full moon and turtles

on easter weekend i decided to do an overnight hike with my friends françois and domingo from Blanchisseusse to Gran Tacarib beach and back.

the trail follows the north coast of Trinidad and connects the village of blanchisseusse to matelot, over 30km away. there has been some discussion of linking the villages with a road which would complete the country's road network, however other projects and perhaps the voices of opponents have for now kept the project at bay. what thankfully remains is an amazing trail which weaves along the coastline.

typically the trail follows the forest for a while and then suddenly pops out onto yet another idyllic and (sometimes) deserted sandy beach. we of course took our time to enjoy these areas, stopping to take off our shoes and crack open a coconut or two.

we stopped for lunch and a swim at paria bay where numerous families had come by boat and set up tents for the holiday weekend. after lunch we continued up to paria falls, a gorgeous area for swimming.

after another two hours of walking we reached our final destination, a long sand beach named Gran Tacarib. We set up our camp on the beach, ate dinner, drank some rum and waited for night to fall. i was certainly enjoying the hiking - it was great to cover a longer distance and it felt good to carry a pack, even if it was the lightest overnight pack i have every carried!

Around 10PM the moon was coming up when François and i spotted the first leatherback turtle. it is now nesting season for the turtles and they drag their cumbersome bodies onto the beach where they search for a suitable place to bury their eggs in the sand. once the turtle had begun laying eggs we were able to approach her - almost 2m long and quite impressive, especially by moonlight!

the next day we returned the same way we had come - in order to continue to matelot we would have had to arrange return transportation. perhaps next time.

driving back to port of spain on easter sunday we stopped for a quick bake and shark at maracas bay and were astonished to see the beach soooo busy.