We teamed up with the Doris crew and rented a car for an island tour today. We met Stian and Tina along with little August (1) and only slightly larger Agnes (3) at the beach and then set off to find a suitable vehicle. We had tried to reserve a car by phone yesterday but the effort was comical at best. Showing up in person seemed the only reliable way to secure transportation.

Fortunately there are several rental facilities in Crown Point due to the international air port. We settled on Tobago United Auto Rentals run by a fellow named Whatty. A young man named Jeremy helped us get going and I would recommend the establishment.

We took the entire day to circumnavigate the island, stopping to take photos, inspect anchorages and just take in the beautiful island. Tobago is a remarkable place. It has all of the Robinson Crusoe with just enough commerce to allow you to go diving and rent a kite board easily. The island has a population of about 50,000 and a large percentage live in the Scarborough area. The rest of the island is pretty thinly inhabited.

The roads were pretty good and from what I understand they had just paved the last bit of the coastal loop. We traveled slowly up the south coast to Speyside stopping for a few minutes in King's Bay which was very scenic. There were two yachts anchored in King's Bay but the swell was rolling in causing them to do the mono hull two step.

When we arrived in Speyside you could tell that the undersea experience was the driving force in town. Dive shops and glass bottom boats lined the beach. The current runs strong through this area keeping the marine life interesting. I look forward to diving here in the days ahead.

We stopped in at Jemma's Tree House for lunch. A cruise ship was in town and hordes of cruiseliners were prowling around their buses as they waited for tables. Somehow we got seated and served in the midst of all of this. I couldn't believe how fast the service was. I had never seen anything like it in the Caribbean. I suppose the cruise ship schedule had whipped them into a fervor. They certainly were prospering from the effort.

Jemma's is a neat place and is fun with a cruise ship mobbing the place, but would be fabulous on a quiet day. The tables are at all different levels up in the trees and the restaurant looks out over the bay with Little Tobago and Goat island just off shore. We ordered chicken, fish and lobster and everything was fantastic. A good place to stop if you're in the neighborhood.

From Speyside we continued on to Charlotteville which is just over the hill on the north side of the island. Charlotteville is situated on Man of War Bay, an impressive sweeping harbor with various places to anchor. Swell seemed to get in to this bay as well but it seemed that those anchored in the eastern end of the bay might avoid the better part of any rolling.

We continued on down to Bloody Bay where it is said the French, English and Spanish all got into a brawl at one point. From there we headed over the hill into the rain forest. The mountains here reach over 500 meters and the park is the oldest in the Caribbean. Many birds can be found here and we saw flights of parrots traveling about often.

At the bottom of the rain forest we took a hike up to Argyle Falls. It was a nice hike and a beautiful waterfall. The kids seemed to enjoy the waterfall but weren't too happy about the hiking part.

The day was wearing on so we made our way back to the beach in Store Bay. We did a little unexpected exploring after things got dark but ultimately made our way back to the dinghies and home after a nice big picture tour of the island.