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
