When we were invited to visit Canari Bay as part of our local tourism series, the Sunday Guardian team did not imagine we would find a modern day recluse living along the coastline.
But that’s exactly what we found when we met Canari’s “landlord”, Sydney Roberts, who has lived alone on the bay for the past 25 years.
He stays in touch with society via a wireless postpaid phone, although to get service he needs to walk about five minutes away from his wooden two-storey house, further up the hillside.
The secluded bay is located along the coastline between Moruga and Guayaguayare and can be reached either by hiking through the forest or by boat. The hike is said to take around two hours, but by boat the journey is just 20 minutes. The boat sets off at the Moruga Fishing Facility, a stone’s throw away from the Moruga Police Station. To get to the facility, you have to drive until the end of the Moruga Road.
Our team was taken by captain Brian Julien and Casiel Hankey and councillor for the area Joseph Lorant accompanied us.
On the way to Canari, Julien pointed out the “Green Grass”, a mountain covered in shockingly bright green grass, which he said fishermen use as a marker while out fishing.
Shouting to be heard over the roar of the boat’s diesel engine, Julien said the grass marks an area where fish are plentiful.
When Hankey anchored the boat at Canari Point around noon, the tide was low, allowing Julien to guide the boat almost onto the shore.
The shoreline is about two miles long, but as we were still a bit shaken from the trip we decided to visit the landlord first.
A short walk up an incline brought us to Roberts’ house, where we were allowed to take in the view of the beach front from his front porch and given tall glasses of cool rain water to drink.
Originally from La Lune, Moruga, Roberts decided to make a life for himself on the bay as he said there was no room for his agriculture to flourish in La Lune. He cultivates over 10 acres of land with coconut, pommecythere, banana, plantain, watermelon and tomato crops.
Fishermen and hunters frequent the house and Roberts keeps an extra mattress lying around in case he gets an overnight visitor. He makes his own coconut oil and collects rain water to drink. Anything else he needs can be brought to him by fishermen. He says whenever he reaps any crop he would call a fisherman to take him and his produce to the Moruga Fishing facility. From there, he would usually hire a car to take him to various market places to sell his produce.
He is a quiet, well spoken person and quite generous with the coconuts from his towering trees.
When we had cooled off, we ventured back down to the beach front. If you walk along the coastline for a little over a mile, you will come to a marble statue of the Virgin Mary erected on some rocks by the Moruga “Prince”, Eric Lewis.
Other than the occasional piece of driftwood, the shore is clean. There are few signs of human activity and the only sounds are the waves cr ashing against the shoreline.
Our captain, Julien, said during the holiday weekends residents of Moruga often camp overnight on the coastline, cooking, bathing and relaxing the weekend away.
It is also an ideal place for fishing and the warm, bubbling waters beckon you to take a dip. If you want a beach lime with a difference, then Canari Bay is the place for you.
You can contact Julien at 332- 1253 for safe transport and Roberts will be more than happy to welcome you to the bay.
And if there is a natural site in your community that you would like to see featured here, send an email to sharlene.rampersad@ guardian.co.tt or give me a call at 225-4465 ext 6104.