- Martha Commerford
Sunday 13 July 2014
Day 9
The alarm sounded at an unusually late 8.50am, allowing us a much appreciated lie-in on our final morning in the Tropikist hotel. A breakfast of pancakes, fruit and cereal ensued followed by a morning by the pool, with a few girls falling at the final hurdle and burning in the 32 degree waterside. At last, after frantic packing and searching for lost possessions, the teams waved goodbye to the myriad of custard yellow and orange paint that decorated the resort and sent our final farewells to the hotel. Hot yet in good spirits we found ourselves walking to the airport. After the ordeal of checking in our bags we were rewarded with pizza, which was appreciatively eaten on the floor in the airport terminal. The 20 minute flight provided an extremely pleasant contrast to the sickness-inducing ferry and before we knew it we were back in the Port of Spain terminal that we had arrived in 8 days previously. The sparsely populated airport was greatly improved with the discovery of a free wifi zone, and by 6.30 in the evening all the girls were making their way to the Caribbean Airlines flight back to London Gatwick. This final leg of the journey marked the end of an incredible trip that I'm sure all of us will remember in years to come. A lot of fun was had over the course of the week as well and everyone has experienced huge improvements in their favoured sports, which will be invaluable when we play next season. The teachers and team-mates alike have been kind and entertaining throughout the trip, providing an encouraging and supportive atmosphere on and off the pitch and a great time was had by all.
Saturday 12 July 2014
Day 8
With the rain pouring and the clouds looming the day ahead didn't look promising, however the teachers quickly turned that around with a shopping spree. This turned into a desperate mass of girls attempting to gain one of the limited Trinidad and Tobago t-shirts. We then proceeded to make our way to Pigeon Point beach, which was like all the others- a hot sun blazing down on the sandy white beach at blue clear sea. A half day of sunbathing and swimming was enough to off put anyone from leaving our last beach to make our way to the last match. Nonetheless we proceeded the to board the stuffy coaches and prepare the right team mentality to win the final matches. The hockey team came together once more to play a great match, on the challenging grassy terrain, to have an outstanding 3-2 win against the locals, with goals from Sophia and Dallia. As out final night approached we had a mad 5 minute dash into Penny Savers before a wonderful 4 course meal with an array of cuisines from various places. We ended the lovely night with a hilarious prize giving with a number of different gifts.
- Scarlett MacKay
Day 7
Today commenced with a laid back10am start (except for those summer-bod conscious who joined Miss Monahan for a 7:30 am run). That was if you weren't woken up earlier by the torrential downpour that is typical of the Tobago rainy season, which managed to knock down some sun umbrellas and upturn some sun loungers.
Great. Exactly what we needed on the day we were meant to spend entirely at sea on a boat.
But nothing can stop Mrs Foster's army, so with a mere half an hours delay we took off on the coach to the glass bottom boat.
The tour by boat (captained by Michael; a friendly guy with a sailors hat and a wetsuit) had glass on the bottom (surprise surprise) through which you could see all sorts of coral and fish, a favourite of mine being Trinidad and Tobago's national fish whose scales were the national colours red, black and white. Our first stop was the coral reef, where those who weren't scared off by Michael's stories of Tobago's sharks proceeded to jump into the sea for a snorkel. Even Miss Monahan, who was shaken by a witty shark prank, took the plunge into the deep unknown. The deep unknown was not actually that deep and we all saw a huge variety of fish and coral; a colourful, beautiful sight.
The glass bottom tour then took us to Pelican Island and Nylon Bay which were both stunning areas of shallow water in the middle of the sea. A great opportunity for some cute group snaps.
Thankfully by now the weather was clearing and we headed to 'No-mans-land', a secluded peninsula where we were made a delicious barbecue on the beach. With a few (non alcoholic) 'Pum Runches' in hand, Abby and Esmé took to the speakers and the afternoon was spent happily dancing on the beach to some classic tunes. The dancing spirit did not stop on the boat journey back, and under the guidance of DJ-Handsome we danced and 'whined' the whole way. The teachers really showed us how to move.
