On Day 5, we docked in Scarborough, Tobago. Today, we had an excursion planned that Stove booked through Viator - Tobago Bucco Reef Glass Bottom Boat Tour.

I asked Aaron if he wanted to go up to the Windjammer to get breakfast before we left the ship, but he said he wasn't really hungry. Big mistake. We should've gotten breakfast.

We met our tour guide, Edith, right outside of the cruise terminal. She looked at Rachel and asked her if she had any clothes to put on over her swimsuit for the bus or something like that.... she didn't. I told Edith that I had a pair of shorts in my bag she could wear, and she was happy with that and let us board the bus. So... off to a rough start.

It was about a 20 minute bus ride to Buccoo Beach where we were to hang out for about an hour before we would meet to go on the glass bottom boat.

By this time, we were hungry. We walked the entire beach looking for food, but no one was serving until 11 AM... by which time we'd be on the glass bottom boat.

Buccoo Beach is gorgeous. In hindsight, we should've just planned to visit the beach.

The water was super clear, and there were many places to rent chairs and dine (starting at 11AM).

If I return to Tobago, I definitely plan to just spend the entire day at Buccoo Beach.

You can arrange a Glass Bottom Boat tour on your own from Buccoo Beach.

Time to meet Edith and board the Glass Bottom Boat.

The boat was late.

Our boat showed up, and it was already full of people! We realized that our tour had just booked another tour for us.... what even was the point of Edith? She was just arranging our transportation.

Since the bottom of the boat was full, we went to the top (which seemed better anyway). We were asked to move people around to balance the boat so we wouldn't tilt....

Off to Buccoo Reef!

Buccoo Reef is a coralline reef ecosystem and one most accessible coral reefs in the Caribbean. French oceanographer and explorer Jacques Cousteau rated Buccoo Reef as the third most spectacular reef in the world. The reef system is approximately 7 square kilometers in area and consists of five reef flats.

Since 1970, the Buccoo Reef Complex has been declared at risk by marine scientists due to the rise of pollution, poor water quality, eutrophication, and coral bleaching. The coral reef health has declined due to sedimentation and thermal stress from the urbanization in Tobago.

Unfortunately, if not carefully regulated, tourism can have a negative impact on coral reefs and marine ecosystems. If you're interested in learning more about a sustainable future for Tobago tourism, check out the Buccoo Reef Trust, a non-profit founded in 1999 to promote conservation of the reef.

When we got to the reef, they told us that we needed to go downstairs if we wanted to see through the glass bottom.

So... "glass bottom" is a bit of a stretch. There were four glass portals in floor of the boat, and it was so crowded that we couldn't see anything. The boat crew encouraged us to shove our way in, but the people who were already seated on the first floor were not making way. The boat was rocking, and we were literally stepping over people. It was straight dangerous.

Then it was time to go snorkeling. With the way the boat was rocking, I figured it would be better to get in the water than wait on the boat, so I grabbed my GoPro and snorkeled up. They didn't have enough life jackets (ummmm red flag), so I went without because they were giving them to the kids and people who couldn't swim. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a strong swimmer, but I'm a good floater.

The water was very choppy, and there was a strong current, so they threw a line out and told us to hang onto the line.

It wasn't the best snorkeling. On my way back in, I kept getting forced off the line by kids. Then, as I was hanging on the line and waiting to get back in the boat, a kid kicked me right in the head and I breathed sea water through my snorkel. THE WORST!

No life jacket and I just swallowed water... I pulled off the line and swam for the boat, grabbing onto a platform on the right side of the prop (the ladder that everyone was queuing for was on the left). A guy on the boat crew saw me and came to my aid, telling me to just chill out there and calm my breathing. He then helped me up onto the boat which was super nice.

I headed back to the top of the boat where Rachel was battling sea sickness. The same guy that rescued me from my snorkeling mishap brought Rachel some water.

After all of the snorkelers were out of the water, we headed to Nylon Pool.

Nylon Pool is why I was interested in this excursion to begin with. It's a large sandbar south of Buccoo Beach.

The area was named Nylon Pool by Britain's Princess Margaret in 1962 when she honeymooned in Tobago and compared the transparency of the water to nylons.

The waters at Nylon Pool are said to have rejuvenating effects.

The Nylon Pool was definitely cool. I wouldn't mind coming straight out here and skipping the reef and snorkeling.

Edith encouraged us to exfoliate with the coral sand to receive the rejuvenating benefits. The coral sand is a natural exfoliant and contains high levels of anti-oxidants.

Edith took a family photo of us before we got back on the boat.

Our final stop was No Man's Land, a spit of white coral sand. It's uninhabited and accessible only by boat.

Unfortunately, there weren't any food vendors set up. At this point, I was really hungry and would have appreciated some beachside barbecue.

Aaron and I went wandering.

Down this path into the woods....

But we turned back because we wanted to make sure we didn't get trapped in No Man's Land.

Time to head back...

Overall thoughts on the tour... Booking through Viator seemed unnecessary. Viator really just provided us transportation, and our tour group was shoved in with another tour group already on the glass bottom boat. I was a little worried about overall safety on the glass bottom boat. There were more people than life jackets which was frankly unsafe. The boat seemed overcrowded, and navigating the first level to look through the "glass bottom" was dangerous. The "glass bottom" is also a bit of a joke - it's just a few windows that everyone crowded around. Snorkeling wasn't great, but I think it was better to jump in the water than wait on the rocky boat. The Nylon Pool was cool, but I wouldn't go through the effort of the glass bottom boat tour just to visit Nylon Pool. No Man's Land felt like a waste of time. I feel a little bit guilty for participating in this unsustainable tourism which is leading to the decline of Buccoo Reef.... in the future, I will do better research on the environmental impacts prior to visiting.

Personally, I would've loved if we got to spend time at Buccoo Beach after our glass bottom boat tour. But instead we boarded the bus and headed back to the cruise terminal.

The good news is that Aaron and I realized we could make it to the Windjammer before it closed at 3 if we hurried....

So Aaron and I booked it! Sorry, fam, we were hungry!

Still managed a photo op though....

To the buffet!!

Phew, made it to the Windjammer with about ten minutes to spare. No joke with the Windjammer closing hours, though. Exactly at 3:00, they shut everything down, even the water stations.

We returned to our stateroom to find some Diamond goodies...

We didn't eat these, so not sure how they tasted.

We still had some time to soak in the sun, so we headed up to the pool deck.

Good-bye, Tobago!

70s Night was already starting on the pool deck video screen...

Even though we had warm weather, the Solarium roof stayed closed all week.

The roof on the Solarium is supposed to be retractable.... I do wonder how practical it is to retract. Like, can it be retracted nightly, or is it a maintenance nightmare?