We are awakened once again with beautiful sunrise photo opportunities, and Steve takes full advantage. So, we start this post out with six photos of the constantly changing sky, all taken within twenty minutes.
We are approaching Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, which is on the island of Trinidad, the much larger and more urbanized island. Trinidad is just under seven miles off of Venezuela, and, as is that country, the happy recipient of large reserves of oil and natural gas beneath the surface. We see evidence of the industry as we get closer to the port itself.
Rain is predicted today, and, sure enough, as we approach the harbor, we have a brief shower.
We arrive right on time, and, as we are eating breakfast at Waves Grill, we hear lively Caribbean music played by a band welcoming us to their country. What a happy introduction to our day. Our excursion, Caroni Bird Sanctuary, is to begin at 9:45am, but already we have experienced showers, and more are predicted. We will just have to wait and see what develops.
We meet in Insignia Lounge to turn in our tickets for bus passes. There are a lot of folks taking this tour, and our group is on bus 25. As we head through the cruise terminal, a Trinidadian band is playing for us. What a nice welcome!
We head for the parking lot, board, and hit the road. Soon we are on an expressway – in the rain. The traffic is heavy and everybody drives on the left, denoting that this was once a British possession. We truck right along at the 100-kilometer (65 mph) speed limit on the six-lane highway. Both sides of the road are heavily industrialized. It reminds Steve of the New Jersey Turnpike, complete with flyover bridges – but with palm trees and everyone driving on the left.
This first impression is accurate. In the Wikipedia article on the country we read: “Trinidad and Tobago has the 5th highest GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP) in the Americas for a sovereign state after the United States, Canada, The Bahamas and Guyana as of 2022. It is recognised by the World Bank as a high-income economy. Unlike most Caribbean nations and territories, which rely heavily on tourism, the economy is primarily industrial with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals; much of the nation’s wealth is derived from its large reserves of oil and natural gas.
As noted above, they drive on the left, a heritage of having been a British possession. In fact, the history is altogether pretty interesting: “The island of Trinidad was inhabited for centuries by Indigenous peoples before becoming a colony in the Spanish Empire, following the arrival of Christopher Columbus, in 1498. Spanish governor Jose Maria Chacon surrendered the island to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonists more times than any other island in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago were ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens as separate states and unified in 1889. Trinidad and Tobago obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976” (quote taken from Wikipedia). By the way, the Courlander colonists referenced in the Wikipedia quote came from The Duchy of Courlander, who occupied the area which is modern day … Latvia!
Okay, we’ll return to the present. Before proceeding, perhaps a few sentences concerning Caroni Swamp (the Caroni Bird Sanctuary is located within the Caroni Swamp) is in order, taken from their website: “The Caroni Swamp is a 12,000-acre estuarine system of mangrove forest and herbaceous marsh, interrupted by numerous channels, and brackish and saline lagoons, and with extensive intertidal mudflats on the seaward side. It is a highly productive system that provides food and protection and is a nursery for marine and freshwater species.
“The Caroni Swamp runs along the banks of the Caroni River also contains fresh water and saltwater marshes and is also known as a bird sanctuary. The central section of the acreage is designated as a wildlife sanctuary and is the home of Trinidad and Tobago’s national bird, the Scarlet Ibis. The Caroni Swamp is the major roosting place for the Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus reber) and is also the home of over 100 avian species.”
Within twenty minutes, we are at the entrance to the bird sanctuary. The rain, which had stopped, returns in earnest not one minute after we disembark the bus.
Fortunately, we take refuge under a small pavilion. Within just a few minutes, the rain quickly tapers off, as it so often does in the tropics. Everybody is actually laughing at this unfortunate weather, and spirits are high. After the guides bail out our boat, a flat-bottomed green fiberglass-coated wooden boat with a 50-hp outboard engine, we all board. There are about twenty or so in our group, all dressed, as best we could, for the rain. The temperature is in the low 80s.
The boat leaves the dock, and the rain returns, though not as heavy as fifteen minutes ago. But it is steady this time. Cathy only has Steve’s baseball cap to protect her, and Steve has his white Oceania windbreaker. Most everyone else has ponchos and hats, but in minutes, we are all pretty soaked. But this is a good group, and no one whines. This rain is not totally unexpected, and the scenery is stunning. We are all determined to make the best of it.
Our guide is Victor, and his accent leads us to believe he is from India. Very friendly and very observant, as you would expect of a bird sanctuary guide. Unfortunately, his thick accent makes it difficult to understand him when he gives the names of birds and other wildlife we spot, but somehow it doesn’t really seem to matter.
For the next two hours, we explore this wonderful world of water and trees. As with any tour where the emphasis is on sighting wildlife, there is no telling what we will and won’t see. Steve, without any real knowledge, thinks that the rain is discouraging the birds from flying around. Whether that is the reason or not, we don’t see all that many. When Victor spots one, everyone begins madly snapping pictures, even if the birds are barely visible in the woods. Steve learns immediately that his career as a National Geographic photographer will never happen, puts the camera away for long periods, only to be unable to resist the frustrating exercise of trying to snap a good picture of those birds we do see on the fly.