That evening we dined at Coco Reef hotel; a luxury in comparison to our previous experience at Pollo's Chicken. The food was amazing, varying from lobster salad to shrimp curry, and was only made better by the stunning seaside view. However the evening was not over yet and on our walk home we found ourselves in the middle of another torrential downpour. The heavens opened; some tried to run but to no avail. We were all soaked to the bone when we got back to our rooms. Despite this, the weather may have dampened our hair but not our moods; it was another great day.
Caterina Strada
Day 6
Day 6
Today we returned to the beach adjacent to the restaurant where we'd spent the previous evening. Arriving mid morning with the sun blazing, undeterred by the lack of sun loungers a long mornings roasting was underway. And thanks to a feeble national currency the teachers we able to set up a free bar with unlimited soft drinks and ice cream, indulged in by all. If all this couldn't cool us down, diving through white horses and and blissfully floating in the opal sea would. They say that all that glistens ain't gold, no, it certainly isn't; in fact it turned out today it's most likely to be a shade of scarlet, described by some who "just don't burn" as "brown". A quick comparison with Mrs. Foster's back soon sorted the incinerated from the merely singed. At lunch we feasted on table cloth sized wraps folded around spicey chicken, veg and mango sauce before an afternoon dip, excursions to a rickety souvenir shack and more UV ray exposure.
A quick beachside shower and change and we headed to the pitches for the afternoon's matches. Sitting in the cricket stands we watched our hockey pitch slowly emerge from the depths of the outfield thanks to 2 men, a rope and a can of white paint. The opposition soon appeared, all 7 of them. But then the boys turned up too, and there were 11. We soon realised that our tactics had to be altered if we were to hold our own against the boys. We fought hard against the opposition and after a tense first half ending with us taking the lead by 2-1, the opposition managed to claw back another goal, resulting in us finishing with a respectable draw.
Today we returned to the beach adjacent to the restaurant where we'd spent the previous evening. Arriving mid morning with the sun blazing, undeterred by the lack of sun loungers a long mornings roasting was underway. And thanks to a feeble national currency the teachers we able to set up a free bar with unlimited soft drinks and ice cream, indulged in by all. If all this couldn't cool us down, diving through white horses and and blissfully floating in the opal sea would. They say that all that glistens ain't gold, no, it certainly isn't; in fact it turned out today it's most likely to be a shade of scarlet, described by some who "just don't burn" as "brown". A quick comparison with Mrs. Foster's back soon sorted the incinerated from the merely singed. At lunch we feasted on table cloth sized wraps folded around spicey chicken, veg and mango sauce before an afternoon dip, excursions to a rickety souvenir shack and more UV ray exposure.
A quick beachside shower and change and we headed to the pitches for the afternoon's matches. Sitting in the cricket stands we watched our hockey pitch slowly emerge from the depths of the outfield thanks to 2 men, a rope and a can of white paint. The opposition soon appeared, all 7 of them. But then the boys turned up too, and there were 11. We soon realised that our tactics had to be altered if we were to hold our own against the boys. We fought hard against the opposition and after a tense first half ending with us taking the lead by 2-1, the opposition managed to claw back another goal, resulting in us finishing with a respectable draw.
- Lucy Beard
Friday 11 July 2014
Day 5
It was our first morning in the Tropikist hotel, and already at 7am it was boiling hot. We started the day with breakfast overlooking the ocean, with pancakes and omelettes made to order. Our first activity of the day was an island tour of Tobago. Our guide, monica was extremely funny and informed us about things like the history of Tobago, the culture and the people. we we able to stop at various places where there was beautiful views and we were able to take pictures. After a bit more of the tour we got out of the coaches and went on a very short walk through the rainforest. we arrived at Argyle Waterfalls, and all went swimming in the deep pool beneath the falls, where Mrs Foster took the initiative to climb up a rope onto the rocks and jump in. This was immediately followed by almost all of the girls, and miss Snooks, who did a massive cannonball. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean, and had a delicious meal of chicken and rice. Then after a shower and a change back at the hotel we all went out to dinner at the Seahorse Restaurant where the food was amazing.
