The Emerald Gem
Today we continue our exploration of the north eastern part of Trinidad by making our way to Salybia Beach or as it is referred to by the residents of the area; Salybay (Pronounced Sah lee Bay)! Salybia beach is most well known for the seasonal emerald green river that flows directly into the sea. People kayak there very often more than they bathe in the beach and it is quite the tourist attraction! We explore Salybia beach and the beauty there is to offer!
You can see the bridge in the photo above that allows the main road to pass over the Salybia River. You can usually tell when you arrive at the beach when you see the bridge and all you have to do is take the small inconspicuous road on the right just before the said bridge. As you can see, the location is quite verdant with lots of beautiful trees and magical mangroves that line the river. A great contrast to the city centers where we live, it was quite refreshing to reconnect with nature.
The small solitary road as you can see above takes you along the river bank a little just before terminating abruptly at the sands of the beach itself. There are no carparks or parking lots so we had to park on the side of the road itself and even then, there was hardly any space! The first thing you see is the river itself.
Just along the road where we decided to park, there was a small but closed restaurant called the Salybia River View Restaurant. It was quite appealing with its tropical colors and seemed to be a night time venue. I would have quite liked to have sampled their dishes as we are not up here that often! Most of the venues on this beach are more for partying at night and caters to a lot of casual drinking. You will see later on how many bars there are on this single beach alone!
Finally after getting out of the car and walking towards the shore, we could not just hear, but also see the waves! Excitement set in that is usually accompanied with the urge to just go immediately and dive in the waters! To the right you can see the a little bit of a yellow building that is the life guard center and also a bar!
This is the right side view of the beach as we walked onto the sands. There were, as usual in Trinidad, pirogues or small fishing boats as well as almond trees and coconut trees that line the sands. Also on the extreme right you can see another bar and I'll tell you what! Towards the center of the photo you can see another one as well! I told you!
The left view was less populated and more natural. A more scenic and picturesque coastline for as far as the eyes could see. It was even more beautified by this awesome mini island that was so covered in trees and bush that you could assume that the was so earth at all! I wonder that treasures may be hidden there by pirates long ago!
This is the view as you would see if you were looking head long out into the ocean itself from the shoreline. The waters were quite calm and bathable here and was not at all muddy but a beautiful and clear emerald green that was probably influenced by the algae from the Salybia River that was itself, a similar color.
I sent up the drone to see the colors much more clearer from an aerial perspective. This was the first time I was seeing a beach with such a color and it was so beautiful and clean you could see corals and other fauna at the bottom of the waves! The sands were also a eye pleasing hue as well though I must say that it was not the fine, soft sand one might expect of a beach. It comprised of sand whose granules were much larger than other conventional beaches. It felt weird to walk in at first but we quickly adjusted!
The aerial view gave a better understanding of the coastline and how the river worked with respect to the beach itself. As you can see in the photo above, it flows into the beach via very steep angel meandering. There are times where the river does not flow into the beach at all if the sands are too high!
Here is a wider angle view of the coastline on the other side. As you can see, Salybia bay itself stretches for farther than the eye can see and it is littered with entrances and bars as well as local populations and their humble homes. We would have tried to walk the whole length of the bay but we were cramped for time on this shoot.
Here is a proper view of the meandering of the Salybia river which we previously spoke about as it snaked its way into the ocean. It is quite alarmingly steep and even more so very slow. One would assume that the river of that volume would flow quickly into the ocean!
After getting a good view of the beach, we turned around to explore the river itself. You can see how the sand itself restricts the flow of the river into the ocean as well as its emerald green hues.
On the left is a small but prominent life guard shack where one can rent kayaks for exploring the river itself. We headed over to the vibrantly colored area to find it in abandonment and disrepair!
There were a lot of debris around the little mini jetties where the kayaks are usually docked like silt, dead leaves and drift wood. It was quite muddy but we ventured none the less. There was also a huge blue pirogue that seemed to be almost tipped over as it was so shallow.
We took in the views for a while and it was quite relaxing sitting there as the river gently rocked the large boat and the drift wood it was tied to.
Across from the little life guard booth, we saw something amidst the mangrove trees! It was a little boat parked neatly in the shade of the canopies. Here you can actually get a great view of the hues of the waters.
I zoomed in and it was such a magical site! The green waters as well as the green canopy of the trees and the boat itself was just so awesome to look at! It was quite intriguing, almost enchanting!
Salybia beach had did not have many people around and most of the establishments were closed but I did not at all feel like I was missing out on anything! The natural beauty of the beach as well as the river with their beautiful green hues were more than enough. I must say that it is a definite must return in my books, thanks a lot for coming along, Cheers!