CaribbeanTrinidad & Tobago

Sailing to Tobago is a weird sensation

By October 4, 2018 No Comments
Sailing to Tobago

Sailing from Grenada to Trinidad is a relatively a simple process, since it is due south and you can usually do it in all wind angles. Tobago on the other hand sits southeast of Grenada and is tough with winds anything south of east. The other thing that makes both sails more challenging than other Caribbean sails is the current coming up from South America and flowing westward between Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago. We mad the 75 mile trip over night and it was amazing how much the current pushed us west when we started out. It seemed like we were compensating within 10 miles of leaving Grenada and by the halfway mark we were adjusting as much as 25 degrees. Then all of a sudden, we were out of the current. It was as if a conveyer belt was turned off and we had to readjust to a true heading for the southern tip of Tobago.

Now comes the part I wish I knew beforehand. I read you have to check into Scarborough, which was a tough three hours up wind and current, so that is what we did and arrived around noon. Turns out you can anchor at Store Bay of the small, but beautiful, Store Bay and then take a taxi or bus to town. Oh how I wish I knew that!!!! Not only would it have saved us the three hours, but the small boat anchorage in Scarborough is not very big (see the cover photo), 20-30 feet deep, and filled with local fishing boats. It was quite hard to find enough room to anchor and you do not want to go outside the anchorage or the officials will let you know about it (several very large ferries and freights might also when they clip your boat).

Tobago was a wonderful island to visit, but most of what I loved about it was all ashore. Just like its sister island, Trinidad, there are not a lot of cruising opportunities or bay you can anchor in unless it is calm out. I figure there might be five bays in total you can rely on. I think Store Bay is the best to base out of due to it being quite, having a great beach, some services are available, and best yet you can rent a car to see the island. Which is what we did.

So with that said I hope you join me each day as I take you to all the places we visited in out 7-10 days on the island of Tobago.

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