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Tide Pools in Tobago

By wildgirl -
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The best way to understand and love the ocean is to be in it. Anjani Ganase encourages youngsters, and their parents, to explore the sea, starting at the edges. All photos by Anjani Ganase You do not have to be a swimmer to explore the ocean. Start on the beach, where the ocean meets the land, in the mangroves and at rocky intertidal pools. Most beaches and bays of Tobago are lined by rocky shores with tidal rock pools to explore. My favourite and the most developed rocky pool system is at Rocky Point in Mt Irvine. Here some rock pools are interconnected with deeper water channels that can be explored if you want to snorkel. In these rock pools, you are likely to find crabs scurrying over the rocks, barnacles, mussels, maybe tiny fish, an octopus and sometimes corals, algae and sponges. My favourite shore for exploring tide pools is at Rocky Point, Mt Irvine. Photo by Anjani Ganase   During low tide on calm days, I have explored the tide pools of Arnos Vale a...
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A New Year’s Wish for Marine Protection in Tobago

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Anjani Ganase considers “no take” regulations for our marine protected areas, and makes a wish for a more eco-prosperous marine Tobago in 2025   This is a story about two marine areas, Buccoo Reef Marine Park, Tobago, and CROP Marine Reserve, New Zealand. Buccoo Reef Marine Park is seven square kilometres off southwest Tobago composed of coral reefs, seagrasses, mangroves. The Cape Rodney to Okakari Point (CROP) Marine Reserve is in New Zealand, a five km stretch of coast with four square kilometres of marine space north of Auckland. Both areas were designated marine protected areas in the 1970s: CROP Marine Reserve in 1971 and Buccoo in 1973. Both areas are regularly visited for sun, sea, swim and snorkel activity. However, the marine reserve in New Zealand was declared a “no take” zone and protected from all forms of fishing. Fifty years later each area tells very different stories.   Buccoo lagoon corals before they died from the 2024 mass bleachin...
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Two Islands Six Corners

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  Faraaz Abdool invites you to explore the unique and diverse habitats and species that exist at every corner of   Tobago and Trinidad   Our unique islands at the southernmost extreme of the Caribbean archipelago have distinct geological histories, giving rise to an astounding level of biodiversity. Trinidad and Tobago is a special combination of continents. Drawing from their collective disparate origins, the country boasts the second highest species density of birds on Earth. The impressive species density is the result of the country’s equatorial location along a major migratory pathway as well as the varied habitats that occupy the untamed parts from end to end.    Looking north from Flagstaff Hill, the islands of Saint Giles are T&T's northernmost land. Photo by Joanne Husain   For most of the year Sooty Terns are foraging over the open ocean, but when they wish to breed a significant population returns to Saint Giles. Photo by Fara...
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Colourful Creatures of Coral Reefs

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Dr Anjani Ganase, coral reef ecologist presents some of the residents of coral reefs. Our view of the world is limited to what we can see, what we have learned to see. Let us expand that view to some of the creatures in the marine world. Here, many colours, patterns, projections and textures of the tiniest of creatures have evolved for an ecological purpose and for survival. This Christmas, I present the beautiful and colourful marine mini creatures of our coral reefs. They may be invisible to us and occupy tiny spaces but they contribute to the marvellous marine web and the life of the whole planet. And yes, to our existence. Many are named for things that we see on land because these creatures bear some slight resemblance to something familiar.   Christmas tree worms on brain coral. Credit: Nico Marin / Ocean Image Bank Christmas tree worms They look like tiny Christmas trees with an ornate display of colourful branches covered in cilia for feeding on debris that drift by...
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Tourism and Underwater Tobago

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Derek Chung, owner-operator of Undersea Tobago, chats with Pat Ganase about tourism and the marine environment of Tobago. Photos courtesy Derek Chung   Over 37 years diving in Tobago, Derek Chung has explored the island’s offshore domain in more than 14,000 dives. His recent projects include locating and identifying shipwrecks off the coast. He has made a life bringing visitors to the underwater world. Today he is concerned about how fast the reefs are deteriorating due to global warming, water pollution, indiscriminate spearfishing and poorly planned coastal development, which threaten his livelihood, food security for Tobagonians and Tobago’s tourism.   “I was a loans officer at a commercial bank in Trinidad when I learned to scuba dive, loved it and became certified as an instructor in 1987, the same year I came to Tobago to open a diving center. Following (then Prime Minister) ANR Robinson who was pushing tourism, I came to pursue a passion, a yo...
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