Princes Town to Los Iros Bay

The remote fishing community of “Los Iros” is located in the southern coast of the island of Trinidad between the fishing and agricultural communities of Erin and Taparo. “Los Iros” when translated from Spanish means, “The Rocks.” Los Iros Bay is an open beach backed by a jagged cliff coastline on both ends. From the shoreline one can see the coast of Venezuela clearly. On days with good visibility man-made structures are clearly visible. This coast suffers from a very high rate of coastal erosion. This feature is evident with a casual stroll along the short beach. A rocky breakwater jetty was built in an attempt to dampen this level of erosion.
In the community there are a few underdeveloped hiking trails. However, most of the lands in the area are cultivated so there’s always a chance that the trail will pass through someone’s cultivation and you may be labelled as “trespassing.” The flora is very dense in the area and there’s a high density of different bird species found on the island. In the case of insect stings and so on, the nearest health facility is located not far away in Erin. There are also modern facilities in Siparia. Police services are available in Palo Seco and Santa Flora, but there are routine mobile patrols through the area.
Transportation to Los Iros is readily available. The Public Transport Service Corporation (P.T.S.C.) runs a bus service from San Fernando to Los Iros along the S.S. Erin Road. It goes through quite a lot of the villages in south Trinidad live Phillipine, Debe, Penal, Siparia, Quarry Village, Santa Flora, and Erin. This costs only $6.00 T.T. (about $1 U.S.) one way. The journey is mostly scenic and punctuated with quite a few stops hosting very good locally made, largely East Indian food. Additionally, in keeping with Trinidad culture, there’s a pub literally every couple hundred meters of less along the way, in most places.
When I visited there were no visible lifeguards at any of the designated lifeguard stations along the beach. The water was reasonably clean and tempting for swimming. There was, however, a fair amount of garbage in the water left behind by beachgoers. When the tide came in the surf became quite rough, and therefore alright for surfing. On weekends the population of the community increases with Trinidadian families looking for a weekend beach escape. If you want to have the place to yourself to explore and have some peaceful solitude you’re better off visiting midweek, so plan accordingly.