Browsing Tag

tobago

2 In style/ travel

WiW: a tobago morning

tobago vinyard vines dress crown point beach street

I tend to rise early in the morning when traveling. I’m a light sleeper and if you only heard my family’s typical volume, you’d understand why sleeping in is impossible. This morning in Tobago, though, roosters started crowing while it was still dark. I woke David to walk down to the beach with me- he’s no morning person but a great sport, and a sucker for good light.

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There’s something about first morning light. The morning was misty, and the sun rises on the opposite side of the island, anyway.  But even without a spectacular sunrise, that light just glows, and brightens the world so magically.

tobago vinyard vines dress crown point beach tobago vinyard vines dress crown point beach street-2 tobago crown point michael kors flats

I’m sure it didn’t hurt that we seemed to be the only people in Crown Point that morning. We didn’t see a single car crossing the street to the beach, which was totally deserted. The tide was still pretty high, and I went from walking along the sand to wading in just a moment.

tobago vinyard vines dress beach sunrise walk tobago vinyard vines dress beach splashing tobago-vinyard-vines-dress-girl-on-rocks

I’m used to chilly Pacific waters, so I’m always pleasantly surprised to find the water warm enough to tolerate. That said, this flowy maxi  was not the easiest to manage after it had absorbed gallons of saltwater… shocker, I know.

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It was so relaxing to stroll along the quiet beach, and just enjoy the peaceful morning. And when we did make it back to the condo, it was for mimosas with breakfast before heading back to the beach for the day with the whole group.  Vacation in Tobago was really low key…  and that’s the beauty of it.

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vineyard vines maxi (similar, 2, 3, 4, 5) // sandals // ear jackets // bracelet, 2, 3 / Santa Fe necklace, similar, 2, 3, 4 // white polish

tobago vinyard vines sunrise

loveRavayna

0 In travel

salt and sand: a tobago beach day

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I wouldn’t call myself a beach bunny, and I can be picky about where I swim, but I do love the sunshine on my (well-protected!) skin, salt in the air, and sand in my hair.  And the beach at Pigeon Point, in Tobago, is one of the the closest to paradise I’ve found on this earth- warm, crystalline waters just stretch as far as the eye can see. It’s serious beach bum inspiration.

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In past years, we’ve taken glass-bottom boats out to the Nylon Pool, a pretty little tide pool on the Buccoo Reef.  But we’ve noted the deterioration of the reef and the destruction of the coral from the crowds over the years, and felt guilty about our contribution to the damage.  Destroying the environment can take some fun out of the experience, so we decided to skip the group tour and just enjoy the beach instead. Absolutely perfect weather, a cooler of Carib and some rum runners perfected that plan.

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One of the best part of our carnival trips is best friend time. It’s a royal pain having your friends a plane flight away, but par for my course. So I’m practically beside myself to have Erin with me for long enough that we actually get over the excitement of being reunited. We have the best time together AND wear the same size…  it’s vacation partner perfection!

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It feels like serious gravy that we love each other’s husbands, too, and that they are good friends as well.  It makes for a very fun group.. on the beach and pretty much everywhere else!

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We rented umbrellas and chairs, and reveled in the fact that there were only a few other families out on the beach that day. Most people go to Tobago to recover after carnival madness, but schedule conflicts dictated a beach pre-party for us instead.  I adored escaping ahead of the crowds, and having places practically to ourselves.

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I also had too much fun disturbing that peace…. like Craig skipping rocks. I hatched an ill-fated water tackle plan, with humorous results.  I imagine it looked like birds flying at a window, but it felt like hitting a warm laughing wall.

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similar bikini, 2, 3,  4 // vintage kimono- similar, in pink, darks, under $30   // sunglasses, lust!  // ear jackets // white nail polish

pigeon point beach tobago girl booty

And y’all know I don’t believe in missing meals. So when a roti shop stop was suggested on the walk back to the house, I was all about the curry goat (plenty pepper, please).  And let’s be real- only seaside in the rural Caribbean is a sandy bikini appropriate restaurant attire.  Viva vacation!

crown-point-roti-shop-pepper-saucecrown point roti shop

LoveRavayna

0 In travel

a trini girl, an island intro

If you’ve met my mom and heard her voice or eaten her cooking, you  can tell she’s a Trini.  Though I’m Trini-born as well, being raised in the US means most people don’t realize that. But if you’ve wondered about my year-round-tan or curves, heard my pepper mouth or the soca music playing, that’s the Trini in me coming out.

We moved to the States when I was three, and  I didn’t return to Trinidad until I was grown.  But now, we make the journey home every few years. Coordinating with our best friends and family members, we plan our Carnival vacation for months in advance, and count down to our two weeks away. Trinidad allows us to relax and rage unlike no other,  share our time between poolside and parties,  and all of the sunshine and soca music anyone could ever want. I’m looking forward to sharing our vacation with y’all, and introducing you to my Trinidad.

piarco international airport weekend costume

We flew United from LAX to Houston, where our best couple friends met us for happy hour, and the next 6 hours to Port of Spain.  With a late-night landing, Customs took forever, but you might as well get on Trini time from the start. We headed to our house to greet family, eat and sleep, and then headed right back to Piarco Airport for the first flight in the morning, the island-hopper over to Tobago for a few days by the sea.

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With our Trini trip in mind, I had gifted Erin this weekender and scored one for myself, too! A ton of my girlfriends have (and love) this bag- with good reason.  It’s carry-on compliant, but expandable, and can hold everything you’d ever need comfortably. Beloved Thread did an amazing job customizing them for us. (That said, I’d be buying us these if I was shopping now.)

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The flight to Tobago is only 35 minutes on a wee little plane.  I’ll honestly say that we spent longer drinking piña coladas in the open-air Tobago airport bar waiting for our rental van than we did in actual transit. After a short drive to our condo, we beelined for the backyard pool- I’d worn my bikini under my romper, so I couldn’t strip and sunscreen fast enough.  Erin and I turned on the soca, and it was promptly poolside playtime, complete with a dance party and braid bar, while the men made a store run. It was vacation time and we were beyond ready to relax and soak in the Trini sunshine.

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weekender (also loving 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), F21 romper (similar), Target bikini (similar, 2, 3)

tobago in sand real

Our condo was family owned, and the location was perfection. When you can hear the waves from where you stand, it’s no hassle to walk down to the beach for the afternoon.  So when the men returned with supplies,  we packed the cooler and did exactly that.  We had the local beach mostly to our little family…  David and I, our besties Erin and Craig, my mom, my auntie (her sister) Sandy and her husband, my uncle Winnie. We made quite the crew visiting Tobago, and would only grow upon the return to Trini mainland.

tobago crown point apartment orange

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As the sun started to dip, we walked home from the beach. We had a nice little cocktail hour,  cooling off and cleaning up for dinner. We loaded up the party van for a local seafood restaurant- there’s not much on Tobago. We toasted with sangria, and laughed over grilled lobsters, shrimp, fish, and veggies.  We all turned in early that bed that night… we had lots of vacationing up ahead of us!

crown point apartment pool

loveRavayna

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