The Ghost Dolphins and land of the humming bird

Having survived hurricane Tomas we left the lush Grenada on Tuesday the 1st. and arrived in Trinidad, just after sunrise the following day. The last thing we did at the anchorage in St. George was to jump to the sea, as we know from past experience that the water in Charguaramas is everything else than clean and clear. At times we refer to it as the minefield due to all the trash (such as, cans, dead fish and dogs) floating around which easily can f….up the outboard on a dinghy.


On the way down to Trinidad we experienced a remarkable phenomenon – the ghost dolphins. Basically it is dolphins swimming at night time in a sea full of Pelagia noctiluca. Noctiluca is a jellyfish with an ability to glow in the night. Light is given off in the form of flashes when it is stimulated by turbulence created by a ship’s motion, by waves or in our case dolphins. The flashing is only of relatively short duration and gradually fades. Anyway it gives you the illusion that the dolphins is decorated with tiny golden diodes all over its body.


The first thing we did upon arriving back in Trinidad Wednesday morning was heading into Port of Spain for a roti (most Trinis favourite dish). Being out of roti-shape the roti got me good. I had to give up after haven eaten just 75 percent and leave the rest for Julian to finish.

Leaving roti heaven and walking on a pavement hotter than a match head, looking at a half dead Julian and feeling likewise myself, I asked him what he wanted, and he replied and I quote ‘air-condition, a sofa and a big TV’. So I came up with the ‘brilliant’ idea that we could pay a visit to a local phone operator, to have Julian’s sim-card fixed. After having spent around 45 minutes in the line we finally got to talk with the custom service, who after a short look on the phone handed it back and told us the card had been fixed…………guess what….. IT HADN’T …he still can’t receive and send international text. But Julian did get what he asked for during this fruitless visit, air-condition, a sofa and a big TV (think he was hoping for a nice movie, instead of the strange commercials with dancing Hindus …..well next time specify!)

Jumping to Friday afternoon where Mike (the Captain) after spotting a shrimp boat coming in, jumped into the dinghy and shortly after came back with several of kilos of shrimps ready to be peeled. After working through the small mountain of shrimps in need of peeling, we were all well awarded with a smaller shrimp party, consisting of….. yes shrimps and beer. Already there the just started weekend seemed promising.
And the goodness continued Saturday, where we packed Tracey’s (a local Trinidadian)car and went to a must go destination when in Trinidad – Maracas Bay.

The popularity of this place is not so much to do with the beautiful beach as to - yet another ‘famous’ Trini dish – Shark and Bake( shark burger).

To gather a bit of appetite we all jumped to the water. As we were coming up of the water - to dry in the sun - someone above opened for the water and made sure to obstruct this plan. After having fooled around in the rain and doing a desperate attempted to play with a Frisbee, we headed for one of the numerous food stalls opposite the beach.

One thing I always wonder about when visiting Maracas bay, is the density of footstalls selling the exactly same dish. I am not sure how it makes sense financially – 15 stalls or more, who all offer the exactly same product (shark and bake), to the almost the same price ………I guess the demand for shark and bake must extraordinary high. ….Anyway as long as it is tasty, cheap and isn’t rat I don’t care.

Sunday, I went to the cinema for the first time since March to see a movie from the annual local European Movie festival. The movie we saw was an amazing French movie called ‘Qui m’aime me suive’ that had some remarkable lines ( fx. ‘You are scaring me, I feel like I am in a horror movie.’) One thing I found really interesting during our visit was the local cinema menu, which among other things included fried chick breast, fries, and hotdogs.................