Friday 1st
February 2013.
Overnighted from
Barbados in calm seas to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago and it’s capital
and seaport of the Port Of Spain. It was sunny but humid day of about 29
degrees.
The two islands of
Trinidad and Tobago are the most southern islands in the Caribbean group and
are only seven miles off the coast of Venezuela and South America. The islands
are lush and tropical and generally of mountainous interiors. The total
population of the islands is 1.2 million and it’s capital of The Port Of Spain
128,000.
Our cruise ship was the
only ship in port that day. Apparantly not to many cruise ships venture so far
south as they only have a seven day turn around to return to their starting
port of Fort Laudedale.
We did a five hour land
excursion of the city and outlying districts of Santa Cruz and the beach area
of Maracus Bay on the opposite side of the island.
What a let down this
island is. Apart from a couple of new high rise hotel buildings the island ‘s
intrastructure generally, is dilapidated, unkept and grubby. The traffic is
horrendous and in a lot of places gridlocked. Everyone in Trinidad owns a car
or two and public transport is virtually non existant.
We were shown a street
of beautiful old colonial houses dating back to 1904 all of which were empty,
boarded up, and falling into a state of disrepair. The old parliament building
and Prime Minister’s residence were also in a similar condition. It appears
work had started on renovations, but had stopped some time ago.
We were also shown the
Brian Lara Cricket Stadium which appeared in good condition with paintings on
the walls surrounding the stadium of all the modern day West Indian Cricketing
greats.
Maracus Bay was a very
nice beach resort area and instead of selling fish and chips they sold “Bake
and Shark”, it looked appertising but we didn’t try it.
It was an interesting
and worth while trip, but it’s and island that we have now seen but would not
like to come back to.
We now have four days sailing before we reach
our first port of call of Fortaleza in South America
Hi Marilyn & Warwick,
ReplyDeleteNice pics and vivid descriptions of the places you have been to. Sounds like the only money spent in the Caribbean is on cricket. It's interesting to hear your comments on the standards in those parts of the world. There are some that are still classed as "third world". Glad you are enjoying yourselves and experiencing the local beverages. Things in Coffs are normal with no changes. Two weeks and we are off to Norfolk. Pleased we didn't book while the cyclone was working down the coast. Take care and we'll look forward to more pics and comments. Love Sonia & Bob