Bon Accord Lagoon

A nice aerial view of Bon Accord Wetlands, the lagoon in the middle, the mangroves on the right and no man's land on the right

Bon Accord wetlands are a seldom visited and scarcely known location in the little Caribbean Island of Tobago. It is home to mangroves, a lagoon where boats are sometimes parked for shelter from rough seas and No Man's Land, a spit or Tombolo that extends from the mainland to create the lagoon between it and the mangroves. We ended up finding the entrance to the walkway through the mangroves to the jetty one day by accident and it ended up being one of the best finds of the whole vacation as we got to see the lagoon and no man's land up close and personally without the use of a boat which is usually how people get to see it during sight seeing! I was so amazed that all along, you could access this tourist attraction so easily!

As I mentioned, this was found by accident! We were driving around the island aimlessly and decided to take a road that we never went in before as on a small island such as this, there are always hidden beaches just waiting to be found. We did not find a beach this time but a jetty as you can see in the photo above that lead to through some mangroves to the open ocean! You can see the sign "Bon Accord Wetlands" on the right. It had not yet occurred to us yet that the famous No Man's Land would be right there! This was in the midst of bushes and at the end of an unassuming old road by the way!

Here is a close up view of the sign that looked like it had definitely seen better days and seemed to be sponsored by Nescafe! This was kind of funny to us. The area felt like it was meant to be beautified and up kept for tourists but since it was empty most of the time, it ended up being used more and more by local fishermen and tour boat people over time.

This is what the walkway through the mangroves looked like through to the other side. There seemed to be a car parked near the end of the jetty. It turned out, as I guess to have belonged to one of the fisherfolk who was tending to his vessel.

It's not often that one gets to walk among mangrove trees as the roots make almost impossible to tread through but in this case, the paved way allowed for a leisurely stroll which enlightened me of the fact that they are extremely magical and beautiful trees! The only thing was the smell of the silt within which they grow and thrive. It was a fishy yet sea like smell!

Once we got to the other side of the walkway, there was a panoramic view of the open ocean. to the left the coastline of mangrove trees stretched for miles and there were some boats docked close to the jetty. There seemed to also be some more vessels anchored in the middle of the lagoon, mostly yachts. I do see the advantage of docking in the a sheltered area incase of storms and inclement weather!

Directly in front of us, we saw a double decker tour boat colorfully decorated that is usually used to take tourists on a tour of the Buccoo Reef and No Man's Land from another beach far away! Speaking of which, No Man's land was literally right there in front of us! (the peninsula like landmass that you see on the right).

Here is a nice view of the boat I took with the mirrorless camera. These boats are glass bottom boats that are used to see the colorful reefs and fishes down below the ocean waves. They usually load up on tourists in a beach farther away and come here to the No Man's Land at then end of the reef tour. It always felt like this was not accessible so easily and here was one of the boats docked and almost seeming abandoned!

That part of the peninsula that you can see there in the photo above is where the tour boats usually stop off at the end of tours and have barbecues and blast music with lost of drinks, like a little party on a private island!

I decided to send up the drone to see what else we could see and try to get an aerial shot of the no man's land peninsula as well as some shots of the lagoon! The above photo shows my father in law and I, as I flew the drone at the edge of the jetty. My wife, of course, took the photo!

In the above shot, you can see the jetty we stood upon but also you can see the amazingly beautiful colors of teal and turquoise hues that were underneath the water! We could not see this at our angle but from the top down shot of the drone it was quite apparent!

I got an amazing shot of No Man's land that I was so pleased with! It was just too perfect with all of the boats as well as the brilliant colors and hues of patterns that were visible below the water surface! The lush green flora on the spit or tombolo added even more variety and color to the shot!

I managed to also find this abandoned and derelict older jetty close to where we stood with the aerial view. Its colors and position was so fascinating with respect to the mangrove trees and I just had to take the photo. I wondered where it lead back to on the mainland as there was literally just bush all around the way we came in!

Here is a view of the eastern side of the wetlands in the foreground with a large town in the background. I'm not sure what the town is called but it added beautifully to the composition. Also if you notice there was also a beautiful turquoise bay at on the left, the name of which also eludes me!

This is a western view of the wetlands and the coastline. In the background you can see some of the Buccoo Reef with its amazing turquoise waters and corals beneath! You can also see Pigeon Point beach there in the background which is the most famous and beautiful beach in all of Tobago!

Its always so satisfying when you find new and hidden gems like the entrance to the Bon Accord wetlands especially on an island where you are not from. This was not the first time we had discovered amazing places on the island of Tobago and it seems that there are a lot! Here's to more discoveries and accidental finds to come! If it were not for our aimless wandering, the shots I got of No Man's Land would not have been possible! Thanks a lot for watching, Cheers!