Still Stunning on a Rainy Day

We visit Toco Beach today! Toco is one of the more popular areas located on the north eastern coast tip of the island. It is notoriously known for being far away from everything and we have a saying in Trinidad when something is a great distance! We usually say, "I had to go quite Toco and come back, the drive was so long"! So needless to say, the drive is around 3 hours from where we are based in the central part of the island. Toco is by no means under developed or remote in terms of road access, I should mention. We head to Toco beach to do some shots for a client and made the best of the visit!

We arrived while the rain was still drizzling. This made for a moody atmosphere with the clouds set up but even with this sort of lighting, the mesmerizing colors of the water and the vibrance of the sands still shone through. I was quite surprised! The client and I were considering postponing the shoot but after a few minutes, the rain subsided and the sun came out just enough the lend some more saturation!

Here is a top down aerial view of where the shore meets the water and where we decided to park. I did not notice it at the time but the waters were amazing with so much corals and vibrant textures beneath the waves! The sand itself was such a beautiful color. As you can see, the beach was quite empty due to the inclement weather and so it was quite awesome to get out shoot without interference or people interrupting the shots.

This is what it looked like on the right side view. There were many fiber glass boats also called pirogues that the local fishermen use to ply their trade. They anchor their boats most respectfully away from the bathing areas and so it did not feel as intrusive as they usually are at other beaches on the island. You can also see lush verdant hills and a coastline that stretched eastwards (and is literally the corner end of the island) which we will return to in a bit when I send up the drone!

Here is a closer look at the right hand side of the beach as we walked on, this time you can get more of an Idea of how the shoreline looks with plenty of almond trees for shade and beautiful coconut trees that made you feel so relaxed as they sway in the sea breezes. You may have noticed but the sands are inclined towards the ocean which allows for a natural reclining on the beach sands as you enjoy your beach day!

We cracked on with the shoot, the client and his two daughters were quite enjoying the amazing sands and waters! You can also get a great view of the left side view of the beach with its alluring curvature much like an S! In the background were also some amazing vegetation covered cliffs. What a perfect setting for photography, I was quite enjoying the shoot, maybe more than the client!

The sun peaked out a bit more as time went on and the colors of the waters and sands as well as the plants came out even more! It was starting to feel more and more like a beach day and the waters seemed more inviting with the warmer weather as opposed to before where it was just rainy and cold and you would feel icky to get wet!

I could not resist pulling away from the shoot a little bit to document the mesmerizing water! Look at that! You can see how the sky is still mostly cloudy and yet the waters were so colorful, I could only imagine how they would be if we had arrived on a perfectly sunny day! This was my first time visiting this particular beach and I immediately resolved to return!

After the shoot, I immediately sent up the drone to see what I could find and discover about the new landscape we were in. I also just had to see how these waters looked from above and I certainly was not at all disappointed! If you looked closely in the shot above, you can see two people bathing, can you see them? Beneath the waves were not at all boring and I quite admired the dark spots on the ocean floor. Also I just love to see those footprints in the sand. I captured that which would never be there again in the same way it was. It boggles the mind!

Flying outwards a little bit from the shore I saw this solitary rock that looked so beautiful like a black pearl embedded in the vast expanse of the ocean. It seemed to radiate with some sort of glow, maybe because it was that wet. The waves cresting around it also created a halo as well. All these factors drew my eyes towards it and I'll be honest. This shot was my wallpaper on my phone for a long time!

Here is a closer look a the rock that I was so enamored with. This was absolutely the highlight of the flight. It sort of looks like a face here of some sort of transformer! Putting my pareidolia aside, the rock shall be hereby be known as The Dark Pearl!

Flying more eastwards, I actually got to see the top right corner of the island itself! I always saw it on the maps in geography classes and it was so much larger than I expected! There were beautiful cliffs and intricate rocks mixed in with amazing trees and other shrubbery. We should be able to visit this area of the island but that will be for another blog. For not I could only explore with the drone. The waters on this side looked like and icy blue color. Keep in mind, we are in a Caribbean country and even though it was quite rainy, the coolest you might get would be around 22 degrees Celsius. So it just looked icy blue is what I meant to say!

I saw this isthmus in the same area of the top right corner and I could not help but take a top down shot of it with its unorthodox colored rocks and icy blue waters that paired so well! The itself was also very interesting to me. This shot also made it to my wallpapers list and a lot of people on the social media loved it!

Toco Beach was extremely fun to explore especially for the first time and I was quite surprised that there was so much vibrance and color to the waters and sands even on such a cloudy and rainy day. I was also glad I got to see the actual corner of the island I was born and grew up in. I cannot wait to visit that actual location on the other visit where there is a lighthouse and more things to explore! Thanks a long for coming along, Cheers!