Maracas Beach in Trinidad and Tobago

Oh, Trinidad. How I will miss thee…Now that my husband no longer works part of the month in Port of Spain, Trinidad, I don’t foresee myself going back there – perhaps for Carnival with my Trini best friend one day?I got to thinking of all of the fun I had when I spent a few days there with Chris and realized that I never shared that trip with you here! The first thing you need to know about spending time in Trinidad is that for we Americans, as soon as we hit that ATM, we feel insanely rich.

Do you see all of that money?That was approximately $200 US. (It’s been a while, but that was around the figure) There is about a 6 to 1 currency exchange in Trinidad and Tobago, so each time I hit the ATM, I was terrified of the amount I was actually withdrawing…

No matter how much you withdraw, you are bound to feel like a millionaire when visiting Trinidad!

Traveler Tip: Always convert your cash to T&T currency, as most places will not have US change, and it can be a bit of a hassle to make them figure out the US amount of your total.

We stayed at the Hilton in Port of Spain, right outside the Queen Savannah. While incredibly beautiful and lively during the day with picnics, cricket matches and walking photography tours, the Savannah is not a safe place for tourists after sunset. We made sure to plan all of our activities during the day, including a trip to Maracas Bay Beach, which is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen!

Maracas Bay is a very small fishing village on the north side of the island, and is surrounded by mountains. It was quite a journey to drive there, as we rented a car and drove ourselves…in the rain.

There was a bit of sight-seeing to be done along the way, of course.

It seems that there are farm animals all over the sleepy streets near the fishing village!

Once we arrived, we found a place to park and made our way over to Richard’s Bake & Shark stand to try one of the island’s most famous dishes – we heard from many locals that Richard’s Bake & Shark was the best place to try this famous shark sandwich!

Richard’s Bake & Shark makes each sandwich fresh while you wait, and serve them on fry bread (which is delicious even by itself!) and is served with a buffet of toppings and different hot sauces. I don’t particularly care for hot sauce, but I figured it was best to have the true Bake & Shark experience, so I tried a little!

While it wasn’t my favorite sauce, Chris really liked it.

I loved Richard’s Bake & Shark sandwich just as it was, but it was so big that Chris and I ended up splitting one!

I don’t know if it was just the rainy day, or if Maracas Bay is always like that, but the mountains were covered in fog, and the view from the beach just took my breath away.

Maracas Beach is one of those places where you don’t even want to do anything and are just content to sit and take it all in.

This guy gets it!

Quite a view, isn’t it? I’d say we spent about an hour on Maracas Beach, and if we ever do go back to Trinidad, I would love to go back to Maracas Bay.

I met a woman at Richard’s Bake & Shark who said they rented vacation bungalows just down the road from Maracas Beach. Can you imagine vacationing there for a week or so?

I sure can!