not special at all.

Tobago was a sugar colony, but their economy collapsed with the abolition of slavery in 1884. Full adult suffrage didn't occur until 1945. They import almost everything, so tourism is important to the current economy. Although I have not heard of Americans traveling there, we did meet several Brits and Europeans who were visiting on holidays.

We toured with "Gary", our taxi driver for our stay on Tobago. He had a thick accent, so we had to listen carefully to understand him. Interestingly, he speaks English with friends and family. I hope they can understand him better than we could, but he was charming, nonetheless. We listened to the local radio station in his Nissan sedan, which was fun.... gave us the local flavor. The DJ spoke in a rap style, and music was varied. Quite a bit of "get down" and rap.

Our weather was perfect. Sunny, not too hot. This was good because Gary's car didn't feature air conditioning, but we could easily adjust the temperature by getting air circulating via open windows.

Our first stop was at the top of the hill, above the city of Scarborough, where the ship docked. The Tobago Museum is truly well done. I would have spent more time there. It's worth a visit, to learn about the history of the island. It is on the grounds of Fort King George, which offers fantastic views.

We crossed the island, to the Northwest from Scarborough, on the Plymouth Road. It's called that because it goes to the town of Plymouth. That's where we saw the Latvian monument noted above. You only need to see it so you can say you did (and only if you are Latvian).

Our primary destination for the day was the beach, once again! Gary took us to Pigeon Point. It's a lovely sand beach, with white, soft sand. The palm trees lean over the turquoise waters. It's very picturesque. By this time Al and I were ready for lunch. We cruised the beach and determined that the best option was lunch prepared by local ladies, in their small beach shack. For $80 TTD (Trinidad-Tobago dollars, divide by 5.7 to get the US equivalent) we had a wonderful meal! Their homemade French fries were out of this world, and we sampled Kingfish and Sailfish. We were leary of eating the green salad, so we left that on our plates.

A couple of guys strolled the beach, playing their steel drums (they say they are more appropriately referred to as steel pans, not drums). These guys were talented, and added to the ambience of the beach. We rented beach chairs, and enjoyed the warm, calm water. It cost $10 TTD to rent a beach chair. There were a handful of shops, all of which had quality merchandise. Sarongs, T-Shirts, ceramics, postcards. I always enjoy visiting the shops and chatting with the salespeople. You learn a lot that way.

Gary picked us up at the beach, for our return to the ship. In contrast to our fish lunch, he told us he had a very nice cow hoof soup for lunch. I'm glad we weren't with him for his adventure in dining! We had also seen signs around the island, advertising beef and pigtail soup. Gary assured us that the pigtail is not whole, but chopped up. That's good.

We paid $70 (plus a generous tip) for Gary's taxi services, including picking us up at Pigeon Point. Even though we had some difficulty understanding him, we had some good laughs together. I asked him WHY there always seems to be an Egret next to every cow. Well, none of us are sure. I had my theory, which Gary thought was pretty funny.

Tobago is a pleasant island. Absolutely beautiful beaches, and even though it is more arrid than St. Lucia, it's still very green. Their motto is "Tobago... Clean, Green, Serene". It's good to have a motto, for people to live up to. It's our understanding that Trinidad is, by contrast, somewhat dangerous and crime ridden. We felt safe on Tobago. At the end of our stay, we wandered through the local market, across from the cruise ship dock. There was a guy, towards the back, shouting "White people get back on your ship!". That wasn't so nice. We decided to get back on the ship!