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There's a cluster of tourist-oriented signposts at the next crossroads, the intersection of Auchenskeoch (pronounced "or-kins-styor")/Buccoo Bay Road and Shirvan Road, known as Buccoo Junction. A right turn climbs into one of Tobago's smartest residential districts, where opulent villas nestle next to tiny villages, while the left takes you to BUCCOO , a small village haphazardly built around a calm and beautiful bay. Fishing remains a major industry here, but since the nearby reef has become a premier attraction, the community has embraced tourism. The annual goat races , established back in 1925, are held here each Easter and the event is taken very seriously by competitors - jockeys train the belligerent animals, who continue to refuse to obey any orders, and the result is a joy to watch. Crab races also take place but are taken less seriously. The quiet village atmosphere disappears every Sunday when the masses descend for Sunday School . The combined effect of a a muddy sea bed and its Sunday job as a urinal make Buccoo a terrible place to swim, though the palm-lined western fringe of the bay is more appealing with cleaner water and plenty of shells and coral fragments to collect. Covering around twelve square kilometres of Caribbean sea bed, Buccoo Reef is the largest and most heavily visited reef in Tobago. Home to forty-odd species of hard and soft coral, the reef has taken around ten thousand years to grow. The corals make good feeding for the brilliantly coloured trigger, butterfly, surgeon and parrot fish. To the south of the reef is Nylon Pool , a gleaming coralline sand bar forming an appealing metre-deep swimming pool smack in the middle of the sea. It's said to have been named by Princess Margaret in the 1950s; she remarked that the water was as clear as her nylon stockings. Sadly, carelessly placed anchors and removal of coral souvenirs mean many parts bear more resemblance to a coral graveyard than a living reef. Overfishing has reduced fish and crustacean populations, and misplaced spear guns have ripped chunks from the coral. Declared a protected national park in 1973, scant resources have failed to enforce the law and the damage continues unabated. Today, glass-bottom boat operators are more conscientious, anchoring only on dead reef and warning visitors that touching or removing reef matter and shells is illegal, but they still hand out the plastic shoes, making it possible for a single footstep to damage or kill hundreds of years' growth. Do your bit by standing on seabed only and refusing to buy any coral trinkets. Glass-bottom boat tours cost around US$20. The best leave from Buccoo and include snorkelling and a dip in Nylon Pool; the most reliable operators are Buccoo-based Johnson and Sons (tel 868/639-8519). Trips taken at low tide are best for snorkelling.
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