- Ellie Fritz and Chloe Yates
Day 4
Our day began in the very early hours of the morning to the shrill sounds of the 3:15am alarms or, more probably, miss fosters firm knock following failure to awaken.
We dragged our bags lethargically down the fire exit as it proved the more fool proof option in comparison to the not-fully-functioning lift. We were met by a sea of tired faces and less than becoming combinations of pyjamas and flip flops crowding the lobby floors. There were cheese sandwiches in tupperware's supplied by the wonderful cascadia as a breakfast option for the more courageous amongst us.
The clock struck 3:30 and we waved a sleepy goodbye to the ominous gates of cascadia and passed our neighbours, the infamous St Anns psychiatric ward. We arrived at the ferry port and eventually made it up to the air conditioned departure lounge only to be greeted by the magnificent ferry-mart which provided us with both a nutritious and delicious breakfast of anything from ring pops to Pringles.
At 6:30 we boarded the ferry with priority status meaning we got the creme de la creme of seating choices. However no one was prepared for what was to be in store, the ferry journey was very choppy to say the least and the bathrooms were a landscape of green faces and sick people dotted around. The rockiness of the boat even got to Miss snooks, much to mrs fosters amusement who even managed to take a picture for memories sake.
With the breeze in our hair we rode through Tobago in our new coach until we arrived at a yellow vision, more commonly known as the Tropikist hotel. Quickly and efficiently we were assigned rooms and shuffled swiftly back to the lobby to embark on our upcoming beach lunch. However Tropikist had confused us with a school of young adolescent males, also playing sport in Tobago and it came to light that we were infact in the wrong rooms.
Luckily the problem solving attitude of our teachers prevailed and we made it to our idyllic beach lunch just in the knick of time. We arrived at the Blue Haven hotel to be met by a beautiful array of food which we ate far too quickly before relaxing on the warm sand of the beach below. The afternoon was spent waltzing back and forth from the bar to the beach sipping virgin piña coladas.
Excitement was omnipresent as we were told that we had 100$ to spend at Pennysavers. Baskets and trollies were filled with everything from macaroni and cheese to whatever small selection of fruit was on offer. Our goodies were scanned and bagged and we walked contentedly back to the bus.
We arrived back at our old friend Tropikist hotel and lounged by the tranquil pool for what seemed like an eternity. Somewhere in this time pizza appeared, as if by magic and then disappeared just as fast. Our teachers stood their ground and eventually managed to secure us rooms for the night on the more desirable side of the hotel. We lugged our bags to our designated rooms to be met by a beautiful sea view and the sun set on our first eventful day in Tobago.
We dragged our bags lethargically down the fire exit as it proved the more fool proof option in comparison to the not-fully-functioning lift. We were met by a sea of tired faces and less than becoming combinations of pyjamas and flip flops crowding the lobby floors. There were cheese sandwiches in tupperware's supplied by the wonderful cascadia as a breakfast option for the more courageous amongst us.
The clock struck 3:30 and we waved a sleepy goodbye to the ominous gates of cascadia and passed our neighbours, the infamous St Anns psychiatric ward. We arrived at the ferry port and eventually made it up to the air conditioned departure lounge only to be greeted by the magnificent ferry-mart which provided us with both a nutritious and delicious breakfast of anything from ring pops to Pringles.
At 6:30 we boarded the ferry with priority status meaning we got the creme de la creme of seating choices. However no one was prepared for what was to be in store, the ferry journey was very choppy to say the least and the bathrooms were a landscape of green faces and sick people dotted around. The rockiness of the boat even got to Miss snooks, much to mrs fosters amusement who even managed to take a picture for memories sake.
With the breeze in our hair we rode through Tobago in our new coach until we arrived at a yellow vision, more commonly known as the Tropikist hotel. Quickly and efficiently we were assigned rooms and shuffled swiftly back to the lobby to embark on our upcoming beach lunch. However Tropikist had confused us with a school of young adolescent males, also playing sport in Tobago and it came to light that we were infact in the wrong rooms.
