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Free & BrEasy - Goat Racing in Tobago



Tobago is a lovely green hilly island with lots of place names that sound familiar to English ears such as Scarborough, Plymouth and Richmond. The Scots and Welsh also had fun as places were called Speyside, Cambletown, Culloden Bay, Stonehaven Bay, Glamorgan and Pembroke. Even the Irish got in with Hillsborough Bay. No wonder we felt at ease in the tropical heat!

Arriving in Scarborough, the main port, we were advised by the port authority to anchor close in shore rather nearer to some fishing boats than we liked. After exchanging gesticulations and eventually a radio conversation with a neighbouring boat from Belgium, we realised that they meant, really close in shore. Ten minutes later we learnt why when an enormous ferry smartly executed a handbrake turn just where we were going to anchor and then backed quickly into docks like a foot into a shoe! No messing with these Trinidad and Tobago Ferry Captains.

Scarborough is a small but busy sea port which enjoys plenty of ferry traffic, mainly from Trinidad. There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken emporium, proudly waiting to greet the disgorged visitors although most of the KFC customers appeared to be school children intent on becoming obese. No non sugary drinks available! There is a lovely beach extending from the ferry port and above the town, Fort George stands still aiming its cannons out to sea to deter the Dutch and French who also ruled the island in its long history. We wandered around town and found that the only free wifi available was in the ferry building as long as you did not mind skyping with the queuing ferry passengers! When hunger called we found a local take away and enjoyed goat curry al fresco by the beach.

It was time to tour the island in a hire car. The lady in the car hire thought Roger looked liked Kenny Rodgers and immediately showed us Google images to prove it. She must have liked Kenny (or Rodger or both) as she gave us a good deal. We headed up to Buccoo by the sea and stopped at what appeared to be a pigmy horse racing stadium. The track was a 200 metre straight run past a stadium with proper pygmy traps at one end. This was the goat racing stadium. The video we were shown demonstrated that this was no light hearted joke. The jockeys ran with the goats attached on a rope but the goats were much faster than the jockeys so the winner was the fastest running jockey. Occasionally a goat would dismount its jockey and run away with lead trailing! Presumably the poor goats that did not win ended up in the curry. Just like any normal stadium, the races were accompanied by frantic betting. They also held land crab races but we suspected these were more for fun and betting.

A few bays up on the west side we found Englishman’s Bay. This is a totally unspoilt beach surrounded by coconut trees and forested hills. The only building was a bright blue wooden beach hut which was a restaurant. We ate lunch overlooking the gorgeous beech (Mahi Mahi and chips followed by cake and coffee!) and were entertained by a local gaudily coloured parrot that had decided that today’s left over’s looked good. The centre of the island is a rain forest reserve. In fact it’s the very first reserve of its kind having been protected in 1776 by a very far sighted Englishman. At one curve in the road we were stopped by a group of people craning their necks at the forest canopy. They had spotted a rare bird – the Common Putto which looked like a brown owl! We then took a muddy hike along a forest trail but were frustrated by the continuous bird noises overhead which we could not see through the dense foliage. To prove we were in jungle we passed two enormous snakes (Python or Anaconda?) which had been run over. We had to dissuade Marco from claiming their skins and meat as road kill!

After 3 days we left Scarborough to go ‘bay hopping’ up the coast on the west side. We soon found ourselves back in Englishman’s Bay but this time anchored off shore in this idyllic spot. At night it was so dark that we could see flashes of lights in the trees – were they Tobagoan fairies or luminescent fire flies? It was also Michael’s birthday so Marco cooked his world famous Jam Torte, we also made a Spanish Tortilla and Lemon Drizzle Cake and then gorged in celebration!

Our last port of call in Tobago was Charlotteville on the North tip. This turned out to be a delightful sleepy fishing village situated in a large bay with lots of snorkelling opportunities. We anchored in Pirates Bay and went by dinghy to Customs and Immigration but as we had spent all our TT dollars we had to ignore the little wooden bars that looked so welcoming.

It was time for yet another sad farewell as we motored off to start the 95 mile overnight passage to Grenada. We had to motor as two strands of the port shroud had broken even though they were renewed in Fiji only 7 months ago. This bit of gear failure has been added to Roger’s long list of tasks in Grenada including fixing the water maker and toilet pump and replacing the two starter batteries. A Captain’s life is never dull! After a bumpy ride we entered Port Louis Marina in St George’s Town, Grenada, on Saturday morning. Many of the World ARC fleet were on the pontoon to greet the boats tying up that morning and we warmly greeted all our old friends from the fleet most of whom we had not seen since Salvador. Suzanne and Nicky from World ARC were there to greet us with lovely smiles and ice cold rum punch. All was bliss! We had taken a grip on Free & Breasy as she raced to the finishing line and still have hold, just!

On a more sombre note, we learnt this week of the cyclone that has devastated the islands of Vanuatu which we very much enjoyed visiting last July. We gather that the death toll in Port Villa is already over 30. It’s another reminder of how precarious life is particularly if you live in an area exposed to tropical storms. We have been lucky enough to sail the three oceans without (at least so far) experiencing serious weather and whichever way the wind blows, we have a lot to be grateful for.


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