Pictures & Videos!

Here are pictures from the Trinidad & Tobago trip:

• All Photos - 239 Photos
• Abridged Album - 72 Photos

And some videos on the right of music from Trinidad & Tobago!

Last Day in Tobago

You know it's time to go when you start developing a heat rash. After 8 days in Trinidad and Tobago of beautiful weather, wonderful people, and a joyous wedding, I was ready to go home.

The last day was filled with laying by the pool and reading, first in my villa and then in villa 3. The stragglers had to get moved around as new guests and another wedding crew was coming in. Lisa and Todd, friends of Siobhan, and I hung out together. They were kind enough to treat me to lunch with their remaining groceries and we chatted throughout the day.

We then shared a taxi with Siobhan's sister and her family as we were all on the same flight back to Trinidad and then back to Newark.

When we arrived at the airport, there was a cavalcade of black vehicles and a group of musicians. As we were enjoying the music, we learned the prime minister had just gotten into the car. She's a woman too! So cool!

At the Trinidad airport, we enjoyed a KFC dinner and poked around the duty free shops (had to buy my obligatory magnet - I buy one for every country I've been to) and I got upgraded to first class! Cyn for the win!

I'm sorry I missed Ryan and Siobhan who came down to my villa to say goodbye last night, but I fell asleep super early. I will see you both back in NY and congratulations on your marriage! I had an amazing time in Ryan's home country and meeting both your family and friends!

Ryan - I will see you back at work just over the cubicle wall. Can't wait to get Trini food for lunch!

Sans Allison

So today is the first day without Allison who is back in New York and at work. Trinidad and Tobago is definitely not the same.

I started the day off with diving with Niall and Rhian who are Ryan's cousins and Chris, Ryan's friend. We got picked up by the diveshop and headed to the Maverick which is a wreck dive. It was a car ferry that was deliberately sunk in 1996 to create an artificial reef. We saw turtles, octopus, and all sorts of fish as we entered the car park area. Below the ferry, we also saw a cobia fish that looked like a shark.

This was my deepest dive yet as we went down about 95 feet. I was sucking my air as I was a little nervous and had to ascend earlier than the others. Niall and Rhian are certified instructors with about 1,000 dives each.

At our second dive, we did a drift dive where you flow with the current and we float along Flying Reef. Here we saw rays, barracuda, turtles, lobster, and even a nurse shark! This was my second shark siting, the first being in Bali.

After our dives, I headed back to my villa and ordered villa service. I had a yummy chicken roti that got my hands all yellow but was so good. I ended up napping and reading all day, soaking in as much of the villa/infinity pool I can.

Liming on the beach

Today was relatively uneventful. Our villa mates had left for Trinidad and Allison and I headed to the beach where many of Ryan's family and friends were liming which means hanging out and drinking.

We had the beach practically to ourselves and we just enjoyed everyone's company and hanging out in the water. Some folks were leaving today so we said some goodbyes.

Grafton Beach, Tobago

Allison and I had pubfare at a local beach bar for lunch and headed back to our villa as Allison had to get ready for her flight. Lucky for me, I have two more days in Trinidad and Tobago!

We were invited by Ryan's cousins for some grilling and dinner at their villa. Ryan's parents, brother and his family all joined for dinner as well. Again, we were liming for hours and enjoyed the company before Allison had to leave for the airport.

Allison was an awesome travel buddy and wedding date. She could chat with anyone and take care of any child. She even helped with the cooking tonight when Ryan's cousin was trying to make marinade and pepper jelly. I feel really lucky that Ryan said I could bring a friend. Hope you have a safe trip back!!!

Glass Bottom Boat

The day after the wedding, we had breakfast with all the guests of Stonehaven. We were surprised so many were up so early, but most of us were hungry from all the dancing.

Most of the guests headed down to the beach, but Allison and I opted for naps back at our villa. Today we were going to go on a glass bottom boat ride that Ryan and Siobhan had arranged for all of us.

The glass bottom boat left from Pigeon Point beach and had a strip of glass in the middle of the boat. We sailed over Buccoo Reef discovered by Cecil Anthony who was from Buccoo village. The reef is a semicircle and we saw trumpet fish, eel, sting rays, and lots of parrotfish.

At one point, we were able to jump out and snorkel where we saw more of the same. Afterwards, we went to the Nylon Pool where it is about 3-4 feet deep in the middle of the ocean!!!! We were not standing on sand, but rather decomposed coral. They served us rum punch while we waded in the water.

Nylon Pool

We returned to our villa and enjoyed a few Caribe beers before meeting Juanita (a colleague) and her husband, and Deidre and Liz (Siobhan's triathlon friends) at the villa restaurant. I had pork ribs and Allison had chicken cordon bleu again.

