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| Our first meal at the Mount Plaisir Estate. It is located right on the beach where the Leatherback turtles lay their eggs. The food tasted so delicious. |
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| Steve adding some parmesan cheese to his noodles. He said it was such great tasting sauce. |
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| Refreshing Drink! |
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| I was surprised to see this toad in the restaurant bathroom! |
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| Dad and I sleeping under our mosquito net! |
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| After seeing the huge turtles lay their eggs from 9PM to midnight we got up at 5 AM to see a few still on the beach. We were able to get good photos in the daylight even though the turtles were smaller than the ones we saw at night. |
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| The mother turtles circled around to cover up the evidence that they had laid eggs. |
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| It takes a lot of effort from this heavy creature to climb the steep sand bank to get to a place that would be good to lay her eggs. She paused often and I could hear her very heavy breathing. |
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| Jo wished she could help this turtle make it up the hill. Leatherback turtles can weigh from 900 to 2,000 lbs. |
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| Going back to the sea |
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| This turtle will come on land 8 times this season and lay a total of 800 eggs. We were told that only one in 1,000 babies make it to adulthood. When they hatch and dig out of the sand and head for the water, vultures and dogs are waiting to eat them. Also many things in the ocean are waiting to gobble them up. Even the Frigatebirds dive from the sky to get a tasty morsel. |
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| One of the vultures destroying some turtle eggs |
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| Turtle eggs that have just come out of the mother. She hadn't covered them with sand yet. |
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| Vultures waiting to snatch up the baby turtles. |
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| Karsyn watching the baby turtles crawling out of their nest and heading for the water. |
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| Karsyn putting the baby turtles in the bucket so the vultures won't eat them. |
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| Steve having the neat experience of holding one of the little hatchlings. They look just like their mom but so much smaller! |
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| Thrill of holding a baby Leatherback turtle! |
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| Jo holding a cute baby. |
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| Frigatebirds circling the water to try to spot a baby turtle to swoop down and eat. |
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| A delicious breakfast at the hotel |
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| As we were driving to the Tamana bat caves, we went through a town that is known for its delicious mangos. We stopped and bought some. They really were sweet and juicy. Yum! Yum! |
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| Steve was wise in eating his mango outside the car! |
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| Jo and Karsyn buying some snacks at the local store. |
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| Tasty doughnut like treats |
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| I'm feeding Steve some spicy Indian type food. He always had the job of driving the windy narrow roads of Trinidad and Tobago. The roads spill higgledy-piggledy down the hills. |
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| Our guide to the bat cave picked a cocoa bean pod and broke it open so we could taste part of the seed. |
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| Steve showing us what to eat. |
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| Karsyn deciding if she likes the taste. |
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| We are following the guide along the path to the caves. It was an easy hike at the start but eventually turned off on a very steep, narrow and rocky trail. I wouldn't have made it if it hadn't been for grabbing onto Steve's arm and using his strength to get me up and back down the challenging path. Dad made a good choice of staying at the hotel. |
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| A beautiful flower that we passed on the trail. I saw this plant in Jamaica but can't remember it's name. |
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| We were keeping our eyes open for any signs of snakes! Karsyn wore a long skirt because she didn't have any long pants to cover her legs. |
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| Steve and Jo following the guide into the bat cave. Steve has some neat photos of the bats coming out of the cave. At dusk millions of bats came out during the hour we were watching this amazing sight. They flew all around us but because of their sonar powers, they never hit us. |
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| Dad enjoying watching the birds at Asa Wright Nature Centre. It is the Caribbean's most popular birdwatching retreat. After spending a short time watching the birds, we headed for the airport so we could turn in the car and take a taxi to the ferry. All the plane rides to Tobago were filled so we had to go by ferry. It was a nice ferry and pretty fast getting to Scarborough in 2 1/2 hours. |
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| Lots of delicious fruit in T and T ( Trinidad and Tobago) |
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| Dad buying some fruit. |
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| Brian, the store owner, skinning an orange for me to taste |
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| The orange was sweet and juicy! |
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| This guard made it possible for us to go to the Scarborough market. We couldn't find a parking spot anywhere around the market. The guard asked if we were just visiting for a short time. When we said yes, she told us to follow her down to the end of the parking lot. She then asked someone to pull out of a parking place and we drove into that spot. We were so grateful for her help. She was tough looking! |
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| I found this rooster hiding under the counter and took his picture. |
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| We enjoyed talking to this lady. She told Jo how to use the cocoa to make delicious hot chocolate. |
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| Dad is smelling the wonderful smell of the Tobago cocoa. |
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| Grandpa and Karsyn tasting finger bananas. |
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| Exploring the meat market was quite the experience! |
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| I don't know what Jo is doing! |
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| I had a delicious soup that was made out of these plants. Steve, I need you to tell me their name again.. |
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| On a hot day the coconut juice tasted wonderful. |
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| Very long string beans! |
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| The coconut meat was tasty too. |
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| A huge silk cotton tree in the Tobago Forest Reserve |
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| The bark is covered with thorns to keep things from crawling on it that might harm the tree. |
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| Tobago also has many, many picturesque bays. |
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| It was great to have Karsyn with us on this trip. |
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| We ate a relaxing lunch on this veranda over looking the beautiful beach on the Caribbean Sea side. |
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| More beautiful beaches! |
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| Jo trying out the Steel Pan. |
