Little Tobago Bird Island
Yesterday morning I left a sleepy Charlotteville village with one of the few busses heading out of town on a Sunday. After just 15 minutes I arrived on the opposite coast in what should be the ultimate place of divers and bird lovers. Not that I would know, but I am willing to learn 🙂
Just after arriving, a friendly fisherman offered me a ride to “Little Tobago” – the bird island. I had checked prices and ways in my guidebook, and his offer sounded fair. So after checking into a guesthouse and buying some food and water (there is nothing to get at the small island), I was sailed there in a small blue boat by Roy the fisherman in underpants and a warn-out “I LOVE NY” t-shirt. His friends call him Fatboy, I was told later that evening. And Roy would come back and get me four hours later.
Little Tobago is a beautiful place, and it was nice walking along the small paths hearing sounds and watching birds everywhere. I tried to catch a few of them on the small video spiced up with some “Tony Allen” background music :-). Don’t worry if you can’t hear my voice. I don’t say anything interesting.
After crisscrossing the island, I took a swim by a reef there. Roy had provided me with some snorkeling equipment, and though it was difficult because I had forgotten my contact lenses, it was an amazing experience to get a glimpse of the world down under. With thousands of small colorful fish following each other and some big blue ones going against the crowd. On the way back, Roy stopped by “Goats Island” (an even smaller island) where I jumped in and had a look down at the enormous reef. Waaau.
I definitely need to do some more snorkeling or diving some day.
And just to finish up on the day, I ended it outside a bar by the sea where I had a cold beer talking to the extremely friendly locals here. A am continually amazed by the relaxed atmosphere and how much you need to slow down in order to enjoy it fully. An old man on the street actually said to me: “Hey man. You look busy” commenting smilingly on my (apparently) quite focused walk to a restaurant. “You should relax, man. You are in Paradise:-)!”
