Bon Accord Lagoon
Milford Road becomes ruler-straight as it Crown Point slips imperceptibly into the BON ACCORD district, a mostly residential area whose main point of interest is the Bon Accord Lagoon, a sweeping oval of mangrove swamp and reef-sheltered, shallow water which forms one of the most important fish nurseries on the island. Though the marine life has been adversely affected by runoff from a nearby sewage treatment plant, the lagoon’s sea-grass beds remain a sanctuary for conch, snails, shrimp, oysters, crab, urchins and sponges.
Most of the land skirting the swamp is privately owned. You can get pretty close by turning down Golden Grove Road, the turn-off for which lies a couple of kilometres east along Milford Road, and taking the first dirt track you come to – passing the crumbling remains of a windmill and cocoa drying house, once part of the Bon Accord sugar estate (note that the road becomes extremely bumpy after the small bridge, and is best attempted with 4WD in the wet season). You can drive right down to the water by taking Gaskin Bay Road, a wide paved turn-off to the left from Milford just before the housing scheme. A better way to see the lagoon is on a Buccoo Reef boat tour that includes a barbecue at a deserted sandy spit on the lagoon’s north side known as No Man’s Land, an idyllic place to swim.
Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool
Covering around 12sq km of Caribbean seabed between Pigeon Point and Buccoo Bay, Buccoo Reef is Tobago’s largest and most heavily visited collection of corals, from hard stag and elkhorn varieties to waving purple sea fans and peach-coloured fire coral, patrolled by the brilliantly coloured trigger, butterfly, surgeon and parrot fish which thrive here. To the south of the reef is Nylon Pool, a gleaming coralline sandbar forming an appealing metre-deep swimming pool smack in the middle of the sea. It’s said to have been named by Princess Margaret during her stay in the 1950s; she supposedly remarked that the water was as clear as her nylon stockings – nylon had just been invented.
Sadly, however, human interference has taken a devastating toll. Carelessly placed anchors and thoughtless removal of coral souvenirs – not to mention the inevitable pollution – mean that many parts have been terribly damaged, and bear more resemblance to a coral graveyard than a living reef. Buccoo also took a pounding during the years when boat operators handed out plastic shoes to allow visitors to walk on the reef as a part of the glass-bottom boat tour. Large sections have died off completely, leaving white skeletons in their wake, while overfishing has reduced the fish and crustacean populations, and poorly aimed spear guns have ripped chunks from the coral. The situation became so bad that Buccoo was declared a protected national park in 1973, but with scant resources to enforce the law the legal status meant little and the damage continued practically unabated. Today, glass-bottom boat operators are more conscientious, no longer promoting reef walks and anchoring at designated buoys, as well as warning visitors that touching or removing reef matter and shells is illegal. The Buccoo Reef Trust (t 635 2000, w buccooreeftrust.org), meanwhile, is a local NGO working to help preserve the reef and educate boat operators and fishermen about sustainable practices. You can do your bit by standing on the seabed only and refusing to buy any coral trinkets.
Despite the damage, there’s still plenty to see at Buccoo, particularly at outlying areas such as Coral Gardens. You’ll have no difficulty in finding a glass-bottom boat to take you; most leave from Store Bay and, to a lesser degree, Buccoo and Pigeon Point. Two- to three-hour trips cost around US$25, and usually leave at about 11am and 2pm; touts prowl all the main beaches. The tours are often fairly raucous, accompanied by loud music on the way home, but offer a good glimpse of the coral as well as a pretty perspective back over Tobago’s southwest coastline and hilly interior.
Fort Milford
From Airport Road, Store Bay Local Road runs west, past the small dead-end road that leads to Store Bay Beach, and threads around the headland to hotel-filled Sandy Point and the Fort Milford stockade. The ruins of gun-slitted coral stone were built by the British in 1777, and briefly appropriated by the French during their 1781–93 occupation of Tobago. Of the six cannons that remain, five are British and one French. Surrounded by well-kept gardens that make a quiet, shady chill-out spot, the fort gives a panoramic perspective over Store Bay Beach and Milford Bay right up to Pigeon Point.
Pigeon Point
Some 200m north of the Store Bay turn-off, where Airport Road swings right to become Milford Road, the left-hand turn-off onto Pigeon Point Road leads to the spot where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea. The shoreline here – unlike the majority of Tobago’s rugged beaches – is definitively Caribbean: powdery white sand with calm turquoise sea on one side and the ubiquitous swaying palms on the other. Lauded as the island’s best beach, Pigeon Point has shady picnic gazebos, shower blocks and a weathered wooden pier topped with a thatch-roofed hut that’s easily Tobago’s most photographed spot. The gentle shelf and tame currents make swimming benign, and there’s ample space on the sand to stake out your niche without feeling cramped – though it can get busy on a cruise-ship day. East around the headland, the wind whips over the Bon Accord Lagoon, providing a welcome respite from the steamy heat of the beach as well as ideal conditions for kite-boarding and windsurfing – there’s an outlet offering lessons and equipment rental. Close to the entrance, shops sell beachwear, clothes and souvenirs, while the two bars at each end of the beach are popular liming spots at sundown; like Sandy Point, the sunset views here are magnificent. A handful of food outlets sell inexpensive roti and other snacks, and a branch of Rituals/Pizza Boys dishes out iced coffees and pepperoni slices. If you want something more substantial, there’s a restaurant at the Bon Accord end of the beach selling Creole lunches.
Picturesque as it is, Pigeon Point is not without controversy. It was the first beach on Tobago (and still the only one) to charge an entry fee, much to the consternation of locals and the fishermen whose right to walk and fish freely from the beach has been curtailed. Equally, many bemoan the water quality, thanks to runoff from the area’s many hotels, and lack of water circulation following constriction of groynes.
