We agreed on a pickup time of half four - yes that is 4:30 in the AM. You never know if Trinis are starting the day really early to avoid traffic or if there is a real need to be out there to start the day to beat the heat or make a real deadline. In this case we were trying to catch a fisherman to take us out to Grand Tacarib beach before he started his day fishing. Our guide, Snake, was in a hurry and chasing chickens and dogs of the dark streets as we sped northward in a small station wagon with an apart lack of shocks. Snake was grinning and said "We be sleeping in da bush tonight".

We met our fishing boat just after dawn in the small fishing village of Blachisseuse. We unloaded our stuff at the fishing boat launch and Snake advised us to put on our shorts because we would be getting wet launching the boat. After about three seconds it became very apparent that the sand flies were out and we were in trouble. We were swatting and slapping our selves' silly. A tall, thin Trini woman with one of the warmest smiles offered us her jar of petroleum jelly. That is how I met Hyacinth. She said the sand flies can't bite through the grease and that they just get stuck and die. So there we were- well greased and ready for the day.

We loaded and launched the boat through the surf and headed east in gentle rolling seas. The north coast of Trinidad has a road that goes about half way across the island east to west and ends in Blachisseuse. There is no road for fifteen miles of beach wilderness and the road starts again at the town Matelot. From the boat the beach looks totally uninhabited until we see a fire and a few men walking with dogs. The beach is beautiful and it is wonderful to see the land from the water again. There are a few small islands and one has an arch. We see the ferry on the way to Tobago which is only about 60 miles from us.

It is clear we cannot land the boat at the desired bay because of the surf and we unload at the end of the next bay and portage our stuff to our campsite. We locate a spot for our tarp and with a machete cut away vines and coconut palm sprouts. After and intense period of campsite preparation, our tarp is up and it seems like it must be almost noon. It is 9:30. We started this day very early.

There are six of us, Snake and three of his friends and us. The purpose of the trip is to support a group of hikers who are to overnight here at the half way point between Blachisseuse and Matelot. We have their overnight gear and they are traveling with day packs. Tomorrow Hunter and I will hike the trail back to Blachisseuse, about a 12 mile hike.