Besides the wildlife, the swamp itself is fascinating and provides a peaceful, interesting ride through an environment we have never experienced. The thousands of red, black and red mangrove trees (three separate types) lining the banks of the water create a unique experience, and the light rain actually enhances it. Because the trees aren’t moving, Steve concentrates on them as a photo subject. We will now let the photos substitute for words.
The rain tapers off around 11:00am and stops completely at 11:20. We enter some of the wider and more open portions of the swamp, and it warms up quickly. Victor keeps his narrative going:
- There was an attempt to begin some form of formal agriculture back in the 1920s, but it did not work out. [Perhaps this is why we see abandoned concrete structures that would have been footings for docks and whatnot throughout our tour.]
- The scarlet ibis is the main attraction, but there are 183 other species of birds in the sanctuary.
He points out a small island to us: “Every day, around 5pm, around 500 scarlet ibises roost in the trees on this island.” Hmmm, thanks for letting us know, Victor, think the soaking wet guests. At this point, all of us take it all in stride.
At 12:15pm, we arrive back where we started, and the buses are waiting. It has been a truly memorable tour through a beautiful, interesting and certainly new-to-us ecology. We say our goodbyes, board the bus, and head back to Port of Spain. Once again, we are impressed with what a bustling commercial and industrial city this is.
We arrive back at the pier at 12:45pm, and the terminal is full of vendors selling souvenirs and passengers buying them. The talented Trinidadian band, many of whose members are quite young, are playing, and there are dancers as well. It is really a very wonderful way to end our visit to the island of Trinidad. We head upstairs, and spend some time on our veranda listening to the music below and now watching two guys on huge stilts performing – even dancing. They make it look as if they were born on them.
We head for Terrace Café because the Grand Dining Room is closed. It is utterly mobbed. Not only are there no empty tables, but the buffet is so crowded that, even if we could sit down at a table, the chaos there would have dissuaded us to stay. We then make our way out to Waves Grill, with similar results. With yesterday’s fiasco still fresh in our minds, we quickly abandon Waves as well and end up going down to Deck 5 and eating tiny (and very delicious) sandwiches at Barrista’s. This is not good, and Steve is determined to write about this un-Oceania-like service in the mid-cruise comments survey we all have been asked to fill out.
We return to our room. Steve heads out to our veranda for Sailaway, which is scheduled for 2:30pm. We are leaving so early because we have to travel 1,454 nautical miles to reach our next port of call, Santorem, Brazil, which is several hundred miles up the Amazon River.
Because of the early departure, Cruise Director Gary has planned a party on the pool deck for that time. The Insignia Show Band will be playing from 2 to 3pm. But heavy weather appears to be imminent. A rain storm is passing over the city, and will hit almost precisely at 2. The photo that begins this post was taken five minutes shows the storm over Port of Spain and heading our way.
It no doubt kills the party, but the heavy weather is fun to watch as we pull away from the dock. By 2:30pm, rain is pouring down, and thunder can be heard as well. Well, it is rainy season in the Caribbean, so perhaps this is a fitting end to being in this region until we return after our week in the Amazon.
First we watch the rest of an Elvis movie from the 60s: Clambake, or Clam Fritters or something like that. It isn’t as soporific as the previous one we watched, Blue Hawaii, and Elvis doesn’t sing every five minutes. In other words, it’s watchable. At 3:45, Steve heads for Oceania at Sea, which is open from 4 to 7. If someone is having computer or internet problems, help can be found there, and there are half a dozen PCs available for those who need them.
He’s first in line, and a lovely young Brazilian woman named Luana is the techy. He’s there for an hour, and she does manage to get the email working on his phone. She’s much more familiar with Microsoft than Apple products, but what she lacks in pure technical knowledge she more than makes up for it with patience, persistence and a pleasant manner. During Steve’s help session, she helps many others at the same time. She was supposed to end her contract in November, but a lack of someone to take her place has made it necessary to extend her contract until January. Even Steve can tell that she is disappointed, and is anxious to go home. But she is a trooper, and her attitude about it all is very impressive.
When he returns, we both watch one of the enrichment lectures, this one on the history of the Caribbean. It is excellent, and we learn a great deal from this excellent 45-minute, well-researched and well-presented lecture.
We then tune into the channel that shows what the bridge crew sees by means of a stationary camera. It also gives statistics, and we see that the ship is traveling at 17.9 knots per hour. That is at least 2 knots faster than normal, and the combination of the speed and ocean conditions creates some very noticeable “motion of the ocean.” We are on our way to one of the most unique areas of our planet, and one that is becoming increasingly critical to preserve in its present condition with climate change on the horizon. But it will take some time to get there, and we look forward to our visit with eager anticipation.
