Trinidad and Tobago Hiking Cedros to Columbus Bay and Icacos Point.

Christopher Columbus discovered Trinidad on the 31st July 1498. He sailed east to west along the Southern Coast and on the 2nd August he dropped anchor at Icacos. He named the point Punta de Arenal or Sandy Point because of the shallow silty waters. The Amerindian referred to the place as Icaco named after the seaside shrub Fat pork or Zecack. On the night, Columbus landed a giant wave crashed against one of the ships or caravels causing it to lose the anchor. In 1877, the anchor found 200 feet inland certified by the geographical societies as authentic to be of the 15th-century shape and composed of bronze. Columbus called the passage Boca de la Sierpe or The Serpent’s Mouth.



In the 1800’s the Icacos and the Columbus Bay region made of estates, the largest Constance Estate 712 Acres. Other notable plantations were Columbia, San Quintin, Mont Peru, Prospect, Retreat, Palmiste and Beaulieu. The area is partially wetland from the Great Icacos Lagoon. The land used to plant sugar and cotton, however with the crash of the sugar industry the owners became bankrupt. Francois Agostini in 1871 purchased the land at Constant Estate and cultivated coconuts. Over the years the coconut industry suffered severe losses, a hurricane struck on the 27th June 1933 uprooting most of the trees. In the 1940’s-1950’s Red Ring disease attacked the trees.In 1885 and 1954 huge swarms of locust damaged some 900 acres of coconuts. In 1935 Agostini with other land- owners formed the Coconut Growers Association, and their chief source of revenue came from the copra.




The trek begins at Cedros and the walk to Columbus Bay, and Icacos is along the Coast. Sea Erosion continues to destroy the porous land leading to the formation of magnificently carved rock arches and small caves. On the southern side, the situation is the opposite, and there is the deposition of silt from the Orinoco River. At the top of Columbus Bay, there are three distinguishable rocks situated just a few metres from the shore. These rocks referred to as the Los Gallos or The Cocks.