Tyrico Bay

Who says ‘beach’.  Feeling hot, hot, hot.  I want a sea bath.  Let’s go……

Well here we are on summer vacation, school is out, the place is hot, the mood is right.  My brother says that he has to go into Port of Spain to do some business and would like to know what we had planned for the day, since we were back to another day of schlepping Sherry (my daughter) to summer camp.  We had nothing planned.  He suggested Maracas or in particular, Tyrico Bay (knick named Indian bay by the locals).

After the popular Maracas Bay on the northern coast of Trinidad lies a bay called Tyrico Bay which is approximately nine (9) hundred meters long or half (1/2) of a mile.  This beach is best visited in the early morning, before it gets crowded as it is a small beach, and subject to many families with small kids.  The sands at Tyrico Bay are a greyish brown hue, quite beautiful.  The beach is manned by life guards between 11am and 5pm daily.  I do not know where the name ‘Tyrico’ came from, and my research didn’t afford information on such.  I wonder if it was of Amerindian origin, as many place names on the island are.

Tyrico Bay doesn’t have high waves, the water is very calm, waves maxing at three (3) feet.  My niece and nephew being three (3) and six (6) years old respectively would benefit from the calm waters, and so would my ten (10) year old son.  We agreed to meet at the beach and packed a cooler full of drinks, a Publix bag full of snacks, towels, sun block, and a fresh set of dry clothes to wear afterwards.  We donned our swimwear.

On the drive in, we stopped at a local vendor and bought a few bags of pineapple chow.  Almost ripe pineapples, sliced and seasoned with shadow beni or bandania (culantro), chives and pepper (if this vendor used salt, you could barely taste it, perfect for my HBP).  We got to Maracas, and met my brother, parked on the side of the street waiting for his wife and child who were using the facilities at that beach.  They came out and together we drove less than five minutes to our destination, Tyrico Bay.

We parked, by backing up under some foliage with the front of the automobiles facing the ocean.  This was indeed an ideal spot for changing our clothes afterwards.  I, with camera in hand, proceeded to the beach.  The water was clear, and even though it was already around eleven (11) in the morning, there weren’t many sea bathers.  The football (soccer ball) was taken out of the car and a little warm up session began, believe it or not this session included all family members from three (3) years old to seventy seven (77), fun times.

I noticed some folks setting up a tent on the beach, they had parked right below a coconut tree, and I thought to myself, how brave of them, because if a coconut fell out of that tree unto their car ‘crapeau smoke their pipe’ (local saying meaning no one can help them).  The tent was constructed and oh my goodness, out came two (2) massage beds and they too were assembled and placed under the tent.  The tent was adorned with mosquito netting, and a sign promptly went up offering massages and facials.  I did not see anyone venturing near the tent to receive any of the offered services, I only hoped that they were successful.

Along the beach came a young man selling beautiful bead and sea shell necklaces.  Alas, he had no change, else I would now be wearing an astonishing all white coral shell necklace that caught my eye.

We went into the water.  The water was crystal clear, calm, warm and very salty.  I wanted to show my son the things that I did with my father when I was his (my son’s) age.  Hmmmmm, who will help me.  Both my husband and brother swam away, saying “NO, you’re too heavy”.  How mean, I am not a ‘fatty bum bum’.  I wanted them to stoop so I could climb on to their shoulders and jump off making a bomb splash.  “STRUPES” (sound made whilst sucking your tongue against your teeth).  I finally persuaded them and my husband allowed me to use him first, up up and ‘woooooooooooo’ splash.  Simple delight marked my son’s face as he witnessed my splash and he wanted to try it, so did my three (3) year old niece, she has no fear of the water even though she is not yet able to swim.  We allowed them both to do it over and over again, alternating between dad and uncle.   They enjoyed this immensely.  My six (6) year old nephew on the other hand was not having it.  He preferred to lock his hands around my neck and tell me about how far out I was going, not caring whether my feet were touching ground or not.  “Aunty would you please go back in, closer to the shore aunty please”.  I complied, just a little, because geeeeze his hold was tight, he is “cough cough”, choking me.  Eventually I deposited him on the shore and he ran to his mother. One day I will get him to do it all, one day I surely will.

We enjoyed the water and reluctantly came out, because we were hungry, and the time to go back for my daughter Sherry, was fast approaching.  My brother, in his sheer brilliance creates all sorts of conveniences and when we go to the beach, he has these barrel type containers filled with water that he brings along.  Well he typically does this when he is travelling with his pickup and today having his car, I didn’t realize that he had a smaller container available with water.  He has outfitted this with an aquarium pump, which is connected to an invertor, connected to the car’s battery, a hose with a shower head, is connected in this barrel and serves as an outdoor shower for washing off after being in the salt water.  This convenience is really best for beaches with no facilities, and our parking location served ideal for rinsing off and changing to make our trek back down.  

Well this region is known for a particular food.  Bake and shark!  Bake – is a form of bread, but in this particular instance it refers to a fried bread.  The flour is typically kneaded using butter, and baking powder, and then rolled out into small circular like flat cakes, and placed into a cast iron pot of hot oil to be fried, the baking powder allows it to rise, and it will consistently do so if there is oil on the top as well as the bottom of the bake.  A variety of things are eaten with these fried bakes, but the Maracas region is known for the ‘shark’ filling.  Well the shark is typically fried shark, seasoned with local seasonings, breaded with corn meal or flour and fried.  There are a variety of condiments offered to put into your bake and shark, including, pineapple, shadow beni, tamarind sauce, ketchup, pepper, mango chutney, mustard, tartar sauce, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and more.

We stopped at one of the many vendors at Maracas Bay, I had bake and shrimp instead of shark and filled it with condiments, it was absolutely delightful, and quite frankly my mouth is watering anew typing this post.

It was a wonderful day and we have some shots to prove it.

--NorDean Canvas

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