Leatherback Turtle Watching

This activity is a must do for everyone with an interest in the natural world. Matura Bay is a protected area so you would first need to get a permit from the Ministry of Lands and Marine Resources. This costs only $5.00 T.T. ($0.78 U.S.) and is good for one person all day and night. If you do not get this permit and you are not with one of the local tour groups in Matura you will face a fine of $20,000.00 T.T. ($3129.89 U.S.) and jail time. Quite a few local conservation groups organise nightly tours for locals and foreigners. Last time I was there this tour would cost $20.00 T.T. ($3.13 U.S.) and last an hour or so.
To get to Matura you commute from Arima to Sangre Grande. The easiest way to do this is by bus. The bus from the Public Transport Service Corporation (P.T.S.C.) costs $2.50 T.T. ($0.39 U.S.) one way to Sangre Grande. From here you can again bus to Matura. That bus costs $4.00 T.T. ($0.63 U.S.) one way. I found the bus to be the easiest way to get here, unless you are with a group and you opt to charter a maxi for all of you.
The critically endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest of all living sea turtles and the fourth largest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. Dermochelys coriacea adults average 1–2 meters (3.3–6.6 ft) long and weigh 250 to 700 kilograms (550 to 1,500 lb). The largest ever found, however, was over 3 meters (9.8 ft) from head to tail and weighed 916 kilograms (2,019 lb). The most significant Atlantic nesting sites are in Suriname, French Guiana, here in Trinidad and Tobago, and Gabon in Central Africa. The beaches of Mayumba National Park in Mayumba, Gabon host the largest nesting population on the African continent and possibly worldwide, with nearly 30,000 turtles visiting its beaches each year to April. Off the northeastern coast of the South American continent, a few select beaches between French Guiana and Suriname are primary nesting sites of several species of sea turtles, the majority being leatherbacks. A few hundred nest annually on the eastern coast of Florida. In Costa Rica, the beaches of Gandoca and Parismina provide nesting grounds. Leatherback turtles have existed in some form since the first true sea turtles evolved over 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. The dermochelyids are close relatives of the family Cheloniidae, which contains the other six extant sea turtle species. However, their sister taxon is the extinct family Protostegidae which included other species not having a hard carapace.