We ended up crashing for the night as we were so tired. As Jonathan, Ryan's cousin/best man says, we're "the coolest aunties" as we play and help take care of the children!

Ryan and Siobhan's Wedding Day

After our turtle adventure, we woke up late (around 10 am) and enjoyed breakfast prepared by our villa housekeeper, Listra.

Afterwards, we headed down to the beach where Ryan's family was hanging out before getting ready for the wedding.

Jessica was kind enough to pick up curry crab and dumpling on her way back from having breakfast with her in-laws. As such, we ate curry crab and dumpling in our dripping bathing suits and loved every bite. Ryan stole a bite and exclaimed we share food at work all the time. So true.

Curry Crab & Dumpling: Before & After

We scored a ride back up the hill with Jessica's in-laws and enjoyed the infinity pool before getting ready for the wedding.

The Happy Couple

The wedding was held at St. Joseph's where women were warned their shoulders had to be covered. The ceremony was lovely and the programs were actually fans.

The cocktails were back at Stonehaven and a dance party in itself with kids break-dancing and having a good time.

The reception included traditional Trinidadian black rum cake, ham and hops, and Doubles! Delicious!

Probably the most dancing I've ever done as the DJ played for hours and the music was contagious with its Caribbean flair. It was an EPIC dance party!

After returning to our villa, we were so hot from all the dancing that we took a dip in our infinity pool - so convenient, and so tired from the dancing but so worth it!

Diving in the Morning, Leatherback Turtles at Night

At 8 am, our diveshop came to pick us up and to prepare for 3 dives in the southwestern part of Tobago. Allison was clearly already up, but it took me a bit to get ready.

Allison and I were nervous, because we hadn't dived in awhile, but it was definitely like riding a bicycle. We dived in 3 parts of Mt. Irvine Bay: the extension, the wall, and Dutchman's Reef. Each dive was just under an hour and we saw turtles, a spotted ray, eels, trumpet fish, angel fish, lizard fish, batfish, and octopus.

In between the dives, I napped on the boat. I find the older I get, the more prone to sea-sickness that I am. So I would nap and then the guide would set up my gear and urge me off the boat when it was time to roll (backward).

Our dive guide definitely had a sense of humor and made jokes all day long. His name was Sledge, but his real name which he hated was Handel.

We returned to the villa around 2:30 and ordered villa service for lunch. Allison had a club sandwich and I enjoyed a cocconut curry chicken with basmati rice. We napped and lounged around our infinity pool.

Ryan and Siobhan organized cocktails at 5:30 at a villa resort across the street where we had spent the day yesterday. All the guests for the wedding had finally arrived and we enjoyed drinks and appetizers. We got to meet more of Ryan's friends and family. We drank the night away and ordered pizza until about 11 pm.

On a whim, Miranda - Ryan's cousin, Jim's wife and I went down to the beach to see if there were any leatherback turtles. Allison yells, "look a large rock!" Lo and behold, it was a leatherback turtle coming in from the water to lay her eggs!!!

We waited for about 2 hours to see it come in (it sways its tracks) and then laid about 60-70 eggs and then buries them and makes a fake nest before returning to the ocean. It was really awesome and SOS (Save Our Seaturtles) was there to protect and measure/record the turtle. The turtle was about 5.5 feet long (on the small side) and in such a trance while laying its eggs, that people could touch it.

Ryan had asked SOS to call if they saw any turtles and I would have been really upset if that call was at like 3 am. But we were lucky to be by the beach, drinking Caribes, and eating pizza to witness this awesome act of nature!

Stonehaven, a Villa like No Other

Our very own infinity pool at Stonehaven Villas, Tobago

We arrived last night at Stonehaven where we had our welcome drink of rum punch waiting for us and conveniently ran into the bride and groom to-be and the best man, Ryan's cousin, Jonathan. We chatted for a bit and then went to our villa where the happy couple had a case of Caribe beer and candies brought to us for our welcome gift!

The villa can hold 7 people with 4 rooms and 4.5 baths. Our very own infinity pool and verandah are just beautiful and since we're on the hill, have a beautiful view of the bay.

The dinner at the hotel restaurant was delicious - I had seafood pasta and Allison had chicken cordon bleu. The manager, Duane chatted with us for a bit and told us his surfer stories.

The open villas allow for all sorts of creatures - gekkos, frogs, toads, and of course mosquitos. I have been trying to be very conscientious with the bug spray as I usually get swallowed by bugs.

This morning, we woke up to our lovely housekeeper tidying up our villa and had breakfast on the verandah. We headed down to the beach where many of Ryan's family is staying. We met his parents, brother, cousins, and their children. They were all really lovely. Near the beach was their villa pool where we lounged all morning drinking pina coladas and rum punches with one of the groomsman, Chris's wife, Jessica.

