It Is So Huge!
Las Cuevas Beach is the second most popular beach in Trinidad just after the famous Maracas Beach and is actually so large in size that it boggles my mind! Personally, I find Las Cuevas to be more relaxing and calmer that gives you a serene bathe. Maracas is more rough and has larger waves. The colors and beautiful continuous expanse of sands as well as the shape of the bay renders this one of the most beautiful and vast beaches on the island!
The way there is a relaxing drive into the northern range of mountains and is so breathtaking. The mountain peak you see in the photo above is just in the background of the ocean itself and is the highest peak in the country known as El Tucuche! It has a vast indigenous history and lore that I won't go into here but it is so interesting.
Our journey takes us to the village of Las Cuevas, a quaint little town that the bay is named after. There are a lot of privately owned beach houses as well as homes owned by the local fisher folk with their supplementary schools and even their own hospital and health centre!
By the time we got to Las Cuevas beach, there was so much traffic to get into the main parking lot! On both sides of the road for miles were cars just parked because all the main parking spaces were taken up! You can see this in the photo above. Also you can see that there was a huge lineup of cars just to get in!
I did not bother waiting for a park at all, that would be hilariously unwise so I just found a nice space that someone just slipped out of as they were leaving and I swiped it up with my awesome parallel parking skills. It was not far away from the entrance as this beach is so huge that there are actually multiple entrances.
The weather was so wonderful with clear blue skies, minimal winds and clear calm and beautiful waters. Here is a large wide angle view of the beach and the village itself on the left. I love that you can see how clear the waters were as well as the surrounding mountains that make the whole thing seem so surreal.
It was actually a public holiday and people were out in their numbers. Those hundreds of little black specs are actually people as you would have guessed by now. Look how clear the water is as well, you can see all the way down to the bottom of the ocean from up here.
These are one of the beaches on the island where people play games of football and cricket as well as other beach games as there is space. There is also so many things to see, eat and do including a bar and restaurant with the popular bake and shark, the quintessential Trinidadian beach food.
I just loved that you can see mount El Tucuche peak in the background in certain places on the beach such as in the top right in the photo above.
The left side of the beach is mostly this isthmus with a hill upon which there is actually a fort left by the British during their rule called Fort Abercrombie which I did a post about recently as well during sunset. It is so breathtaking with beautiful cliff faces with the golden hour lighting!
This side is also designated for the fisherfolk and their boats as well as the fishing facility. By far, at this beach, the pirogues were anchored and lined up most eye pleasingly and uniformly. They complement the photos quite well and so not at all seem out of place like at other beaches on the island. It is quite awesome to have the fishing facility as you can see in the photo above separate from the actual bathing areas so we don't get the horrible smells!
Flying lower down the middle of the bay, Mount El Tucuche and its accompanying other mountain peaks towers majestically over the bay with its ominous pregnant clouds nesting at its summit. It was quite magical to see the sunny bright and vibrant ocean and beach with a contrasting dark and cloudy background!
I was trying my best to try to capture the whole bay from the air but it was proving to be quite difficult at first. It is hard to see from the photos but this bay is so huge. From this shot above there were so many people yet the whole expanse was so vast that everyone had more than enough space and still there was empty spaces lower down.
I finally ascended high enough while taking a risk to be at that altitude, found the right angle and spot by moving back a great bit and managed to snap the perfect shot of the whole bay as well as it surroundings! I was quite happy with it as it conveyed the presence of the people as well as the beauty of the bay!
Las Cuevas is definitely my favorite beach and you can see that it is the same for great deal of other people as well in my country! I was so satisfied to have been able to document the beach and its surroundings as well as managed to capture the whole thing! Its beauty and the mountains that tower over it are unrivaled! Thanks a lot for coming along, Cheers!