Luckily the problem solving attitude of our teachers prevailed and we made it to our idyllic beach lunch just in the knick of time. We arrived at the Blue Haven hotel to be met by a beautiful array of food which we ate far too quickly before relaxing on the warm sand of the beach below. The afternoon was spent waltzing back and forth from the bar to the beach sipping virgin piña coladas.
Excitement was omnipresent as we were told that we had 100$ to spend at Pennysavers. Baskets and trollies were filled with everything from macaroni and cheese to whatever small selection of fruit was on offer. Our goodies were scanned and bagged and we walked contentedly back to the bus.
We arrived back at our old friend Tropikist hotel and lounged by the tranquil pool for what seemed like an eternity. Somewhere in this time pizza appeared, as if by magic and then disappeared just as fast. Our teachers stood their ground and eventually managed to secure us rooms for the night on the more desirable side of the hotel. We lugged our bags to our designated rooms to be met by a beautiful sea view and the sun set on our first eventful day in Tobago.
- Abby Adler
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Thursday 10 July 2014
Day 3
The day started off with a an early 7 am wake up call, breakfast, a mixtures of traditional Caribbean food and English classics was served and cleared alway quickly by the fine staff at the Cascadia hotel.
We then set off (after 15 minutes of pushing the students to leave the free wifi in the lobby) on our tour of the island of Trinidad. Ali, tour guide extraordinaire showed us round some of Trinidad's most famous sites such as beautiful botanical gardens, the magnificent 7 buildings (which, according to Ali, we're not so magnificent). Ali's soothing voice teamed with the exotic Trinidadian backdrop spurred us on for the day.
Ali, along with the help of our two brilliant coach drivers then took us to the Starlift steel pan workshop where we listen a cool calypso rendition to Abba's Dancing Queen. Everyone was dancing and learning both how to play some steel drums as well as how to 'Whynd' (a tradition Caribbean dance that inspired Miley Cyrus's famous VMA performance).
Hopping back into the fun bus we rode onwards to the beach. Beach! Students jumped and revelled at the first opportunity at tanning, sand and the sea. We took advantage of the sun loungers, ordering 42 of them and enjoyed an afternoon of glorious sun dotted with short intervals of torrential rain.
Lunchtime rolled around, the signs on every stall pointed to 'bake and shark' we're too prominent to ignore. We had to try some. At first the prospect of eating shark seemed a daunting challenge, however after seeing it deep fried and covered in chips, eating sharks was becoming more and more appetising. So we ate and ate and ate until our food baby's were as big as Mrs Fosters real baby.
Sticky and sandy we stepped back onto our fun bus and headed home to Casacadia for a good night of sleep and food.
- Priya Matharu
We then set off (after 15 minutes of pushing the students to leave the free wifi in the lobby) on our tour of the island of Trinidad. Ali, tour guide extraordinaire showed us round some of Trinidad's most famous sites such as beautiful botanical gardens, the magnificent 7 buildings (which, according to Ali, we're not so magnificent). Ali's soothing voice teamed with the exotic Trinidadian backdrop spurred us on for the day.
Ali, along with the help of our two brilliant coach drivers then took us to the Starlift steel pan workshop where we listen a cool calypso rendition to Abba's Dancing Queen. Everyone was dancing and learning both how to play some steel drums as well as how to 'Whynd' (a tradition Caribbean dance that inspired Miley Cyrus's famous VMA performance).
Hopping back into the fun bus we rode onwards to the beach. Beach! Students jumped and revelled at the first opportunity at tanning, sand and the sea. We took advantage of the sun loungers, ordering 42 of them and enjoyed an afternoon of glorious sun dotted with short intervals of torrential rain.
Lunchtime rolled around, the signs on every stall pointed to 'bake and shark' we're too prominent to ignore. We had to try some. At first the prospect of eating shark seemed a daunting challenge, however after seeing it deep fried and covered in chips, eating sharks was becoming more and more appetising. So we ate and ate and ate until our food baby's were as big as Mrs Fosters real baby.
Sticky and sandy we stepped back onto our fun bus and headed home to Casacadia for a good night of sleep and food.
- Priya Matharu
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