For lunch, we called a taxi to head down to Store Bay for curry crab dumplings - the most famous dish in Tobago. Unfortunately, all the vendors were sold out so we settled for chicken stew and pork and dumplings. All very delicious and wolfed down on our villa verandah.

We spent the afternoon napping and sunbathing when our villa-mates arrived. Also from Westchester, a family of four whose father is Ryan's dad's cousin. We invited them to our dinner plans which was at Seahorse Inn - considered one of the best restaurants in Tobago. After a bit of a walk, we made it down to this beachside restaurant and had sesame seared tuna and red snapper.

Tomorrow, we have a day of diving on Tobago's southern shore which should be exciting as Allison and I have not dived for awhile!

Rained on in a Rainforest. Check.

My trip to Trinidad and Tobago had been in the works for about a year for the wedding of Ryan who shares my desk wall to his girlfriend Siobhan. Ryan is originally from Trinidad and had come to the US for schooling and stayed for work. Ryan and I were in the same training class at Marsh and we have become good friends over the years. My friend Allison from my football team wanted to join me for the trip.

Today, we started our adventure! Allison and I arrived in Port of Spain in Trinidad around 4:30 am. The red-eye from Newark was uneventful and the flight was just five hours.

Looking over the rainforest at ASA Wright Nature Center, Trinidad

Instead of flying straight to Tobago where Ryan and Siobhan are getting married, Allison and I opted to go to the ASA Wright Nature Center in Trinidad. Considered one of the top five bird sanctuaries in the world, we were excited, but didn't really know what to expect.

Conveniently, Ryan's father works at the center and he arranged our day visit and transfers. The airport is about an hour away and we had to go up a mountain on switchback roads and passed by many christophene vines that were visually really incredible covering the Arima valley. These vines bear pear squash, also known as chayote.

Upon arrival, on the verandah of a former plantation, there were about five people avidly bird watching each with binoculars and telescopes. It was amazing how they could spot the beautiful birds so quickly and willing to share their equipment. It's so refreshing to be around passionate people.

There was so much activity early in the morning. We saw a toucan, parrots, honeycreepers, hummingbirds, orioles, tanagers, blue dacnis, tufeted coquettes, motmots, and oropendolas. Oropendolas make really cool nests that hang off trees and look like long handbags. Richard, our viewing guide was able to point out the birds immediately and recognize their calls. He identified over 30 individual species in an hour - his record being about 36. We felt lucky to have seen so many in such a short period of time.

Afterwards, we enjoyed breakfast and got ready for our guided walk around the center with Caleb. We saw lizards, a scorpion, manakins (white-bearded and golden-headed), leaf cutter ants, army ants, all sorts of vegetation (90 year old vines, bamboo, mango trees, heliconias, wild nutmeg tree), a crab, and a bat to Allison's dismay.

After our walk, we decided to explore the clear water pool, but got caught in a heavy rain shower.

Throughout the day, we were rained on. We really enjoyed it as we felt that it was a genuine rainforest experience! Personally, it was a great way to decompress and start out the vacation.

We were so lucky that Ryan's father had a room and office to use. We were able to wash up and take a nap before lunch which included BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant, beans, rice with pigeon peas, and bread pudding with custard sauce. All delicious with coffee harvested locally at the nature center.

Post-lunch, we took power naps before our transfer back to the airport. Curiously, our driver put our luggage on the back seats of the van. On the way down the mountain, we stopped to pick up a dead, venomous, viper snake, also known as a bushmaster!! It was over 6 feet long and there are plans by the nature center to preserve it because they are incredibly rare. Didn't see that one coming! Needless to say, Allison was a lot more excited than I was and was so enthralled, she did not get to take a picture with it before the preservation officer took it away. There are plans to build out a museum as well at ASA.

At the airport, we checked out the outdoor food court where we had Doubles, very Trinidadian. Chickpeas on fried flat bread with delicious spices and chutney and Apple J, a sparkling apple juice. This was Allison's first Doubles experience. I had been to Queens with Ryan and Siobhan to a West Indies neighborhood. Delicious in both places, but the Doubles here were much better!

Interestingly enough, Allison was told by someone at the Newark airport that Kentucky Fried Chicken in Trinidad is super delicious and we saw a massive line. Hence, we had to order a two-piece meal to check. Confirmed and the spice has a real kick that you don't get in the US.

Our twenty minute flight was uneventful and waiting for our luggage took longer. I learned on the flight this year marks the 50th year anniversary of Trinidad's independence from Great Britain. So exciting!

More to come on the amazing villa tomorrow!!!