Two Trinidadians share their experiences of Tobago when they return to the land of their birth after two years.
Julie Baker was born and grew up in Pointe-à-Pierre. She worked at Amnesty International Secretariat in London. After her children were born, she became a primary school teacher, and retired in 2019 after nearly 30 years. She is now married to Tim Baker-Bartholomew, an actor and writer, with three boys of his own. With grown up children, their shared interests are birding and gardening. Baker is a stained-glass artist. She is the daughter of author Richard ffrench (A Guide to the Birds of TT)
Tobago is my happy place. I got married on Stonehaven beach in 2008, and Tim and I have been back nearly every year since then, until the pandemic hit.
Tobago is where we came during school holidays, often staying at the Turpin’s beach houses in Charlotteville. I have wonderful memories of family time, swimming and snorkelling at Lovers Bay (which our family called Pink Beach). We limed with the village children. We trekked to waterfalls and had outings to St Giles Islands and Little Tobago with my dad. I also hiked the length of Tobago three times, in my teen years and early 20s, and came here several times when my own kids were small. Lately I have been a keen birder, alongside my photographer husband, becoming more familiar with the wonderful birds that I so took for granted when I was young.
[caption id="attachment_936527" align="alignnone" width="480"] Julie Baker and Tim Baker-Bartholomew in their happy place, Tobago. -[/caption]
In 2019 when I retired, one of my first thoughts was that now we would be able to come to Tobago to stay for longer than the one or two weeks afforded by school holidays. Bad timing! We tried to book for both 2020 and 2021, and both times our flights were cancelled, the borders remained closed. This time, we planned some other excursions rather than risk being disappointed a third time. So we went first to Guyana via Barbados (our BA flight on December 31 to Tobago had been cancelled) on a birding trip-of-a-lifetime, and then came to Tobago on January 16. How glorious it feels to be here!
Tobago seems to have spruced up since we were last here – the airport has been freshly painted, and we were wowed by the spacious new Pennysavers at Carnbee. Of course, the roads are still entertaining with their dips and bumps. Over the Main Ridge at Roxborough, in one section, the entire road appears to have slid about a metre down the hill! The island seems extra quiet, with less traffic, and none of the Carnival build-up fetes. We are impressed by how conscientious everyone is about mask-wearing, temperature-checking, hand-sanitising. Puts us in the UK to shame.
We booked a cabin at Erasmus Cove just beyond Parlatuvier. Oh. Wow. What a find! A simple but comfortable wooden cabin, with better Wi-Fi than we have at home, the most gorgeous breeze flowing through, and a view over Bloody Bay. Frigatebirds drift by. Parrots squawk in the hills. A ruby-topaz hummingbird just below the ver
