Right in the Middle of An Industrial Estate
Carli Bay is a not well known beach located smack dab in the middle of the western coastline of Trinidad amidst an Industrial Estate that occupies a large percentage of the aforementioned coastline! It is surrounded by relatively large mangroves on either side as well as factory compounds as you will see by the aerial shots. It is quite the unorthodox beach, mostly being used for religious ceremonies and fishing rather than for recreation and bathing!
We got to the central town of Couva and headed due west dead to the coastline towards the unfrequented bay. The town abruptly turned from hustle, bustle and buildings to a solitary and almost abandoned roadway with just bush and grass on both sides. It gets quite scary and lonely here and it feels like you are going the wrong way. This is a taste of Trinidad where some places feel like paradise and others there is rampant crime and danger!
After around a 10 minute drive through this solitary road with large potholes and depressions filled with water from when it was raining previously, I finally saw the sign that welcomed you to the bay. It was expecially harrowing not knowing what would happen to your car as you pass through a pothole almost like taking a chance each time, sometimes it may be nothing, other times, a hole to hell!
At the entrance, there is the Carli Bay Fishing facility where the fisherfolk has been provided by the government (Ministry of Food Production) a base of operations with venues for refueling, fish vending and other vital and needed infrastructure that makes their livelihoods easier.
This is what the entrance looks like with a paved pathway and an abundance of trees for shade. I love that you can actually just park under any tree and have shade for the whole time you are there, it just feels cosy! As you may notice there are lots of concrete sheds and pirogues and other typed of sheds all over the compound.
There is this large open space with sprawling lawns and more trees as you can see in the photo above for picnicking and other types of leisure activities. People usually pull up with their vehicles and just start fires for fun to cook right on the spot. Cooks are huge things here in Trinidad especially at the river and beaches, we love cooking large meals while at a family outing!
This is what the left side of the beach looks like facing southwards. There are even more pirogues as well as flags that you can see in the distance used by Hindus in their religious ceremonies. Incase you did not know, Trinidad is quite the multicultural society with lots of cultures races and communities that have all found an equal place.
It seemed to be low tide and the waters were so muddy and dirty! Now I realized why this beach is mostly used for picnics, religious rituals and fishing! Even though the waves were virtually non existent and the and quite calm, it did not at all look appealing.
This is what the right side facing north looks like. The whole beach is covered in boats and you can see a lot of the northern range of Trinidad way in the distance. At night, this looks so amazing with all the pretty lights that adorn the mountains. It was quite cloudy at this point and the added moodiness looked so awesome!
You can see where I parked under a nice thick shady tree in the left side of the photo above there. After flying around and trying to see what I could discover, I decided to explore the wide open picnic area with all the trees and grass.
Across from the beach itself is a little pathway to the picnic area that was so much more beautiful than the beach itself I would say! There were bits of decorative plants and ferns with flowers and so on.
There were some very charming signs on all of the trees that told you what the name of it was which I was not expecting at all. It was quite a brilliant surprise and it gave me an excuse to walk around the whole park and check out the nice variety of large shady trees and whaat they were called.
There were these large rounds sheds here and there in the large opening amidst the trees where people spend the day at the beach here and cook their foods and have a leisurely time outdoors. You can see what was left behind by the people who were last here with firewood, burnt and unburnt and a bit of litter here and there.
There were a few of these trees with swings as well! I was beginning to realize slowly that the beach was not at all the main attraction at all!
Here is a wide angled shot of the large opening showing more of the sheds. You can see in the shed furthest away, people were actually using it to cook and enjoy their day here.
You can see a closer up shot here I tried to take while still maintaining some distance to avoid making them feel uncomfortable in any way. You can see the smoke from their pots on full steam ahead as they drank and played music creating their own vibes that they like!
Carli Bay may not be the best or most beautiful of the beaches in Trinidad but it sure does make up for that with an amazing and serene wide open area for picnicking and spending time with the family while still getting those beach vibes. It still does serve its purpose for the fisherfolk and the religious purposes for those that use it. Thanks a lot for coming along, Cheers!
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Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1976.
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