BAGO TIME
“But Jonesey, what of the windsurfing?” I hear you cry. I was visiting Tobago on a Sportif travel organised trip with a Jem Hall group. We left London in the dark of early morning – all wrapped up against the murk and the cold of a typical March day (it was 5 degrees) and we arrived mid-afternoon local time into a different world – a parallel universe. Goodbye to the rush and hustle-bustle of London and hello to a lightness and a brightness; hello to a more laid back tempo; hello to ‘Bago Time! The temperature was in the high 20’s and we are met by lots of smiling faces as we find our transfer and load up. In a jiffy we are at our hotel, the Toucan Inn, and being shown to our rooms.
“ The prevailing wind is cross-shore and low tide equals very flat water – great for all levels ”
The Toucan Inn is located in Crown Point, the village that is adjacent to Store Bay and Pigeon Point and Buccoo Reef, and it has to be one of the friendliest places I have stayed. Breakfast each morning was a joy – with a slight breeze blowing through each morning and watching the tropical birds flying around and listening to the chirrup of insects or the nearby cocks crowing. Certainly if you want peace, quiet and tranquillity then Tobago may not be the place – wherever you go there is some sort of noise – whether the exotic twitter of the tropical birds in the hotel gardens; the crowing of the cocks or the ubiquitous sound system and its insistent, thumping bass. It seems that Tobagans cannot move without an accompanying bass rhythm pounding out of their cars or from the sound systems that each street seller or bar will have.