Tobago (FEB 10)

Scarborough was experiencing occasional light showers when VEENDAM entered Rockly Bay.  The ship backing into the pier gave us both a good and dry view of our arrival from our stern-facing veranda.

a bit down the list from the most impressive pilot boat we've ever seen

Leaving the ship, our bus climbed up to Fort King George which overlooks Scarborough harbor. The view was hazy, so we could not see Trinidad.  The small museum was of passing interest (with no photography allowed).

Our next stop was Richmond Great House.  Getting there required winding our way along the coast, periodically climbing over ridge lines that took us over 100’ above sea level between bays.

Upon arriving, we were given a tour of the inside of the house; the last original ‘great house’ on the island.  It was now an intimate hotel with only nine rooms.  After the tour, we walked the ground admiring the house and grounds, then back on the bus.

We stopped at Speyside Lookout before descending to Speyside in Tyrrel's Bay, then the bus climbed up and over to come down on the other side of the island at Charlotteville.

After a walkabout there, we backtracked, this time climbing higher to Flagstaff Hill from which we had a hazy view of the Caribbean side and a clear view of the Atlantic side.

We returned to Speyside where we had lunch at Jemma's Treehouse. The 'tree house' actually did have a tree passing through its second story dining area.

The meal was served family style. The food was generally good. The ladies serving us were pleasant.

There was a brief stop at Hillsborough Bay (aka Hope Bay) on our return to Scarborough and VEENDAM.

Back aboard, with VEENDAM stern in at the pier, our stateroom overlooked the main street in Scarborough.  Coming from there was music so loud at first I thought the door to the veranda had been left open.  We were experiencing a very impressive sound system mounted on a truck; a system so big it needed a large generator to run it.  The truck was leading a group of cars festooned with balloons.  In each car was a young lady waving at people.  We speculated the procession had something to do with the beginning of Carnaval. 

Red squares in upper picture are audio speakers;
blue square is generator needed to power them

On the right-hand side of picture above, note the KFC. No big deal by itself as KFC is a global franchise.  What is notable is that the people of Trinidad and Tobago love chicken so much that a store in Port of Spain holds the KFC record for the most fried chicken sold in a single day. Now that some finger licking.

Since arriving, across the pier from VEENDAM was LOGOS HOPE. Owned by a Germany Christian charity, it appeared to have a young, international manifest of crew and passengers.

We departed on schedule. We are scheduled to arrive at our next port of call - Barbados - about 8:00 AM tomorrow.