Sweet Tobago

Sweet Tobago, Much more than a jewel... Trinidad Express, January 25, 2003 THE real attraction of Tobago is not only in its fine sanded beaches, coralline banks, brochured waterfalls, endemic wildlife and mysterious tombs and forts but in the very people who still have managed to maintain a pastoral existence despite all the related activities of a tourism-based economy. Tobagonians have not yet relinquished their original lifestyles handed down through generations.

The village of Speyside along the windward coast is now one of the most recognised tourist destinations. Three large hotels accommodate travellers who expressly wish to patronise the dive tours offered off the coast. More than a dozen guest houses also do brisk business as a result of the many reefs within and without the bay and the exotic wildlife inhabiting the islets. Snorkelling and birdwatching have become the main activities of visitors to Speyside and business in the community pivots around this. Yet Speyside still exudes rusticity, an atmosphere borne out of long years of simple survival. It is this atmosphere that creates an "away from it all" feeling among visitors who just want to relax and do things at their own leisurely pace.

Cipriani Davidson was born in Speyside 78 years ago. At that time, it was only cocoa and coconut estates and everybody either worked on the estates or fished. The bridge that everyone now uses to cross the river was non-existent. "The river had more water in those days than it does now and we had a piece of stick to cross the river. Sometimes we felled a coconut trunk to bridge the banks. When the sea came right in at high tide we had to swim across." With this valiant and tolerant outlook on things that just had to be done, Davidson compares today's flourishing dive tour industry to the main occupation of boat owners decades ago. "When fishing was one of the main occupations of Speyside a truck used to come from Scarborough or Roxborough to transport the fish around the villages. A calabash full of jacks cost about 8 cents back then. Now fish is sold by the pound and it is about $5 a pound for those same jacks.

"There were large coastal boats coming in to Speyside too like the SS Tobago and the SS Trinidad. The estates peoples used to pick their cocoa and other produce for shipment to Trinidad. These boats also brought materials from Trinidad, supplying Kings Bay, Speyside, Charlotteville even Castara on the other side. Speyside had a large depot for this. Though fishing is still a major activity in Speyside, boats are more and more engaged by visitors to go out to Little Tobago or out among the reefs. These boats are now outfitted as glass-bottomed boats. Davidson remembers the days when glass-bottomed boxes were used to view the fish out among the reefs. "Boatmen used to nail up a box about two feet square and about knee high. The bottom was fitted with glass so that you could see anything through it. They used to fill the box with water and carry it out on the boat. When they reached the reef they would lean over the side and look in the box. Everybody could have seen all the fish swimming around the reef. It is easier now because everybody just has to look down through the bottom of the boat."

Davidson used to work on Little Tobago building water stands for the birds because there are no streams on the islet. "When the Bird of Paradise used to live on Little Tobago we had to put water for them to drink else they would have died in the dry season. Paw Paw and fig trees were planted for them so they had a regular food supply. When Hurricane Flora devastated Little Tobago and all the birds died I never returned. It was sad!" Dwight, known as Shortman, marvelled at the strength of the wind during the onslaught of Hurricane Flora. "The river seemed to be flowing backwards as the hurricane lashed Speyside and the sea was high as it came in. Even the rain water in the drain afterwards, instead of flowing out, the high waves made it run up the land. Can you imagine how it was for the birds out there?" Perhaps what visitors to Speyside and other parts of the island like most is the unhurried manner of the people. Everything is done at the individual's own pace, which suits visitors whose main intention is to relax and enjoy the ambience.

One Trinidadian, The Professor, now living in Tobago, relates how it took him quite some time to fall in with this lifestyle after the frenzied existence of city life. "I took a bus from Scarborough to Castara one afternoon, that is, after the bus arrived way past the scheduled time. I looked around, no one was flustered. Everyone was as calm and matter-of-fact as ever. When we reached a village along the way the driver got out and disappeared inside a house. In the meantime, other persons in the bus were either dropping off goods or receiving a hand of plantain or yam from kinsfolk who had just come from their garden. The others in the bus just sat comfortably talking to each other while waiting. After a full hour the driver returned, having finished giving his friend all the latest news from the village. This was the same story at each stop along the way. No one seemed to be in a hurry. "A couple more evenings of this and I realised that this was the lifestyle of the people. I was the only one giving myself stress over things that would be done anyway. Now I understand and have adapted somewhat." These are unique people who have adapted to the ambience of their natural surroundings and they welcome each visitor to enjoy this, like the birds and the bees.