One of the most fas­ci­nat­ing beach­es on the south­ern Coast is Ca­nari Bay. This hid­den gem is sit­u­at­ed be­tween the dense for­est of Moru­ga and Guayagua­yare and is on­ly ac­ces­si­ble by hik­ing, and on Sat­ur­day Is­land Hik­ers will lead a team of to the bay.

The beach, with its silky smooth sand is half-mile long and is un­in­hab­it­ed. At the top of the bay ru­ins of an aban­don es­tate house still ex­ist and the trees and shrubs that board­er the coast­line are red man­grove, sea­side ma­hoe, savonette jaune, al­mond, co­conut and prick­ly veg­e­ta­tion. In the vicin­i­ty of the es­tate sur­viv­ing co­coa and cit­rus trees strug­gle against the rugged el­e­ments of na­ture.

The for­est is in­hab­it­ed by a va­ri­ety of wildlife and along the way the red howler mon­keys are some­times spot­ted in the tree tops. The veg­e­ta­tion is that of a wet­land and dur­ing rain­fall the trail can be­come ex­treme­ly mud­dy.

The hike will be­gin on the pri­vate­ly owned Petrotrin Main Field Road. Hik­ers are ad­vised to bring along one litre of wa­ter, a hat for shade and mos­qui­to re­pel­lent.

• For de­tails vis­it the Web site www.is­land­hik­ers.com or call Mario 749-2956.

As­sem­bly point 1: 6 am Er­ic Williams Med­ical Com­plex Mt Hope.De­par­ture at 6.30am

As­sem­bly point 2: 7 am At the end of Sir Solomon Ho­choy High­way in San Fer­nan­do to Gol­con­da Road.

Rat­ing: 5 - mod­er­ate­ly chal­leng­ing

Hik­ing time: two hours on most­ly flat ter­rain