Galera Point Lighthouse, Toco

Google Maps Image.

Toco is situated in on the north eastern tip of the Trinidad peninsula. When Trinidadians want to convey how far away something is, they often compare it to Toco and it is in good measure as it takes around 4 hours to get the area from where I live in Central Trinidad. The roads are long and winding and it culminated in what feels like at the edge of the world. The tip has a light house where we are heading called the Galera Point Lighthouse. Our plan is to spend the night, take in the sights and views of the skies and the sunrise. As you can guess by now, we did a lot of all night outings at locations in the name of Astronomy!

We left home around midday and arrived after a long and arduous drive to Galera Point, Toco just around dusk when the sun had already set and twilight had taken over. The location has a huge radio tower that complemented the only other structure in the area, the lighthouse itself. In the distance, we could hear the roaring sounds of the waves crashing against the cliffs and the shoreline that was just in arm's length reach.

Image via Kern Jack, 2018.

At the edge of the cliff that lead to the edge of the ocean that felt like the edge of the world, there was a gazebo where we basically set up camp for the night under. We prepared the spot with a piece of tarpaulin to shade from the cold breezes that came from the sea and we had our little light that kept us illuminated and cozy while we ate, drank and had a merry time as the night passed quickly. We had a lot of fun singing sings, dancing and talking a lot of crap!

Before we knew it, the night had passed like nothing and the light from the rising sun peaked above the horizon. The beautiful land features slowly became visible as the sun rose and there was a lot to take in! We probably spent the next few hours just admiring the sights, the sounds and taking pictures.

The cliff upon which we stood had this eroded orange and blue rock that looked amazing with tits intricate patterns formed by years of erosion from the incident sea blast and waves. To the left was this huge drop off with large jagged rocks upon which the waves made beautiful scenes with its white foaminess.

There was this area with a blow hole of sorts where when the waves below would crash into it, the pressure would flow all the way to the top shoot upwards amongst the rock while producing this loud sound. It was scary and amazing at the same time! The rocks around it looked almost man made in a way as they seemed quite cubic in nature.

While exploring and climbing around, we found this crab that looked more soft bodied than any other crab I had seen in my life! Its patterns and exoskeleton looked beautiful and there were no apparent claws, how peculiar! Maybe it wasn't a crab? If anyone could let me know that would be awesome.

The night was well spent with friends and the morning was well worth the wait with all the beauty that it brought to light of the area. I would love the head back just for photography but I hope this mobile photography conveys well enough how it was for us. It felt like we were on the edge of the world. Technically it is true, Trinidad being our world in a way, the place we were born and grew up in. I am proud to belong to a country with such pleasures that are just a drive away!