The revelry continued for another 3 days. On Sunday we went in to Dimanche Gras, a big sellout event in the stadium. It was somewhat disappointing after an enormous effort to get tickets. There was a fantastic costumed depiction of the rainforest which was breathtaking but it was followed by hours of calypso performers, not our cup of tea (nor of most of the audience judging by their faces!). We got back to the boat for a couple of hours sleep before getting up at 4am to go into Port of Spain for J’Ouvert, dressed in our oldest clothes. From the French “jour ouvert” it’s a celebration of the darker elements of Trinidad’s folklore and history. The participants dress as devils or demons and bathe in mud and paint and throw away their inhibitions until daylight.
Unable to get a local bus we hitched and were picked up by the coastguard in a minibus. Sweetly they dropped us right in the centre of things. Along the way we saw crowds of revellers, covered in paint. In town we arrived just in time for the start of the parade. We stayed on well into the morning enjoying the friendly atmosphere and some really good steel bands.
Needing a break from Carnival we took the boat around to beautiful Scotland Bay where we could have a swim and relax for the night. On Tuesday we went back into Port of Spain for the last day’s big Parade of the Bands. The costumes were spectacular but there were few vantage points along the parade route where one could see the big groups in action. Once they had performed at the judging points the masqueraders seemed to give up performing.
We spent Wednesday re-provisioning and filling up with cheap fuel at $0.25/litre. Checking out on Thursday morning we had a brunch stop in Scotland Bay and then a very fast overnight sail to Union Island.
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