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| The Steel Bands are very popular in T and T. The Panorama, a very popular attraction, involves almost all of T and T's steel bands. It is a contest where the bands are judged to find out the best. We wanted to go into Port of Spain and hear some steel bands play but ran out of time. |
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| Jo bought a bamboo bird feeder and Karsyn got a beautiful sea star necklace. |
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| This is a Crested Oropendola bird's nest hanging from a tall tree. These birds are a dark brown with a bright yellow tail. Their nests are 3 to 5 feet long made out of grass and coconut palms and are very strong so they can withstand strong winds. The male is 3 times larger than the female. He helps protect the nest from predators. |
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| There are a lot of Flamboyant trees in Trinidad and Tobago. |
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| We had fun watching this goat. |
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| She was tethered to the tree. |
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| The goat had a lot of green grass within her reach but she tried very hard to reach the grass that was beyond her range. |
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| Jo making friends with the goat. |
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| I saw an Agouti, a large rodent, going through the bushes. It is not a very good photo so I posted below a better picture. |
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| Agouti |
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| By accident we drove up this road and became nervous when it got so narrow and there was no place to turn around. |
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| Finally we found a turn out over looking Pirate's Bay |
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| Pirate's Bay |
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| Driving back down the scary road |
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| We stopped a long the bay in Charlotteville to watch the fishermen cut up their daily catch. This is a photo of a King fish. |
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| A tuna (Bonita) being cut up. |
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| Fishing Nets |
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| Frigatebird |
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| Laughing Gulls |
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| At the restaurant where we ate dinner, the World Cup was being watched and Australia was the team the locals wanted to win. |
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| Steve really likes the local peanut drink. Karsyn developed a love for it too. |
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| We ate a lot of delicious food while in Tobago and Trinidad. |
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| A Night Heron |
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| Our glass bottom boat ride to the island of Little Tobago. |
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| While Jo, Karsyn and Steve explored Little Tobago with a guide, the other boat person took us around the edge of the island so we could see the birds that nested by the shore. |
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| Cactus grows a long the shore and through out the island. |
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| We saw a large Brain coral through the boat's glass bottom. Steve said it wasn't in very good shape. |
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| Snorkeling by Speyside in the Atlantic Ocean. |
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| I enjoyed bobbing around with the help of my life preserver. The water felt great. |
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| More wonderful food to eat! |
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| We are starting the walk to the Argyll Waterfall. There are different types of trees along the path that are labelled. |
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| We were thrilled to make it to the falls and cool down by soaking our feet in the refreshing water. |
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| It didn't take long for Steve to take a swim in the beautiful pool. |
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| Karsyn loved the cool water on her legs. |
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| Jo climbed up to the second pool. |
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| Jo decided to come back to the first pool to take a swim. |
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| I was so excited to see a Motmot bird sitting in the tree. |
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| The Motmot's tail is unusual because it separates and looks like the bottom part is held together with a string looking thing. |
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| Jo is enjoying a small mango. |
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| As we were walking through the forest, we met some people that were carving different things on bamboo. This person is carving one that Jo bought for a souvenir. |
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| Karsyn said that this grapefruit drink that she had enjoyed at dinner was the best she had ever tasted. |
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| This King Fish was the best fish I have ever tasted! It had been caught earlier in the day. |
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| Dad's enjoying the conversation! |
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| The very steep driveway to our hotel perched on the hill. There was no place to park on top. If you drove a car up here there is no place to turn around so you would have to back the car down to the street. We decided it would be the smart thing to have Steve park the car on the road and walk up. |
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| A beautiful place with a wonderful view. Karsyn and Jo's room was on the top floor and dad, Steve and I were on the first level. |
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| Lush foliage surrounded the hotel |
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| Steve had a work out getting dad and I up and down the steep driveway to and from our hotel! |
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| Karsyn had a special technique when taking a drink of water. |
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| Grandpa and Karsyn waiting on the curb for a rental car. We rented three different cars during our trip. Two of them were exactly the same and the last one was the same but black instead of a gray color. |
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| The Trinidad and Tobago Flag |
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| I'll have to ask Steve the name of this tree. |
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| The Caroni Swamp Boat Ride |
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| A cute little girl riding in the front of the boat. |
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| We spotted a snake curled up in the tree as we passed under him. |
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| It was hard to see these two screech owls in the tree. |
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| Karsyn and Jo enjoyed the boat ride through the swamp. |
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| Our guide caught a crab to show us. |
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| Lots of mangroves in the swamp |
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| The biggest attraction on the boat tour was watching the scarlet ibis fly in and roost on mangrove islands in the middle of open lagoons. It is an amazing sight as thousand of birds flock in and turn the green trees into a vibrant red. We weren't allowed to get closer than a hundred yards so my pictures aren't the best. Steve got some good ones so I hope he posts them soon. |
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| The ibis gets this intense red color from it's diet of carotene from eating-shrimp, worms and fiddler and tree-climbing crabs. It takes about three years for their diet to replace the dark feathers with a brilliant crimson. |
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| We arrived at the airport around 5 AM and had a smoothie for breakfast. Jo and Karsyn took good care of us by helping us with our luggage. Steve flew to Grenada the night before to do a training session there. We want to thanks Steve for all the things he did to make our Trinidad and Tobago experiences so memorable and wonderful. |
