Trinidad and Tobago Points of Interest: Maracas Bay

Yesterday I took the day off, and headed up to Maracas Bay with my trusty Garmin 12 GPS. I recorded the trip from San Fernando, but when I got back I found that I have to rebuild my Garmin 12 cable. No problem, I can still share some of the points by simply... typing them in. :)

We took the route through Maraval, which was fortunate - the Santa Cruz route was blocked due to some construction. It was slightly overcast most of the day, which didn't help too much with accuracy - figure a maximum deviation of 20 feet, though the majority of the points are within 10-12 feet.

The road to Maracas itself is a fun drive, though most people don't know how to drive on the hills. If you do drive on the hills, it's important to understand how to use your engine for braking. On a standard (stick) transmission, it's easy - just use a lower gear, like most people who drive these transmissions know. Downshift to slow down. For people who are driving automatic transmissions, a lot can be gained by shifting the car into Low 2 (the little 2 on your selector). This will save your brakes; it's annoying to get to the beach and smell everyone's brakes. I've seen people's brakes smoking on the beach. This means that brake failure is imminent, and the last thing you want is brake failure on the hills. It's a fairly long way down with the road, without the road you're guaranteed to get down faster, though probably not in a condition you intended.

Maracas Lookout (above the beach, on the way in) N10