Water Quality - Charlotteville

[Lars P.]

Hello everyone - my first post.

My family is thinking about a week in Charlotteville at the end of March. I read several posts about water quality problems due to runoff from the road construction project south of Charlotteville. Has anyone been in Charlotteville recently, and is there any problem with sediment and muddy water in Man O' War bay? Hopefully this was an isolated event during the rainy season and is not ongoing.

My wife and I lived in Trinidad for a year in 1982, and are interested in bringing our teenage daughters back to T & T to show them what a real roti is. We are not much for big hotels, so Charlotteville is attractive. Any tips would be appreciated.

Lars P.

[Paul Tallet]

Hi Lars

This post is the latest in the Weather Section, just in case you missed it.


http://www.mytobago.info/forum/viewtopi ... c&start=45


No one seems to have reported anything about the conditions in the last few weeks to my knowledge but the problems seem to be mainly along the coast away from Charlottesville to the west where the road is being built.

I would expect the silt deposits in the sea around Charlottesville from the rains would have started to clear by now, however there was some very heavy rain there over the last weekend that won't have helped.

I expect the water will be much clearer by March ... it depends on how much heavy rain and heavy surf there is between now and March. Hopefully less of the former.

Regards

[Louise I]

Hi Lars,

Just got back today after 3 weeks in Charlotteville. There has been quite a bit of rain over the last 10 days (Pauls forecasts were accuarte!) and the visibility in man o'Wra bay is not good. We were still happy to swim in it. However Pirates bay (short walk away) doesn't suffer in the same way after rain and the water there was always quite clear.

I went diving at Speyside a few times and the visibility was fine.

On the subject of Roti, Lyda (at lyda's bar, just past Cholson Chalets) makes roti on Firdays which is fabulous.. but you need to get there at lunch time or it runs out!

Regards

Louise

[Joanne Green]

Dear Louise,
Did you get over to Lover's Bay, which I think is the next on south of ManO'War Bay? If so, what was the water clarity like there?

[Louise I]

Didn't get over there but the water round that way looked muddy when we were up at Campbelton Battery.

May well clean up once the rain stops though..

We had rain on and off since Boxing day - and boy did it rain - imagine a power shower on full blast for a couple of hours and you can see why the rain washes mud down to the sea.

Still - it is a rain forest island so we shouldn't expect a completely dry time!

louise

[Paul Tallet]

I see from the responses that the waters are full of sediment and I am not surprised about that and it is not a worry because, although it is admittedly offputting, this sort of thing settles and clears up after a while.

I also doubt if the roadworks on the new road would have that much of a dramatic effect, albeit also a little offputting and possibly unsightly until the work is completed.

My main concern is the potential long term damage caused by the landslides in Charlottesville during the 12/13 November rainfall event.

The news stories indicated that substantial amounts of mud ran off the hills, through Charlottesville and into Man 'O' War Bay so thick that it was deeper than the sea (i.e.; it would have covered/buried the corals completely in some areas).

This natural event/disaster would kill the corals affected.

Although I appreciate that the underwater conditions are rather cloudy and it is possibly too early to fully assess any potential damage I would be interested to know if anyone has had an opportunity to check this out?

Obviously, this would hopefully only affect small areas of the coral reefs because there are vast areas of coral in and around Man 'O' War Bay, but this is of some concern to me nonetheless.

Regards