4 hour layover in Trinidad. What to do?

[Richardus]

According to our calculations, our flight will arrive in Port of Spain at 5:10am and we are planning on taking the ferry as part of our trip rather than the short plane. We are aware that the ferry is not particularily designed to be a "scenic tour" but we still want to experience being on the high seas in the caribbean as part of our adventure.

With that said, here we are at 5:30 am on the streets of Port of Spain and may have up to a 4 hour wait until the first ferry leaves, depending on the schedule that day, which when we try to research it is not available yet.

So, what to do from 5-8 or so am in Port of spain, carrying luggage and waiting our ferry?

Any suggestions?

[GervaisAlkins]

Hi,
I think traveling on the ferry can be quite picturesque. But the sea does get a wee bit rough this time of year so if you do suffer from sea-sickness it may help to grab a few dramine's from the local pharmacy's. As for your layover, the Port-of-Spain port is located from walking distance from the Hyatt and a very cool 'local' restuarant called the Breakfast Shed. Now the B Shed goes under a different name....some kinda french ting, but most people still know it as Breakfast Shed. This area is very bust in the morning, with lots of local food being sold (not that you wanna eat too much before the ferry ride!). Also the walk along B Shed and Hyatt is nice and worthy of picture taking. You could venture in the Port of Spain for a bit but realistically the main places of interest might be a bit too far to walk and safely make it back to the port on time. Hope that helps a little bit. Enjoy your stay here!

[Richardus]

Hi Gervais and thanks for responding. Agreed we were reading a few posts about the roughness of the ferry ride. We took a fishing charter on a small craft last summer for a three hour ride in our local bay which is much smaller.

Once you get about a mile out the waves start to get a lot bigger and we were quite queasy for a while. The pilot claimes if you dont watch the shorline your queasiness will go away, but we found quite the opposite and watching the shoreline actually made us feel better. I have an aversion to taking any sort of pills so it will be a tough decision for me between taking Gravol and simply tolerating any queasiness. I think I will take them along and use them when I'm desparate.

I think going for breakfast is a great idea if you can recommend the Breakfast Shed as a decent place to go. I'm not sure about going for a walk down at the harbour for fear of personal safety as well as the fact we are dragging all our luggage around, unless we can find somewhere in the terminal to lock them up and if we get there and it seems safe enough we will try that too.

[Hugh S]

There is a baggage storage room to your right as you walk out of arrival. Porters will be hounding you but it is only a little way if you can drag it there yourself (for free).

Also, most seasickness meds require you to take them early, before the voyage. Check the instructions.

Hugh

[Carol G]

Hi Richardus,
You should check the ferry schedule, once it's available. Last year the ferry crossings during June-July were reduced due to the annual maintenance. You might have a problem getting a seat. Maybe Patrick at Yes, Tourism can give you some info. Also, as far as I know unless you have small suitcases or maybe just carry on's you will not be allowed to take your luggage up to the passenger deck. Has anyone dealt with this situation? We only do day trips in our truck; so I may be wrong. Again, have a great trip. The fast ferry is very enjoyable, although sometimes a little rough.

[Rachel Crew]

As Carol mentions, you have to check in your luggage at the ferry terminal and you can only take on deck small hand luggage, so your best bet would really be to go straight to the ferry terminal, check yourselves and luggage in, then walk down to the Breakfast Shed ("Femmes du Chalet") as recommended by Gervais, and maybe a stroll on the waterfront by the Hyatt hotel.

Once on the ferry, a lot of people are lulled into a false sense of a smooth ride by the flat water in the Gulf surrounding Port of Spain - it is not til you pass through the Bocas (small islands off the north west corner of Trinidad) that you will feel how the water really is... so stand by with at least a small dose of Gravol!

[Andy K]

Richardus,

your flight is scheduled to arrive 5:10 am at PIARCO Airport, not Port-of-Spain.
You will take approximately until 6 am to clear immigration and customs.
Now you are ready to hit the traffic in a taxi for about 25 kilometres,
which can sometimes easily take you about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
I am not sure that you will even be in Port-of-Spain early enough to check in
for the ferry.
Make sure you don't waste time at the airport and get out of there a.s.a.p.
Instruct your taxi driver that you have to be at the Tobago jetty for 7:30.
That is definitely the lastest possible checking time for the 8 am ferry.

[Richardus]

Hmm, Andy you have me concerned now. Our tickets and travel agent both confirm the destination is Port of Spain and says nothing about being 25kms in "Piarco" airport. We will double check what you say to make sure, this could really throw a wrench into things if we are caught offguard on this one!

[Rachel Crew]

What Andy says is entirely correct - it's 25km from the airport into Port of Spain - you will have to get a taxi transfer to the port, and in rush hour it could take you easily 1 1/2 to 2 hrs

[Andy K]

Richardus,

there is no airport in Port-of-Spain. The only airport in Trinidad is in Piarco, even though it is named after the capital city and the international code for it is POS.
My knowledge of the traffic situation between airport and Port-of-Spain is profound, as i have to face it every morning, Monday to Friday.

P.S. I understand from your other postings that you will come to T&T in June 2011. I am quite surprised now how anybody
was able to tell you a departure time for the Tobago ferry. We have just gotten the ferry schedule for February !
The schedule for June will only come out in May and i would not dream of telling you that there will be a sailing at 8 a.m.
in June.
There is none right now.

[Richardus]

Sorry for the confusion, yes we spent a little more time with the Google maps and realize now about the proximity of the airport to the port. Good thing we know now and thanks for making us aware Andy!

As for the ferry schedule, I must have misunderstood, but we've been watching the schedule reports via internet, they have march up now, but times are all over the place so we are only speculating as to when Ferry leaves in June so far. However, it looks like there are more than one departure per day so if perchance we miss the first one we will have to wait around for the next, they appear to be about three hours apart or so, at least for previous months.

We also see, it may not be possible to take the fast ferry, and with all the warnings about rough seas I'm starting to wonder if taking the ferry was a good idea! It's perhaps a bit late now, as our flights are already booked and changes to that plan could cause complications. Well, here's hoping for a smooth ride and low traffic.

As with the traffic, yikes almost 2 hours for 25kms, must be heavy traffic the whole way! I'm hoping it will be a little lighter traffic early in the morning but if it takes a few hours to clear customs etc, we could be trying to get to POS right in the middle of morning rush hour. yikes.

[Hugh S]

If you are arriving POS at 5 am you should not have any trouble simply adding/booking Caribbean Air flights through their website. You do not need to alter your original reservation from Canada. Allow at least three hours between flights.

Hugh

[Richardus]

We have decided taking the ferry over will be too much hassle. So were going to book a flight as you said. By doing this we dont even have to leave the airport in Piarco. If you recommend at least three hours then I think booking the 9:35 flight would be safest, even if we end up waiting a little longer.

Thanks for the advice on this, it is becoming invaluable to the planning of our trip.

[Andy K]

Taking a connection flight to Tobago is certainly the much more relaxed solution.
I can tell you, you don't miss out on anything by not taking the cruise on the fast ferry.
Those vessels speed with about 70 km/h through whatever sea and you hardly get to see anything.

If you happen to arrive early at Piarco Airport, proceed immediately to the Tobago check-in counter.
They will usually offer you an earlier flight without any additional fees, so that you may not have to
wait for your 9:35 flight.